Category: Women and heart attacks

– posts here focus on warning signs and symptoms women experience during a cardiac event

Could heart disease have its roots in your mother’s womb?

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 2 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥ @HeartSisters

When my mother was pregnant with me in 1950, mothers-to-be were very afraid of weight gain.  Back then, doctors had spent at least two decades warning pregnant women against gaining too much weight,  believing that excess pounds would lead to dangerous conditions like pre-eclampsia or toxemia. And lower weight gain would also ensure “preservation of one’s figure”.

In fact, I recall Mum’s stories about actually starving herself during the 2-3 days before each monthly prenatal appointment weigh-in so as not to incur the disapproval of her obstetrician. She was not alone. The average total pregnancy weight gain of North American women in 1950 was less than 20 pounds.

Less than 20 pounds?   Continue reading “Could heart disease have its roots in your mother’s womb?” →

My heart attack story in Ladies Home Journal

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 19 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥ @HeartSisters

I have to admit this: it was pretty exciting to be interviewed on the subject of surviving a heart attack by magazine writer Amelia Harnish for Ladies Home Journal’s special Heart Month online edition.  You can read her article called Heartburn or Heart Attack?  – see what you think! But first, an embarrassed warning: remember when your parents wagged their fingers at you and said: “Do like I say, not like I do!”  Keep that counsel in mind when you read my heart attack story. Example: do not, under any circumstances, get into your car and drive yourself anywhere while you are experiencing heart attack symptoms.   Continue reading “My heart attack story in Ladies Home Journal” →

Misdiagnosis: the perils of “unwarranted certainty”

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 9 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥  @HeartSisters

Until being misdiagnosed with indigestion in mid-heart attack, I generally trusted that all people with the letters M.D. after their names knew what they were talking about when diagnosing serious medical problems. That was long before I tracked down a study(1) reported in the New England Journal of Medicine that women under the age of 55 who are experiencing a heart attack are seven times more likely to be misdiagnosed and sent home from the E.R. compared to their male counterparts presenting with identical symptoms.

And that’s why I now find Dr. Jerome Groopman’s landmark book, How Doctors Think, so illuminating.  It should be required reading for all med school students.  Continue reading “Misdiagnosis: the perils of “unwarranted certainty”” →

‘Gaslighting’ – or, why women are just too darned emotional during their heart attacks

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 10 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥  @HeartSisters

If you’re familiar with the term ‘gaslighting‘ , you’ll immediately grasp its practical application to everyday life. (Very similar reaction, in fact, to first hearing the word ‘mansplaining‘!   But I digress). The concept of gaslighting may ring bells for any woman who has been misdiagnosed in mid-heart attack, patted on the head and sent home from the E.R. in abject embarrassment. Continue reading “‘Gaslighting’ – or, why women are just too darned emotional during their heart attacks” →