Actress Carrie Fisher's heart attack

[question everything]

shows that women can and do suffer from heart attacks.

[hlthe2b]

1. Yes... of course... that said, I do belive her past drug abuse, especially cocaine,

would have been a significant predisposing factor, given her (relatively) younger age.

I truly hope she can fully recover and we can have her around for many years to come.

[JenniferJuniper]

5. She's been a heavy smoker for years

If she wasn't currently using coke, that's often a huge factor.

[hlthe2b]

7. Indeed...

[Warpy]

2. It's the biggest killer of women

and our symptoms are completely different from those of men and are either blown off at home or not taken seriously by doctors.

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/2016/03/women-dont-ignore-3-subtle-heart-attack-symptoms/

Sadly, a lot of the surgical interventions like angioplasty and bypass don't work nearly as well in women as they do in men.

[mopinko]

8. damn near killed my mother.

her first heart attack was a sort of typical female type. no chest pain. just feeling awful, puking, and exhausted and weak.
she even spent a week in the hospital. they decided she had "the flu".
she continued feeling crappy, but just thought she was slowing down (in here mid 60's.) she even retired from a job she loved because she thought she was supposed to feel like shit at retirement age.

wasnt till a year and a half later that she had a more obvious heart attack.
they found that the lower part of her heart was necrotized, and that she had a blood clot in one chamber described as "the size of a lemon"

she had a resection, cracked open chest and all that good stuff. she was a tough old bird. i remind myself often that i am my mother's daughter, and hope to be half as tough.

the only good part is she woke up after surgery w no taste for a cigarette. she never had another.
she lived to just short of her 90th birthday.

[jodymarie aimee]

3. HUH?

boy am I glad I opened your post....got alot of time on your hands today?

[auntAgonist]

9. I don't understand your comment. It doesn't hurt to remind folks that WOMEN do suffer Heart Attacks

The symptoms are usually a lot different than the symptoms suffered by men.

aA

[Gothmog]

4. May the Force be with her

[Hoyt]

6. Women definitely have HAs, symptoms are often different from men. Doctors misdiagnose it in women.

[Heddi]

10. who says women don't suffer from or die from heart attacks?

Heart Disease is one of the leading causes of death in women

[question everything]

11. Common, mistaken knowledge

Starts with the notion that estrogen protects women's heart. Though pre-menopausal women do die from heart attack.

Continues with the fact that symptoms are different for women - see above comment.

And, I suppose, with many women often worry about keeping house, caring for children, they would often dismiss feeling uncomfortable as just "gas."

[phylny]

12. I spent about 4 hours in the emergency room yesterday.

I am fine, I thought I was fine, but I've had persistent chest pain for a week and a half. I thought, "I'm not having a heart attack, but what a fool I'd feel like if I die from a heart attack."

It's always best to err on the side of caution. Of course, I have health insurance and the means to pay for copays, which is a privelege, I know.

RIP Carrie.