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received this thru my email ...
an interesting read for us women (and for those with women friends as well!)

Subject: FEMALE HEART ATTACKS
>
>
>
>Heart Attacks in Woman.
>
> 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 completely unexpected 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 s tomach. This was my initial sensation---the only trouble
>was that I hadn't taken a bite of anything since about 5:00 p.m.
>
> "After that had 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 adminstering 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 foot
>rest, 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 with 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 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 at 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? Because 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". Ladies, TIME IS OF THE
>ESSENCE! Do NOT try to drive yourself to the ER--you're a hazard
>to others on the road, and so is 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.) MI's are
>usually caused by long-term stress and inflammation in the body, which
>dumps all 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 you
>care about.