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Top 7 Symptoms of Heart Attack in Women

By Dr. Mache Seibel on 03/13/2018 No Comments / 4560 views

If you want to live a long and healthy life, right now, today, is the best time to protect your heart. Heart attack is the most common cause of death in women, and one of the most preventable causes.

AFL’s Dr. Mache Seibel

But many women don’t realize that women usually have different symptoms of a heart attack than men do.

Sure, some women experience the crushing chest pain that shoots down the left arm just like most men do. But most of the time, women’s symptoms are quite different. And for women, the aftermath is much more serious; women who have a heart attack are much more likely to die within a year than men and they don’t respond as well to drugs that break up blood clots or to heart-related medical procedures.

The symptoms of a heart attack are subtler in women and many times women with an approaching heart attack are sent away from emergency rooms because their symptoms could easily be mistaken for the flu, indigestion or just fatigue.

So be on the lookout for these 7 symptoms of Heart Attack in Women.

One Month Before a Heart Attack	During a Heart Attack
Unusual fatigue (71%)	Shortness of breath (58%)
Sleep disturbance (48%)	Weakness (55%)
Shortness of breath (42%)	Unusual fatigue (43%)
Indigestion (39%)	Cold sweat (39%)
Anxiety (36%)	Dizziness (39%)
Heart racing (27%)	Nausea (36%)
Arms weak/heavy (25%)	Arms weak/heavy (35%)
Source: Circulation 2003, Vol. 108, p. 2621

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Heart attack is much more common in women with early menopause who do not take estrogen or use other methods to protect their heart. The most important thing to remember is if something really feels different, trust your body to be giving you some important information. The reason women’s symptoms are so different from those in men is because in general, men tend to get heart disease in the large arteries of their heart while women tend to get heart disease in the smaller arteries of their heart.

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Dr. Mache Seibel

“It’s better to stay well than to get well!” Mache Seibel, MD.

Dr. Machelle (Mache) Seibel is America’s health expert, addressing the critical needs of consumers from stress and weight control to menopause and beyond. He served on the Harvard Medical School faculty for almost 20 years and is a pioneer in many areas of women’s health and more. He works with companies and organizations to bring exciting educational content to consumers. His professional experiences include:

– Host for PBS and NBC TV episodes, frequent media expert;

– Repeatedly voted into Best Doctors in America;

– Past Editor-in-Chief of the medical journal Sexuality, Reproduction & Menopause;

– Distinguished Alumnus Award, the University of Texas Medical Branch’s highest honor 2008;

– Multiple national awards for research, writing, music writing and patient education;

– Professor, University of Massachusetts Medical School 2004-present;

– Director, Complicated Menopause Program, University of Massachusetts Medical School 2004-2011;

– Founder of HealthRock®, reshaping health education with health songs and entertainment;

– Past Medical Director, Inverness Medical Innovations (now Alere);

– Corporate Consultant and Corporate Health Expert Nationally and Internationally;

– Author/editor 14 books, over 200 scientific articles;

– American Cancer Society New England Division Medical Advisory Network;