by Catherine Haug, February 14, 2011 (copied to catsfork.com/CatsKitchen 6/19/21)
Clip art, right, from Webweaver’s Clip art (11)
On this Valentine’s Day, I’d like to draw your attention to the differences between men and women when it comes to matters of the heart.
I had a “false” heart attack (see Neuromuscular Spasms section below) on December 23, 2010 and spent the holiday weekend in the hospital. Until the results of the enzyme test came back, the doc didn’t think I’d had a heart attack, believing instead it was heartburn. Especially since my EKG was normal. My enzymes, however, told a different story. They were slightly elevated indicating I’d truly had a lapse of oxygen to my heart. I was checked into the hospital for the holiday weekend, for tests.
The results of those tests were good news: Echogram indicated normal size heart with no loss of muscle; Angiogram indicated no plaque in my arteries with no blockages and no need for stents. But what, then, caused the heart attack? And why did I recover so quickly?
It turns out that the hearts of men and women are different, and the cause for attacks in women can be entirely different from that in men. Because of this difference, women’s attacks are routinely dismissed as heartburn, pulled muscle, overwork, etc.. In short, women are not being diagnosed and treated for a problem that could kill them.
So, then, what are the differences?
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