From an email received from today.
Source: Unknown
Subject: NURSE'S HEART ATTACK describes what Women feel when having
one!
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!
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, 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 heart attack at about 10:30 PM with NO prior exertion, NO
prior emotional trauma that one would suspect might have 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, 'Ah, 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 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 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 spasms), 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 a moment.I pulled myself up with the arms of the
chair, walked slowly into the next room and dialed the Paramedics. I
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, and if so, to un-bolt the door and then lie down on the
floor where they could see me when they came in.
I unlocked the door and then laid 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 radiologist
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 stints 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 stints.
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.' 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). MIs 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) who you care about!
