I received the world’s best Valentine’s Day gift from Tieks. All they asked in return is that I consider spreading the word about Heart Health Month (which is February by the way). Coincidentally I was also invited to the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week show “Go Red for Women – The Heart Truth – Red Dress Collection”. During the show they announced the draw jopping statistic that more women die of heart disease than of ALL CANCERS COMBINED.
Really?
According to New York Presbyterian, 1 in 8 women ages 45-64 has heart disease. Make it past 64 and the number goes to 1 in 4.
According to Go Red for Women – a woman dies of a heart attack EVERY MINUTE. That’s 1 in 3 women’s deaths each year.
So here’s my PSA. Take care of yourself. We all put ourselves under too much pressure. But guess what, someone else can drive carpool and someone else can run the benefit. Take time for you. Stress is is a huge factor in heart disease. Huge. So is being overweight. Take care of you first, because without you, nothing else matters.
Here are the symptoms of a female heart attack. Did you know that most women don’t call 9-1-1 themselves? Not because they can’t, but because they don’t think they are having a heart attack.
These are direct from WebMD
These six heart attack symptoms are common in women:
Chest pain or discomfort. Chest pain is the most common heart attack symptom, but some women may experience it differently than men. It may feel like a squeezing or fullness, and the pain can be anywhere in the chest, not just on the left side. It’s usually “truly uncomfortable” during a heart attack, says cardiologist Rita Redberg, MD, director of Women’s Cardiovascular Services at the University of California, San Francisco. “It feels like a vise being tightened.”
Pain in your arm(s), back, neck, or jaw. This type of pain is more common in women than in men. It may confuse women who expect their pain to be focused on their chest and left arm, not their back or jaw. The pain can be gradual or sudden, and it may wax and wane before becoming intense. If you’re asleep, it may wake you up. You should report any “not typical or unexplained” symptoms in any part of your body above your waist to your doctor or other health care provider, says cardiologist C. Noel Bairey Merz, MD, director of the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Stomach pain. Sometimes people mistake stomach pain that signals a heart attack with heartburn, the flu, or a stomach ulcer. Other times, women experience severe abdominal pressure that feels like an elephant sitting on your stomach, says cardiologist Nieca Goldberg, MD, medical director of the Joan H. Tisch Center for Women’s Health at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York.
Shortness of breath, nausea, or lightheadedness. If you’re having trouble breathing for no apparent reason, you could be having a heart attack, especially if you’re also having one or more other symptoms. “It can feel like you have run a marathon, but you didn’t make a move,” Goldberg says.
Sweating. Breaking out in a nervous, cold sweat is common among women who are having a heart attack. It will feel more like stress-related sweating than perspiration from exercising or spending time outside in the heat. “Get it checked out” if you don’t typically sweat like that and there is no other reason for it, such as heat or hot flashes, Bairey Merz says.
Fatigue. Some women who have heart attacks feel extremely tired, even if they’ve been sitting still for a while or haven’t moved much. “Patients often complain of a tiredness in the chest,” Goldberg says. “They say that they can’t do simple activities, like walk to the bathroom.”
If you haven’t seen this video starring Elizabeth Banks having “just a little heart attack”, it’s worth a watch.
Do you see yourself in it? I know I do. I’m writing this from an airport waiting area. I need to take care of myself too. So this month I’m getting a check up and finding out what my risk factors are. How about you?