female heart attacks

[Dick]

NURSE'S HEART ATTACK EXPERIENCE
>
>
> I am an ER nurse and this is the best description of this event that I have
> ever heard. Please read, pay attention, and send it on!
> Diane K. in AZ
>
>
> FEMALE HEART ATTACKS
>
> I was aware that female heart attacks are different, but this is the best
> description I've ever read.
>
> Women and heart attacks (Myocardial infarction). Did you know that women
> rarely have the same dramatic symptoms that men have when experiencing
> heart attack ... you know, the sudden stabbing pain in the chest, cold
> sweat, grabbing the chest & dropping to the floor that we see in the
> movies. Here's the story of one woman's experience with a heart attack.
>
> 'I had a heart attack about 10 :30 PM with NO prior exertion, NO prior
> emotional trauma that one would suspect might've brought it on.
>
> I was sitting all snugly & warm on a cold evening, with my purring cat in
> my lap, reading an interesting story my friend had sent me, and actually
> thinking, 'A-A-h, this is the life, all cozy and warm in my soft, cushy
> Lazy Boy with my feet propped up.
>
> A moment later, I felt that awful sensation of indigestion, when you've
> been in a hurry, grabbed a bite of sandwich and washed it down with a dash
> of water. That hurried bite seems to feel like you've swallowed a golf
> ball going down the esophagus in slow motion and it is most
> uncomfortable. You realize you shouldn't have gulped it down so fast and
> needed to chew it more thoroughly and this time drink a glass of water to
> hasten its progress down to the stomach. This was my initial
> sensation---the only trouble was that I hadn't taken a bite of anything
> since 5 p.m.
>
> After it seemed to subside, the next sensation was like little squeezing
> motions that seemed to be racing up my SPINE (hind-sight, it was probably
> my aorta spasming), gaining speed as they continued racing up and under my
> sternum (breast bone, where one presses rhythmically when
> administering CPR)..
>
> This fascinating process continued on into my throat and branched out into
> both jaws. 'AHA!! NOW I stopped puzzling about what was happening --
> we've all read and/or heard about pain in the jaws being one of the
> signals of an MI happening, haven't we? I said aloud to myself and the
> cat, Dear God, I think I'm having a heart attack!
>
> I lowered the footrest dumping the cat from my lap, started to take a
> step and fell on the floor instead. I thought to myself, If this IS a heart
> attack , I shouldn't be walking into the next room where the phone is or
> anywhere else ...on the other hand, if I don't, nobody will know that I
> need help, and if I wait any longer I may not be able to get up a moment.
>
> I pulled myself up with the arms of the chair, walked slowly into the next
> room and dialed the Paramedics... told her I thought I was having a
> heart attack due to the pressure building under the sternum and radiating
> into my jaws. I didn't feel hysterical or afraid, just stating the facts.
> She said she was sending the Paramedics over immediately, asked if the
> front door was near to me, if so, to unbolt the door then lie down on the
> floor where they could see me when they came in.
>
> I unlocked the door, laid down on the floor as instructed and lost
> consciousness. I don't remember the medics coming in, their
> examination, lifting me onto a gurney or getting me into their ambulance,
> or hearing the call they made to St. Jude ER on the way. I briefly awaken
> when we arrived and saw that the Cardiologist was already there in his
> surgical blues and cap, helping the medics pull my stretcher out of the
> ambulance. He was bending over me asking questions (probably something
> like 'Have you taken any medications?') but I couldn't make my mind
> interpret what he was saying, or form an answer, and nodded off again,
> not waking up until the Cardiologist and partner had already threaded the
> teeny angiogram balloon up my femoral artery into the aorta and into my
> heart where they installed 2 side by side stents to hold open
> my right coronary artery.
>
> 'I know it sounds like all my thinking and actions at home must have taken
> at least 20-30 minutes before calling the Paramedics, but actually it took
> perhaps 4-5 minutes before the call, and both the fire station and St.
> Jude are only minutes away from my home. My Cardiologist was already to
> go to the OR in his scrubs and get going on restarting my heart (which had
> stopped somewhere between my arrival and the procedure) and installing the
> stents.
>
> 'Why have I written all of this to you with so much detail? Because I
> want all of you who are so important in my life to know what I learned
> first hand.'
>
> 1. Be aware that something very different is happening in your body not
> the usual men's symptoms but inexplicable things happening (until my
> sternum and jaws got into the act). It is said that many more women than
> men die of their first (and last) MI because they didn't know they were
> having one and commonly mistake it as indigestion, take some Maalox or
> other anti-heartburn preparation and go to bed, hoping they'll feel
> better in the morning when they wake up ... which doesn't happen.
> My female friends, your symptoms might not be exactly like mine, so I
> advise you to call the Paramedics if ANYTHING is unpleasantly happening
> that you've not felt before. It's better to have a 'false alarm'
> visitation than to risk your life guessing what it might be!
>
> 2. Note that I said 'Call the Paramedics.' And if you can take an
> aspirin.
>
> Ladies, TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!
>
> Do NOT try to drive yourself to the ER - you are a hazard to others
> on the road.
> Do NOT have your panicked husband who will be speeding and looking
> anxiously at what's happening with you instead of the road.
> Do NOT call your doctor -- he doesn't know where you live and if it's
> at night you won't reach him anyway, and if it's daytime, his assistants
> (or answering service) will tell you to call the Paramedics. He doesn't
> carry the equipment in his car that you need to be saved! The Paramedics
> do, principally OXYGEN that you need ASAP. Your Dr. will be notified
> later.
>
> 3. Don't assume it couldn't be a heart attack because you have a normal
> cholesterol count. Research has discovered that a cholesterol elevated
> reading is rarely the cause of an MI (unless it's unbelievably high
> and/or accompanied by high blood pressure). MI's are usually caused by
> long-term stress and inflammation in the body, which dumps all sorts of
> deadly hormones into your system to sludge things up in there. Pain in
> the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep. Let's be careful and be aware.
> The more we know, the better chance we could survive.
>
> A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this mail sends it to 10
> people, you can be sure that we'll save at least one life.
>
> **Please be a true friend and send this article to all your friends
> (male & female) you care about!**