For many doctors, it is still an oxymoron. After all, women don’t have heart attacks, it’s a male disease! It is scary to count how many women have lost their lives because of such superstitions and medical ignorance.
More women die from cardiovascular disease each year than from cancer. A woman with a heart attack has a worse prognosis than a man after a heart attack. A woman’s heart suffers differently and many episodes of myocardial infarction are underestimated, misdiagnosed or even unnoticed by the patient herself. These are enough reasons to talk about heart attacks in women and teach them how to cope with a heart attack.
Estrogenie, come back
The hormonal economy of a woman and the menstrual cycle cause women of the fair sex (although in the era of metrosexual men this criterion is slowly becoming obsolete) a lot of unpleasantness and sometimes even suffering. However, the estrogen shield that protects against coronary heart disease and, consequently, myocardial infarction, cannot be overestimated, the existence of which many women are not even aware of. Estrogens are responsible, among other things, for managing good and bad cholesterol. Bad (LDL), good cholesterol (HDL) prevents it from building up inside your arteries; it also cleans their interior. Thanks to this, they do not narrow, so-called atherosclerotic plaque (fibrotic and calcified cholesterol particles that form a natural barrier to blood flowing through the arteries) and as a result, the heart is not supplied with enough blood, from which it is only a step away from having a heart attack.
As you can guess, women are only protected until the onset of menopause. After that, the estrogen shield disappears and the risk of a heart attack increases sharply. Natural prophylaxis against the first heart attack and protection against the next one, it would seem, therefore, to use hormone replacement therapy (HZT). What does the doctor say?
Krystyna Bochenek-Klimczyk, specialist cardiac surgeon from the XNUMXst Department of Cardiac Surgery at the Medical University of Silesia, says:
– Initially, it was thought that supplementing hormones could reduce the risk of developing cardiovascular disease in postmenopausal women. However, studies conducted in recent years have not confirmed this thesis. Currently, it is believed that hormone replacement therapy should not be initiated or continued in the primary or secondary prevention of cardiovascular diseases (i.e. in the prevention and treatment after a heart attack). HRT is recommended only in the treatment of moderate or severe menopausal symptoms, and then also in the lowest dose and for the shortest possible time. The safest route is the percutaneous route of administering hormones.
Stationary woman
We sometimes hear that someone quickly recovered from a heart attack, but it does not mean that the next day he left the hospital and kicked a hectare of the garden. The upright standing of the convalescent itself takes several days! Rehabilitation after a heart attack is multi-phase and extended over time. It consists of, among others exercise, diet, lifestyle modifications. However, here too you can see the difference between a woman and a man. Unfortunately, again to the disadvantage of women.
– Women at the time of a heart attack are usually older than men (statistically, the average age of a woman at the first heart attack is 70,4 years, and a man’s age is 65,8 years). Moreover, they are more often burdened with risk factors: overweight, hypertension, diabetes and hypercholesterolaemia; they also suffer from other diseases, such as joint degeneration or osteoporosis – says the cardiac surgeon, Krystyna Bochenek-Klimczyk. – All of this may have a negative impact on the course of early rehabilitation after a heart attack. It also forces a training session and the use of a different exercise intensity to be different than in the case of men.
Each of these factors must of course be taken into account and, under the supervision of a doctor and a therapist, adjust the form of training and the dose of movement to the patient’s abilities, but it would be good if the patient gradually and reasonably adapted to the training. Weight reduction and proper diet will not harm anyone, and in this situation they are even recommended. The less unnecessary kilograms a poor, strained heart will have to handle, the better for him. And for us. Especially since healthy food is tasty, and exercise does not necessarily mean a cross-country run. There is a healthy and enjoyable dose of exercise for everyone. This is all the more important because, as the drug points out. Krystyna Bochenek-Klimczyk, regardless of the form of exercise, rehabilitation is always effective and reduces the so-called cardiac mortality by as much as 26%!
Get well healthy
A heart attack is a shock not only for the body, but also for the patient’s psyche. Research shows that in the year after a heart attack, women are much more likely than men to become depressed. Inevitably, after a heart attack, a lot will have to be changed in your life, habits and environment. It is painful, but only because any deviation from the beaten (and comfortable!) Path breeds rebellion. The changes themselves are good, because they are for the better! Where to start?
Krystyna Bochenek-Klimczyk advises:
- slimming!
– Obesity, especially abdominal obesity, is the most important risk factor for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes in women. As many as 48% of women in Poland are overweight or obese! And in 40%, abdominal obesity can be diagnosed – the doctor alerts.
- movement!
– Most women do not perform systematic physical exertion, explaining that they are tired and lack time. And normal, daily physical activity, e.g. during housework, only burns 50-150 kcal / h. It is not enough to lose weight – losing weight by 1 kg requires 7000 kcal. Lack of exercise leads not only to weight gain, but also increases the incidence of type 2 diabetes. Meanwhile, the risk of developing ischemic heart disease in diabetic women increases 5-7 times (in men 2-3 times).
- consideration!
– In Poland, the number of young women smoking cigarettes is still increasing. And smoking a few cigarettes significantly increases the risk of a heart attack. Moreover, cigarettes in combination with hormonal contraception increase the risk of thromboembolism.
Recently, more and more has been said about heart disease in women; Fortunately. Perhaps the awareness of doctors and those most interested, that is women, will increase. They will stop associating a heart attack with the theatrical grasping at the heart and falling to the ground, they will be more sensitive to less spectacular and more subtle symptoms that may herald a female heart attack, often completely different from a male one. And after the illness, they will make an effort to change harmful habits and take care of the strained body. After such an alarm bell, it shouldn’t be difficult.
Important reading!
“Me and my heart – healthy, sick, operated, Agnieszka Storch-Honestek, Krystyna Bochenek-Klimczyk
The book “Me and my heart – healthy, sick, operated” by Agnieszka Storch-Uczowniczek and Krystyna Bochenek-Klimczyk is a guide for people who care about the heart – patients, their family members and everyone interested in the topic of cardiovascular diseases.
The authors – a physiotherapist and cardiac surgeon – presented in an accessible and comprehensive way not only information on heart diseases and modern methods of their treatment, but also practical advice on a healthy lifestyle, e.g. a properly balanced diet, adequate blood pressure control or recommended physical activity. The book “Me and my heart – healthy, sick, operated” is a reliable source of information on the procedure after coronary angiography, stenting of coronary vessels and heart surgery, based on many years of experience of the authors. A valuable addition is a set of several dozen exercises helpful in the early period of cardiac rehabilitation.
The first edition of this book was awarded in 2009 by the Professor Stanisław Rudnicki Cardiology Foundation and was recommended by the Polish Society of Hypertension. Currently, the second edition is available for sale, supplemented with the latest recommendations of Polish and foreign scientific societies.
Is it a heart attack already? – read in Zdrowie.TvoiLokony