This was sent to me by a caring friend, and is so relevant I am sharing it with you.  Please pass it on!

 I was aware that female heart attacks are different, but this is the best
 description I've ever read .

 Women and heart attacks (Myocardial infarction).  Did you know that women
 rarely have the same dramatic symptoms that men have when experiencing heart
 attack...you know, the sudden stabbing pain in the chest, the cold sweat,
 grabbing the chest & dropping to the floor that we see in the movies.

 Here is the story of one woman's experience with a heart attack.

 "I 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. I was sitting all snugly y & warm of a cold evening, with my
 purring cat in my lap, reading an interesting story my friend had sent me, and
 actually thinking "A-A-h, this is the life, all cozy and warm in my soft,
 cushy Lazy Boy with my feet propped up." A moment late, I felt that
 awful sensation of indigestion, 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
 drink a glass of water to hasten its progress down to the stomach. This was
 my initial sensation---the only trouble was that I hadn't taken a bite of
 anything since about 5:00 PM.


 "After that had seemed to subside, the next sensation was like little
 squeezing motions that seemed to be racing up my SPINE (hind-sight,it was
 probably my aorta spasming), gaining speed as they continue racing up and
 under my sternum (breast bone, where one presses rhythmically when
 administering CPR). This fascinating process continued on into my throat and
 branched out into both jaws.


 "AHA!! NOW I stopped puzzling about what was happening--we all have read
 and/or heard about pain in the jaws being one of the signal of an MI
 happening, haven't we? I said aloud to myself and the cat, quote; "Dear God,I
 think I'm having a heart attack !" I lowered the foot rest, dumping the cat
 from my lap, started to take a step and fell on the floor instead. Thought
 to myself "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."


 "I pulled myself up with the arms of the chair, walked slowly into the next
 room and dialed the Paramedics... I told her I thought I was having a heart
 attack due to the pressure building under the sternum and radiating into my
 jaws. I didn't feel hysterical or afraid, just stating the facts. She said
 she was sending the Paramedics over immediately, asked if the front door was
 near to me, and if so, to unbolt the door and then lie down on the floor
 where they could see me when they came in.


 "I then laid down on the floor as instructed and lost consciousness, as I
 don't remember the medics coming in, their examination, lifting me onto
 gurney or getting me into their ambulance, or hearing the call they made to
 St. Jude ER on the way, but I did briefly awaken when we arrived and saw
 that the Cardiologist was already there in his surgical blues and cap,helping
 the medics pull my stretcher out  of the ambulance. He was bending over me
asking questions (probably something like "Have you taken any  medications?")
 but I couldn't make my mind interpret what he was saying, or
 form an answer, and nodded off again, not waking up until the Cardiologist
 and partner had already threaded the teeny angiogram balloon up my femoral
 artery into the aorta and into my heart where they installed 2 side by
 side stints to hold open my right coronary artery.


 "I know it sounds like all my 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 St.Jude
 are only minutes away from my home, and my Cardiologist was already to go to
 the OR in his scrubs and get going on restarting my heart (which had stopped
 somewhere between my arrival and the procedure) and installing the stents .


 "Why have I written all of this to you with so much detail? Because I want
 all of you who are so important in my life to know what I learned first
 hand."


 1. Be aware that something very different is happening in your body not
 the usual men's symptoms, but inexplicable things happening (until my
 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 a s 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. My female friends,
 your symptoms might not be exactly like mine, so I advise you 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 I said "Call the Paramedics". Ladies TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!
 Do NOT try to drive yourself to the ER--you're a hazard to others on the
 road, and so is your panicked husband who will be speeding and looking
 anxiously at what's happening with you instead of the road. Do NOT call your
 doctor--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 Dr. 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 cause 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 chance we could survive...


 A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this mail sends it to 10 people,
 you can be sure that we'll save at least one life.


 **Please be a true friend and send this article to all your friends you care
 about** I just did!!