I was aware that female heart attacks are different, but this is the best
description I've ever read. This was sent to me by a dear friend after she read it and thought of me.  Now I'm posting it for all of you!  You all take care out there!



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, 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 adminstering 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 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 unbolt the door and then lie down on the floor where they
could see me when they came in.

"I 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 Ca
rdiologist 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". 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.