My ex sent this article to me this morning, and I found it quite interesting. I knew that womens symptoms were different then mens symptons, but how true is this article????
TAKE TIME TO READ!
I've meant to send this to my women friends to warn them that it's true that women rarely have the same dramatic symptoms that men have when experiencing a 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.
Having had a completely unexpected heart attack about 10:30 p.m. with NO prior exertion, NO prior emotional trauma that one would suspect might've brought it on, it was this past April,'06, about 1-1/2 hours after I'd spent a pleasant 2 hrs. rehearsing with the Note-a-Belles.
I was sitting all snuggly & 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 cozy 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, which doesn't do much good, as your esophagus and throat muscles are in spasm and it hurts to swallow. This was my initial sensation---the only trouble was that I hadn'taken a bite of anything since about 5:00 p.m. After that had 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 a heart attack 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 a moment."
I pulled myself up with the arms of the chair, walked slowly into the next room and dialed the paramedics. I guess when one reaches them, your address automatically flashes on a screen, as the operator verified my address immediately and asked my symptoms. I told her 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, ma'm. 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. No, I didn't take an aspirin, as I'm allergic to it, but I did take a 100 mg magnesium oxide capsule...which bottle I keep handily in reach on the kitchen counter...which is a small detour on my way to the front door...with about a 3/4 glass of water to get it dissolving ASAP into my bloodstream.
Magnesium relaxes blood vessels as it dissolves to get them expanded to let blood get through the constriction of the vessels. I 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 St. Jude 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 two side-by-side stents to hold open my right coronary artery and now was being taken into the CCU, and looking up at the three anxious faces of Karen, Mark, and Wendy. Since I'd been a patient at St. Jude in 2002 for my TIA treatment, they had my emergency info in their system and had called my kids. I spent two days in CCU and two in general ward, then was discharged.
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 both the fire station and St. Jude are 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 firsthand, as a Certified Medical Back-Office Assistant in Internal Medicine Clinics, and as one who has lived through a heart attack due to:
1. Being aware that something very different was happening in my 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 Maalox or other 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 the Paramedics," Ladies. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE! Do NOT try to drive yourself to the ER. You're a hazard to others on the road, and so is your panicked husband/friend who will be speeding and looking anxiously at what's happening with you instead of the road, and so are your kids or friends a hazard as well. As sure as I sit here, they will get the attention of a cop who will pull you over for speeding--more wasted time.
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 the Paramedics. 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 Dr. will be notified later.
3. Don't assume it couldn't be a heart attack because you have a normal cholesterol count -- I did, and do, too. 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.) MI's 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 (and, of course, family genetics can be a factor. I qualify for the latter, and the years 2005 and 2006 have been the most stressful of my life since Jack died in 1981.)
4. Read on for the e-mail I received today that prompted my above lecture to you:
SUBJECT: Drinking ice water at mealtime (which I've always done until now.) Noting neither Urban Legions nor Snopes has a anything to say about this one, it must be true. Interesting, if you've read it before, re-read it. It may save your life. Send it to your friends and family. It may save their lives....
This is a very good article. Not only about the warm water after your meal, but about ladies and their heart attacks. This makes sense...the Chinese and Japanese drink hot tea with their meals...not cold water...maybe it is time we adopt their drinking habit while eating!!!
Nothing to lose--everything to gain...
For those who like to drink cold water, this article is applicable to you. It is nice to have a cup of cold drink after a meal However, the cold water will solidify the oily stuff that you have just consumed. It will slow down the digestion. Once this "sludge" reacts with the stomach's hydrochloric acid, it will break down and be absorbed by the intestine faster than the solid food. It will line the intestine. Very soon, this will turn into fats and lead to cancer. It is best to drink hot soup or warm water after a meal. (Make it green tea--a great antioxidant!)
A serious note about heart attacks: Women should know that not every heart attack symptom is going to be the left arm hurting. Be aware of intense pain in the jaw line, or even pressure there and under sternum, or "indigestion" symptoms, especially if you haven't eaten in several hours.You may never have the first chest pain during the course of a heart attack, but heaviness /pressure under the sternum is common. Nausea and intense sweating are also common symptoms, but not necessarily in the women. 60% of people who have heart attacks while they are asleep do not wake up.
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.
__________________ God is and all is well
~John Greenleaf Whittier~
just me, it is a valuable article. As I have had experience of something similar, I can vouch for it. Spine pain, jaw pain and collapse are common symptoms.
Thanks for posting this. I shall spread it around other forums now!
I think we should also be aware of the self-applied first aid in a heart attack which has been passed around in the past couple of years or so: cough.
Apparently, coughing acts as a sort of emergency cardiac massage.
I don't know how effective it would be, but it's worth knowing. Coughing could force blood into and through partially blocked vessels of the heart and thus, be a self-applied first aid when one thinks he or she is having a heart attack.
Thank you both very much for the info... I have an article that I cut out of the paper that said women have different symptoms, but they didnt describe it as well as this....But you always have alot of stories on the internet, its hard to tell what is truth.
Gerry, I had heard that the coughing would help, and have wondered... Also wonder if the conversation on the other board about taking the cayenne pepper would actually help. Since I am so heavy, and in the past have been under alot of stress, it does concern me.
Speaking of cayenne, let's revisit this breakthrough use of capsaicin:
Quote:
"Then we had the biggest shock of our lives," Dr. Dosch said. Almost immediately, the islets began producing insulin normally "It was a shock ? really out of left field, because nothing in the literature was saying anything about this."
It turns out the nerves secrete neuropeptides that are instrumental in the proper functioning of the islets. Further study by the team, which also involved the University of Calgary and the Jackson Laboratory in Maine, found that the nerves in diabetic mice were releasing too little of the neuropeptides, resulting in a "vicious cycle" of stress on the islets.
So next they injected the neuropeptide "substance P" in the pancreases of diabetic mice, a demanding task given the tiny size of the rodent organs. The results were dramatic.
The islet inflammation cleared up and the diabetes was gone. Some have remained in that state for as long as four months, with just one injection.
They also discovered that their treatments curbed the insulin resistance that is the hallmark of Type 2 diabetes, and that insulin resistance is a major factor in Type 1 diabetes, suggesting the two illnesses are quite similar. NationalPost
wow, actually JC and Xania, both your articles lead to the possibility of me experimenting alot.... I wonder if I drank the cayenne tea on a daily basis, if it would help with my weight loss problems. I also wonder, If I take my vitamins at the same time that I am drinking this cayenne tea, if it will help the nutrients to do what they need to do faster... That would be a concept... so would it help Mike on his journey to beat that cancer demon??? Interesting information!
Well then start posting some recipes Mr Gerry!!! I need some spicy food. And since I started the atkins induction part of the diet this week, I sure would appreciate some no carb recipes with cayenne in it!!!!
I tried to find it w/no success, but I remember when CPR coughing was running all over the net.
Finally it became so prolific, even mainstream medicine addressed it on several of the national stations.
Again, I could not find it in any of the sources I remember hearing it from, but I did find this that explains it much better than I.
Rest assured this is not one of my medical resources, but when I was not able to find what I was looking for and I feared I was 'loosing it' AGAIN, I needed to find 'something' to reassure myself I was not imagining it.
Well then start posting some recipes Mr Gerry!!! I need some spicy food. And since I started the atkins induction part of the diet this week, I sure would appreciate some no carb recipes with cayenne in it!!!!
My mistake. Actually, while there are lots of possible recipes for using cayenne pepper, we just use it as one would use ketchup, or even salt. :wink: It's an acquired taste. And when one is used to it, one just puts it in everything s/he eats. These peppers can simply be added to any recipe of fish, meats, or poultry.
See those "hot sauces" around in restaurants or pizza parlors? Well, why not bathing what you're eating with it? People hardly touch this "free" item, but we sure can use a whole bottle of it in our meals.
In a region in the Philippines, they have these raw peppers served in saucers in almost every meal, and one just picks them up and bites off them as they eat along. The same region is known for its use of coconut milk in a lot of their recipes as well. And this is a good combination. Many people who are not used to the "hotness" of these peppers think that they could douse it with water. In fact, the hotness is most effectively "doused" with fat or oils, and coconut milk is a good source for that.
When I was in the US, my daughter bought a big jar of jalapenos, and we just dipped into that jar and got pieces to eat along with our meals. No need for any formal recipes, although I'm sure there would be some around.
Is it for or against? It claims the status is "false" and yet points out that it can be used "with medical supervision." And it never shows how the procedure could "cause death." Unless they meant dying because of no aspirin.
Well, as I do now, whenever there's a controversy, look at the principle. A cough, voluntary or otherwise, first increases pressure to the thoracic cavity and then releases it when the air is pushed out. So how different is that from externally applied CPR -- palms apply pressure on chest and then release it? Shouldn't it be obvious to anyone that they're the same?
The article seems to hint that one would be better off with some aspirin on hand, or maybe even nitroglycerin (although it did not mention it). But that's no option when one is alone without these medical props. Me, I'd rather cough. It's a lot cheaper, too, and could be instantly applied. :wink: Maybe some people out there just want to patent the technic to get more of our dollars. 8)
My own take in all this: a myocardial infarction/heart attack, to me, is not something that occurs in an instant. Tissues can last long without oxygen. Therefore, the way I see it, when a heart attack occurs, the heart muscles have long been without enough oxygen. The attack occurs only when it's "been too long" that they were going without enough oxygen. So I would think that a good preventive is to make sure we're always breathing enough. The act of breathing itself would have its effects in our autonomic nervous system, relaxing our mind and most likely relaxing our blood vessels, including those of our heart. 8)
So in addition to the cough technic, I would recommend that if someone feels a heart attack is imminent or occurring, s/he should take deep breaths. The inhalation would suck in blood into the thoracic cavity and dilate the blood vessels there (again, including those of the heart). A forceful exhalation (cough?) after a deep inhalation, could be helpful, too. But that's just my way of seeing things.
Another thing: rather than take aspirin during a heart attack, I would recommend vitamin E. It acts one step ahead of aspirin as far as clot formation is concerned. :wink:
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Heart attack info for women.. How true is this
, I needed to find 'something' to reassure myself I was not imagining it.
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