Shortness of breath, nausea, anxiety back or jaw pain. If you have these symptoms – and you are a woman – you may be having a heart attack.
While we’ve all become familiar with the “Hollywood heart attack” during which a man suddenly clutches his chest and immediately falls unconscious, only a portion of victims will experience a heart attack in this way – and women’s symptoms may be significantly different.
“While the most common symptom for any heart attack victim is chest pain and discomfort, women are more likely than men to experience one or more of the other, less obvious symptoms,” said Dr. Nasser Adjei, Interventional Cardiologist, Cardiology Center at Sparks Health System in Fort Smith, Ark. “Women are also less likely to assume their symptoms are heart-attack related, and wait longer to seek help. I tell my patients that every minute matters. Even if you have doubt – call 9-1-1.”
There have been significant advances in heart disease research and treatment, but women are still at a higher risk of dying from heart attacks. The American Heart Association recently issued an important warning about the differences between heart attack signs and their underlying causes in women. Heart attacks in women don’t always feel like the typical chest pain more often experienced by men. Not knowing the symptoms can delay treatment, making heart disease more deadly for women.
Heart disease continues to be the number one killer for women, with more deaths each year than all forms of cancer combined. Women too often sacrifice their health to take care of others.
Awareness campaigns over the past decade have helped improve survival rates for women having heart attacks but much work remains. Talk to your primary care physician about ways you can improve your overall heart health.
Alicia Agent is the Sparks Medical Center Community Relations and Events Manager in Van Buren, Ark.
According to the American Heart Association, some of women are more likely to experience symptoms such as:
• Pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain in the center of the chest that lasts more than a few minutes, or goes away and comes back.
• Pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach.
• Shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort.
• Breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness.
• Unexplained or sudden fatigue – one of the most common symptoms, and the easiest to ignore or misdiagnose;
• Unfamiliar dizziness or light-headedness;
• Unexplained nausea – women are twice as likely as men to experience nausea or vomiting during a heart attack.
