Radio Shows | Not All Heart Attacks are the Same | mp3 … wma … wav

Thanks to a recent push to educate the public, most of us know the number one killer of women is heart disease. Yet, women with severe heart attacks are more likely to die in a hospital than men because their symptoms are not taken seriously.

Studies show women are less likely to receive essential procedures and medicines and it takes longer to get them. That's because health professionals were not trained to recognize the different symptoms between men and women before and during a heart attack.

Most of us know a man's typical symptoms. He clutches his chest and writhes in pain. For men, heart attacks often involve discomfort in the center of the chest. It can feel like uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain.

For women, the symptoms are not as predictable and they range. Just before a heart attack a woman can have unusual fatigue, sleep disturbances, shortness of breath and even indigestion and anxiety. Major symptoms during a heart attack include shortness of breath, weakness, unusual fatigue, cold sweat and dizziness.

It's important to know that fewer than 30% of women report having chest pain or discomfort prior to a heart attack and 43% had no chest pain during one. Yet chest pain is what health professionals typically look for which is why women may not properly diagnosed.

In a large study of heart attacks of men and women, about the same number of men and women died in hospitals until they looked at the one third that were major heart attacks.

There, about ten percent of women died from them compared with just six percent of men. It's important that doctors and family members learn to recognize heart attacks in women and treat them aggressively.

If you suspect you're having a heart attack, call 911 immediately. Don't waste time diagnosing yourself.

Click here to email this page to a friend.