Heart Attack Symptoms differ between men and woman

Heart Attack Symptoms Chest pain can be associated with many things. It can be related to your heart, or it can be a sign that there is a problem in another body system, such as your lungs or intestines. The best way to determine the cause of chest pain is to be seen by a doctor. Chest pain can mean a life-threatening condition. So see a doctor immediately. What does a heart attack feel like? The pain of a heart attack differs from person to person. Many people describe it as a heavy pressure or squeezing sensation in the center of the chest. Others report a stabbing feeling. At times the pain may spread to the left arm, jaw or back. The intensity of the pain does not always indicate the degree of heart damage that may be occurring. Some people don't have any symptoms during a heart attack. A characteristic of chest pain associated with a heart attack is that it is often unrelenting. Once it begins, there is usually nothing that you can do at home to stop the pain. Pain does not improve with rest, position changes, over-the-counter medications or even nitroglycerin. Often, people who are having a heart attack describe other symptoms associated with the chest pain. These may include: • Sweating • Dizziness • Shortness of breath • Palpitations • Paleness • Nausea and vomiting An anxious feeling with a sense of impending doom. Some people, especially women, people with diabetes and the elderly, do not have typical heart attack symptoms. While these people often have chest pain, it may be mild. They may more commonly complain of neck, shoulder, and belly pain; breathlessness, heartburn, nausea, and lasting tiredness. © MyOptumHealth.com

Learning from the WISE Women: Finding Heart Disease in Women Find out what makes a woman's heart tick. Heart disease often looks different in women than it does in the typical male, researchers say. Because of this, it's not easily seen with the usual tests. Traditional surgical procedures may not work either. For many women, this may mean heart disease goes undetected and untreated. But a landmark study is changing how doctors test and treat women with heart disease. Not your every day plaque The multi-center study is called The Women's Ischemia Syndrome Evaluation (WISE). It has found that plaque is different in women. Plaque is the buildup of cholesterol and other substances along the lining of the main arteries in the body, including the heart. We usually think of the plaque building up in the big arteries supplying the heart, creating an obvious blockage that reduces blood flow. At least two things are different in women: • Plaque builds up more evenly along artery walls. So, it doesn't always look like the obvious "roadblock" plaque that's most typical in men. This is due to differences in the cells lining the heart's arteries. The diffuse buildup also makes blood vessels less elastic, so they can't dilate as well for increased blood flow. This form of heart disease is also hard to diagnose using traditional tests such as angiogram, which is designed to pick up the bulging artery-blocking plaque. • Plaque buildup affects the tiny blood vessels in the heart, rather than the major arteries. This is called microvascular or microvessel disease. It's also more common in people with diabetes. Coronary artery disease in the tiny blood vessels in the heart must be treated differently because surgeons can't get in there with angioplasty, stents or bypass surgery. Instead, doctors rely more on medications to control symptoms. What's it mean to you? Heart disease in women may, at best, be harder to diagnose. At worst, it could go unrecognized. If you have symptoms or risk factors for heart disease, be clear about them with your doctor. Learn about your risk factors and how you can take control of those you can change. Meanwhile, researchers are working to find new ways to diagnose and treat heart disease in women. By Geri K. Metzger MyOptumHealth.com