Tag: Dr. Sian Harding

What I wish I knew back then: “What happens to heart muscle during a heart attack?”

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 7 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas    ♥   @HeartSisters

Researchers tell us that women wait significantly longer than our male counterparts to seek medical help – yes, even in mid-heart attack!  In fact, trying to figure out WHY women wait dangerously longer than we should has become a unique field of cardiac study on what’s known as “treatment-seeking delay behaviour“.

“What I Wish I Knew Back Then”  is a back-to-basics summer series of posts here on Heart Sisters that will revisit some of the most frequently asked questions from new heart patients. Today, Part 2 continues with another basic that often accompanies a heart attack: “What happens to heart muscle if I wait too long to get urgent help?”  Continue reading “What I wish I knew back then: “What happens to heart muscle during a heart attack?”” →

Modern medicine is male-centric medicine, and that’s a problem for women.

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 15 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas    ♥   @HeartSisters 

In September, I mentioned here an important book written by Dr. Alyson McGregor, an Emergency physician and associate professor of medicine at Brown University.  The book: “Sex Matters:  How Male-Centric Medicine Endangers Women’s Health and What We Can Do About It“.   Her first chapter opens with a story about Julie, a 32-year old woman she met in her Emergency department one day – a story that’s disturbingly familiar to women like me whose heart attack has been misdiagnosed:          .    Continue reading “Modern medicine is male-centric medicine, and that’s a problem for women.” →

Must women bring an advocate along so doctors will believe us?

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 16 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas    ♥   @HeartSisters

This week, three books and three bold messages about the problem with male-centric medicine:  In her book Sex Matters: How Male-Centric Medicine Endangers Women’s Health, Dr. Alyson McGregor defines male-centric medicine like this: medical research and medical practice based on models historically designed to work in men, while ignoring the unique biological/emotional differences between men and women. In fact, she writes that the male-centric model of medicine is now so pervasive in health care that many of us don’t even realize it exists:

“Women who experience severe pain often have trouble convincing the doctor treating them of how serious that pain is. The more women protest and try to convince the physician, the more their behaviour is perceived as hysterical. This perception can work against them in the Emergency Department.”

If that’s where you are, Dr. McGregor warns: “the best thing you can do as a woman is to bring an advocate with you to explain your symptoms.”         .   Continue reading “Must women bring an advocate along so doctors will believe us?” →