HEART ATTACK
WARNING
for
Women
A heart attack can be a tricky thing—it’s not always obvious. It
can hit suddenly with severe pain. Or it can come on slowly with
only mild discomfort. Women, especially, often experience very
subtle symptoms. It’s not always the “elephant sitting on your
chest” type of pain we’ve all heard about.
DON’T IGNORE SIGNS
If you notice any of these signs and symptoms in yourself or
someone else, call 911 right away:
Chest discomfort
Most heart attacks involve discomfort—
perhaps pressure, squeezing or pain—in the center of the chest.
Sometimes it can be a sense of fullness. The discomfort, which
may be mild or severe, can last longer than a few minutes or go
away and return. However, women may or may not experience
chest discomfort.
Upper body discomfort
This can be felt as pain or an
uncomfortable feeling in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw
or upper stomach area. Women who have had a heart attack
often say this is what they experienced.
Shortness of breath
Some people having a heart attack have
trouble breathing with or without chest pain or before their
chest pain starts.
Other symptoms
You could feel sick to your stomach or vomit
during a heart attack. Or you might break out in a cold sweat,
feel dizzy or become extremely tired.
“Since heart attack warning signs can be subtle in
women, we often ignore them, thinking the symptoms are
due to aging, indigestion or possibly the u,” says Karen
Dynek, MSN, RN, CCRN, cardiac resource nurse for Cardiology/
Cardiac Cath Lab at ValleyCare. “Unfortunately, heart disease is
the number 1 killer of women, so it’s important that we know
the signs and take care of our hearts with proper diet, exercise,
not smoking, limiting alcohol and keeping blood pressure and
cholesterol under control.”
SPEED COUNTS
When you’re having a heart attack, you can’t a ord to
wait very long. The ValleyCare Emergency Cardiac Team
consistently achieves very rapid time in restoring blood ow
to blocked arteries. The faster blood ow is restored, the less
damage there is to your heart.
For information about ValleyCare cardiac services, visit
.
Sources: American Heart Association; National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
Priscilla
Medina
ValleyCare Health System
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