I received an email a while back with some important information. I'd like to share it with you. I did not write this, but I don’t know who did since it had apparently been forwarded many times.
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Nurse has heart attack and describes what women feel when having one.....
I am an ER nurse, I was aware that female heart attacks were different, but this is the best description I've ever read. Please read this and pass it on.
Women rarely have the same dramatic symptoms that men have, the sudden stabbing pain in the chest, the cold sweat, grabbing the chest & dropping to the floor that we see in 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 snugly & warm on a cold evening with my cat purring in my lap, reading an interesting story my friend had sent me and thinking, A-A-h, this is the life, all cozy and warm with my feet propped up.
Then 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; you feel as though you’ve swallowed a golf ball going down the esophagus in slow motion. This was my initial sensation, but I hadn't eaten 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 aorta spasms), gaining speed as they continued racing up and under my sternum (breast bone, where one presses rhythmically when administering CPR).
This 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, “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, if I don't, nobody will know that I need help. If I wait any longer, I may soon be unable to get up.
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 based on the symptoms. I just stated 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, got on the floor and lost consciousness. I don't remember the medics coming in, their examination, lifting me onto a gurney or getting me into their ambulance. I woke up briefly when we arrived and saw that the radiologist was there in his surgical blues and cap, helping the medics pull my stretcher out of the ambulance. He was bending over me asking questions, but I couldn't make my mind interpret what he was saying to answer. I nodded off again, not waking up until the cardiologist had threaded the teeny angiogram balloon up my femoral artery into the aorta and into my heart where he installed 2 side by side stints to hold my right coronary artery open.
You may believe all my thinking and actions at home took 20-30 minutes. It was actually only 4-5 minutes before I called the Paramedics. Both the fire station and St Jude Hospital are only minutes away from my home, and my Cardiologist was in his scrubs, ready to go to the OR to get my heart restarted (which had stopped somewhere between my arrival and the procedure) and install stents.
I have written all this detail, because I want all of you to know what I learned.
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. They commonly mistake it as indigestion. Your symptoms might not be exactly like mine, so I advise you to call the Paramedics if ANYTHING unpleasant is happening that you've not felt before. It is better to have a 'false alarm' visit than risk your life guessing what it might be!
2. Note that I said, “Call the Paramedics.” If you can, take an aspirin. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!
Nurse has heart attack and describes what women feel when having one.....
I am an ER nurse, I was aware that female heart attacks were different, but this is the best description I've ever read. Please read this and pass it on.
Women rarely have the same dramatic symptoms that men have, the sudden stabbing pain in the chest, the cold sweat, grabbing the chest & dropping to the floor that we see in 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 snugly & warm on a cold evening with my cat purring in my lap, reading an interesting story my friend had sent me and thinking, A-A-h, this is the life, all cozy and warm with my feet propped up.
Then 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; you feel as though you’ve swallowed a golf ball going down the esophagus in slow motion. This was my initial sensation, but I hadn't eaten 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 aorta spasms), gaining speed as they continued racing up and under my sternum (breast bone, where one presses rhythmically when administering CPR).
This 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, “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, if I don't, nobody will know that I need help. If I wait any longer, I may soon be unable to get up.
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 based on the symptoms. I just stated 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, got on the floor and lost consciousness. I don't remember the medics coming in, their examination, lifting me onto a gurney or getting me into their ambulance. I woke up briefly when we arrived and saw that the radiologist was there in his surgical blues and cap, helping the medics pull my stretcher out of the ambulance. He was bending over me asking questions, but I couldn't make my mind interpret what he was saying to answer. I nodded off again, not waking up until the cardiologist had threaded the teeny angiogram balloon up my femoral artery into the aorta and into my heart where he installed 2 side by side stints to hold my right coronary artery open.
You may believe all my thinking and actions at home took 20-30 minutes. It was actually only 4-5 minutes before I called the Paramedics. Both the fire station and St Jude Hospital are only minutes away from my home, and my Cardiologist was in his scrubs, ready to go to the OR to get my heart restarted (which had stopped somewhere between my arrival and the procedure) and install stents.
I have written all this detail, because I want all of you to know what I learned.
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. They commonly mistake it as indigestion. Your symptoms might not be exactly like mine, so I advise you to call the Paramedics if ANYTHING unpleasant is happening that you've not felt before. It is better to have a 'false alarm' visit than risk your life guessing what it might be!
2. Note that I said, “Call the Paramedics.” If you can, take an aspirin. 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 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. Elevated cholesterol 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. Be careful and aware; the more we know the better chance we will survive.
If everyone who reads this sends it to 10 people, we'll likely save at least one life. Please be a true friend and send this article to all your friends (male & female) who you care about!
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