Women and Heart Disease
By: Tsou JinyeuTotal Views: 24, Word Count: 919,
Men and women both are at risk for heart disease and heart attacks. Many women die of heart diseases than other diseases like breast cancer. This may be due to the fact that women are not aware of the importance of early medical treatments. Death may also be caused as women tend to have smaller hearts and blood vessels that get damaged very easily.
Causes of heart disease in women
- Microvascular diseases in women
- High blood pressure
- Coronary artery disease
- Stroke
- Rheumatic fever
- Valvular heart disease
- High cholesterol levels
- Diabetes
- Obesity and weight issues
- Physical inactivity
- Smoking and drinking
- Heredity
- Age
- Other like stress, sex hormones, birth control pills,
Reversing and preventing heart disease
You may not be able to do anything about your family history of heart attacks and your age, you can definitely make some lifestyle changes and prevent heart problems.
- Stop smoking
- Control your blood pressure
- Control cholesterol and triglyceride levels
- Exercise regularly
- Eat low fat diet and consume a lot of fruits and vegetables
- Maintain a healthy weight and prevent obesity
- Prevent diabetes and control it
- Be aware of any pain in chest region
- Family history
- Excessive intake of alcohol
- Individual response to stress
Risk factors you cannot control
- Increasing age
- Sex
- Family history
- Previous heart attack or stroke
Female heart attack symptoms
There are no specific symptoms for heart diseases. You need to watch out for some signs as women are most likely to have these common signs. Heart attack may occur suddenly and there may be a combination of different signs.
- Pain in chest region
- Pain in arms, back or stomach
- Nausea or vomiting
- Loss of appetite
- Heart flutters and heart burn
Heart disease and pregnancy
- Consult your doctor for any medication for heart diseases. Medication for heart diseases may harm your baby in case you are pregnant
- Heart murmur is noticed when extra blood flows through your heart during pregnancy. This does not indicate any heart problem, but may need through investigation
- Fast or slow heart beat is called as arrhythmias. This may not require any treatment, but it may due to unknown heart disease that existed previously
- Hypertension is very commonly seen during pregnancy. High blood pressure is seen along with rapid weight gain, swollen ankles and proteins in urine. This condition is toxemia of pregnancy.
Treatment for women with heart disease: To keep your blood pressure under control, take blood pressure drugs. However if you have diabetes, you should take lower levels of doses of medication
Cholesterol should be under control:
- LDH under 100 mg/dL
- HDL greater than 50 mg/dL
- Triglycerides below 150mg/dL
There is no requirement of any hormone replacement therapy. Antioxidant supplements or any folic acid to prevent heart disease
Aspirin therapy may be prescribed for women at higher risk for heart disease. It is usually for women with women above age 65
Beta blockers can be used in women having greater risk and history of heart disease
This article women and heart diseases is for all women of all ages. It informs you about heart disease and stroke, related risk factors like family history, cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, reversing and preventing heart diseases and so on.
About the Author
Dr Tsou Jinyeu is a well known gynecologist and has been in this field since 1995. His special interests are – genetic and birth defects, high risk obstetrics, lupus in pregnancy, premature labour, premature delivery, triplets and ultrasound diagnosis. He is graduated from the University Of Illinois College Of Medicine. Nowdays he is working as a medical doctor at Elmhurst Loyola Center for Health.
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