Let’s Talk…Heart to Heart

Heart Attack symptoms misdiagnosed in the Emergency Room…..

Taking care of you is essential to living a longer, healthier and more vibrant life.  Just a few years ago, the life expectancy for women reached a peak in modern history with most women living to an average of 79 years.  A big difference from 100 years ago when the average life expectancy for women was a mere 47 years.

These added years of life have created additional health challenges that women from a century ago simply didn’t have to face.  Let’s discuss some of the issues and strategies needed to meet this new and exciting future of longevity and vitality!

Heart attacks and heart disease kill more women than any other cause.  With our advanced knowledge of heart health, this shouldn’t be happening.  With North America having one of the best emergency medial systems in the world, a women’s chance of surviving a heart attack should be very good.  Sadly enough, this is not true.  Women have a death rate from heart attacks that is 70% higher than men.  Two reasons for this is (1) A heart attack in a man does not look like a heart attack in a women and (2) Women’s heart attack symptoms are very misdiagnosed in the Emergency Room.  A heart attack in women is not always the “elephant sitting on my chest feeling that accompanies a heart attack in men.  

A male patient entering an Emergency Room with symptoms of sweating, shortness of breath and chest pain would automatically be diagnosed with having a “heart attack”.  When a woman enters the Emergency Room with flu like symptoms, fatigue, low back pain, jaw pain, shoulder pain and an impending fear of doom, most of the Emergency Room staff assumes this is a “panic attack”.  The unfortunate delay in treatment to differentiate these two conditions may cost women their life.  

Women are different than men.  Yet, medicine assumes that the heart attack symptoms commonly experienced by men are the standard for measuring Emergency Room reactions and treatment.  With aging women outnumbering aging men by more than 2:1, it’s time for the Emergency Room staff to be more aware of women’s unique health needs.  

Research by the National Institute of Health indicates that women often experience new or different physical symptoms as long as a month or more before experiencing heart attacks.  Among 515 women studied, 95% said they knew their symptoms were new or different a month or more before experiencing their heart attack.  The symptoms most commonly reported were as follows:

Unusual Fatigue  70.6%

Sleep Disturbance  47.8%

Shortness of Breath  42.1%

Many women never had chest pains.  Only 29.7% reported having chest pain or discomfort prior to their heart attack and 43% reported having no chest pain during any phase of the attack.

The National Institute of Health Study, titled “Women’s Early Warning Symptoms of AMI” (Acute Myocardial Infarction) is one of the first to investigate women’s experience with heart attacks and how this experience differs from men’s.  Recognition of symptoms that provide an early indication of heart attack either imminently or in the near future is critical to forestalling or preventing the disease.

“Symptoms such as indigestion, sleep disturbance, or weakness in the arms, which many of us experience on a daily basis, were recognized by many women in the Study as warning signals for AMI”, says Jean McSweeney, PhD, RN and Principal Investigator of the Study.  Because there were considerable variability in the frequency and severity of symptoms, she added, “We need to know at what point these symptoms help us predict a cardiac event.”

It is clearly evident that women’s symptoms are not as predictable as men’s.  It is important not to miss the earliest possible opportunity to prevent or ease AMI, which is the number cause of death in women and men.  

Addressing your lifestyle holds the greatest promise for lifelong heart health.  If you don’t change your life, your life will change you – and the changes may be regrettable ones.  As we age, a turn for the worse in heart health is far from inevitable and making changes in your life is easy if you take one step at a time.

Antoinette is a fitness consultant specializing in small group senior fitness. Antoinette provides her clients with the knowledge, support and motivation necessary to get to the next level of physical as well as mental, emotional and spiritual fitness.

Call today to make an appointment for your FREE fitness evaluation and consultation by phone.  We can assist in matching you up with a program that is right for you. The number is 908-902-1207.