Nine lessons about women’s heart disease that future doctors will learn in med school

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 6 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas   ♥  @HeartSisters

A cardiologist who teaches medical students at a prominent medical school was asked if his students were learning about the known disparities in cardiac research, diagnostics, treatment and outcomes in female heart patients compared to our male counterparts. His answer basically was: “If we start taking up time to talk about women, we’d have to stop teaching one of the equally important subjects in our curriculum.”  See also: Women’s Heart Health: Why it’s NOT a Zero Sum Game

That reluctant conversation-stopper may help to explain what cardiac researchers keep reminding us:  physicians now in practice likely received little if any specific med school training in women’s health aside from reproductive health issues. And as Emergency physician Dr. Alyson McGregor at Brown University reminds her colleagues:

“Women are NOT just men with boobs and tubes.”   

Continue reading “Nine lessons about women’s heart disease that future doctors will learn in med school” →

Will this $840,000 grant make a dent in women’s cardiac care?

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 4 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas    ♥  @HeartSisters

In an article published this week in the Ottawa Citizen, we learned some encouraging predictions about the future of women’s cardiac care here in Canada – and beyond.  Award-winning health/science journalist Elizabeth Payne explained the news in her August 30th article called “New Ottawa-Based Initiative Aims to Close Heart Health Gender Gap“.  In case you missed it, here’s what she wrote: (The NOTES below in italics are my own questions and comments):

Elizabeth Payne (EP):  “Years after researchers, health professionals and advocates began working to reduce it, the gender gap in women’s heart health persists. Heart disease is the leading cause of death for women, but their cardiovascular symptoms are still not always recognized and women’s heart attacks continue to get missed.”   Continue reading “Will this $840,000 grant make a dent in women’s cardiac care?” →

What I wish I knew back then: “How heart patients can make peace with an errant organ”

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 13 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas    ♥   @HeartSisters

Here’s my theory:  few health crises in life are as frightening as surviving a cardiac event.  I developed this theory while I was busy having my own “widow maker“ heart attack in the spring of 2008. Continue reading “What I wish I knew back then: “How heart patients can make peace with an errant organ”” →

What I wish I knew back then: “Stop apologizing for needing help!”

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 9 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas    ♥   @HeartSisters

Two weeks before being hospitalized with what doctors call the “widow maker” heart attack, I was sent away from the Emergency Department in that same hospital with an acid reflux misdiagnosis – despite presenting with textbook heart attack symptoms like central chest pain, nausea, sweating and pain down my left arm.  

Before I was sent home that day, I apologized profusely to the Emergency staff for wasting their valuable time. I felt embarrassed because I’d just made a fuss over nothing, because I’d made genuinely sick people wait that morning, and because I was clearly incapable of telling the difference between a serious cardiac crisis and indigestion. Once discharged home, when my symptoms worsened (which, of course, they DID!), there was no way I was going back to that Emergency Department to be further embarrassed – until day after day after day, those symptoms became ultimately unbearable.    Continue reading “What I wish I knew back then: “Stop apologizing for needing help!”” →