At first, no one thought Nina White had a heart attack.
Every aspect of that day 10 years before, when she was really 51, is strong in her remembrance. She believed that the chest tension was a result of her numerous climbing the apartment in her Portsmouth, Virginia, home. Her father assumed it was gastritis from sandwiches.
However, her sister, who has a background in medical technology, advised her to visit the emergency room and find a blood test that you find heart problems for a short while after they have occurred. When she got there, even the doctor told her he did n’t think she’d had one.
Finally, the test came back positive for troponin, a protein released when the brain is damaged.
” It was horrifying”, White said. ” So many people die in the first year after a heart attack, and I was terrified. I was waiting for it to happen”.
Heart condition is the leading killer of people as well as males, but it’s usually under- recognized in ladies, said Dr. Dena Krishnan, White’s doctor for the past two decades. Krishna practices at the Suffolk, Virginia-based Cardiovascular Specialists office that is affiliated with Bon Secours.
Women typically have had signs for long, Krishnan said. By the time they arrive for assistance, things are “really awful.”
Recent studies perhaps provide new insights into the complicated causes of menopause’s sharp rise in heart danger. Today, there’s evidence that as their hormone falls, women’s chance rises faster than that of guys the same time. According to studies conducted last month at an American College of Cardiology meeting and based on a review of 579 older people, arterial plaque increased twice as quickly on common in older women than in men with similar demographics and health status.
Physicians have long been aware that hormone appears to protect against heart disease. However, it’s difficult to say how menopause interacts with various risk factors, including biology and life, in part because the onset and duration of the period differ from woman to woman.
What this more recent study was able to demonstrate is that we have some proactive testing that we can do to examine then low-risk women, say 40 to 70, and assess whether there is anything else they should be doing. Krishnan said.
White believed she had a lower chance. Different than her mother, whose heart attack the community attributed to smoking, she was n’t informed of any family history of heart disease. Neither of her two older relatives had ever received a diagnosis of it at the time.
However, White claimed that she had a hysterectomy at the age of 42 because of extreme infertility, a painful condition where vaginal tissue develops outside of the uterus. The result a surgery has on hormone production depends on what exactly is removed, if the cervix and both eggs are removed,” medical menstruation” begins immediately. However, research indicates that menopause is most likely to start sooner even if the uterus is removed and both ovaries remain.
” It is very complex, because we know that estrogen impacts so many things”, Krishnan said, mentioning vasodilation, or the widening of the arteries, and preventing insulin resistance, among other benefits. ” So, they’re looking at all different reasons you may not have enough estrogen”.
Many women think the obvious solution would be to take estrogen, Krishnan said, but it’s not that simple. Depending on a person’s medical history, taking estrogen may cause more blood clots or inflammation, or even lead to cancer development.
” That’s what makes it so unique for every woman on how to manage their risk”, Krishnan said.
Women’s symptoms during a heart attack are more likely to include dizziness, fatigue and nausea, but women are also more likely to dismiss chest pain as indigestion or overexertion, Krishnan said.
Nearly every woman who experiences a heart attack tells Krishnan that they were unaware it was occurring. Many people have stated that they simply thought their bra was too tight. But she said that if women experience pressure or heaviness in their chests while performing typical tasks like washing the house, bringing in groceries, or making beds, that might be a cause for concern.
That does n’t mean exertion should be avoided. According to Krishnan, regular exercise is one of the best ways to prevent heart disease. Aerobic exercise has been shown to lessen the effects of estrogen loss in animal models.
” A lot of people think,’ It’s out of my control. It’s just what it is. Every woman in my family gets diabetes and hypertension.’ And that’s not true”, she said. ” Staying physically active is so essentially important”.
Women should ask their primary care doctors about their heart health, Krishnan said, and if they’re having questionable symptoms or if they have a family history, they may need a cardiology appointment.
” You never want to feel like a ticking time bomb, and there’s many people who feel that way”, Krishnan said.
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