INFORMATION FOR EVERY WOMAN.
If you've read this before, please be sure to pass on to
your female friends. If not, please take a minute. If could save your
life
or someone else's.
She said she didn't feel well and had a back ache and
was
going to lay down on the bed with the heating pad. A while later her
husband
went to check on her and she was not breathing. They were not able to
revive
her. This is something we women should definitely take seriously. Please
pass this on to those you love.
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, the cold sweat, grabbing the chest
&
dropping to the floor that we see in the movies? Here is the story of one
woman's experience with a heart attack.
I had a completely unexpected heart attack at 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,
like when you've been in a hurry and grabbed a bite of sandwich and washed
it down with a dash of water, and 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 about 5:00 p.m.
After that had 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
all have 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 foot rest, 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.....but, 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 in moment"
I pulled myself up with the arms of the chair, walked
slowly into the next room and dialed the Paramedics... I told the lady who
answered that 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, and
if
so, to unbolt the door and then lie down on the floor where they could see
me when they came in.
< I then lay down on the floor as instructed and lost
consciousness, as 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, but I did 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, and 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 is 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" (000 in
Australia) (911)! Ladies, TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE! Do NOT try to drive
yourself to the ER--you're a hazard to others on the road, and so is 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 you care about.
My Cardiac Arrest was different to this case - I was a blood donor, had
donated a week before this incident, a regular at the gym, and this
particular morning was playing in a lawn bowls - we had won the first four
ends when suddenly I felt incrediably weak, I excused myself and walked
into the Club, thinking that if I washed my face in cold water I might
feel
better, but when got in there, I felt even weaker and had to sit down,
almost immediately, I was too weak to sit, I needed to lie down. My
husband had come to see how I was and lay me on the floor and asked staff
to
call an ambulance. They came almost immediately (3 Min) and by then I
could
not feel my arms or legs but had incredible pain in my whole body. They
took me to the local Hospital where I went into Cardiac Arrest on arrival.
I had one stent put in a month later and 10 years on I feel fine, I walk
the dog every day and go to gym and still play lawn bowls.
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