Women and Treatment for Heart Attack

I heard this on the news tonight about women and treatment when having a heart attack.  ( I suspect this is also the case for women and treatment of heart disease in general).  It is disheartening to know that we get undertreated when having a severe heart attack.  However, it is encouraging in the sense that we are finally recognizing that there is a problem and awareness is a first important step in finding a solution. 

All the more reason for us to be strong self-advocates, women especially.  I did not have a heart attack (thankfully!), but I had to fight an uphill battle to get my heart condition diagnosed and treated, all while my health was rapidly deteriorating.  It is encouraging to know that the problem is finally being recognized and we can only hope that women in 10 or 20 years will get better reception and preventative treatment of their heart conditions than some of us did.

Below is the link.  I heard the segment on the nightly news, but this is the info. on the news channel's website:

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Healthday/Story?id=6419914&page=1

Greenhope

I agree.  Our symptoms are atypical.  But doctors need to get with the program and start realizing this and dealing with it accordingly instead of brushing us off as hypochondriac females - which I am certainly not since I rarely went to the doctor before I started feeling really sick from the effects of my heart condition which went undiagnosed for more than a year because my cardiologist basically brushed me off and refused to dig deeper in August 2007 when I complained of chest pains.  In all fairness, I am an extremely healthy person with an excellent diet, weight and vitals, so I was not the "typical" heart patient.  But, again, this is where doctors need to think and look "outside the box."  Just because someone doesn't look or act like a typical heart patient does not mean that they do not have a heart condition.  Once I demanded more extensive tests (echocardiogram with bubbles, transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE), transcranial doppler and shunt study, etc.), doctors FINALLY saw the extent of the problem and damage already done to my heart, lungs and brain. 

Doctors need to move away from the "typical" and start looking at the "atypical" especially with women, as a possiblity for heart disease.  Until they do, we are going to keep fighting an uphill battle to get our heart conditions diagnosed and treated.  How sad and awful that in this day and age, women still have to fight harder than men to be heard and get the treatment that they deserve and so desperately need.  How sad indeed...

Greenhope