Recognizing Heart Attack Symptoms In Women With Dr. Hafeza Shaikh, DO, FACC, MBA, Virtua Health
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00:00Hi, I'm Nicole from 92.5 XTU and Marissa Magnata from the Preston and Steve show on WMMR.
00:06And we are joined today with Dr. Shaikh, a clinical cardiologist with virtual cardiology
00:10in Camden and Willingboro.
00:12And through our paid partnership, we are here to bring you more of these fantastic videos.
00:17Absolutely.
00:18And specializing in women and heart disease, preventative health and cardiac imaging and
00:24education.
00:24You know, just a little amount of things that you do as an amazing cardiologist.
00:29Thank you so much for being here, Dr. Shaikh.
00:31You are both too kind.
00:33Thank you so much for having me on board here.
00:36So really excited to be here.
00:38Awesome.
00:38Let's just jump right in.
00:39So what happens to your heart during a heart attack?
00:43Great question, because we often hear this term thrown around, but what exactly is happening
00:48within our bodies?
00:49So a heart attack signifies that the heart is not getting its circulation that it needs
00:54to get.
00:54The heart is the biggest and most important pump in our body.
00:58So if it's not getting its own nourishment and nutrition, it's not able to supply the
01:03rest of the organs and extremities with the nutrition that it needs.
01:07So within a heart attack, it's the actual feeder arteries of the heart, which are called the
01:11coronary arteries.
01:13Their blood supply becomes cut off.
01:15Now, if that becomes cut off for too long, then a heart attack can lead permanent damage.
01:20Sometimes people can get lucky where that heart attack is only cutting off the blood supply
01:25for a short amount of time, in which case, after a heart attack, there may be minimal long-term
01:30damage and a person stands a reasonable chance of still leading a normal active lifestyle.
01:38And then what are the signs and symptoms?
01:40I know we've been hearing it our whole lives, but it's never too much to hear it again.
01:43Absolutely.
01:45Yeah.
01:45The most typical signs that we hear of are things like a discomfort in the chest.
01:50It doesn't just have to be a pain, though.
01:52A lot of time we throw around the word pain.
01:55Now, it could even be just a pressure, a tightness.
01:59For some people, believe it or not, it's a burning-like sensation, too.
02:03And it doesn't just have to be the chest.
02:04It could be the shoulders, the neck.
02:07It could be the upper back area, too.
02:09So anything that doesn't seem normal definitely needs to be evaluated.
02:14And sooner than later, you've probably heard the word that time is muscle because, again,
02:20the longer that a symptom goes untreated, stands a worse chance, unfortunately, for incurring
02:26permanent damage.
02:28Now, besides shortness of breath, there's also what we call atypical symptoms, meaning things
02:33that don't typically fall into the textbook or what we've heard before, but could still
02:37signify significant issues, such as shortness of breath, inability to keep your breath or
02:43getting winded on physical exertion.
02:45And I've even had people just report an unusual amount of fatigue.
02:49Just, you know, I was able to walk these two flights of steps before, and now when I try,
02:54I just don't have the stamina or just can't do it.
02:57So especially if that's more of an abrupt change without any other explanation, that can
03:01be a concerning sign for heart disease as well.
03:03They say women may experience different symptoms.
03:08You know, we hear this a lot.
03:09So like, what should women look for specifically?
03:13So for women, again, it could be, and it could be any of those textbook items that I mentioned
03:17as well too.
03:19But for atypical symptoms, it could be even a discomfort just in the shoulder or the left
03:24arm.
03:24It could also just be, as I mentioned, that fatigue or just even heartburn or even some upper
03:31abdominal discomfort too, which we wouldn't typically consider the chest.
03:36It's right underneath the margin of the rib cage.
03:39But even there's been people that present with discomfort or burning under there too,
03:44that can end up being a heart attack.
03:47Not to scare anyone, but I've even had somebody who just had very isolated jaw pain or tooth
03:51pain and even went to the dentist.
03:53And unfortunately, it put a delay into things because it ended up being their heart.
03:57That was the culprit issue.
03:59Wow.
03:59It was good that they did go to the doctor.
04:00What is the course of action that somebody should take?
04:03How, you know, how much emergency are these pains?
04:07So first thing you want to do is get to an emergency room.
04:11So I would advise not even going to urgent care or a doctor's office.
04:15In an emergency room is where you're able to get diagnosed faster because you can get
04:19an EKG put on and then blood work done as well, which will help rule in the diagnosis
04:24or find out if it's something else right away too.
04:26So we usually advise, and again, you know, time is muscle.
04:30So you want to get in as soon as possible.
04:31And of course, it's safest not to drive yourself if you're afraid that you're having symptoms
04:36that seem concerning.
04:38You should call 911 just because that's the fastest and most expedited way to get evaluated.
04:44And so how can we keep our heart healthy and avoid a heart attack?
04:48I mean, I know that sounds really simple, but what are some of your best tips and tricks?
04:52The old adage is completely correct in terms of an ounce of prevention being worth a pound
04:59of cure.
05:00So in terms of prevention, there are a typical five, at least, risk factors that do create
05:05heart disease.
05:07And to clarify, too, heart disease doesn't just brew overnight.
05:10It's not, you know, I had an irresponsible dinner meal that was high in saturated fat or
05:15oil, and now the next day I'm going to develop heart disease.
05:18It develops slowly over time, and the typical risk factors include high blood pressure, high
05:25cholesterol, diabetes, tobacco use, and family history.
05:30So out of those, obviously, family history, you can't really modify.
05:34You can't pick your family.
05:35You can only pick your friends.
05:37But from the other four, we stand a lot of room for improvement, right?
05:40So this has to do with healthy eating, and the most advisable diet we talk about is a Mediterranean
05:45diet, and making sure that we're keeping our weight and our BMI in a healthy range, physical
05:51activity, and that we're making sure that we even know our numbers, right?
05:55Because if someone were to not even know if they don't go to a doctor once a year to have
06:00a regular physical, they may not know that their triglycerides are high or cholesterol is
06:04high.
06:05So again, being able to identify if one of these risk factors is abnormal for you, and then being
06:11able to modify it is well worth it, and it can really save a lot of issues later on.
06:17Well, when do you advise that we seek help from a cardiologist?
06:21Yeah, good question.
06:22Now, if there's not symptoms necessarily that are concerning yet, but you want to know your
06:27risk, you want to know, you know, Nicole, where you stand and whether you're at risk in
06:32the next five to 10 years, you can start with your primary care provider, but also it'd
06:37be reasonable to see a cardiologist or ask your PCP's opinion about seeing a cardiologist
06:42as well, too, just so you can get a good lipid profile, which is what we call the blood test
06:47that actually analyzes your good cholesterol, bad cholesterol, triglycerides, and total cholesterol,
06:53and also to have the blood pressure evaluated.
06:57There's markers that we can check in the blood that help us identify prediabetes before it actually
07:03becomes diabetes, and any doctor obviously can give you great methods for tobacco cessation,
07:09and if that's an issue for you, it can give you some tips and even therapies to get off
07:14of tobacco abuse, too, so that way you stand a chance to lower that risk factor sooner than
07:19later.
07:21Yeah.
07:21So if I or anybody watching has heart disease, what can they do now?
07:28So if there is already heart disease, there's still a lot of ways and a lot of opportunities
07:34to move the needle, so this way you can reduce your chance of an event in the future.
07:39So the way to do that is, again, know your numbers.
07:41So you need to know where you stand, so that way you can know how to improve in terms of cholesterol,
07:47blood pressure, sugar, your weight, and physical activity.
07:50And for physical activity, what's recommended in a week from the experts is anywhere from
07:56120 to 150 minutes of good cardiovascular exercise that's raising the heart rate.
08:03So, again, just because you've already been diagnosed with some blockages and some heart
08:07disease doesn't mean you can't still impact your future and your prognosis and how you'll do.
08:12You can really try to improve those risk factors, ask about which medications are needed
08:17or could be needed in the future, and what you can even do to move the needle so maybe
08:22you don't need some of those medications or other therapies in the future, too.
08:26Yeah.
08:27Well, I'm just going to throw this out to every woman out there.
08:30You probably watched this video and you were thinking about somebody else in your family.
08:34Go back and watch this video because something here will be helping you.
08:37And go to go.virtua.org slash heart consult to speak with doctors like Dr. Sheik and some
08:45of your peers at Virtua.
08:46We can't thank you enough.
08:48You're awesome.
08:48Thank you so much.
08:49Thank you so much for having me, ladies.