National Heart Month
It’s also the month for love and fluttering hearts everywhere. But is the fluttering a symptom of love, or something else? Did you know that heart disease is the number one killer of American women over the age of 34? Many women are not aware of the life-threatening risk that even the mildest symptoms may have. Show your heart some love.
Common Heart Problems that Affect Women
Heart disease, also known as CVD, refers to a wide range of problems that affect the heart. Heart disease includes: stroke, coronary artery disease, and vascular disease. The most common type of heart disease is coronary artery disease. Common heart problems that affect women include:
- Heart failure
- Irregular heartbeat
- Atrial fibrillation
- Heart valve disease
- Chest pain and discomfort (angina) (affects women more than men). There are two specific types of angina: stable angina and variant angina.
- Cardiac syndrome X (affects women more than men).
Symptoms of a Heart Attack in Women
The most common cause of a heart attack is coronary artery disease, which is due to a buildup of plaque on the walls of the arteries that supply your blood to the heart. Atherosclerosis is when the blood flow is blocked, the heart muscle begins to die, which leads to a heart attack. Women who are having a heart attack are more likely than men to be misdiagnosed, which means women are less likely to get the necessary treatment before serious damages to their heart occurs. It is extremely important to keep in mind that women are more likely to have nontraditional symptoms of a heart attack and women are also more likely to have a silent heart attack, which is an event that doesn’t cause any obvious symptoms, such as pain in the chest.
Heart attack symptoms of women may include:
- Pain and/or discomfort in the center of the chest.
- Pain in the neck, back, throat, or jaw
- Extreme fatigue
- Difficulty breathing
Furthermore, there are measures you can take that may help to reduce your risk of having a heart attack, including getting screenings and checkups from a doctor, staying active, eating healthy. Getting to the ER as quickly as possible is essential because the treatments for opening clogged arteries work best when administered within the first hour after a heart attack begins.
Remember, it’s never too late to get healthy. Take care of your heart and leave the fluttering to love! National Heart Month!
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