A Screaming Body

I have to say that when I researched this blog post I felt like a total idiot. I want this to be scary. Here's why. If 100 people read this, 20 of you may scratch your heads and get scared enough to go to the doctor. There WILL be something wrong with 5 of you. That's a very conservative estimate. Wow. Five people. If I had read this last month, would I have gone? Maybe. Could what happened to me have been avoided? Maybe. I'll never know because I never read this and I was arrogant enough to ignore what my body was telling me.

My body has been screaming at me for some time now. It may as well have been laying on the floor having a full out temper tantrum. I'm ashamed to admit this now. My irresponsibility and stubborn attitude walked me right into a heart attack. I was arrogant enough in believing that nothing could be wrong with a 30 year old that took care of herself. My body, on the other hand, was pounding it's fists and yelling louder.

In the months leading up to the day I had a heart attack I had been feeling... bad. I can't find a good word so that one will have to do. I was tired. The kind of tired that doesn't go away. I complained about it, but I thought it may be normal. I was feeling shooting pains in my chest and arms. The were sharp and painful but they went away quickly. I brushed them off as pains from working out. Sometimes my fingertips would tingle. Numbness? Not really? Oh well, it's gone now. I posted on my facebook page complaining of heartburn just days before my attack. I've never had heartburn and my husband told me it didn't sound like it anyway. I love to jog, but for some reason I was running harder and running less. I was struggling to complete the same 2 miles that was easy earlier. I blamed it on fatigue. Does that make ANY sense?!? I was blaming one strange thing on something else that was equally strange. As I read this list I can only shake my head. Dammit, I should have gone to the doctor.

This is for you ladies... Heart attacks feel different. Forget everything you have ever learned about them and listen to your body. Thousands of women have described their heart attacks and their symptoms vary greatly. Here and just a few of the things they said. Good grief, I hope someone reads this!

Chest pain
Shooting pain
Chest pressure
Chest tightness
Back pain
Jaw pain
Heartburn

Hmmm...

Numbness
Tingling
Dizziness
Fatigue

Really?!?

Nausea
Shortness of breath
Fainting
Run down feeling
Cold sweats

Are you kidding me here?!? There's more. Lots more. Here's a sobering thing. What do us women do? We blow it off. We'll take our children and nag our husbands into going to the doctor but we won't go ourselves. I happen to think this is because us women are tough. We carry the babies and suffer through monthly uncomfortable cycles in silence. We brush off symptoms because everything else is more important. Seriously. Is a woman tough enough to push out a baby supposed to worry about one tiny tingling finger? Yes. Please, yes.

So here goes. I'll ask you this. When I woke up and saw that my sister had flown all the way down to be by my side I was upset. I was happy to see her but she has two children. I love them more then anything and I didn't want my 3 year old nephew to see me like that. What example are we women setting for our children? If you can't be bothered to get yourself to the doctor why should your daughter? Or her daughter? Listen to what your body is telling you. Are you concerned about that mole? Concerned about that cough? Tired? See where I'm going with this? GO TO THE DOCTOR! Make someone hear you. You know your body and if by reading this you're thinking of something wrong then I'm talking to you. I know, I know. It's expensive. Trust me on this. Hospital bills cost more.

I'm not saying one of you out there will have heart disease. I'm saying one of you may. Or HPV. Or skin cancer. All of this is treatable! Catch it early and stop it. If not for you then spare your family the hospital trip and your friends from having to bring you books and lip balm. Okay that's it! I'm going to climb down off my soapbox now and put it away. I love you all and my prayers are with you. Next time you see me if you want to whack me on the back of the head for not being smart enough for going to the doctor, trust me, I'll understand.