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Author
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Topic: Don't Have A Heart Attack
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Trisha
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 387
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posted 12 January 2003 01:42 PM
I had a heart attack on May 10, actually my third but the worst of them as the other two went away by themselves while I was in emergency. This one didn't. I went in about 10pm with pressure all over my upper body and numbness in both arms. They didn't take me seriously. I am a woman, therefore, they told me it was likely only an anxiety attack but they would keep me there to observe me. (What they actually said was that many women had anxiety attacks due to the weather changes, that was probably my problem too.) They asked me questions about stress and family relationships. Four hours later, a doctor finally decided that since my pain hadn't eased it was time to try the blood test that determines if a certain problem exists. This test is repeated every four hours if the indication is that it could be a heart attack. I was finally X-rayed and given an ultrasound too. Another four hours passed, still no treatment. Another test was taken. This time they gave me nitro spray when the result came back. The nitro didn't help, so they repeated it three more times. I ended up in the hospital but not in ICU. It was a week before I had the rest of the tests, angiogram, stress (which I failed), and others. They determined I needed an angioplasty, which isn't done locally (I had an 85% blockage). I was finally sent to Ottawa at the end of June and had an angioplasty and a stent put into the main artery to my heart. Follow-up was nonexistant. I came home alone on a commercial flight the day after the angioplasty, only my GP followed up on anything to this date. The three men who had heart attacks during the three days I was in emerg were sent away first, had all their tests first and at least one was in ICU. The other woman who had a heart attack was sent home after two days and died from another a few weeks later. I know her daughter. This would indicate to me that women are not getting the treatment we should be, that the differences in the symptoms for men vs women is not being recognized by medical staff and that the entire system seems to think men need treatment first. I know two of the men who were in with me and still talk to one of them occasionally. He is being seen by a heart specialist, I'm not. If they had done the proper treatment with one of my two previous attacks about five years ago, I would have had the angioplasty sooner and it may have done more good. My friend's mother never did have one done after five heart attacks.
From: Thunder Bay, Ontario | Registered: Apr 2001
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skdadl
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 478
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posted 12 January 2003 01:58 PM
Trisha:1. So glad to see you.  2. I'm outraged. Not long ago, we listened to a friend of ours describe his -- utterly different -- treatment when he turned up at an emerg in Hamilton. If his angioplasty wasn't done the same day, it was certainly the next ... As soon as he appeared with the symptoms you describe, he was given the diagnostic blood test -- it was the first thing they thought of when they saw him (a man about our age ... that seems to do it).
From: gone | Registered: May 2001
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rasmus
malcontent
Babbler # 621
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posted 13 January 2003 01:46 AM
Happily, I can't confirm the pattern. My mother, who is working class, and certainly doesn't exude wealth or power in a setting like a hospital, recently had chest pain that seemed like it could be a heart attack. As soon as she went in a full battery of tests was done -- blood test (twice), X-ray, ECG (twice). She got a bed in emergency almost right away, and then the tests began. (She went to the hospital by herself, just to clarify.) Everything came up negative. Which in its own way is not good, because she still doesn't know what caused the pain. But I can't complain that she didn't get what I would think of as the proper treatment.She has had other very bad experiences with the medical system based on her class and gender, but this wasn't one of them.
From: Fortune favours the bold | Registered: May 2001
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Michelle
Moderator
Babbler # 560
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posted 13 January 2003 07:27 AM
Yes, a few years ago, I went through a depression that included really terrible anxiety attacks that included chest pains and shortness of breath. Before I was diagnosed and given medication, I went several times in the middle of the night to the hospital, worried that I was dying.They immediately hooked me up to diagnostic equipment in order to rule out heart attack, stroke, etc. And I was in my early 20's at the time - not exactly a high risk group (well, I was fat, but not old...maybe they would have taken it less seriously if I were thin, who knows?) and not the most assertive age when it comes to demanding care.
From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001
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