[Wellness] Silent Symptoms of heart Disease

["Karen Patterson" <Patterson@womens-wellness.com>]

Many doctors still consider coronary artery disease/ coronary heart disease
essentially  a narrowing of heart arteries due to buildup of fatty deposits
called plaques mostly a concern for men.  YET it's the No 1 cause of death
for Americans of both genders, eventually afflicting one-third of women and
nearly half of men, and killing in similar numbers (255,000 American women
lose their lives to CAD each year, compared with 261,000 men)  In many
cases, heart attack is the first symptom of heart disease that's been
developing for decades.

Yet symptoms in women are still poorly understood and often go unrecognized
and untreated. "Women's symptoms are definitely more likely to be missed or
misinterpreted than those of men," says marianne Legato, M.D., Professor of
clinical medicine at Columbia Univ College of Physicians and Surgeouns.  She
is also the founder and director of the Partnership for Gender-Specific
Medicine at Columbia Univ in NY City.  "Significant numbers of physicians
still believe women are more likely to die of breast cancer than
cardiovascular illness and consider heart disease a man's province"

The typical woman is no more enlightened.  Only 9% of women ages 45 to 64
name heart disease as the condition they most fear--while 61 percent
consider breast cancer the most dangerous threat to their health, according
to a Sept 2002 report from the NIH.  In reality, heart attacks kill six
times as many women as breast cancer does. And a woman's chances of dying of
cardiovasular disease including heart attack and stroke are even greater.
CVD kills 1 in 2.4 women, compared with 1 in 29 for breast cancer.  Indeed,
CVD claims more women's lives each year than all forms of cancer combined.

WHY DON'T WOMEN GET BETTER CARDIAC CARE?  First of all, the warning signs
may be missed because heart disease symptoms are subtler in women than in
men. A 2002 study at Univ of Cal found that of 721 men and women treated in
the ER for heart attack, 58 presented with chest, arm, shoulder, neck or jaw
pain, while only 41 % of women had any pain at all. Other research shows
that during a heart attack, women have a higher rate of so-called atypical
symptoms, such as nausea, unusual fatigue or weakness, dissiness, heart
palpitations, a cold sweat or indigestion or gas-like pain.

I am following my own advice and setting up an appointment to have my heart
reviewed. I have always thought they I would die young of a heart attack
since both my dad and his mother died in their early 50's.  Last year my 36
year old brother had to have both a pace maker and defibrillator put in
after a severe heart attack.  AND with all of the chemo and radiation I have
had it just has to be done.  I have put it off because 4 doctor's already in
my life seems enough, but I just have to add one more and I'm calling
tomorrow.  I'll send more heart information out next week.

My best for long wonderful wellness,
Karen Patterson, Founder of Womens-Wellness.com and a breast cancer survivor

Information  Ladies home Journal, Feb 2004



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