Eliz Greene is a woman who knows what she’s talking about when she describes surviving a heart attack. She was seven months pregnant with twins when she suffered a massive heart attack. Not only did she survive a ten-minute cardiac arrest, the caesarean delivery of her daughters and open heart surgery – all on the same day! – she gained new perspective and passion for life. Continue reading “The busy woman’s guide to surviving a cardiac event”
Women missing the beat: are doctors ignoring women’s cardiac symptoms?
by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters
True or false? Every year, more women die of heart disease than men.
The answer is true, but if you didn’t know it, you’re in good company. In a survey of 500 American doctors (100 cardiologists, 100 obstetrician/gynecologists, and 300 family practice physicians) led by cardiologist Dr. Lori Mosca, only 8% of family doctors knew this fact, but – even more astonishing – only 17% of cardiologists were aware of it.
When it comes to women and heart disease, ignorance can be deadly. The misconception that heart disease is mostly a ‘man’s disease’ is one reason that women continue to be misdiagnosed or receive delayed treatment when experiencing symptoms of heart disease.
Dr. Mosca, Professor of Medicine and Director of Preventive Cardiology at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, explains that women patients often report that their complaints were dismissed or that they were “blown off” by their doctors when they presented with heart disease symptoms. Studies show that there is a gender bias out there that women need to be aware of.
” Our own research has shown that physicians are more likely to label a woman at lower risk for heart disease than a man with the same calculated level of heart disease risk.” Continue reading “Women missing the beat: are doctors ignoring women’s cardiac symptoms?”
Yes, French women DO get fat!
Remember that book that came out a few years ago that explained to us the “French paradox” – why don’t French women get fat? Anybody who has, like me, been unable to resist a Paris boulangerie without stopping to indulge has marvelled at the ability of French women to remain so thin and gorgeous in spite of all those exquisite croissants, crusty baguettes, heavenly sauces, divine cheese and oh, those wines.
Author Mireille Guilano (who, incidentally, is thin and gorgeous herself) wrote French Women Don’t Get Fat in 2004, explaining that their secret is in the eating habits of the women in France. Continue reading “Yes, French women DO get fat!”
Heart attack: did you bring this on yourself?
by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters
In the early hours, days and weeks following my heart attack, many conversations with family and friends started the same way: “How could this have happened to YOU?” – followed by an expectant pause during which I was supposed to explain myself. If only I’d been a chain-smoker, or had been living with diabetes, or hadn’t been a distance runner for almost 20 years. It would have somehow seemed more comforting to them, because it might mean that my heart disease was self-inflicted, that something like this could never touch them. Continue reading “Heart attack: did you bring this on yourself?”
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