Rosie O’ Donnell’s recent heart attack, which she wrote about in her blog, is shedding light on women’s heart attack symptoms and the fact that women are not men. Classic men’s heart attack symptoms – chest and arm pain, shortness of breath – may occur in women but women’s symptoms may also be more subtle.
O’ Donnell’s story is telling. She helped a rather large woman get out of her car and, later in the day, felt muscle aches, including pains in her chest. She also felt hot, faint and nauseous. She at first ascribed the pains to the exertion required to get the woman out of the car and then thought she might possibly be suffering a heart attack. An internet search on heart attack symptoms revealed that many of her symptoms matched up. O’ Donnell took a Bayer aspirin and, the following day, visited a cardiologist who found a 99 percent blockage in a coronary artery. A stent was inserted and O’ Donnell is recovering from the surgery. (O’ Donnell was lucky and admits she should have sought medical attention immediately.)
Ask most people to describe someone having a heart attack and they’re likely to describe a man stricken with pain, clutching his chest and falling to the floor. Women, however, can experience heart attack without chest pain or pressure, according to the American Heart Association. Instead, women may experience such subtle symptoms as fatigue, fainting, dizziness, pressure in the upper back and shortness of breath.
Heart disease is the number one killer of American women, yet many of us are unaware of women’s heart attack symptoms and think we are suffering acid reflux or the flu.
Here are the American Heart Association’s Heart Attack Signs in Women
Uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain in the center of your chest. It lasts more than a few minutes, or goes away and comes back.
Pain or discomfort in one of both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach.
Shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort.
Other signs such as breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness.
As with men, women’s most common heart attack symptom is chest pain or discomfort. But women are somewhat more likely than men to experience some of the other common symptoms, particularly shortness of breath, nausea/vomiting and back or jaw pain.
If you have any of these signs, don’t wait more than five minutes before calling for help. Call 9-1-1 and get to a hospital right away.
thank you for sharing this information!! Heart Attacks scare the crap out of me, more so as I age & wonder what the 20+ years of smoking did to my lungs & heart and with quitting 5+ years ago, am I reversing it at all.
xoxo
Many women who have symptoms ignore them (men too, for that matter, my husband included.) Quitting smoking, maintaining a healthy diet and weight, exercising and getting an average of 7 hours per sleep a night go a long way. Even so, illness happens and women are not men. It’s important for us to know our symptoms. Wishing you the best of health, always. xo