Guide to Heart Disease

The symptoms associated with heart attacks in men and women are not always the same. With women, the chest pains do not tend to conform to the classic descriptions attributed to men. Women are more likely to experience a pain at rest or in their sleep. They might experience pain in parts other than the chest, such as the lower jaw and teeth, both arms, shoulders and back, and are more likely to have other signs like shortness of breath, palpitations, fatigue, sweating, nausea or vomiting.
Most classic risk factors and preventive strategies for heart disease are similar for men and women. But certain risk factors like diabetes and post menopausal status without hormone replacement therapy are of greater importance and are unique to women.
Whether in men or in women, heart ailment is a dreaded disease and the minor differences in symptoms should not make a woman’s condition any less serious than a man’s. Diseases like arthritis and osteoporosis often obscure the symptoms, and chest pains in women are often misdiagnosed as flu, abdominal pain, nausea, fatigue, panic attacks or premenstrual syndrome. Women’s heart diseases often progress over a much longer period of time. According to the Washington Care Center, very often, a woman who visits her physician with a concern or symptoms, is often more ill than a man who arrives in the emergency department after a heart attack.

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