A US woman has shared her story on social media of an almost lethal heart attack as a warning to other women of the symptoms they may miss.
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The nurse, who goes by Twitter handle GeeWheezie, says she wanted to warn women "that our heart attacks feel different" to those commonly described by men.
"Last Sunday I had a heart attack. I had a 95 percent block in my left anterior descending artery," she revealed.
"I'm alive because I called [emergency services]. I never had chest pain. It wasn't what you read in pamphlets."
The woman wrote that she didn't recognise any of her symptoms from pamphlets at doctor's offices.
Instead of pain in her upper chest, she says she had pain in her upper back "on and off for weeks", causing her to believe it was merely "muscle strain", from helping her neighbour clean out her barn.
"The pain ran across my upper back, shoulder blades and equally down both arms. It felt like burning and aching. I took Motrin and put a warm pack on my shoulders.
"It wasn't until I broke into drenching sweat & started vomiting that I called 911."
Twitter users thanked her for sharing the important info, with many confused as to why it was not more commonly known.
Earlier this year, Aussie doctor Brad McKay told Mamamia that a major symptom for women was shoulder or back pain.
"They might have pain between their scapula, their shoulder blades at the back and they can have tightness or discomfort," he said.
"But the whole thing about women is that they have breasts so they might feel pain and discomfort that pulls on different parts of the chest.
"Often women will think 'Oh yeah, my breasts are just in the wrong position or they're pulling, or my bra is just a little bit tight today'... and it won't actually click that it's not their breasts causing the problem but it could actually be their heart lying underneath."
Newshub.
