Who The American Heart Association states that Heart Disease is the number one killer of American Women between the ages of 56 and 76. Although women with diabetes, hypertension, severe obesity, and smoking have greater chances of developing heart disease, any female can fall victim to this dreaded, debilitating disease. African-American women, as well as Hispanic women, have a slightly lower percentage when it comes to potential heart disease, but this does not mean that Caucasian women carry the burden of this problem, alone. For many years, until around 1983, the idea of heart disease in women were foreign, this was considered a man's disease. In the year 2000 women are dying more often from this disease than men, and they have been for over 17 years.
What What exactly is heart disease and what are the symptoms and outcomes? Heart disease has many faces, among those can be Congestive Heart Failure, Myocardial Infarction (Heart Attack), Stroke, and Hypertension.
Congestive Heart Failure is a condition in which the heart can no longer function adequately, and is unable to pump enough blood to the body. When a person has Congestive Heart Failure the symptoms are: *swelling in the feet and legs,
* excessive fluid build up in the stomach and lungs,
* constant shortness of breath, and,
* the inability to walk for any substantial distances.
Myocardial Infarction or Heart Attack happens when the heart can not function and slows down or stops. The survival rate for sudden heart attacks in women is currently only 5%. This is a very alarming number, and all women should take this warning to heart. The warning signs for a heart attack, according to the American Heart Association, are:
· Uncomfortable pressure, fullness, squeezing or pain in the center of the chest lasting more than a few minutes.
· Pain spreading to the shoulders, neck or arms.
· Chest discomfort with lightheadedness, fainting, sweating, nausea or shortness of breath.
Less common warning signs of heart attack are...
· Atypical chest pain, stomach or abdominal pain.
· Nausea or dizziness.
· Shortness of breath and difficulty breathing.
· Unexplained anxiety, weakness or fatigue.
· Palpitations, cold sweat or paleness.
Stroke or T.I.A. occurs when a blood vessel in the brain bursts and the brain is flooded with blood from the ruptured vessel. This can occur very rapidly and unexpectedly, and may affect women as young as 18 years old. The warning signs for stroke in women, according to the American Heart Association, are:
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