September 2015 ~ The Wadadlian Health Blog

Laundry Block

From the West Indian Washer Woman Series

Who does the woman in the image above remind you of?
Your mother, an aunt maybe, your grandy?

No matter who this person represents for you, it is important to let her know that angina affects women just like men. How do you do this?

Through educating your own self. This post will provide a start.

By now you should know that angina is a symptom of CHD or Coronary Heart Disease, it is also synonymous to chest pain, however, it so happens that for women, chest pain does not necessarily have to occur when suffering from angina.

Simply put women can have the following symptoms with or without chest pain present:

Shortness of breath
Nausea
Abdominal Pain
Discomfort in the jaw, neck, back and/or arms
Weakness and/or Fatigue

Also if chest pain is present, as opposed to the pressure-like sensation that is common, some women may complain of a sharp, stabbing pain.

courtesy www.medicalnewstoday.com

The cause of angina in both men and women is similar, it is due to blocked coronary arteries.
Do you remember the full mechanism of how angina is caused?
To find out read an older post here.

Despite the fact that blockage of the coronary arteries is the standard for both sexes. There is a difference in size as far as women are concerned...
What do I mean by this?
Well, we'll talk about this in the next post where you'll learn about two other types of angina, less common than Stable Angina and Unstable Angina that are associated with women.

Here is a beneficial article by the American Heart Association that will help you review angina and prepare you for the upcoming posts. Angina in Women Can be Different than Men.

In the mean time share your newfound knowledge with a family member.
Begin a discussion at home.
Let's talk about angina.

Click on the image and participate in the poll:

Do you think women tend to ignore chest pain more than men?

Keep sharing and reading.
Above all stay #wadadlianstrong.
Blessings to you and yours,

Today our topic is about a second common type of angina, known as unstable angina. To refresh your memory on the the first type of angina we looked at click here.

WHAT IS UNSTABLE ANGINA?

UNSTABLE ANGINA

courtesy: knowyourmeme.com

First let me get this out of the way:
Unstable Angina = immediate phone call to the EMS/911.

Keep that in mind as we discuss Unstable Angina.
The cause of unstable angina is linked to the narrowing of the coronary vessels around the heart due to obstruction. We learnt about this in the post Chest Pains. Understanding Angina. How is it Caused? Part II

Unstable Angina is based on the worsening of these same mechanisms, and has an unpredictable way of manifesting itself... unlike Stable Angina which follows a predictable pattern.

( For more insight see my last post Chest Pains. Types of Angina. Stable Angina. Part III)

Both Stable and Unstable Angina share similar characteristics as far as the cause of the pain, what the pain may feel like, as well as where the pain is located.

Anginal pain is most commonly described as pressure in the chest that runs to the left arm and neck.

Below is a visual aid of more locations of anginal pain courtesy shareslide.com

However similarities come to an end in terms of pattern and predictability since Unstable Angina plays by different rules.

Characteristics of Unstable Angina

Unstable Angina appears whenever it likes, for those who already suffer from stable angina, you may notice your chest pain does not follow the triggers that you have become used to. The heart does not have to be working harder than it usually does. It does not depend on overexertion, so it can occur at rest; it is RANDOM.

With Unstable Angina the times chest pain usually the chest pain you feel is much more severe.

Also, the time the chest pain stays with you is longer in Unstable Angina, easily surpassing ten minutes, as well as 20 minutes.

If you are on medication for angina, you may notice that even after using your medication sometimes, you have no relief from the chest pain.

Along with the chest pain you feel, you may also experience sweating, shortness of breath, nausea and vomiting.

Which brings me back to the first point I wanted to get out of the way. Unstable angina is a forewarning of an impending heart attack and this is the reason why...

Unstable Angina = immediate phone call to the EMS/911

Prevention is indeed better than the cure, so if you are in a situation where you may have symptoms such as these or even those mentioned in the post about Stable Angina, its about time that you get yourself to a doctor for evaluation of your condition.

If you remember nothing else remember this...