Healthy Woman addresses No. 1 killer: Heart problems leading cause of death for women

Tina Strait of Dyersburg surprises Dr. Dan Green of Green Family Medical Clinic with the real reason she takes aspirin each day at the February Healthy Woman event at The Farms. Strait, who has suffered from two heart attacks due to a genetic condition, takes aspirin because it was diagnosed by her doctor, the only reason Green said it should be taken.

A pain that radiates down your right arm.

A cold sweat.

Shortness of breath.

These symptoms of a heart attack are well known and easily diagnosed in middle-aged men.

But for women, the symptoms are not always the same. And, many times, there are no symptoms at all.

According to Dr. Dan Green of Green Family Medical Clinic, doctors and patients alike find diagnosing women's heart problems difficult due to variations in the way the disease presents itself to each gender.

During February's Healthy Woman event at The Farms, Green took the opportunity to inform area women on ways to identify the number one killer of women in America.

"Professor Higgins, from My Fair Lady said, 'Why can't women be more like men?' Maybe he should have said 'Why can't men be more like women?'" said Green.

Either way, men and women are very different and the same can be said for the way that their bodies respond to heart problems and the symptoms that occur as warning signs.

Warning signs that Green said are most often missed by both physicians and patients.

Or sometimes never come at all.

"February 2008 is the fifth anniversary of the American Heart Association's Go Red Project," said Green. "It is so important. The menace of heart disease is out there. Many times, we take the "bikini approach" to women's health. For decades, the emphasis has been on the breasts and the pelvic area."

Green said most women feel that they have a higher chance of getting breast cancer than having a heart attack.

"If you lumped all the cancers together, they would not even (come close,)" said Green. "One-third of everyone in this room is going to get heart disease and 35 percent of you folks are going to die from it. Only 1 in 30 of you will die from breast cancer. And 38 percent of you will die in the first two years after your first heart attack.

"So why don't doctors take women seriously?" continued Green. "Why don't women take their own heart-health seriously? It's not the silent killer. It's just unrecognized."

Green said that heart disease in women usually presents itself a full two decades later than it does in men.

"But it doesn't take you very long to catch up," said Green. "There are three classes of people (affected by heart disease): Young to middle-aged men; older men; and older ladies. In women, there is a sharp rise at age 65. Once you go through menopause- whether it is surgical or natural- once those ovaries disappear, it just skyrockets."

Green said, many times, older women do not show signs of the classic discomfort in the front of the chest that precedes a heart attack. Instead, Green said, they show atypical angina equivalents: sweating, shortness of breath, no energy, fatigue, lethargy, abdominal bloating/gas, a pain between the shoulder blades, nausea and vomiting.

The absence of classic heart symptoms, added to the fact that EKG readings and treadmill stress tests almost always come back abnormal when completed on a woman make it imperative for women and their physicians to pay attention to "angio-equivalent" risk factors like diabetes, according to Green.

"If you have diabetes, your doctor should treat you like you've already had one heart attack," said Green, who said that diabetes is a risk equivalent for heart disease. "A risk factor is like a tornado watch. A risk equivalent, or angio-equivalent, is like a tornado warning."

Other risk factors include:

* high blood pressure

* diabetes

* cigarette smoking

* low HDL cholesterol

* high triglycerides

"If you have a low HDL and high tri-glycerides and a tummy over 35-inches, you should go to your doctor," said Green. "That may reflect the metabolic syndrome-(symptoms are) blood pressure over 140/90, a family history of heart attacks or strokes, elevated blood glucose and abnormal cholesterol or fat levels."

An internist, Green has served patients in the Dyersburg area for a total of 30 years. He has also served his country, both in the infantry and as a physician. He is certified with the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Board of Geriatric Medicine and has held numerous professional appointments. His leadership has also served many committees and professional organizations, both military and civilian.

The next Healthy Woman event will be held from 6 to 8 p.m., on March 11, at Lupo's restaurant. The topic, "Straight Talk About Diabetes," will feature Rauf Baba, M. D., Sandy Prince and Beth Bell. A complimentary light dinner will be served. The march event has no vacancies.

The April Healthy Woman will be held from 5 to 8 p.m., on April 17, at The Farms, with a series of nine mini-seminars to choose from concerning Looking Good and Feeling Your Best. A light dinner is included.

May's topic will visit "Women's Sleep, or the Lack Thereof," with Dr. Neil McKee as the featured speaker.

To become a member of Healthy Woman, call 287-2109 or e-mail Judy_Boehmler@chs.net.