Moral injury in cardiac misdiagnosis

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 4 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas   ♥  @HeartSisters

After surviving a misdiagnosed heart attack, I came home from the CCU (the intensive care unit for heart patients) feeling afraid to go to sleep at night. I felt a cold creeping dread that I would suffer another heart attack. Probably tonight. And probably fatal this time. I have since learned from many other freshly-diagnosed heart patients how remarkably common it is to be afraid to go to sleep in the the early days and weeks – if we no longer feel certain that we’ll be able to wake up.

The worst part was that even when I finally did fall asleep, I had frequent nightmares. They were always the same: having a heart attack on a plane (vividly reliving what had actually happened in real life during my last late night flight home from Ottawa to Vancouver).

But in these scary dreams, I was the only passenger on the flight. The cockpit door was open. I could see the empty seats where the Air Canada pilots should be at the controls. Just me, flying alone in an empty Boeing 787 at 40,000 feet. A terribly frightening nightmare.  Continue reading “Moral injury in cardiac misdiagnosis” →

Survey: how women (and our doctors) respond to early cardiac symptoms

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 9 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas    ♥   @HeartSisters

I have often written and spoken out about an alarming reality observed among women experiencing their first cardiac symptoms. Researchers call it “treatment-seeking delay behaviour”. One of several interesting studies on this particular tendency in female heart patients was published in The American Journal of Critical Care, for example. Oregon researchers reported that female heart patients are significantly more likely to delay seeking medical treatment compared to our male counterparts – yes, even in mid-heart attack. In fact, study authors identified six common patterns of decision-making delays between the time women first experience serious cardiac symptoms and the time when they go for help.(1)  Those six patterns range from “minimizing symptoms” to “reluctance to ask others for help”.

But just in case these studies seem to suggest that women are to blame for poor cardiac outcomes because we wait too long, let’s look at how prepared our physicians are to assess cardiovascular risks in their female patients. The landmark Women’s Heart Alliance survey asked both female heart patients and physicians for their own perspectives – with surprising results, especially this particular finding:

Physicians may not feel as prepared as you think.      .

Continue reading “Survey: how women (and our doctors) respond to early cardiac symptoms” →

Cardiac care: more good news for young, healthy white men

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 10 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas    ♥   @HeartSisters  

Being misdiagnosed with acid reflux and sent home from Emergency in mid-heart attack was when I learned that certain heart patients will be appropriately cared for, while other patients will not. I’ve been writing and speaking about what polite academics call under-served heart patient populations ever since since my own “widow maker” heart attack in 2008. And now a new international Commission has formed to “address the persistent disparities in cardiovascular health.” 

What the term “persistent disparities” specifically means is that the quality of care you’ll receive during your cardiac event varies depending on your age, your skin colour, your mental health and whether you’re a man or a woman.  
Continue reading “Cardiac care: more good news for young, healthy white men” →

A fascinating history of your coronary stent

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 15 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥  @HeartSisters  

If you’re a heart patient who has had one or more coronary stents implanted, I think you’ll like this history lesson about how such a small device ended up inside your beating heart – with thanks to the Journal of Clinical Medicine and the British Medical Bulletin for much of this lesson.1
 Continue reading “A fascinating history of your coronary stent” →