Coronary Microvascular Disease: a “trash basket diagnosis”?

March 20, 2012April 24, 2024 ~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 34 Comments

Dr. Juan Carlos Kaski, Head of the Cardiovascular Sciences Research Centre, St. George’s University of London in the U.K., explains an unusual cardiac diagnosis that I happen to share: Inoperable Coronary Microvascular Disease (MVD).

When I was at Mayo Clinic five months after my heart attack, cardiologists there referred to MVD as a “trash basket diagnosis” – not because the condition doesn’t exist, but because this disorder of the tiniest blood vessels in the heart is so often missed entirely. A correct diagnosis usually happens only after all other possible diagnoses are thrown out. It’s far more common in women and in people who have diabetes. It’s treatable, but can be very difficult to detect. Continue reading “Coronary Microvascular Disease: a “trash basket diagnosis”?” →

Too embarrassed to call 911 during a heart attack?

March 12, 2012November 13, 2022 ~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 23 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters

When I was sent home from the Emergency Department with a misdiagnosis of acid reflux, I felt horribly embarrassed that I’d made such a fuss over nothing (well, nothing but textbook heart attack symptoms like chest pain, nausea, sweating and pain radiating down my left arm). It then took me two full weeks of increasingly debilitating cardiac symptoms before I forced myself to return to that same hospital, desperately ill yet still not completely certain this could be heart-related. After all, hadn’t an Emergency physician with the letters M.D. after his name told me quite emphatically:

“This is NOT your heart!”

It was only when my symptoms became truly unbearable that I knew I had to go back to the E.R. This extreme reluctance to get help is what doctors call “treatment-seeking delay“ behaviour, and in the middle of a heart attack, it can be a deadly delay. We already know that the average person in mid-heart attack will wait four hours before getting medical help. Why? One reason may well be that we’re too simply too embarrassed to attract attention to ourselves during a heart attack. Continue reading “Too embarrassed to call 911 during a heart attack?” →

Six rules for navigating your next doctor’s appointment

February 21, 2012March 12, 2020 ~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 10 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters

A beautifully-dressed older woman with beautifully-coiffed hair raises one beautifully-manicured hand during the Q&A portion of my Heart-Smart Women presentation. She stands and asks aloud:

“Carolyn, my doctor told me I have a heart rhythm problem. What does that mean?”

What she wants is for me to explain to her what her doctor has not. But what I want to do is to grab her by her beautifully-clad shoulders and shake her, very hard. How is it possible, I wonder, that such an articulate, well-trotted-out woman doesn’t know what her own diagnosis means, and, worse, hasn’t gone back to her doctor to find out? How can she be capable of making decisions about her expensive wardrobe, hairstyle and nails, yet somehow still be incapable of staying on top of the most important thing she owns: her heart health?

Sadly, she is not alone. A 2008 study of women over 40 done by The Federation of Medical Women of Canada called the LIPSTICK Survey reported that women spend more time thinking about their weight than they do about their hearts. And only 10% of women surveyed knew their personal heart disease risk factors versus the 64% of women who know how much they weighed in high school! Continue reading “Six rules for navigating your next doctor’s appointment” →