All the Ladies Out There!

 
This posting is for all the ladies – well, the gentlemen can read on if they feel they must.

Ladies – do you know that a heart attack can present differently in a woman than it does in a man?

Would you recognize any of the atypical symptoms if you saw them?

Would you recognize any of the atypical symptoms if they were happening to you?

To all of the above – my answer is “I do”.*

And have, since my type II diabetes diagnosis (along with my paternal family history) increased my chances of experiencing a cardiac episode - as my family doctor so euphemistically phrased it many years ago.

On the morning of October 23, 2017, while sitting in my very own living room, minding my very own business, I experienced what I am still describing as a large patch of warm pressure on my upper right chest.  Before I could form a coherent thought or begin to mentally assess exactly what was happening to me, the sensation faded.

Only to “reappear” almost immediately on the right side of my neck, and fade away almost as quickly.

I was in my doctor’s office so fast on Monday morning my shadow’s feet never touched the ground.

After assuring me that I had acted correctly by getting into the office as quickly as I did, my doctor ordered a standard stress test – the one where the technician hooks you up to 10 cardiac leads (I peeled exactly 10 cardiac patches off of places on my body that really, only a licensed medial professional should know about) and makes you run on a tread mill that increases in speed and pitch until you either beg for mercy or drop dead from the aforementioned cardiac incident.

I did not drop dead from the aforementioned heart attack, but neither did I pass with flying colours.

Detecting an “anomaly” on my ECG, the cardiologist monitoring the procedure suggested we “step-up” the testing a notch with a “nuclear imaging stress test”. 

Basically, as miserable and tortuous as a regular stress test except you spend a lot of time waiting around for a nuclear isotope to circulate through your blood stream to your heart so an image of the blood flow in your heart, while it is at rest, can be taken. 

Then you wait around some more until it’s time for you to get back onto the tread mill – where the technician hooks you up (again) to 10 cardiac leads and makes you run on a tread mill that increases in speed and pitch.

Only this time you don’t get to beg for mercy.  You have to keep running until your heart rate reaches some pre-determined number known only to the technician and never shared with you.  When that magic heart rate number is reached, then and only then, are you injected with a second dose of nuclear isotope and told to run for another 60 seconds.

As a reward if you survive, you get to wait around some more while the isotope fully circulates through your bloodstream and heart.  Then a second image of your heart, “at work”, is taken.

Oh, and did I mention that in the 24 hours preceding this test, you can’t have any caffeine!  No chocolate chip cookies with afternoon tea, no CoCo Puffs for breakfast, no coffee or tea at all.

Not even de-caffeinated tea or coffee.

So while you’re lying there on the imaging table in your ever so fashionable hospital gown (open in the front so all of the cardiac leads can be attached to your skin ever so easily) wondering if a heart attack would really be worse than a caffeine-withdrawal headache, the CT technician announces she’s just going to check that the image that has just been taken is …. “okay”. 

Since this is supposed to be a family-friendly blog, I cannot tell you exactly what was going through my caffeine-starved brain at the thought that I might have to do the test all over again.

Thankfully, all of my images on this particular day, with this particular test, were “okay” and would be forwarded to the cardiologist who would give me the results in five days or so.

Well, more testing and poking and prodding followed over the fall and winter (I’ll tell you all about it later), but the bottom line – this morning my cardiologist gave me a clean bill of health.

So I am free to resume my regularly scheduled, daily activities!!!

Yeah me!!!

But I’m not posting this in a feeble or transparent attempt to garner sympathy or collective gasps of “oh, my God!”

I am posting this so as to be the subject of gossip!

Gossip about the atypical heart attack symptoms women may experience, about the effects of untreated diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol on the veins and arteries of the heart. 

Gossip about the fact we all really should eat a little better and get a little more exercise.

And if my name should be mentioned, well, what girl doesn’t like a little bit a gossip!

 

 

*WebMD.com - 6 Heart Attack Symptoms Common in Women

 

1)      Chest pain or discomfort – may feel like squeezing or fullness anywhere in the chest.

2)      Pain in arms, back, neck or jaw

3)      Stomach pain

4)      Shortness of breath, nausea or lightheadedness

5)      Sweating – a nervous a cold sweat is common

6)      Fatigue