Women Have Different Warning Signs for Heart Disease than Men Do

This month, we are celebrating AccentHealth's 100th show and what we hope have been one hundred shows full of useful health information for you. One topic we have talked a lot about on the show is heart disease. February is American Heart Month—and heart disease is the number one killer of both men and women in the United States, but many women don't realize that the symptoms of heart disease differ between the sexes.

June Dobbs Butts exercises at least five times a week, eats healthfully, and sees her doctor on a regular basis, but less than a year ago, she was gravely ill. She says she was always exhausted, had a terrible sore throat that she couldn't shake, would wake up at night coughing and feeling nauseous, and feared for her life because she couldn't breath. After multiple visits to the emergency room and to her internist showed nothing seemed to be wrong, June went for an echocardiogram—and she was shocked by what she found out.

Her doctor, Dr. Laurence Sperling, an Atlanta cardiologist, told her that she had four arteries that were blocked—two at 80% and two at 90%. Even more startling, June had suffered a heart attack and she didn't even know it. According to Dr. Sperling, "In women, it appears that they often don't have the classic or typical symptoms that most doctors are looking for when it comes to a heart attack or angina, which is chest discomfort from the heart."

The common symptoms of a heart attack for men include chest pains, but only 30% of women have that same warning sign. For many women, symptoms can be much different and often times go unnoticed. In a study published in the American Heart Association's Journal Circulation, researchers found unusual fatigue or trouble sleeping were two of the most common warning signs in women that they were about to have a heart attack. According to the study, 95% of the women reported those early warning signs more than a month before having a heart attack.

The most common early warning signs for women are:

* Unusual fatigue
* Sleep disturbance
* Shortness of breath
* Indigestion
* Anxiety

When experiencing a heart attack, the women reported acute symptoms of:

* Shortness of breath
* Weakness
* Unusual fatigue
* Cold sweats
* Dizziness

Dr. Sperling cautions that sometimes with women, those signs can be misread. "How do you know if you're a little short of breath… does that mean that you're going to have a heart attack in a month or that you're just out of shape? Or if you are tired… is it just because you have three kids and you're driving them all around town and you stayed up until two in the morning?"

Health experts say that if you don't feel like your usual self, or even your usual self at some level of fatigue, you need to talk with your doctor immediately. Dr. Sperling adds, "We need to do a better job of teaching our future doctors that patients come to the office with symptoms that often are very different from what you read in a textbook or hear in your lecture."

After heart bypass surgery, June is doing remarkably well. She says that she feels younger, happier, and so much more interested in life.

For more information on heart disease and what you can do to prevent it, talk to your health care provider. You can also log onto the American Heart Association's web site.

From: http://www.accenthealth.com/features/200402a/