Newswise — Eight million women in the United States suffer from cardiovascular disease. It is their number one cause of death. The disease often exhibits itself with symptoms such as back or arm pain, indigestion, and shortness of breath. The most common way women respond to the early signs? They ignore them.
"When I had my first angina attack in my 50s, I was working on a TV commercial about stroke awareness," said Susan Iliff, 59, a retired UC San Diego Medical Center nurse. "I didn't feel quite right. I was a little short of breath which I attributed to a hectic work schedule. Later, I felt some heaviness in my chest which I thought was bronchitis."
Two days later Iliff's life changed forever.
"I was sitting at my desk on a Friday when suddenly I had a shooting pain in my jaw. I knew immediately it was my heart. By Monday, I had bypass surgery."
Iliff's story is common among many women. The symptoms they feel are not the popularized symptoms of heart attack.
"Women often do not experience the crushing pain that men feel from a heart attack," said Denise Barnard, M.D., director of the Women's Cardiovascular Health Program at UCSD Medical Center. "Women's symptoms of heart attack are sometimes more subtle and often dangerously dismissed for less serious ailments."
For women, the most common signs of heart attack are chest or mid-back or shoulder pain, deep aching in one or both arms, breathlessness, clamminess, dizziness, and anxiousness. Other symptoms may be swelling of the ankles or lower legs, a fluttering heart, gastric upset, or a feeling of heaviness in the chest. All these symptoms should be reported to a doctor.
Iliff, a single mother of three who also cared for her aging parents, one with chronic pulmonary disease, and the other a paraplegic, found that simple conversation was key to significantly relieving stress and keeping her own health on track.
"Having a heart attack is really scary. Going back to managing your family, excelling at work, attending to your home and investments, in addition to caring for your own heart can be even scarier. You need help. You need others to look out for you," said Iliff.
To help women connect with other female heart patients, Iliff decided to start a support group. She is now a trained group support leader for WomenHeart: the National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease, a national advocacy organization for women heart patients.
"Somehow we have this idea in our head that we're desperately needed by everyone around us—except ourselves. Yes, our kids need us. But more importantly, they need us to take care of our own health so that we can be there for them," said Iliff. "Believe me, it's easier to treat the early signs of heart disease than it is to wait and have a heart attack."
The first WomenHeart support group meeting will take place at UCSD Thornton Hospital on February 19, 2008. The group will meet on the third Tuesday of every month from noon until 1:00 p.m. During each meeting, women talk about their personal experiences, listen to speakers, and share tips and information on their own treatments. The meeting is free and open to all women in the community. Similar groups are offered by WomenHeart in 50 U.S. cities.
Communication extends outside the support group in the form of daily emails, phone calls and personal visits. If any one participant undergoes a medical procedure or operation, fellow members visit and offer support where needed. As a sign of solidarity, the women wear a bright red scarf as reminder to take care of themselves.
"Every new member at UCSD receives a beautiful red knitted scarf," said Iliff. "Just as each woman in the group is different, no two scarves are alike. The scarf travels with us to our medical appointments and on those days we need to remember that we are not alone and that we are loved."
The Sulpizio Family Cardiovascular Center at the University of California, San Diego developed the Women's Cardiovascular Health Program to directly combat cardiovascular disease (CVD) in women. The program is led by a group of leading female physicians dedicated to helping women understand, prevent and treat the disease. Risk screening evaluations are available for women who think they may be at risk for heart disease or stroke. For those women with diagnosed CVD, the program provides the tools needed to manage the disease.
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