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Symptoms of heart attacks in women
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Andie MacDowell (AP)
Suddenly 50-year-old Nancy notices she's tired. Very tired. She writes it off to her non-stop schedule looking after kids, aging parents, a husband and a career. It was only much later that Nancy learns she had a heart attack.
Heart disease is not just for men. More women die of heart disease than men each year. Heart disease kills six women for every woman who dies of breast cancer.
However, a woman's body responds to heart disease differently than a man's body. A man having a heart attack often describes "an elephant sitting on my chest." A woman is more likely to have vague symptoms like fatigue, sleep disturbances or shortness of breath. Only one out of three women had any chest discomfort a month before their heart attacks, and less than half have any chest symptoms during a heart attack.
Women don't do as well after a heart attack as men. Part of the problem is that women sustain more heart damage before their heart attacks are diagnosed; another factor is that heart disease in women tends to affect the smaller blood vessels to the heart rather than the larger vessels in men.
Here are some symptoms of heart attacks in women:
- Neck, shoulder, upper back or abdominal discomfort
- Shortness of breath
- Nausea or vomiting
- Sweating
- Lightheadedness or dizziness
- Unusual fatigue
If you have sudden onset of any of these symptoms, or that small still voice tells you that there is something different about your heartburn or fatigue, call 911. Better safe than sorry.
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