Heart attacks: Often deadly, they can be loud or they can be silent. But how would you know if you are having a heart attack? In the movies, heart attacks are shown to be very dramatic; the person clutches their chest in pain and falls to the ground. However, in real life, heart attacks are often not as dramatic. Being that the treatment and prognosis of heart attacks is time-sensitive, the fact that you can have a heart attack without knowing it makes heart attacks even deadlier. Therefore, it is important that we all know how to spot a heart attack. But this in itself is another problem. The classic heart attack symptoms – chest pain, with pain radiating to the arms, back, upper abdomen and jaw – are often found in men, i.e. women are more likely to have atypical symptoms such as shortness of breath, weakness, and fatigue. Due to the atypical nature of heart attack symptoms in women, women are less likely to seek treatment for heart attacks than men, and even when they do, their symptoms are often dismissed. Different studies have also shown that women receive worse care after heart attacks than men. In fact, heart disease causes more deaths among women than all cancers combined, making it the No. 1 killer of women worldwide! With this stunning revelation, I interviewed 10 women who are heart attack survivors. I spoke with Michelle, Sarah Larlar Fisher, Harley, Chassity Bynum, Tracie, Kai Moche, Lisabeth Cascio Esposito, Dorie Davis, Leanne Simpson, and Kendel Christoff. Michelle was 42 years old when she had her heart attack. It was a widowmaker, a very serious kind of heart attack that causes 100% blockage of the left anterior descending (LAD) artery. Despite this, it would take almost a month for her to receive any help. And it wasn't for lack of trying. I had my heart attack in 2009. Three weeks prior, I had been complaining to my doctor about these severe chest pains I was having that were making it very hard for me to breathe. My doctor kept telling me that I had a severe case of indigestion. Cut to three weeks later, I'm at work eating my lunch, I have an episode. Then, five hours later, I'm projectile vomiting; I still have these severe chest pains and I can barely breathe. I knew immediately that something was terribly wrong with me. I made it to the emergency room and they rushed me into surgery. They told me that I had the widow-maker and that I needed surgery immediately. I could have died at 42. Sarah had her heart attack in 2014, five years after Michelle's. And yet, Sarah too, who was 43 in 2014, would be dismissed by the doctors, just like Michelle had, when she sought for help. The reason for denying her treatment? They said she was ‘too young’ to get a heart attack. I had my heart attack in November 2014 but my symptoms began about two weeks earlier - I had shortness of breath, nausea, back and jaw pain, chest discomfort, and mild flu-like symptoms. I called the emergency department but the doctor told me over the phone that I was too young for a heart attack. I was 43 at the time. Thankfully, my husband is a trained first-aider and he was able to help — he recognized the symptoms and quite literally saved my life. I had to have an ECG done at my doctor's office after which I was taken by an ambulance to the ED. And this was all the same day that I was told I was too young to have a heart attack. I was admitted to hospital and had an emergency angioplasty procedure. My LAD artery was 70-90% blocked with severe stenosis, so stents were fitted. I spent a week in the cardiac unit, and then 16 weeks doing weekly sessions at the local hospital's cardio rehab. Harley had a mild stress heart attack. At first, she thought it was just regular stress, and took medication to calm down. When that didn't do the trick, she took to the internet to look up her symptoms. But all that would have been for nought had the doctors not listened to her. Two days prior to my heart attack on April 5th, I had excruciating lower jaw pain that stretched from ear to ear. The pain lasted for just seconds, and then went away completely. Two days later, I was having heart palpitations all day. I figured it was just stress, took a Xanax, and laid down. Two hours later, the palpitations were still going strong. When I stood up, I was instantly dizzy and nauseous. I thought it might be a heart attack, but my husband is a heart attack survivor too and his symptoms were completely different from what I was experiencing. He'd had left arm pain, nausea, typical chest pain, light-headedness, and sweating. I immediately thought to look up heart attack symptoms for a woman. As soon as I saw the jaw pain, I thought better safe than sorry. I was at first going to lay back down but went to the ER instead. Sure enough, it was a mild stress heart attack. I was in the cath lab the next day; no stents, no blockages, no coronary heart disease. Two weeks later, I was having irregular heartbeats. I went to the doctor and wore a heart monitor. I was having more than double the heartbeats in an hour than normal. I’m now on two medicines to control rapid heartbeat and skips. Chassity and Leanne's heart attacks directly resulted from their pregnancies. Chassity developed peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM), a condition that can develop in some women, especially black American women of which Chassity is one, in the third trimester of pregnancy. Being a black woman, a pregnant black woman, in itself, already puts Chassity in a precarious position as black women, even when adjusted for wealth disparity and education status, are more likely to die during pregnacy/childbirth than white women and other groups. So, Chassity was up against a lot. Thankfully, she survived. I developed PPCM in 2009 when I was pregnant with my son. I was 33 when I had my heart attack, just days after giving birth. I had shortness of breath and a numbness in my left arm. It felt like an elephant literally was sitting on my chest. Imagine that! I’m blessed that my husband of 15 years called 911 because he saved my life. When they got to our home, they informed him that I was having a heart attack and took me to hospital where they found fluid building around my lungs and heart. They took me to the cath lab and I had stents fitted and an implantable cardioverter defribrilator (ICD) implant. I know how badly that whole situation could have gone, and I'm just glad I survived. Now I educate women about PPCM; so many people don't know about it yet it's something that could happen to you when you get pregnant! Leanne, an athlete who was practically perfectly healthy before her heart attack, was diagnosed with pregnacy-induced hypertension (PIH) in 2007. Her pregnancy left her with stress- (physical and environmental) related high blood pressure. Her blood pressure at the time was 209/190. She had to have her son induced as it wasn't safe for her to deliver otherwise. May 16/17th 10pm – 4.38am, I had my first known heart attack. Working with a cardiologist, we moved to determine if that was really my first. I had been doing pilates and yoga that night (I had been feeling too sick for Zumba, as I have issues with polycystic ovarian syndrome - PCOS - and endometriosis and I was having my period). Halfway through my workout, I felt super dizzy, a dizziness and light-headedness that I couldn’t shake with my normal methods. So, I did my cooldown and stood up a little bit and paced. Then I felt like a horse had kicked me in the chest. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t catch my breath. Then I felt a squeezing sensation. Like Braxton-Hicks contraction of the uterus, but in my heart instead. It happened over and over and over again and hurt worse and worse. Then I screamed out when I caught my breath. Now I am recovering. I have a weird new heart rate to get used to. I’m starting to do my workouts again, slowly easing into them. But when my heart hurts and I can feel the burning I cool down and stop. I’m hoping to get back to my Zumba classes soon as we are moving to a new location and that’s my job. I monitor my blood pressure everyday and it’s been back to 120/80 which is amazing. Tracey, Kai, and Lisabeth all had spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD). Whilst anyone can experience SCAD, the condition appears to mostly affect middle-aged women or younger, causing it to be known as the mystery heart attack that affects young women. Tracey had hers nearly two years ago. I experienced a heart attack nearly two years ago. It felt like terrible heartburn running up my left arm and in my back and belly. I worked out three times that day to shake the feeling. Fourteen hours later, I went to Target to get aspirin and tums. I shared my symptoms with the pharmacist who advised me to go to the ER immediately. Thank God for him. ER confirmed I was having a heart attack and it was a whirlwind from there. I had experienced a coronary artery dissection. We do not know what caused my artery to tear. I have a stent but no plaque in my arteries and no form of heart disease. Like Tracey, Kai was also physically fit and had no prior history of heart disease at the time she experienced SCAD. Because I had SCAD, I did not experience the typical heart attack symptoms. I was working out and I experienced nausea and heartburn. My son got me to the hospital in time. However, according to the ECG and X-Ray, I was fine. The doctors were getting ready to release me but another doctor requested blood work and it that showed my Troponin levels were higher than normal. These results meant that I had had a heart attack. When the doctors realized that, they did a cardiac catheterization and the surgeon saw that two arteries had dissected. My LAD artery was the worst of the two. My arteries looked as if a pair of scissors had taken to them. When I woke up in the ICU, I didn’t know what had happened. The whole experience was very confusing for me because I am a physically fit woman, I have always watched what I ate, and I have no family history of heart disease or any other associated risk factors. I am beyond grateful to be here, almost five years later on June 29th. Lisabeth's experience has been much rockier and she is not out of the woods yet. I also have SCAD. I especially have pain in the chest. I have had 5 heart attacks, 4 stents, triple bypass all within these past 6 months. I am hoping to get better soon. Like Michelle and Sarah, Kendel and Dorie also had heart attack symptoms for weeks. Kendel, just 32 at the time, went to the doctor about it but was ignored. She was told that it was just tension and stress, even though she tried to tell them that something was wrong. Even though she had a family history of heart attacks. I survived my heart attack in December 2012. I had been having signs for weeks with neck and shoulder tension and heartburn but my doctor wrote it off as tension and stress. The night of my heart attack, I woke up with nausea and sweating, similar to a stomach flu. I was very pale and sweating through my clothes. My jaw and teeth started to hurt and the heartburn got worse. I started to feel numbness in my left fingers and felt an itchy pain between my shoulders, which were the same signs my mom had with her heart attack. Knowing it's better to be safe than sorry, I went to the ER, and my ECG showed a problem. Within minutes, I was in a cath lab for stenting - I had 100% blockage in my right coronary artery. Since then, I have graduated cardiac rehab and college to become a dietitian to help prevent heart attacks because surviving is tough! I teach people the importance of knowing their numbers and what they can do to prevent heart attacks, especially if they have a family history of heart attacks. I also teach them how to advocate for themselves because you can have all this knowledge but it doesn't matter if you go to the hospital and they don't listen to you. Dorie's heart attack was precipitated by hereditary causes and stress, and she thanks soccer and step aerobics classes for helping her body recover. She's grateful that her fiance took her to the ER and that the doctors did not turn her away or ignore her. I was having a heart attack for two weeks. I first noticed shortness of breath and fatigue while going upstairs. I was having trouble sleeping. I had extreme neck pain that I thought was because I had pulled a muscle as I was still teaching step aerobics two days per week during that time as well. I went home early on Friday feeling awful, thinking I was coming down with a cold. Saturday night was bad and by Sunday morning, my fiancé was insisting on taking me to urgent care because I wanted to wait till Monday to see a doctor. He took me to the emergency instead for some reason and I told them I was not feeling well. They put me on an ECG and from there, they could not undress me fast enough. Before I knew it, I was on a bed being wheeled to the operating room. I was told I was 100% blocked. Two stents later and couple of days in ICU, I was sent home with seven different medicines that should prevent me from having another heart attack. I cannot stress enough to listen to your body. I was told that with my condition, 90% usually do not make it. I was so grateful to be in that 10% and that all the step classes and soccer helped keep me alive as I was relatively healthy. Heredity and stress were the culprits for my heart attack. WHAT TO DO IF YOU SUSPECT YOU'RE HAVING A HEART ATTACK So, what should you do if you suspect you're having a heart attack? Doctors all agree on the better safe than sorry approach, i.e. get checked out anyway. You'd better get checked out and it turns out to not be a heart attack than you not get checked out and it turns out it was a heart attack. Call an ambulance if you can and get to the hospital as soon as possible. Aspirin is an appropriate treatment for a suspected heart attack because it is an anticoagulant i.e. it clears clots, so you can take an aspirin if you suspect you're having a heart attack. If you do take an aspirin, tell the doctors/emergency response team. If you can't take aspirin, for example due to allergies or gastrointestinal bleeding, DON'T take the aspirin. If you have nitroglycerin (prescription only), take it. DON'T take someone else's nitroglycerin as that could put you in more danger. If you're with a person who collapses, begin CPR. If you don't have CPR training, just do chest compressions. It is also important to know the risk factors. Genetics, stress, high blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, lack of exercise, obesity, high blood cholesterol, poor diet, and excessive alcohol intake are amongst the risk factors for heart attacks. All in all, heart attacks can be fatal, but creating awareness improves the recovery rates and prognosis by simple things such as ensuring people know the symptoms, that they can get to the hospital in time, and that they are not dismissed. Emergency numbers in Kenya: Kenya Police Hotlines 999, 112, 911 Fire and Ambulance Services 999 020-2222181/ 020-2222182/ 020-2344599 Kenyatta National Hospital Use these numbers to call: +254203287000 +254203287000 +254709 854000 +254730 643000 +254722 829500/1 020 4243000 020 7244000 020 2726300 -11 Kenyatta National Hospital Disaster management command center: 020 2115953 Labour ward: 020 271151 Referral: +254510510 Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi 3rd Parklands Avenue, Limuru Road, Nairobi, Kenya Phone: +254 (0) 20 366 2000 The Mathare Hospital Embu - Nairobi Hwy, Nairobi, Kenya Tel: +254-202337694 Mobile: +254-721336017 Kenya Red Cross South C, RedCross Road, Off Popo Road P.O. Box. 40712, 00100 Tel: +254 02 3950000 Cell (1): +254 703 037000 Cell (2): +254 722 206958 Cell (3): +254 733 333041 Toll Free HOTLINE: 1199 St. John's Ambulance 0721-225-285 (020)-22-10-000 N.B. St. John's Ambulance offers free evacuations for all emergency and disasters like road crash, fire, collapsed building, and terror attacks and for life-threatening emergency medical conditions e.g. in case of unconsciousness, blocked airway (choking), difficulty breathing and severe bleeding. READ MORE POSTS LIKE THIS ONE
8 Comments
james
8/18/2018 07:47:52 am
Have learned a lot. thanks.
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Yvonne W
8/20/2019 08:12:11 pm
I'm glad you did, James. Thanks, and please share this information widely.
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Yvonne W
8/20/2019 08:11:09 pm
Thanks, and I'm glad you survived, Ruth! 💞
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Mariam
3/29/2019 07:33:25 pm
Wow, this was very educational! I didn't know heart attacks have different symptoms in men than they do in women. Thank you for shedding light on this scary but important topic.
Reply
Yvonne W
8/20/2019 08:09:49 pm
Thank you for reading. Please share widely. Let's create awareness around this issue.
Reply
8/20/2019 03:43:17 pm
This post was very enlightening and a eye opener. I appreciate you sharing and thank g-d those women are still alive to tell their stories. I’m going to share on my facebook page. Have a great week!
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Yvonne W
8/20/2019 08:08:46 pm
Thanks! I really appreciate it. This information should be shared widely.
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