With October as breast cancer awareness month it’s good to know heart disease kills more women than all forms of cancer. EVERY PATIENT must be his or her own health advocate.
The fight against breast cancer, especially, has gained a national platform because of savvy promotion.
The same efforts need to be made to highlight the dangerous — and often puzzling — symptoms of heart disease.
Heart attacks are particularly difficult to diagnose in women because their symptoms are the polar opposite as to how men experience heart attacks. For most men, a heart attack presents itself with a gripping pain in the chest or shoulder, not unlike that portrayed on a Hollywood screen.
For women, nausea is a frequent sign. Or a slight fever. Even diarrhea. In other words, flu-like symptoms, which can also, but not necessarily, be accompanied by a tightness in the chest. Jaw pain can also be a sign. Or that of the neck or shoulder. Or insomnia, or conversely, unaccustomed fatigue. Basically, any significant difference in how you feel from your nose to your pelvis could be signalling a heart attack.
It wasn’t until recently that medical studies began including women. Even now, the standard for practicing medicine is primarily according to men’s health, not women’s.
And because of the myriad ways heart disease may present itself in women, it’s no wonder they were frequently prescribed anti-depressants when they complained of such “off” feelings, instead of investigating a link to heart disease.
Male physicians have also been slow to recognize the physiological differences between a male and female heart, despite the stastictic that more women than men die of heart attacks.
Perhaps because more women are entering the field of medicine more studies are including women.
The smoking gun for cardiovascular disease is a change of heart — both physically and mentally — signalling the clockwork is beating at a different pace.
The best defense is an offense. Read up on heart disease. Be attune to changes in how you feel and don’t ignore warning signs.
— Susan Lynn
Women, take heart
