Do you know the most common signs of a heart attack for women?

When you think of a heart attack, most people picture a person crouched over grasping their chest or arm.

And while chest pain is the most common sign, many other symptoms are also important to note, especially for women.

Pamela Duffey, an Advoate nurse in the emergency department at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Ill., knows this all too well.

Duffey, a 54-year-old mother of three, has always had a good health history. She’s not a smoker, has never had high blood pressure or cholesterol issues and tries to eat healthy.

But this past June, the Thursday before Father’s Day, she started experiencing jaw pain which traveled to her ears and caused an earache.

The pain subsided, so Duffey didn’t think much of the experience, but later that night, it came back and was so bad she couldn’t sleep.

Having no history, she tried to write off the pain, but when the mild pain persisted Friday, she wanted to make sure her vitals were normal.

“All the vitals were perfect,” she recalls. “Nothing was elevated, so I was reassured that it was something minor. That Saturday, I decided to get some sinus medicine, hoping I might sleep, but Sunday, I just didn’t feel right.”

Thankfully for Duffey, she was scheduled to work that Sunday, Father’s Day. As she walked into Lutheran General Hospital, she immediately knew something was wrong. She had to sit down the minute she hit the lobby.

“I talked to another nurse after I got to work, and Dr. Propp saw me and did an EKG,” says Duffey. “I could tell by the way he looked at me, something was wrong.”

Dr. Douglas Propp, an emergency medicine physician at Lutheran General Hospital, brought in Dr. Parag Patel, an interventional cardiologist who informed Duffey she had a heart attack.

“We took Pamela to our Cardiac Cath Lab where she had an angiogram (a picture of the arteries) which revealed her right coronary artery was 99 percent occluded, so we did an angioplasty plus stenting,” says Dr. Patel. “Had she been at home that day and waited a couple hours longer, she could have died.”

Months later, Duffey is still amazed by the turn of events.

“I think as an Advocate nurse, I’m used to taking care of others and am not as focused on how I feel,” she explains. “I knew in the back of my head jaw pain was a symptom of a heart attack, but I’m healthy and have no history, so at the time, I just couldn’t believe that something serious could be wrong.”

Duffey says if she were to give any advice to other women it would be, “Make sure you are aware of the symptoms of a heart attack. Women’s signs are different than men. Pay attention to your body, and when something feels wrong, get it checked out.”

What are other common symptoms for women?

Dr. Patel says signs to look out for include:

• Shortness of breath
• Nausea and/or vomiting
• Back pain
• Jaw pain
• Neck pain
• Lightheadedness
• Stomach pain
• Excessive fatigue
• Sweating

Concerned about your risk?

Advocate Lutheran General Hospital and other Advocate hospitals, offer a heart healthy CT scan which is a safe, non-invasive, painless screening that can help determine your risk for a heart attack. For more information on the healthy heart CT scan, click here.

Find out your risk for heart disease by taking our simple and easy Heart Risk Assessment.