|
Women are at a higher risk of dying from heart disease than men. Over the years women have taken on habits and lifestyles that were once only for men. Women hold jobs in high stress fields and with trying to balance work and home life, women have fallen into some of the same destructive patterns that men have followed for years.
Women smoke, eat high cholesterol diets, and get insufficient exercise. There are also hormonal causes. Not enough estrogen puts a strain on the heart. Some of the problems with getting early treatment for a heart attack is that women who are having one don't always have the same symptoms as a man would. The symptoms in a woman may be so obscure and vague that she may not even realize she is having a heart attack, and they delay getting care..
The other reason woman are more likely to die from heart disease is that the medical world still doesn't always take a woman's complaints seriously. Many women go in to seek help from a doctor only to be sent home or misdiagnosed. There has been more awareness to this issue recently. Some doctors in the medical field still have the misconception that heart disease is not a problem in women, therefore rule out heart disease before even giving it a consideration. Women need to find doctors that recognize heart disease as a serious threat to a woman's health
The common signs of a heart attack as listed by the American Heart Association are: pressure, fullness, or pain in the chest that lasts more than a few minutes, pain that radiates to the shoulders, neck or arms, and/or lightheadedness, fainting, sweating, nausea or shortness of breath. Some of the less common signs are stomach or abdominal pain that can seem like heartburn but doesn't go away with antacids. Anxiety, weakness, palpitations (rapid heartbeat), cold sweats or going pale.
|
| |
