by D. P. Noe

Created on: October 04, 2008   Last Updated: April 18, 2012

If this article can save one woman from dying from a heart attack, this article is worth its weight in gold. Every woman needs to arm herself with  what the signs of a heart attack are and an awareness that the signs are often different from their male counterpart. All women need to understand that the signs of a heart attack for a female can be very different than what a typical male having a heart attack experiences. It is important to recognize that not all heart attacks come on suddenly, often a heart attack can start out slowly with mild pain symptoms. Many women experience symptoms that are not chest pain related. A woman may complain of shortness of breath, nausea and vomiting and back and jaw pain.Many females only of a complaint of unusual fatigue and just not feeling right.

A few years ago when a female walked in the ER with complaints of pain, they were often given some pills to treat the pain and sent home. Many of these women were actually in the midst of having a heart attack, but their pain was dismissed as not related to their heart. Some of these women died, but now it is a brand new day when it comes to treating the female patient and her symptoms are taken much more seriously.

The attitude towards females and heart disease has significantly improved over the last few years. When a woman comes to the ER with complaints of pain or not feeling well, tests are done to rule out any heart problems. There is now an awareness that women who are having a heart attack may have different symptoms. Men will often come to the ER complaining of stabbing chest pain, appear anxious and thrashing all over the cart and be in a cold sweat. Females may simply state that they just do not feel well or complain of back or shoulder pain. Now because of the increased awareness by physicians about women and heart disease, woman are not being sent home without being assessed for having a problem with their heart.

Females experiencing a heart attack are often aware that something is not right and often they choose to stay home thinking they will feel better in a little while. They are not aware they are having a heart attack. Many times they feel like they have a little indigestion and may take some type of antacid and rested for a while. These are the women that sometimes die because they did not seek medical help. The best advice to all females after years of working in the ER as an RN, is that if you feel something is not right and are having a lot of little

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