The signs of a heart attack in women

In the United States, women are more likely than men to die of a heart attack.The reason: Women experience heart attacks differently than men.That’s the message Patti McNab, coordinator of Memorial Health System’s Heart and Vascular Center and coordinator of Memorial’s What’s My Heart Risk Program, wants every woman to know.McNab cited the story of a Colorado Springs woman.Unlike men, who typically experience intense chest pain or pain down one arm, this woman felt nauseous for three days.When the woman finally sought treatment, she was diagnosed as having a heart attack, but her diagnosis came well beyond the one hour window during which clot busters, which dissolve blood clots that block coronary arteries, are most effective.Women having heart attacks are often misdiagnosed as being pregnant, experiencing acid reflux or having a panic attack, McNab said.It’s important to know all the signs of a heart attack, not just the dramatic chest pain scripted for movies and television.”Caring for Your Heart,” a pamphlet prepared by MHS’s Heart and Vascular Center, lists these signs:

• Discomfort at the center of the chest lasting for more than a few minutes or that goes away and comes back. It can feel like uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain.
• Pain or discomfort in other areas of the upper body, such as one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach.
• Shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort.
• Breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness.

The Women’s Heart Foundation provides more information on the differences between men and women when it comes to heart health:

• Forty-two percent of women who have heart attacks die within one year, compared with 24 percent of men.
• Men’s bodies deposit artery-clogging plaque in clumps, while women’s bodies deposit plaque smoothly throughout the arterial system, causing women’s angiograms to be misread as “normal” when they aren’t.
• Women comprise just 24 percent of participants in all heart-related studies, which limits knowledge of whether treatments effective for men are also effective for women.
• After a heart attack, women are less likely than men to receive therapies, such as beta blockers, ACE inhibitors and an aspirin regimen – all known to improve survival rates.

McNab said it’s especially important for women to establish a relationship with a doctor they can talk with and one who really listens.”If your doctor doesn’t do that, find another one,” she said.But, regardless of gender, beware of the doctor who lets patients off too lightly.A doctor who allows life-threatening conditions like high blood pressure or high cholesterol to persist without encouraging lifestyle changes or prescribing medication is not helping the patient, she said.McNab runs the “What’s My Heart Risk” program for MHS, which uses a simple questionnaire to determine heart risk. The questionnaire is available at www.whatsmyheartrisk.org.People found to have certain factors are eligible for a free cholesterol screening at an MHS hospital.