Heart Disease

The Myths about Heart Disease and Women

Summary & Participants

Debra thought of heart disease as something that happened only to older men. It's a belief that could have been fatal.

Medically Reviewed On: July 20, 2006

Webcast Transcript

ANNOUNCER: Ten years ago, heart disease was the last thing on Debra's mind, even as she was suffering crushing chest pain.

DEBRA, HEART DISEASE SURVIVOR: The pain got worse and worse and worse. I mean, the only way I can describe, like somebody was literally sitting on my chest. Then I started losing my breath and my arms started going numb.

ANNOUNCER: After five hours in an emergency room, she still wasn’t prepared for the diagnosis.

DEBRA, HEART DISEASE SURVIVOR: My doctor comes in. He said "the good news is you're alive. The bad news is you've had a heart attack." And I said "Wait a minute, 52-year-old women do not get heart attacks. That's an old man's disease. "

ANNOUNCER: It’s that kind of thinking that gave Dr. Nieca Goldberg her life’s mission.

NIECA GOLDBERG, MD, AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION SPOKESPERSON: When I went through my medical training, I realized that when women came in with symptoms of chest discomfort or breathlessness, that the doctors weren't taking them as seriously as they did those symptoms in men.

ANNOUNCER: Heart disease is the number one killer of women over 25. It also kills more women than men each year, though less than one in five doctors is aware of that fact.

NIECA GOLDBERG, MD, AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION SPOKESPERSON: Women have a higher rate of death due to heart attack, particularly in the first month, because, when they come to the hospital, they're sicker. They also get to the hospital later so that the lifesaving procedures that we can use to open up blocked arteries are not as effective.

ANNOUNCER: Even after Debra’s heart attack, she had trouble getting a doctor to take her chest pains seriously on a later visit to the emergency room.

DEBRA, HEART DISEASE SURVIVOR: I have all my history with me and I told the attending physician that I had a previous heart attack and I suffer from chest pains and severe angina and he looked at me and he said, "Tsk, you know what you need? You need a valium."

ANNOUNCER: Her experiences have also turned her into a crusader.

DEBRA, HEART DISEASE SURVIVOR: I have my own support group and I have my own cable show on local cable, the Heart of a Woman. I've become extremely proactive. Women are caregivers. We take care of everybody but ourselves. It's about time we start taking care of ourselves and realize this is our number-one killer and let's do something.

ANNOUNCER: Thanks for joining us on today’s Once Daily.