Women and Heart Disease

When i had my first heart attack in April 2000, i was told that it was gastric reflux. I was sent home with a prescription for zantac 150. An hr later i went to the urgent care clinic with severe leg and shoulder pain and shortness of breathe.

The dr there kept me in the room hooked to bp monitors, iv's and oxygen mask. The next thing i knew, i was headed to the hospital in an ambulance. My poor husb. didn't know what was going on. I was kept in the hosp. for four days. I didn't even know i was having a heart attack.

Oh my, that was too close for comfort jtu!  Glad the doc at the urgent care clinic was better than the first doc!  Sure makes ya wonder about docs!! 

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I too was very lucky to have the ER doc that I did. I thought I was having problems with my asthma and fibromyalgia when I went to the ER. If the ER doc had just went by the ekg and blood tests I'd be dead or have alot of damage to the left side of my heart. I'm very lucky the doc decided to do the stress test just to make sure it wasn't my heart. My regular doc was honest with me and told me he would have just done the first 2 tests and sent me home. 2 days after having the stent put in I ended up back in the ER and had a very rude doctor that pretty much said the pain was in my head. Glad I didn't have him for a doc the first time I went in. It's really hard for me to tell what pain is from my heart because of all my health problems which complicate things because they mimic some of the signs of heart problems. Barb

Sometimes it is hard to tell if you're having a heart attack or if its related to side effects of prescription meds. For example, when that happened to me, i was on toprol xl (beta blocker) which causes my bp to spike, verapamil caused sweating and a host of other drugs i was taking (17 pills). So when i got sweaty, irritable and my right eye blurred, i just thought it was my meds.

I went to urgent care for pain in my legs. But bcuz i was on so many meds, i didn't have a clue what the symtoms of a heart attack was. Since then, my dietitain has given me a plastic card with the symtoms of heart attack and stroke. She's better than all three (endo, cardio & gp) drs at helping me stay healthy.

I still don't really know what pain is from what problem. The doctor didn't even think that the pain and breathlessness was from my heart. I think he is wrong though because the pain went away as soon as the stent was in place. The cardiac nurse and I discussed it and we decided if my inhaler isn't working for the asthma that I better call the doc or go to ER after trying nitro. My cardio doc couldn't even tell me what pain to worry about. Don't think they know what to do with us women. Hope your feeling better Teri. talk to ya later. Barb

Hi Teri, when I asked the cardio doc what pain to worry about he simply said he didn't know and that it was hard with my other problems. I've decided not to worry unless my inhaler doesn't work for the asthma and or I have sudden onset of pain in my shoulder and arm. It's not fun trying to figure this all out when you have problems that crop up. I drive my GP nuts with all my problems. Talk to you later. Barb

Amen about women and heart disease. I went to ER several days before they discovered I had already had a heart attack. The triage nurse took my b/p which was very high for me, knew my risks, and said, "It might be a few hours before you can be seen." I was having pain, but not in my chest or radiating down my arm. Because of her ignoring the possiblitythat it could be heart related, I left to go home because the pain subsided while I was waiting. I feel like she should have done something more. Gosh I'm still ticked about this after a year. My revenge has been to educate other women about heart disease adn their risks.

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Hugs! Teri, good to hear from you!

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I had a hysterectomy, too. Several years before my heart attack. I had the surgery when I was 46 and the HA when I was 54. Just one more thing to add to the risk list, huh? Ughhh.

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I ain't a woman but I am married to one and all my sisters are women.my 2 oldest sisters have had heart attacks. and the other one has 5 abdominal stents.my wife is healthy,one of us needs to be.

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will do Teri.wish I could get you and my sisters together.the oldest lives in Moffat and is 51.she had a massive MI 1998 and then lost a leg to diabetes in 2000. next one lives in Rogers and is 49..then the one just older than me is 48 and lives in Temple and owns a bar just north of town at the 305 exit.maybe someday

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Hey Kathlyn, let that anger go it's bad for your heart. I learned all about how little it takes to affect our body in stress management class for rehab. Very interesting stuff. I love your revenge though. A very healthy revenge. lol. Barb

I'm a therapist, and sometimes anger can motivate you to do something else, like educate others and make changes. I don't sit around and stew about it, but I do want to help make changes in women's (and people in general) lives so that their medical care will not be neglected. You are correct, hanging on to something in anger and not letting it go to do something else productive can be damaging to your health.

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Hi Kathlyn, what a neat position to be in to help people out and you can speak from experience too. Do you ever use biofeedback? I thought that was really cool when we took the stress class. I look forward to hearing more from you.

Thanks Teri, ever since the heart problems in January I like to pass along anything that I've learned about. Barb

No, I have never learned how to do biofeedback, but I have heard wonderful things about it, and it's great in conjunction with psychotherapy. Some therapists do teach their clients how to do it. I would like to learn how to do it for myself. I do progressive muscle relaxation, visualization, and breathing with my clients, though.

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