I visit a therapist about once a month - mainly to help deal with the fears I have due to the many PAC's, PVC's and chest pains I experience each day.

She happens to be married to a cardiologist, and told me this yesterday:

Recent studies show that heart disease/heart problems for WOMEN can often begin in the smaller vessels of the heart & in that case, cannot usually be detected by the usual tests (echo, etc).

I am condensing what she said, and please don't take this as "law"...... I am just repeating the basics of what I heard.

Has anyone heard of any recent studies, or have any knowledge about this?

Thanks very much!

Yes.
Been there - done that........
I speak as one that endured seven year of undiagnosed disabling heart pain nightmare and four years of heart procedures trying to treat the damage to my heart, (read my heart posts if you like).
Not only do some women's heart problems begin in the smaller vessels of the heart that cannot usually be detected by the usual tests.
But also, some women have a tendency to have wide spread blockages that are not detected by the usual tests,
And some women are even having heart attacks that don't always show up on these tests.
Bits and pieces of these articles were in the news in the past few months........
(Shhh, not too loud.)

Hi & thanks for your response. I did go & read many of your posts.


Geez - when does it stop? Do I seek out more & more doctors ?? I'm at my wits end. And I've only been at it for 8 months.

Do I find a new cardiologist & start from square one ? Sigh....

Thanks so much, I really appreciate it.

Hi Enie,
When you say that most of these tests don't work for women,does that include the Echo,Stress and Heart Cat scan??
Char

I suffered a Heart Attack 4 days after passing a nuclear stress test. I don't have much faith in this test.

I'm so sorry that you had to go through that, I hope you are fully recovered. The reason for my question is because I have never had a problem with my heart and because of quite a few surgeries over the years I have had numerous EKG's. All of sudden after having a nuclear stress test they say a small part of the bottom of the back of my heart is not getting enough blood. I have heard that these are not always accurate for women so I thought I would try to find out and this board has always yielded the most information,better han the doctors. I have to have a Cardiac Cat Scan to see what it says. Hope it all was a mistake,(Fingers crossed here)
Thank you.

I only know that the articles say some women’s heart problems are not being caught by standard testing, not that they are seeing problems that are not really there.

As for me, I think I had all the tests out there, most several times over, but for a long time none of the tests showed anything abnormal. Nothing on: EKG, blood work, Echo, Stress, Nuke Stress, 24 hr.Monitor, Cat scan, and probably more... Only after several years of problems did they start seeing the problems. The Stress/Echo showed a slight aorta enlargement (Marfans), but only when the Doctor read it (nothing dangerous with proper care and medication). But they didn’t see anything else; The 30 day event monitor caught my heart pausing for 8 & 9 seconds at a time, five days into the test (immediately got a pacemaker for that); But even the Doctor that did my first catheterization said there was only mild to moderate blockages in a couple of arteries. I believe I would have never been diagnosed if a specialist had not come in right after my test and reviewed the results. He saw that I had too many blockages all around my heart and suspected disease was surrounding my heart pressing on the arteries. Had exploratory surgery and they saw he was right. They also saw I had chronic Dresslers syndrome caused by several heart attacks. They cut away as much disease as they could and they bypassed five arteries, (all time allowed).

Most of the damage caused from undiagnosed Heart attacks I was having and went to an ER for and was told that there was nothing wrong with me.
enie

WOW!!! They really messed with you,didn't they!! I really will never understand how so many doctors miss so much and so few doctors have the insight to see exactly what's wrong. I hope you're doing much better now and are feeling much healthier. Thanks for answering!

Here's what I think -- I think doctors have no idea how to diagnose or treat heart disease in women.

I am not aware of having had any heart attacks but I do have an arrythmia and had a few unnerving pain attacks, chronic palpitations, etc. Everything I've had done turns up relatively "normal" other than the recognized arrythmia which is supposedly benign.

Yes, but those benign arrythmias can change and cause trouble but no one knows when. Ahh, the thrill of waiting for something to happen!

As for tests, I've had many, and when trying to figure out what's really going on in the heart arteries the cardiologist said get the calcium scan of the heart so I got one. Get this: zero calcium -- they called me "a star." As I was 55 at the time, I guess that was quite something.

But now a year later, on a whim, I went for a free carotid artery test (ultrasound of the neck) at a local hospital (for the 55 and older crowd) and was told that the left carotid contains plaque/calcifications, possibly from the years I smoked. Well isn't THAT interesting! So now I have conflicting test results, albeit on different arteries. But wouldn't it seem likely that if there is zero calcium in heart arteries there would be zero in carotids? Does this mean the heart scan was a joke?

This is why I am going to just say nuts to all of this and live the rest of my life without any more ridiculous tests and worries. The only thing all the docs agree on regarding all of us is that we need to cut and/or learn how to handle stress. Well, worrying about our health IS probably one of the biggest stressors so I figure if I let go of that, I should feel pretty good!

Here's to less worry in 2006!

I believe that women are next for advancements in heart diagnostic equipment. So hang in there girls. It won't be long at all.
Personally I think that we have the heart diagnostic equipment already. We just have to update the training material, and retrain the technicians and Doctors to spot the problems. My Doctor proved it when he went back and looked at my tests after my operation. Except for the stress test, my tests showed the heart disease. The Techs just didn't recognize it.

When I was born, I had cleft palate. Back then they didn't operate until you were almost grown. A couple years later they started operating when you were first born. Advancement. My husband had polio when he was 2, just two years later they had a vaccine. We don't have to get polio anymore. I remember seeing the first heart transplant guy on TV. He had it rough. And now a good friend of mine has a new heart and is doing a lot better than me health wise. Advancement in medicine is wonderful and happens so quickly now.

I think I understand why the Doctors and ERs couldn't pinpoint my problem for so many years. After all they were not trained to recognize it. But I just wish that they had not automatically presumed that it was all in my head when I didn't line up with their textbook case guide lines.
My problems were not stress or anxiety related. They were real. But I tell you that sitting in front of a Doctor that doesn't believe you are having heart problems can cause you to have stress and/or anxiety. Oh but if you do get stressed from having to deal with a Doctor that doesn’t believe your pain is heart related, then they get to say, 'told you so'. Aakk...
Oh, I know that stress can indeed cause heart problems, but I wonder what percentage of people get their stress or anxiety after they have the heart problems?
enie