NURSE'S HEART ATTACK EXPERIENCE
>>
>> I am an ER nurse and this is the best description of this event that I
>> have ever heard. Please read, pay attention, and send it on!
>> Diane K. in AZ
>>
>> FEMALE HEART ATTACKS
>> I was aware that female heart attacks are different,
>> but this is the best description I've ever read.
>>
>> Women and heart attacks (Myocardial infarction). Did
>> you know that women rarely have the same dramatic
>> symptoms that men have when experiencing heart attack ..
>> you know, the sudden stabbing pain in the chest, the cold
>> sweat, grabbing the chest & dropping to the floor that we
>> see in the movies. Here is the story of one woman's
>> experience with a heart attack.
>>
>> 'I had a heart attack at about 10 :30 PM with NO prior exertion, NO
>> prior emotional trauma that one would suspect might've brought it on.I
>> was
>> sitting all snugly & warm on a cold evening, with
>> my purring cat in my lap, reading an interesting story
>> my friend had sent me, and actually thinking, 'A-A-h,
>> this is the life, all cozy and warm in my soft, cushy Lazy
>> Boy with my feet propped up.
>>
>> A moment later, I felt that awful sensation of indigestion,
>> when you've been in a hurry and grabbed a bite of sandwich
>> and washed it down with a dash of water, and that hurried
>> bite seems to feel like you've swallowed a golf ball going
>> down the esophagus in slow motion and it is most
>> uncomfortable. You realize you shouldn't have gulped it
>> down so fast and needed to chew it more thoroughly and this
>> time drink a glass of water to hasten its progress down to the
>> stomach. This was my initial sensation--- the only trou ble was
>> that I hadn't taken a bite of anything since about 5:00 p.m.
>>
>> After it seemed to subside, the next sensation was like
>> little squeezing motions that seemed to be racing up my SPINE
>> (hind-sight, it was probably my aorta spasming), gaining speed
>> as they continued racing up and under my sternum (breast bone,
>> where one presses rhythmically when administering CPR).
>>
>> This fascinating process continued on into my throat and
>> branched out into both jaws. 'AHA!! NOW I stopped puzzling
>> about what was happening -- we all have read and/or heard
>> about pain in the jaws being one of the signals of an MI
>> happening, haven't we? I said aloud to myself and the cat,
>> Dear God, I think I'm having a heart attack!
>>
>> I lowered the footrest dumping the cat from my lap, started
>> to take a step and fell on the floor instead. I thought to myself,
>> If this is a heart attack, I shouldn't be walking into the next
>> room where the phone is or anywhere else ... but, on the other
>> hand, if I don't, nobody will know that I need help, and if I
>> wait any longer I may not be able to get up in moment.
>>
>> I pulled myself up wit h the arms of the chair, walked slowly
>> into the next room and dialed the Paramedics .. I told her I
>> thought I was having a heart attack due to the pressure
>> building under the sternum and radiating into my jaws. I didn't
>> feel hysterical or afraid, just stating the facts. She said she
>> was sending the Paramedics over immediately, asked if the
>> front door was near to me, and if so, to unbolt the door and
>> then lie down on the floor where they could see me when they
>> came in.
>>
>> I unlocked the door and then laid down on the floor as instructed and
>> lost consciousness, as I don't remember the medics coming
>> in, their examination, lifting me onto a gurney or getting me
>> into their ambulance, or hearing the call they made to
>> St. Jude ER on the way, but I did briefly awaken when
>> we arrived and saw that the Cardiologist was already
>> there in his surgical blues and cap, helping the medics
>> pull my stretcher out of the ambulance. He was bending
>> over me asking questions (probably something like
>> 'Have you taken any medications? ') but I couldn't make
>> my mind interpret what he was saying, or form an answer,
>> and nodded off again, not waking up until the Cardiologist
>> and partner had already threaded the teeny angiogram
>> balloon up my femoral artery into the aorta and into my
>> heart where they installed 2 side by side stents to hold
>> open my right coronary artery.
>>
>> 'I know it sounds like all my thinking and actions a t home
>> must have taken at least 20-30 minutes before calling the
>> Paramedics, but actually it took perhaps 4-5 minutes
>> before the call, and both the fire station and St. Jude
>> are only minutes away from my home, and my Cardiologist
>> was already to go to the OR in his scrubs and get going
>> on restarting my heart (which had stopped somewhere
>> between my arrival and the procedure) and installing the
>> stents.
>>
>> 'Why have I written all of this to you with so much
>> detail? Beca use I want all of you who are so important
>> in my life to know what I learned first hand.'
>>
>> 1. Be aware that something very different is happening
>> in your body not the usual men's symptoms but
>> inexplicable things happening (until my sternum and
>> jaws got into the act). It is said that many more
>> women than men die of their first (and last) MI
>> because they didn't know they were having one and
>> commonly mistake it as indigestion, take some Maalox
>> or other anti-heartburn preparation and go to bed,
>> hoping they'll feel better in the morning when they
>> wake up ... which doesn't happen. My female friends,
>> your symptoms might not be exactly like mine, so I
>> advise you to call the Paramedics if ANYTHING is
>> unpleasantly happening that you've not felt before.
>> It is better to have a 'false alarm' visitation than to
>> risk your life guessing what it might be!
>>
>> 2. Note that I said 'Call the Paramedics.' And if you can
>> take an asprin. Ladies, TI ME IS OF THE ESSENCE!
>> Do NOT try to drive yourself to the ER - you are a hazard
>> to others on the road.
>> Do NOT have your panicked husband who will be speeding
>> and looking anxiously at what's happening with you instead
>> of the road.
>> Do NOT call your doctor -- he doesn't know where you
>> live and if it's at night you won't reach him anyway, and
>> if it's daytime, his assistants (or answering service) will
>> tell you to call the Paramedics. He doesn't carry the equipment
>> in his car that you need to be saved! The Paramedics do,
>> principally OXYGEN that you need ASAP. Your Dr.
>> will be notified later.
>>
>> 3. Don't assume it couldn't be a heart attack because you have
>> a normal cholesterol count. Research has discovered that a
>> cholesterol elevated reading is rarely the cause of an MI
>> (unless it's unbelievably high and/or accompanied
>> by high blood pressure). MIs are usually caused
>> by long-term stress and inflammation in the
>> body, which dumps a ll sorts of deadly hormones
>> into your system to sludge things up in there.
>> Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep.
>> Let's be careful and be aware. The more we know,
>> the better chance we could survive.
>>
>> A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this mail
>> sends it to 10 people, you can be sure that we'll save
>> at least one life.
>>
>> **Please be a true friend and send this article to all
>> your friends (male & female) you care about!**
