Heart Disease in America
Each year, over a million Americans are diagnosed with heart disease. About half of them will have a heart attack. For the majority of those with heart disease, the causes are rooted in family history, poor diet choices, sedentary living, cigarette smoking or a combination of all of these.
Misunderstood Concepts About Heart Disease
Despite an abundance of educational material in print, on television and on the Internet, heart disease remains one of the most misunderstood diseases affecting adults. Studies have shown that young people in their early 20s already have early signs of developing coronary artery disease. Many people also think that heart disease rarely affects women. In fact, half of the people who die each year from a heart attack are women.
Women's Symptoms of a Heart Attack
One of the reasons why many women believe that they are not as likely as men to suffer from a heart attack is because their disease is often misdiagnosed or missed completely. Unlike men, who suffer from crushing pressure to the chest and extreme pain in the left arm and jaw, many women experience "less serious" symptoms that are often associated with other diseases like indigestion or the flu. Instead of chest pressure, women may experience moderate lack of energy, sweating and pain in their back.
Other Symptoms
Another reason why a woman's heart attack may go undiagnosed is because they don't often match men's symptoms, which are much more well known. Unlike men, women can experience stomach pain, shortness of breath, nausea, light-headedness, nervousness, anxiety, heart palpitations and cold sweats. Many of these symptoms are often associated with other female-related conditions. In addition, women experience heart attacks approximately 10 years later than men.
Missed Diagnoses
Many women don't get the urgent care they need because either they or their doctors fail to recognize their unique symptoms of a heart attack. Women can often go weeks or months with strange, unexplained symptoms like a pain in their back or underneath their jaw. Many women's heart attack symptoms go ignored because the woman having the heart attack may think it's "all in her head."
