Recent data shows that young women are now more prone to having heart attacks compared as to what it was before. With this situation, experts are now getting more concerned and focused on what to do to alter this truth.
Lily Rocha is one of the young women who experienced a heart attack and was blessed to be given a second chance to live. The 36-year-old is on top of her game, working, was never overweight, has tried to exercise daily, and also eats healthy.
Days before her attack, she experienced a tingling sensation in her chest, which eventually led to jaw and chest pain, and numbness in her left hand. It was then when her boss noticed the symptoms and encouraged her to be rushed to the emergency room. While experiencing these symptoms, she was asked to wait in the room for a while. It was then when she had a massive heart attack.
"I knew nothing about the signs and symptoms of a heart attack or how women are often dismissed as being exhausted and hysterical when seeking medical help," explains Rocha. She further shared that "Women need to know that 80% of heart disease is preventable, and they need to educate themselves."
Though cardiovascular diseases are a major cause of death for all genders, most men survive attacks than women. One of the main reasons for such is how women are given lesser priority as compared to their male counterpart. Thinking that what they are feeling is just mere fatigue or stress, most of them are just taken lightly and even sent back home even while experiencing the signs, as reported by Golden Casino News.
Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, director of cardiovascular prevention, health and wellness at Mount Sinai in New York City, claimed that many young women nowadays tend to become more susceptible to heart attacks because of the added challenges, stress, and pressure that they often face every day because of their family, work, and other personal things.
But since the need to care for women's cardiovascular health is now rising, experts are now working hand in hand to do something about it. Scientists are now working for a sex-specific diagnostics and treatment, which can eventually give women the specific treatment they need especially when they are experiencing attacks.
"The challenge for the public, scientists and advocates are now to investigate to get more information on women and heart disease." And that also includes the sharing of this information to more people as possible, says Dr. Nanette Wenger, professor of medicine in the division of cardiology at Emory University in Atlanta.
