A Must Read for Women with Cardiovasc... - British Heart Fou...

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A Must Read for Women with Cardiovascular issues

23Ruthie profile image
28 Replies

Just reading this book by Prof Angela Maas. It was recommended to me by a Menopause specialist as an insight to how Women’s heart problems differ so much from Men’s - especially women under 65. I’m only a few chapters in but already it’s been eye opening and really interesting.

So many Dr’s have NEVER studied a Women’s heart problems in a clinical setting .

A Woman's Heart: Why female heart health really matters

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23Ruthie profile image
23Ruthie
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28 Replies
Milkfairy profile image
MilkfairyHeart Star

A great read recommended to the forum on several occasions in the past. A good resource can never be over shared 😊

I can suggest another article recently published in the European Heart Journal. One of the co authors is a woman living with heart disease.

academic.oup.com/eurheartj/...

DasyB profile image
DasyB in reply toMilkfairy

Hi Milkfairy, Good read - thanks for the links - any idea what they mean by 'guideline directed therapy'?

Milkfairy profile image
MilkfairyHeart Star in reply toDasyB

'guideline directed therapy' There are recommended evidence based treatments that all patients should be offered when they are having a heart attack.

Eg Angiogram within a set time, stents if required, medication and cardiac rehab.

Women are consistently not being offered these guideline therapies.

francesw47 profile image
francesw47

Ruthie, thankyou for posting - I hope you enjoy the rest of the book. Its an eye opening read.

Crystal614 profile image
Crystal614

I agree with you it is a very good book to read. I also the other book written by Carolyn Thomas that's worth reading as well.

Milkfairy profile image
MilkfairyHeart Star in reply toCrystal614

Carolyn Thomas also writes a blog.

myheartsisters.org/

RufusScamp profile image
RufusScamp in reply toMilkfairy

Thanks for the link. There's a lot of interesting stuff in the blog. I've just "wasted" an hour...😊

But it's been useful.

Qualipop profile image
Qualipop in reply toRufusScamp

Me too. I spent ages following really interesting links in her blog although the one sign of a heart attack in women that I couldn't find that she mentioned was indigestion. That was my only symptom for 3 days. The only thing that made me get help was on day 3 when my arm, neck and jaw tingled.

Milkfairy profile image
MilkfairyHeart Star in reply toQualipop

Stomach pain and indigestion are beginning to be more recognised as possible signs of a heart attack in women.

bhf.org.uk/what-we-do/news-...

Qualipop profile image
Qualipop in reply toMilkfairy

||About time too because when the paramedics took me in I after seeing something odd on my ECG, I was ignored for many hours because I wasn't showing chest pain. A nurse vaguely offered me aspirin which I declined because it gives me stomach pain. I didn't understand why it was needed and she didn't try to persuade me and that was the last person I saw for over 5 hours.

fishonabike profile image
fishonabike in reply toMilkfairy

Carolyn has stopped updating the blog, but there are plenty of really useful and interesting articles there about Women's heart Health

Yumz199725 profile image
Yumz199725

Oh wow great is it for a certain age or can it benefit someone in there late 20s x

Milkfairy profile image
MilkfairyHeart Star in reply toYumz199725

It's relevant to every woman heart patient. Very easy to read.

lettingoffsteam should be given the credit of first posting about the book a while back.

Yumz199725 profile image
Yumz199725 in reply toMilkfairy

Oh wow ok, sorry I wasn't aware of the original poster posting about this x

lettingoffsteam profile image
lettingoffsteam in reply toMilkfairy

Yes, a very good book imo. I found out about it in a magazine.Pretty shocking how many cardiac symptoms get overlooked but things are changing thankfully

Jackabee profile image
Jackabee

thanks Ruthie. I didn’t know about this.

Dyllibobs profile image
Dyllibobs

Thanks Ruthie. I've just ordered it 🙂 x

HHH2017 profile image
HHH2017

Thank you for sharing, I've not heard of this before. I will order now 👌🏼

AuntyEdna profile image
AuntyEdna

Fantastic read highly recommend it too ☺️

trafar profile image
trafar

I will buy this and have a read. I am 55 and only just suffered a HA, I have been scratching my head thinking why me what did I do? I ha e only just found out about what lack of oestrogen does to your body and your cholesterol levels. Why do we not know any of this, why do we know all the signs and symptoms of breast cancer and regularly screened for it but twice as many women die of heart related issues than breast cancer.

Milkfairy profile image
MilkfairyHeart Star in reply totrafar

The concluding paragraph of the European Heart Journal's article, 'Raising awareness about cardiovascular disease in women' is

"Women are subject to gender inequality and inequity when it comes to their cardiovascular health. There are numerous reasons why this may be the case; however, in 2023, this problem should not exist."

academic.oup.com/eurheartj/...

https://academic.oup.com/eurheartj/article/44/33/3110/7235122
GCWhits profile image
GCWhits

I read that book a few years ago and agree it's excellent. To the point where I seriously wondered if I could go to the Netherlands to have a consultation with her. I haven't come across any UK cardiologists who specialise in women's heart issues- has anyone else?

Milkfairy profile image
MilkfairyHeart Star in reply toGCWhits

Prof Vijay Kunadian in Newcastle is one. She has a special interest in researching how heart disease effects women differently.

She was the first women to be appointed as a Professor of Interventional Cardiology in the UK.

newcastle-hospitals.nhs.uk/...

She was with Prof Angela Maas one of the 17 female authors of the Lancet Women and Cardiovascular Disease Commission Report.

I posted one of her recent articles,

"Raising awareness about cardiovascular disease in women"

above in the thread.

LaceyLady profile image
LaceyLady in reply toMilkfairy

Notice ‘SHE’

GCWhits profile image
GCWhits in reply toMilkfairy

Thanks. Unfortunately I live about as far away from Newcastle as it's possible to get!

Milkfairy profile image
MilkfairyHeart Star in reply toGCWhits

Lands End?

LaceyLady profile image
LaceyLady

I have know that women are ignored for heart conditions for many years, as a Complementary Therapist. We are ignored for many medical researches.

Invisible Women: the Sunday Times number one bestseller exposing the gender bias women face every day amzn.eu/d/2WYx7gQ

Writes a blog too.

XmasEve24 profile image
XmasEve24

Thankfully I was told by a lady with heart issues many years ago that women present differently with heart pain and often in their back. With this in mind with heart problems running in my family this information was crucial to me prior to my CABG X2. I never had a heart attack but back pain into my jaw got me to A&E and eventually an angiogram and an emergency bypass the following day. I always keep a spare of this book to hand to women I feel may need to read it. Keep safe out there girls. P.S I also belch a lot with heart discomfort 🥹

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