NURSE'S HEART ATTACK EXPERIENCE
This author is an ER nurse in the USA, and this is the best description
of this event that I have ever heard. Please read, pay attention, and
send it on!
FEMALE HEART ATTACKS
I was aware that female heart attacks are different, but this is the
best description I've ever read.
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 heart attack at about 10:30pm 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 cosy 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 5:00p.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 my aorta spasming), gaining speed as they continued racing up
and under my sternum (breast bone, where one presses rhythmically when
administering 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 footrest 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 dialled the Paramedics (In Australia - dial 000) I told
the operator that 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 unlocked the door and 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 the hospital ER on the way,
but I did briefly awaken when we arrived and saw that the Cardiologist
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 the hospital is 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
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 000.' And if you can take an aspirin.
Ladies, TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE! Do NOT try to drive yourself to the
hospital 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 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 000. 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 Doctor 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). 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. 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.
thanks, Bodak......