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Make sure you take care of it. In America, nearly one woman dies every minute of heart disease, stroke or other cardiovascular diseases. That's why heart scans and other vascular screenings are so important.
Early detection means early treatment and more time to do what you love.
These screenings show the health of your arteries and major blood vessels.
We care for women through every stage of life—from pregnancy, to cancer, to heart disease.
At Community Heart and Vascular Care, we fight the #1 killer of Hoosier women, heart disease. Let’s talk about it today so you are not another statistic.
Those are sobering statistics about CAD (coronary artery disease), also known as hardening of the arteries or atherosclerosis. No matter its alias, the progressive build-up of plaque in the inner artery lining reduces blood flow, leading to angina (chest pain from the heart muscle being starved for blood and oxygen), heart attacks (no blood flow causing dead heart muscle), congestive heart failure and sudden cardiac death.
Some risk factors we can control, some we cannot. Your age, your genes, your family history and being postmenopausal are beyond your control. These issues are important in assessing risk and guiding treatment but no cures exist. What can we control? Lifestyle choices to change smoking, obesity, lack of exercise, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol and diabetes are within our grasp to treat and beat heart disease. Where do we start? First, know your numbers. That means your weight, BMI, blood pressure, fasting blood sugar and fasting lipid profile (cholesterol split into the good, bad and ugly). You can schedule a $49 heart scan with no doctor’s order required, measuring any calcium in your heart’s arteries. Have a heart-to-heart with your doctor: Do you need stress testing or other more in-depth evaluation?
Many women have classic symptoms to alert them to CAD: chest pain or pressure behind the breastbone associated with exertion that radiates to the left arm/neck/jaw. Many women have other less obvious symptoms, like shortness of breath, sweating, fatigue, nausea, dizziness or fainting that occur with exertion or rest. Women are also more likely to have plaque build-up in the tiny capillary arteries that are too small to be stented (microvascular angina) and stress-induced congestive heart failure (also known as Broken Heart Syndrome or Takotsubo’s cardiomyopathy.)
Don’t ignore your symptoms. Don’t be ignored by a professional who does not evaluate your symptoms. Women often delay evaluation because “heart disease only happens to men.” Although stress testing is usually the first step in a diagnostic work-up, the gold standard for the diagnosis of CAD remains a cardiac catheterization. This angiogram counts artery blockages (how many and how tight) and guides treatment. Stents have revolutionized the treatment of heart disease but they really just buy time to do the critical metabolic work: reducing plaque and preventing future symptoms with statins, blood thinners and aggressive reduction of risk factors.
Talk to your doctor about your risk for heart disease or heart attack. Looking for a heart specialist? Find a doctor on eCommunity.com or call 800-777-7775.
To prevent heart disease, a woman needs to be aware of the risk factors she has to develop heart disease. Typical risk factors include the following:
Women should see their doctors and know their numbers. What is your blood pressure? What is your most recent cholesterol? Half of Americans have high blood pressure or high cholesterol or smoke.
To help reduce risk of heart disease, a woman should address the risk factors she can control, see her physician, and take medications that are prescribed.
In addition, there are several lifestyle changes a woman can make to reduce her risk of heart disease. These include the following:
The classic symptoms of a heart attack described in a textbook or seen in a movie include clutching one’s chest and experiencing the sensation of an elephant sitting on your chest. This chest pressure is often brought on by either physical or emotional stress, may radiate into the left arm, and is relieved with rest or sublingual nitroglycerin.
While some women may experience chest pain, others have more atypical symptoms that do not involve chest pain and thus might get ignored. These symptoms are diverse and may include:
If you are experiencing any new symptoms, regardless of whether they are typical or atypical, don't ignore them - talk to your physician.
