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"Some women don't have typical chest pains or pain down the left arm when they are having a heart attack. Women's symptoms for heart disease are different. We must inform women of this so they know to seek further care".
That was the message WHF received from a concerned husband who called Women's Heart Foundation in Spring 1994 after learning that his 55- year-old wife was seriously ill with heart disease.
Mr. Michaels (not his real name) moved to New jersey with a job transfer. He and his wife, Joan, both held executive positions while living in Florida. Since relocating here one year ago, many of the health problems his wife had been complaining of have finally come to light.
Joan had dizziness and light-headedness for years", Mr. Michaels said. "It was such a vague symptom that her doctors thought she was just experiencing anxiety. They called it 'PMS' and prescribed a variety of pills to combat the symptoms. She got progressively weaker over a 3- year period.
Then, one doctor ordered an echocardiogram and found an abnormal reading. A stress thalium was ordered, and finally, the telling cardiac catheterization. That' when we realized how sick she was.
"My wife underwent quadruple bypass surgery at Deborah Heart and Lung Center in Browns Mills 6 months ago. It was during that admission that they discovered she had type II Diabetes. Although she did not require insulin, her healing was impaired and she developed complications after the surgery with a staph infection of the sternum. She got over that problem but things are still not going well.
Her heart was so severely damaged that she now has no endurance. At least they improved the circulation to avert further damage to the heart muscle, but it all happened too late. The doctors told me that because the female physiology is different, women experience heart disease differently and often have dizziness with nausea and weakness as signs of a heart attack.
After 35 years, my wife finally quit smoking. Smoking was the worst contributing factor to her heart disease. I love my wife. I wish the doctors had realized her symptoms of dizziness and weakness were related to her heart. She was treated for so many years for anxiety, and it was her heart".
-ba
Editor's note: This article originally appeared in WHF's Fall 1996 newsletter. The article helped to launch several awareness campaigns about how heart disease symptoms present differently in many women. Mr. Michaels called WHF several month after the story went to press and reported that his wife was doing considerably better since completing a cardiac rehabilitation program and that she has even been able to return to work part-time.
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©1999-2000; updates: 2002, 2004, 2005, 2007 Women's Heart Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use prohibited. The information contained in this Women's Heart Foundation (WHF) Web site is not a substitute for medical advice or treatment, and WHF recommends consultation with your doctor or health care professional. |