Delay To Emergency Room Could Cause Heart Muscle Damage

Men and women share many risk factors for heart disease, the No. 1 killer in the United States. But some factors differ.

Mary Kay Friday considers herself a healthy woman. Friday, who beat breast cancer 23 years ago, exercises, eats right and gets regular checkups. But she had never given much thought to her heart until last March.

“I was sitting in bed reading a book, and my head felt like it was spinning in a circle. [I felt] dizzy, but it passed,” she said.

Friday mentioned her symptoms to her doctor in the next week, and a stress test showed cardiomyopathy, a weakness of the heart caused by chemotherapy she underwent in 1983.

Dr. Kathy Helzlsouer, of Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, said that although heart disease is the biggest killer of women, most don’t know their risk.

“One woman I know was at high risk for breast cancer. She came and told me, ‘I was so focused on my breast I forgot about my heart.’ She had a heart attack in her 40s,” Helzlsouer said.

Helzlsouer believes women should know their cholesterol level, their blood pressure and their family history.

And women should also make sure their doctor knows their patient’s “family history of heart disease and bring that up to the physician. They may do things differently than they would if there is no family history,” Helzlsouer said.

Friday is happy that she mentioned her symptoms to her doctor. It’s an episode she might have dismissed as too minor to bring up, but she didn’t.

“I’m fortunate my doctor was so proactive and jumped right on this and got a stress test,” Friday said. “I’m on medication and doing great; it hasn’t altered my life in any way.”

Experts urge women not to wait until it’s too late. Women survive a first heart attack less often than men. One reason is that women go to the emergency room 20 minutes later than men, which can increase the extent of heart muscle damage, experts say.