I got this email and don't know how to post it but I found this very informative about things we need to know as women AND these things have happened to men to so sorry about the subject line. I know it is long but if you have history of heart attacks in your family and THINK you know all the symptoms you might not! Just wanted to pass this on.
I was aware that female heart attacks are different, but this is the best description I've ever read.
Women and heart attacks (Myocardial infarction)
Did you know that women rarely have the same dramatic symptoms that men have when experiencing heart attack....you know, the sudden stabbing pain in the chest, the cold sweat, grabbing the chest and dropping to the floor that we see in the movies. Here is the story of one woman's experience with a heart attack.
"I had a completely unexpected heart attack at about 10:30 PM with NO prior exertion, NO prior emotional trauma that one would suspect might've brought it on. I was sitting all snugly & warm on a a cold evening, with my purring cat in my lap, reading an interesting story my friend had sent me, and actually thinking, "AAH, this is the life, all cozy and warm in my soft, cushy Lazy Boy with my feet propped up." A moment later, I felt that awful sensation of indigestion, when you've been in a hurry and grabbed a bite of sandwich and washed it down with a dash of water, and that hurried bite seems to feel like you've swallowed a golf ball going down the esophagus in slow motion and it is most uncomfortable. You realize you should't have gulped it down so fast and needed to chew it more thoroughly and this time drink a glass of water to hasten its progress down to the stomach. This was my initial sensation---the only trouble was that I hadn't taken a bite of anything since about 5:00 p. m.
" After that had seemed to subside, the next sensation was like little squeezing motions that seemed to be racing up my SPINE (hind-sight, it was probably my aorta spasming), gaining speed at they continued racing up and under my sternum (breast bone). This fascinating process continued on into my throat and branched out into both jaws.
"AHA!! NOW I stopped puzzling about what was happening--we all have read and/or heard about pain in the jaws being one of the signals of an MI happening, haven't we? I said aloud to myself and the cat, "Dear God, I think I'm having a heart attack!" I lowered the foot rest, dumping the cat from my lap, started to take a step andfell on the floor instead. I thought to myself "if this is a heart attack, I shouldn't be walking into the next room where the phone is or anywhere else....but, on the other hand , if I don't nobody will know that I need help, and if I wait any longer I may not be able to get up in a moment."
"I pulled myself up with the arms of the chair, walked slowly into the next room and dialed the Paramedics....I told her I thought I was having a heart attack due to the pressure building under the sternum and radiating into my jaws. I didn't feel hysterical or afraid, just stating the facts. She said she was sending the Paramedics over immediately, asked if the front door was near to me, and if so, to unbolt the door and then lie down on the floor where they could see me when they came in.
" I then laid down on the floor as instructed and lost consciousness, as I don't remember the medics coming in, their examination, lifting me onto a gurney or getting me into their ambulance, or hearing the call they made to St. Jude ER on the way, but I did briefly awaken when we arrived and saw that the ACardiologist was already there in his surgical blues and cap, helping the medics pull my stretcher out of the ambulance. He was bending over me asking questions (probably something like "Have you taken any medications?") but I couldn't make my mind interpret what he was saying, or form and answer, and nodded off again, not waking up until the Cardiologist and partner had already threaded the teeny angora balloon up my femora artery into the aorta and into my heart where they installed 2 side by side stents to hold open my right coronary artery.
"I know it sounds like all my thinking and actions at home must have taken at least 20-30 minutes before calling the Paramedics, but actually it took perhaps 4-5 minutes before the call, and both the fire station and St. Jude are only minutes away from my home, and my Cardiologist was already to go to the OR in his scrubs and get going on restarting my heart (which had stopped somewhere between my arrival and the procedure) and installing the stents.
"Why have I written all of this to you with so much detail? Because I want all of you who are so important in my life to know what I learned first hand."
1. Be aware that something very different is happening in your body not the usual men's symptoms, but inex;plicable things happening (until my sternum and jaws got into the act). It is said that many more women than men die of their first MI because they didn't know they were having one, and commonly mistake it as indigestion, take some Maalox or other anti -heartburn preparation, and go to be, hoping they'll feel better in the morning when they wake up....which doesn't happen. My female friends, your syptoms might not be exactly like mine, so I advise you to call the Paramedics if ANYTHING is unpleasantly happening that you've not felt befoe. It is better to have a "false alarm" visitation than to risk your life guessing what it might be!
2. Note that I said "Call the Paramedics". Ladies, TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE! Do NOT try to drive yourself to the ER - you're a hazard to others on the road, and so is your panicked husband who will be speeding and looking anxiously at what's happening with you instead of the road. Do NOT call your doctor--he doesn't know where you live and if it's at night you won't reach him anyway, and if it's daytime, his assistants (or answering service) will tell you to call the Paramedics. He doesn't carry the equipment in his car that you need to be saved! The Paramedics do, principally OXYGEN that you need ASAP.
3. Don't assume it couldn't be a heart attack because you have a normal cholesterol count. Research h as discovered that a cholesterol elevated reading is rarely the cause of an MI (Unless it's unbelievabley high, and/or accompanied by high blood pressure.) MI's are usually caused by long term stress and inflammation in the body, which dumps all sorts of deadly hormones into your system to sludge things up in there. Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep. Let's be careful and be aware. The more we know, the better chance we could survive...
I was always so misinformed about heart attacks until lately...I am 34 but....I have a niece who is 30 and is in line for a heart transplant, my dads nephew has the same condition but no need for transplant yet AND had a uncle that had a artificial heart...I just want my CC friends to know the symptoms dont always feel like the ones they always talk about 
Just wanna inform
And you are very welcome Barb!!! 
Nope, no one is mad...this is what the Lounge is for, non-cake-related talk
Thanks for taking the time to share it with us 
so how do you know it isn't an anxiety attack? Right after I moved, I got daily anxiety attacks in the evening, always around the same time and it felt almost like I was having a heart attack. It's kinda scary...but when someone had anxiety attacks and then has a heart attack, how will they know? Does your heart actually stop and then if you take your pulse, you'll know? What's the difference?
oh, and thank you for the post
Oh I didn't have the heart attack....This was an email that I received from my sister. We have really bad cases of heart trouble in my family and this was just passed down to me...and I wanted to pass it to you all, because I know what the TV says happens when you have a heart attack..and that isn't always the case! Was just wanting my cc friends to have the info...because I care.
Christi
Oh I didn't have the heart attack.... Was just wanting my cc friends to have the info...because I care.
Christi
Oh, I re-read your original post 
, anyway, I'm glad- I have a terrible family history for heart disease, too...crappy genetics 
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