What females need to know about heart attack symptoms

NURSE’S HEART ATTACK EXPERIENCE

I am an ER nurse and this is the best description of this event that I have ever heard. Please read, pay attention, and send it on!

FEMALE HEART ATTACKS

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 & 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 heart attack at about 10:30 PM with NO prior exertion, NO prior emotional trauma that one would suspect might have brought it on. I was sitting all snugly & warm on a cold evening, with my purring cat in my lap, reading an interesting story my friend had sent me, and actually thinking, ‘A-A-h, 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 shouldn’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 it 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 spasms), gaining speed as they continued racing up and under my sternum (breast bone, where one presses rhythmically when administering CPR).

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 and fell 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 un-bolt the door and then lie down on the floor where they could see me when they came in.

I unlocked the door and 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 radiologist 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 an answer, and nodded off again, not waking up until the Cardiologist and partner had already threaded the teeny angiogram balloon up my femoral artery into the aorta and into my heart where they installed 2 side by side stints 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 stints.
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 inexplicable things happening (until my sternum and jaws got into the act). It is said that many more women than men die of their first (and last) 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 bed, hoping they’ll feel better in the morning when they wake up… which doesn’t happen. My female friends, your symptoms might not be exactly like mine, so I advise you to call the Paramedics if ANYTHING is unpleasantly happening that you’ve not felt before. 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.’ And if you can take an aspirin. Ladies, TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!

Do NOT try to drive yourself to the ER – you are a hazard to others on the road.

Do NOT have 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. Your Dr will be notified later.

3. Don’t assume it couldn’t be a heart attack because you have a normal cholesterol count. Research has discovered that a cholesterol elevated reading is rarely the cause of an MI (unless it’s unbelievably high and/or accompanied by high blood pressure). MIs 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.

Why does Canada protect bad teachers

Word is out that bad teachers get a free pass even as rules for children in school intensifies. After the Toronto Star ran a 2 page article outlining the types of disgusting actions ‘protected’ by the unions, one must ask what politicians running in this year’s election will do about the secrecy and coverups.

The actions as outlined in this article many are calling for legal action. Why can a teacher insult, hit, provoke and in some cases sexually lure our youngsters while our government stand silent.

The article outlines over the last few years the trend is to protect the teachers even more by concealing their identity and charges. Why are these individuals not being fired immediately?

In business and the ‘real world’ you would be fired and possibly charged. Why again is being in the educational system a guarantee protection?

For full details of this outstanding piece of journalism, go to:

French Education rules the day in Halton

If you speak French as a student and are enrolled in their much publicized French program they love you. If you are part of the mandated English stream of students it would seem to many parents you are tolerated, not represented at the trustee table and simply a reason why they get bad press. Yes, they are the Halton District School Board.

The battle rages on as many write the latest accommodation process promised to be honest and transparent resulting in a return of confidence from the majority of the residents has once again to many turned out to be anything but honest and transparent.

The recommendations are now included in a report authored by Superintend Dyson instead of the Director. The board’s own roadshow promised that the Director would be the one authoring and presenting the report to the trustees but Dyson once again has ridden on her horse to rule the day.

Make sure those French Immersion students are covered. Make sure they get into the building of the brand new high school being built for a community that has had 2 elementary schools taken (ie. stolen) from them (one literally kicking out all community children except FI the other just being overtaken from the ground up because of unfair boundaries and no caps or controls).

Now the community has waited years for a school not knowing if there will end up having room for them. Lets hang them from the rafters if there is no room….as long as we get that select group of kids we so dearly want to support as a board into the building in day 1 represented as always more than most….that is what we are hearing from the majority of community members who feel left out completely once again by this board.

For a board who has hit the press recently for what many residents and press people say is its disgusting biased new primary gifted program that essentially allowed kindergarten students to jump the queue for testing ahead of 700+ kids who have waited years for testing for issues……who ever stops and thinks about morality.

Morality is not a word often used favorably in Halton these days. Most residents tell us they don’t attribute it to their board or a Minister who sits back and allows discrimination, dishonest and disception at every turn.

The fall is coming….political change is in the wind. As one resident told me…many don’t even know the ‘other guys’ name but most will vote for him just to kick out the ruling Liberal party in Ontario. Did they not learn anything after the federal elections.

Ignore the people too often, you lose the power. Can we do the same for our trustees and board. Guess not….only after the next Halton election.

Here’s to getting one candidate per ward who may kick their sorry asses out the door.

Why Facebook friends cannot see your updates?

Have you noticed that you are only seeing updates in your newsfeed from the same people lately? Have you also noticed that when you post things like status messages, photos and links, the same circle of people are commenting and everyone else seems to be ignoring you? Read more

Money skills need to be taught in school

A Canadian task force established by the federal government in 2009 has delivered 30 recommendations to ensure Canadians understand financial concepts and make better decisions. One of the recommendations is that core elementary and high school education across Canada should include financial literacy.

Learning about money, the importance of saving, and managing money is essential. These skills will help Canadian understand everything from saving and paying bills, mortgages, investments and retirement planning.

Banks are thrilled by the recommendations.

The task force developed a blueprint after researching successful financial literacy programs across Canada and globally.

The task force calls for the Canadian government to work with both the public and private sector. It stated a priority should be on life-long learning, reach out to First Nations, immigrants and seniors. It also stated regular progress reports are needed.

Will this country standardize financial training better than the mess it has left regarding French education.

We wait to see if the government implements a standardized approach to this latest recommendation.

Let us know what you think.

Canada needs to get tough on child porn crimes

Canada’s Bill C-54 toughing up minimum sentences for pedophiles convicted of possessing child porn from 14 days to 90 days is a complete disgrace to most Canadians.

Canadians demand tough punishment and expect much more from the federal Tories.

The Harper government has failed our nation, parents and every child who could be victimized more than this weak attempt at legal intervention.

Many have accused Canada of not caring when as a nation we have tougher legislation for abusing animals than we do for abusing children.

Let us know what you think.

Helping your teen with acne

If you are a parent with a teen you know too well how acne can affect your child. Although what we believe about the issue and treatments may differ from when you were young, most agree blemishes can cause a lot of grief especially for teens.

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Electronic pickpocketng newest identity theft

Have you ever wondered if you can be robbed without someone taking your purse or wallet or hitting you over the head? Like many, you probably thought being robbery had to be dramatic and obvious. Think again. Read more

Protect yourself this flu season

This year’s flu season so far is very different from the panic during last season. Lines winded down streets while many got a flu shot trying to combat what many believed was a life threatening strain. Cases are down this year and there is definitely less media coverage but health officials are still urging us to get our shot. Read more

Amazon continues to sell other pedophilia books

Amazon.com has removed the pedophilia book on their website reported by Anderson Cooper on CNN last evening but other books by the same author remained on the site until public presssure forced the company to finally remove them. Even more disturbing is the fact that other pedophilia books still are being sold by the company.

According to Anderson Cooper, CNN not only left countless messages to the company but they sent a reporter to their headquarters who waited approximately 2 hours without being granted an interview.

This evening Amazon finally contacted CNN but the representative had very little to say regarding their refusal to remove books.

What will make Amazon finally realize their mistake. Money …….that is why many are recommending a complete and permanent boycott of Amazon.com. Some suggest if their stock hit the floor that it will send a clear message to all publishers that such disgusting material will not be tolerated.

Lets be clear, the books in question talk clearly about sex with children. In our country and most that is rape and rape is a crime.

Do you think this company should be permanently out of business, boycotted temporarily, permanent or whatever.

We want to hear from you.

Here is the CNN article link: http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/11/11/pedophile.guide/index.html?hpt=T2

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