Outsmarting the Number One Killer of Women
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where are your shoes? Put your shoes back on, please? Go help your sister. We are going in three minutes. Oh, my God, what am I doing? I forgot to cut of the crust. Voila! Shoes on, potty if you need it. And get your sister. OK, here. Nobody move! I'm getting a dust pan.</s>UNIDENTIFIED KID: Mom, I think you're having a heart attack.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Honey, do I look like the type of person who has a heart attack?</s>GUPTA: That was a clip from the very funny short film called "Just A Little Heart Attack" starring and directed by Elizabeth Banks, produced for the American Heart Association. It's part of the Go Red for Women Campaign. I have to tell you, it struck a chord because a lot of people paying attention to this issue in part because Rosie O'Donnell that she at age 50 suffered a nearly fatal heart attack just earlier this month. She posted a poem on her blog. That's how she let people know about it. It reads, in part, "My LAD," which means the left anterior descending artery on the heart, "was 99 percent blocked. They call this type of heart attack the widow maker. I'm lucky to be here. Know the symptoms, ladies, and listen to the voice inside. The one we so easily ignore. Call 911." And you wouldn't believe how many people don't call 911. Even Rosie didn't. She reprimanded herself for this and she didn't visit the emergency room, really visit her cardiologist until the next day. Lucky for her she's OK. But as you might guess, not all women are so lucky. We beat the drum on this issue a lot. And joining me to talk about it is Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum. She's a cardiologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City and has been involved with beating the drum on this issue for a long time as well. Thanks for joining us, Dr. Steinbaum. You know, one of these things Rosie talked about was that she missed the signs. And it seems that everyone generally knows the symptoms for a heart attack in men, but with women, it can be different. How do you educate your patients about this?</s>DR. SUZANNE STEINBAUM, CARDIOLOGIST, LENOX HILL HOSPITAL: Well, what I say is it's not necessarily that typical Hollywood heart attack of a man clutching his chest. In fact, in women, the signs are often more subtle. There could be shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting, back pain, jaw pain. And in fact, Rosie wasn't sure it was her heart because it was not in that location. What I will always tell my women patient is if you are doing your daily activities and suddenly, it becomes more difficult, suddenly you feel like you just can't do the same things, whether it's due to shortness of breath or even flu-like symptoms, then you must consider that it might be your heart.</s>GUPTA: So that's an important point. If you have some of these new symptoms in Rosie's case, she talked about the fact that she felt clammy, her skin felt clammy, she was nauseated, but if it comes on suddenly, it seems to be a red flag. How do you know, Dr. Steinbaum when it's serious enough to call 911? Because a lot of people think that's a big step to simply make that phone call.</s>STEINBAUM: I think there is such a thing as women's intuition. And, really, when I talk to all my patients and like Rosie said, she had a feeling it was her heart. If you really have a sense that you cannot breathe, that the pain is getting worse, I'd rather you call and be wrong than not call and have a heart attack.</s>GUPTA: Let me show you, actually, we'll show you how that exactly played now the short film. Take a look.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, sorry to bother you. I think I might be having a little heart attack. Nothing really, just some nausea, tightening of the jaw, dizziness, shortness of breathe, muscle pain, achiness, a terrible pressure in my chest. Oh, really? They can be here in how long? Two minutes? Can you make it 10?</s>GUPTA: She literally started that with, sorry to bother you as she's calling 911 -- almost the fear of embarrassment. But does that clip ring true? I mean, the American Heart Association to your point says only half of women say they would call 911 if they experienced heart attack symptoms, but they also go on to say that more than three quarters would call 911 if it was somebody else having a heart attack. What -- why is that?</s>STEINBAUM: It's amazing. As women we tend to put ourselves last. We don't want to put anyone out. We don't want to be wrong. We are afraid we'll make people take care of us and it actually won't be our heart. In fact, in one study when women were asked, "Why wouldn't you call 911," they said they would do the dishes in the sink first. There are so many reasons why a woman might not call, but women tend to put themselves last. And like you say, they will do it for someone else before they would do it for themselves.</s>GUPTA: I know. And, it's amazing because women typically are the health care drivers in families, but they sometimes forget about it for themselves. If you've called 911, what should you do next? Are there things you can be doing at home even those few minutes while you're waiting?</s>STEINBAUM: I think Rosie did exactly what every woman should know about, take two aspirin, pop them into your mouth and chew them. Call 911. And if you're wrong, it doesn't matter because you might just save yourself. You might save your life.</s>GUPTA: Again, very important advice. You take that aspirin to make your blood a little thinner, you chew it so it absorbs more quickly, hopefully people are listening and this will make a difference. Dr. Steinbaum, thanks so much for joining us.</s>STEINBAUM: Thanks so much for having me.</s>GUPTA: Endurance swimmer Diana Nyad extreme dream was cut short yet again. Thirty-five years in the making. I'm going to talk to Diana about what went right, what went wrong on her fourth and probably final attempt to swim from Cuba to Key West. Stay with us.