We all need to remember that women's heart attacks are different from that of men’s.

Many a times we see a protagonist in a movie enact a scene. Same dramatic symptoms that men have when experiencing a heart attack...you know, the sudden stabbing pain in the chest, the cold sweat, grabbing the chest & dropping to the floor. But in reality, this woman had a different experience. She had a completely unexpected heart attack at about 10:30 pm with NO prior exertion; NO prior emotional trauma that one would suspect might've brought it on. She was sitting all snugly & warm on a cold evening, with her purring cat in her lap, reading an interesting story that her friend had sent her, and was actually thinking, "A-Ah, this is the life, all cozy and warm in my soft, cushy Lazy Boy with my feet propped up." A moment later, she felt that awful sensation of indigestion, like when you've been in a hurry and grabbed a bite of sandwich and washed it down with a dash of water, and that hurried bite seems to feel like you've swallowed a golf ball going down the esophagus in slow motion and it is most uncomfortable. You realize you shouldn't have gulped it down so fast and needed to chew it more thoroughly and this time drinks a glass of water to hasten its progress down to the stomach. This was her initial sensation---the only trouble was that she hadn't taken a bite of anything since about 5:00 p.m. After that had seemed to subside, the next sensation was like little squeezing motions that seemed to be racing up her SPINE (hindsight, it was probably her aorta spamming), gaining speed as they continued racing up and under her sternum (breast bone, where one presses rhythmically when administering CPR). This fascinating process continued on into her throat and branched out into both jaws. AHA!! NOW she stopped puzzling about what was happening--she had read and/or heard about pain in the jaws being one of the signals of an MI (Myocardial Infarction...A Heart Attack) happening. Haven't we all heard it too? She said aloud to herself and the cat, "Dear God, I think I'm having a heart attack!" she lowered the foot rest, dumping the cat from her lap, started to take a step and fell on the floor instead. She thought to herself "If this is a heart attack, I shouldn't be walking into the next room where the phone is or anywhere else.......but, on the other hand, if I don't, nobody will know that I need help, and if I wait any longer I may not be able to get up in moment." She pulled herself up with the arms of the chair, walked slowly into the next room and dialed the Paramedics... She told into the phone that she thought she was having a heart attack due to the pressure building under the sternum and radiating into her jaws. She didn't feel hysterical or afraid, just stating the facts. She was told that they would be sending the Paramedics over immediately, they asked if the front door was near her, and if so, to unbolt the door and then lie down on the floor where they could see her when they came in. She did as instructed and lost consciousness, as she didn't remember the medics coming in, their examination, lifting her onto a gurney or getting her into their ambulance, or hearing the call they made to the hospital on the way, but she did briefly awaken when they arrived and saw that the Cardiologist was already there in his surgical blues and cap, helping the medics pull her stretcher out of the ambulance. He was bending over her asking questions (probably something like "Have you taken any medications?") but she couldn't make her mind interpret what he was saying, or form an answer, and she nodded off again, not waking up until the Cardiologist and partner had already threaded the teeny angiogram balloon up her Femoral artery into the aorta and into her heart where they installed 2 side by side stents to hold open her right coronary artery. I know it sounds like all her thinking and actions at home must have taken at least 20-30 minutes before calling the Paramedics, but actually it took perhaps 4-5 minutes before the call, and both the fire station and the hospital were only minutes away from her home, and her Cardiologist was already to go to the OR in his scrubs and get going on restarting her heart (which had stopped somewhere between her arrival and the procedure) and installing the stents. And she survived. But the point to remember is: 1. Be aware that something very different is happening in your body, not the usual men's symptoms, but inexplicable things happening (until her sternum and jaws got into the act ). It is said that many more women than men die of their first (and last) MI because they didn't know they were having one, and commonly mistake it as indigestion, take some Maalox or other anti-heartburn preparation, and go to bed, hoping they'll feel better in the morning when they wake up....which doesn't happen. Your symptoms might not be exactly like hers, so it is best to call the Paramedics if ANYTHING is unpleasantly happening that you've not felt before. It is better to have a "false alarm" visitation than to risk your life guessing what it might be! 2. Note that you must “Call the Paramedics". TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE! Do NOT try to drive yourself to the hospital--you're a hazard to others on the road, and anyone else there with you who will be speeding and looking anxiously at what's happening with you instead of the road. Do NOT call your doctor—if he doesn't know where you live and if it's at night you won't reach him anyway, and if it's daytime, his assistants (or answering service) will tell you to call the Paramedics. He doesn't carry the equipment in his car that you need to be saved! The Paramedics do, principally OXYGEN that you need ASAP. Your Doctor will be notified later. 3. Don't assume it couldn't be a heart attack because you have a normal cholesterol count. Research has discovered that a cholesterol elevated reading is rarely the cause of an MI (unless it's unbelievably high, and/or accompanied by high blood pressure.) MI's are usually caused by long-term stress and inflammation in the body, which dumps all sorts of deadly hormones into your system to sludge things up in there. Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep. Let's be careful and be aware. The more we know the better are the chances we could survive...