What All Women Should Know
The Experience of a Nurse's Heart Attack
In my line of work, I always suspected that the signs of a heart attack were different for men then women. It is very seldom that women would have the same symptoms as men. The mans' warning signs, most of the times, starts in the chest with a very sudden stabbing pain, excessive sweating and pressure in the chest, and suddenly they drop to the ground, as we saw it in films many times.
As for the women....let me tell you my story.
One night at 10.30pm, I was sitting in my armchair very comfortably, my cat in my lap. Then suddenly I had a horrible stomach ache. It was similar like you have a bite from a sandwich and you swallow it without chewing it and you feel like you have to drink, it's like you have swallowed a golf ball and it doesn't move. That was the symptom that I had, except I had not eaten for some time. And this sensation disappeared, only to be followed by rapid hard tapping up and down my spine. When it stopped, the pain and pressure went to my sternum and this funny feeling came right up into my throat. Then I had this incredible pain in my jaw.
That was at the point that I recognized that I am having a heart attack. The phone was next to me and I called the ambulance. I told them that I am having a heart attack, let them know that I am a nurse so they wouldn't waste time asking the symptoms. The dispatcher said that very, very slowly crawl to the front door and unlock it so the ambulance officers can come straight in, they are on the way. I remember only that I managed to unlock the door and the next thing that I remember is waking up in hospital where they had inserted a stent into my aorta.
As a nurse, I would like to warn every woman to be aware of these symptoms. It is very important because women are not aware of these indicators as a sign of a heart attack. More than likely they would just take a painkiller, go to bed and hope, in the morning, the pain had disappeared.
To my fellow 'sisters', perhaps you won't have the exact same experience that I had but if you have ANY of those indicators that I had, please call the ambulance immediately. DO NOT raise the statistics, that shows that female heart attack deaths are several times higher then for men.
Lets be careful and ready! The more of us that know about this, the better chance we have to survive!
Elisabeth (99) and Cynthia (89)
Recent Comments
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Thanks for your story and I'm glad you are not a statistic! I have been a Paramedic for the last 10 years and count recall the number of times I responded to a 911 where the family called for a female family member because she thought it was only indigestion and it wasn't. What if it isn't indigestion, for example? It is always better to be safe than sorry, particularly if you have other health issues that may preclude heart attack or if there is significant family history. And if not, things like that start somewhere so never assume anything! You gals are too important to the people who love you and I wouldn't want to lose any of my WA sisters! Sorry for my speech but you hit on a subject that is very close to home for me. I had to transport my own Mother with the same symptoms and she tried to tell me it was nothing but I was quite firm with her, she was in the hospital for a week, then to rehab. She is now back on her feet but it could have been different. Keep up the good work and bringing excellent content to the WA community and beyond! Your personal experience makes the concept more real to people,it's unfortunate you had to go through that but thank goodness you were on top of it! Thanks so much again for your story and your dedication as a Nurse!
Thanks for sharing, as a nurse myself, I have to be cautious as well, with the symptoms of my clients. Very detailed description you've shared.
I'm so sorry to hear about your terrible ordeal, but thankfully you are still with us to share your story. As a health conscious individual I never grow tired of learning about the human body and how to identify adverse symptoms.
It must be said that signs of a heart attack are often dismissed or not recognised. I hope this post serves as a guideline for women to be mindful of any subtle or unusual symptoms to act immediately instead of ignoring them.
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Thanks for the information. Thats scary. Im glad your ok.