Revised heart attack definitions which affect women

I had discomfort around my jaw and felt a bit ropey( I have felt loads worse many times.)
My daughter took me to A&E and I fell asleep waiting for blood results! I was told my treponin levels were very high and rising! Blue light ambulance to different hospital through the night where 4 stents were inserted. I was told I had dodged the bullet.
Symptoms can be totally different for a woman as in my case. If you sense something isn’t right go and get checked.
It was the ropey feeling that was different for me.

Get hold of the book 'Invisible Women' by Caroline Criado Perez. It's brilliant - and will open your eyes to the ways in which all of life is shaped by data only tested on men...!

Misdiagnosis is common in all fields. During covid I had horrendous chest pain Husband called ambulance. They said not heart attack but took me to hospital anyway. There I was filled full of morphine over night and virtually told not to waste their time. GP sent me back to hospital three days latter. Turned out I had vasculitis and a dissected aorta. Which fortunately hadn’t ruptured

I have experienced this.

For year, I had been experiening chest pain, which had been diagnosed as related to my COPD.

After taking ONE new rheumatoid drug, I had a serious allergic reaction . After hours in A&E, I was shocked to be told I was being admitted to coronary care, I had had a heart attack.

All the scans and were clear; clear arteries, healthy heart etc.
I was asked if I was willing to be part of a BH F funded research programme into investigating why so many women in the West of Scotland were dying from undiagnosed heart attacks.

It took six months of scans and investigations , which eventually diagnosed microvascular angina, formally known as Cardiac syndrome X.
It was called this, because it was extremely difficult to diagnose.
It transpired that the pressure in the micro vessels inside my heart was dangerously high.
Unable to be sedated, I got to see inside my heart, when I had a very invasive angiography. It was fascinating.

If I hadn't had that first heart attack and been part of the research, I would have been dead by know.
I did have a second heart attack, while I was shielding ( scary stuff), but it was mild, due to the amount of medication I was taking.
It was trial and error as there was no definitive treatment for this condition.

A few years later, I became unwell and a bold trainee GP phoned the professor in charge of the research. I was in hospital the next day.

Apparently, his research has changed the way, women with chest pain are diagnosed.
I will be forever grateful to Professor Berry and his team at Glasgow Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Until the medical profession start studying the female body as assiduously as they have been studying the male body for centuries we will always have to be our own best advocates and be proactive in seeking help for any symptoms we consider unusual/troubling, not only for ourselves but our DDs and GDs.
the time for change was a very long time ago and countless women have died needlessly so far.

It is interesting (and sad) that others have similar experiences to relate. But it is heartening that there is some movement now to redress this balance, at least from a cardiac point of view.

The misdiagnoses in A&E are the scary bit. The paramedics on the ambulance crew always err on the safe side I have found, but not always so with the staff in A&E.

When my heart attack was finally diagnosed my troponin levels were still surprisingly low (but maybe not for a woman) and the whole picture was complicated by the fact that I was also in fast AF, but the second A&E in my home town chose to play safe and admitted me - and thank goodness they did.

To be fair it’s not just women that get misdiagnosed it’s men and kids to I think women are possibly more vocal about their predicament. Not that it does them much good

I know (or knew) at least 3 women who were taking excessive amounts of Gaviscon liquid as they assumed they had heartburn and indigestion. They all had heart attacks. One friend found countless bottles of the stuff in her mother’s house after she died.

I had indigestion for two days which Gaviston didn't relieve ,then I had pain in my jaw and started vomiting , I got my sister to take me to a/e , it turned out I had 100% blocked coronary artery and was about to go into cardiac arrest! Had an emergency stent but with waiting two days at home I've now got heart failure, I've just had an ICD fitted.
I never dreamt I was having a heart attack as I was fit and health, if I had know the warning signs for women maybe I would have gone earlier.
The cardiologist told me that women usually present different symptoms to men.
So I really welcome this news!

ninalinda

I had indigestion for two days which Gaviston didn't relieve ,then I had pain in my jaw and started vomiting , I got my sister to take me to a/e , it turned out I had 100% blocked coronary artery and was about to go into cardiac arrest! Had an emergency stent but with waiting two days at home I've now got heart failure, I've just had an ICD fitted.
I never dreamt I was having a heart attack as I was fit and health, if I had know the warning signs for women maybe I would have gone earlier.
The cardiologist told me that women usually present different symptoms to men.
So I really welcome this news!

Sorry to hear that and hope you are OK now. Good job you went to hospital.

People using Gaviscon or similar remedies should be aware that they could be having a heart attack.