women's heart symptoms  
 

Women's Heart Symptoms
By Bobby Gill

Introduction

Women's Heart Symptoms

Heart disease is a leading killer for both sexes. Heart disease remains the number one killer of both men and women. Heart attacks can start slowly with symptoms that can be mistaken for something else, and gradually get worse. Heart attacks often involve pain in the upper body or chest. Recent studies show that women's heart symptoms are more likely to be blamed on stress which is not the case when compared to men. Women's heart symptoms are not as closely documented as men's symptoms and this could be because their angina or chest pain are different. Women's heart symptoms are often not as centralized in the chest but spread out more. A recent study found that the standard test for assessing coronary artery disease may not spot the more diffuse buildup of plaques that often forms in the smaller coronary arteries of women's hearts. Women's smaller coronary arteries are more easily blocked by the fatty debris that causes heart attacks, and by blood platelets made sticky by nicotine.

Heart attacks can commonly cause pain in other parts of the upper body such as:

pain or numbness and tingling in one or both arms

pain that radiates down the arm

stomach pain back pain

neck pain

jaw pain

Heart attacks can cause more unexpected symptoms of which a patient needs to be aware. Heart disease usually appears in women about 10 years later than in men. In contradiction, a large number of heart attack deaths in women still occur before age 45. Heart attacks under age 55 make up only a small portion of all heart attacks, but the women in the study all had several risk factors, including family history, high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity, or were currently smokers. Heart attacks are often more severe in women. Heart attacks are not always fast in that they can occur over hours. Heart attacks are not as violent in women. Heart rate monitors aren't a bad investment but they are used more for keeping track of your heart rate during a workout than monitoring your heart.

Women's heart attack symptoms are not as predictable. Some Women do not go to the doctor because they care for others and don’t want leave them by themselves. Women are feeling more stressed out and feeling it more than men Women’s heart symptoms are still overlooked because many women and their doctors don’t recognize the subtle signs. Women tend to exhibit less typical symptoms than do men. Women fail to attend rehabilitation following a cardiac event than do men. Women wait longer to call for help when having a heart attack and reach a hospital later than men - often too late to be eligible for certain heart-saving procedures. Women and minorities have experienced the runaround from their health plan.

Women can get the classic central chest pain going up into the jaw or into the left shoulder or arm. Women who do see a doctor can be sent away several times. Then it's too late and they have a full-blown heart attack.

Symptoms

Women's hearat symptoms may go unnoticed when there is another disease present. Heart attack symptoms typically include sudden, crushing chest pain, nausea, and sweating. Symptoms of a heart attack include pain and pressure in the chest, which often spread to the shoulder, arm, and neck. Symptoms of a heart attack may not be that extreme. Symptoms can include pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach. Women tend to feel pain in other areas, the jawline, upper back, shoulders, neck and abdominal area. Women are also more likely to experience extreme fatigue.


 
 
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
   

 

 

 

 

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