Health and Psychology

A client of mine is running all over the universe telling people I saved her life.  Not exactly.  All I did was tell her to go to an emergency room.  She was having symptoms of heart problems.  So let me review those. 

Women have different symptoms of heart problems then men do.  Most people think of crushing chest pain and collapsing to the floor.  But that's not what happens with most women. 

• Hot or burning sensation in the back, neck, shoulders or jaw.
• Nausea and vomiting, indigestion
  
• Excess fatigue that worsen with any exertion and is accompanied with wheezing or shortness of breath
• Feeling you can't catch your breath
• Swollen ankles and leg pain that worsens when walking and improves with rest, returning with exertion
  
• Heart palpitations and dizziness
• Sweating and a squeezing sensation in the chest, jaw, shoulders, neck, arms or back
• Panic feelings, feelings of doom, feeling you can't catch your breath

If you think you're having a heart attack call 9-1-1.  If you think it might be a problem with your heart, go to an emergency room.  Women tend to minimize symptoms of heart disease.  The idea that women don't have heart attacks comes from research that primarily focused on men in the 1970's.  Heart disease is one of the largest causes of death for women.  Despite that and despite the "Wear Red for Women" campaign in February each year sponsored by the American Heart Association, women fail to tell their physicians about heart related symptoms, and physicians screen men for heart symptoms about twice as often as they do women.  So if you have any of the above symptoms, TELL YOUR DOCTOR.

Save your own life.