Selected Podcast
The Warning Signs of a Heart Attack
Katherine Baca, Cardiac Care Coordinator at Temecula Valley Hospital, discusses risk factors for heart disease, early heart attack signs and how they are different in men and women. She also explains the importance of knowing what to do if you suspect you may be suffering a heart attack and how you can possibly prevent a heart attack form happening in the first place.
Featured Speaker:
As the cardiac care coordinator, since April 2015, Katherine Baca is responsible for ensuring that the hospital is meeting best practice guidelines and standards for the ACS patient population. She lead the hospital’s accreditation from the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care and designation as a STEMI receiving center from the San Diego County EMS Agency. This includes maintaining, presenting, and leading quality initiatives for the National Cardiac Data Registry. She has organized and presented multiple educational offerings to staff, EMS providers, and the general public in varying venues including health fairs, classroom, and the clinical setting. She participates in various multidisciplinary committees, respond to code STEMI activations, and research best practice to create policies/protocols in her commitment to provide the highest quality of care for our cardiac patient population.
Katherine Baca
Katherine Baca is the Cardiac Care Coordinator, Temecula Valley Hospital Temecula, CA.As the cardiac care coordinator, since April 2015, Katherine Baca is responsible for ensuring that the hospital is meeting best practice guidelines and standards for the ACS patient population. She lead the hospital’s accreditation from the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care and designation as a STEMI receiving center from the San Diego County EMS Agency. This includes maintaining, presenting, and leading quality initiatives for the National Cardiac Data Registry. She has organized and presented multiple educational offerings to staff, EMS providers, and the general public in varying venues including health fairs, classroom, and the clinical setting. She participates in various multidisciplinary committees, respond to code STEMI activations, and research best practice to create policies/protocols in her commitment to provide the highest quality of care for our cardiac patient population.
Transcription:
Melanie Cole (Host): Heart disease is the number one killer of women and is more deadly than all forms of cancer combined. But in women versus men, the symptoms can be dramatically different. What would you do if you thought that you were suffering a heart attack? My guest today is Katie Baca. She’s the cardiac care coordinator at Temecula Valley Hospital. So, Katie, let’s talk first how prevalent is cardiovascular disease and the signs and symptoms of it. Are they actually different in men and women?
Katherine Baca (Guest): Yes. Men and women do have very different symptoms when it comes to heart attacks. Some of the symptoms that you will see in women also contributes to the fact that women are less likely to seek immediate medical care which is unfortunate and really puts women at a disparity. Typically, women can feel completely exhausted, drained, dizzy, or nauseous. They also feel upper back pain that can travel up into the jaw as well as stomach pain. Some women think they are having the flu, heartburn, an ulcer. They will take Tums and try and manage their care at home. It’s a real challenge to pinpoint in some women because the symptoms are so vague. Men typically feel that pounding chest pain, the elephant sitting on their chest, kind of what we see in the media is what male symptoms usually are. And that’s not to say that the roles can’t be reversed. But typically, men have more the pronounced chest pain that’s identified. Women have more of the vague symptoms.
Melanie: Katie, people get confused between heart disease and a heart attack and they are not quite sure how one leads to the other. How much in advance would you experience some of those symptoms, whether it’s the men and what they see in the media or the women and the very different type of symptoms? How long would you be suffering those symptoms before the actual heart attack happens?
Katie: So, that’s a little bit more of a complicated question. It’s a little bit more individual. People can feel symptoms days to weeks ahead of time prior to a major cardiac event. But the issue is that once you are feeling that you might be having a heart attack, it is crucial to get medical care as quickly as possible. Most heart damage occurs within the first two hours of a heart attack and unfortunately, that’s the average amount of time it takes people to decide to go to the emergency room. So, it’s really important that once people start recognizing those symptoms, oh I have a funny heartburn when I exercise or gee, I get pressure in my left shoulder when I’m stressed out; go and start talking to a provider about those symptoms before it becomes a major issue and of course, if you are feeling like you are having chest pain or worried you may be having a cardiac event, call 9-1-1 immediately and get taken to the hospital, never drive yourself.
Melanie: Katie you mentioned the difference with men and women and how women don’t often seek care, which we have to realize that we have to put our own masks on before we put the masks of our loved ones on, but when you are talking about some of these symptoms of heart disease and you mentioned stress, stomach pain, heartburn; these are a lot of symptoms women go through all the time just because we are stressed out and busy. When do these symptoms become something that you say, you know what, this is not just stress or panic or anxiety?
Katie: You know that’s a very good point. I think women typically are the care providers in our families and unfortunately, we tend to put ourselves on the back burner when it comes to serious issues. When it comes to having these vague symptoms, I think the best thing to understand is to know yourself, know your body, know your baseline. If you know that you can walk up the stairs in your house everyday and it’s not a problem, but one day all of the sudden you are extremely short of breath walking up the stairs; that’s a sudden change. You want to look for symptoms that are different from your daily norm. if you are used to cleaning the house and it not being an issue and then all of the sudden today you are cleaning, you are fatigued, you are diaphoretic, you are having arm pain; those are new symptoms and it’s just really important to know yourself and to listen to your body. If things are changing and it really is dramatically different; you definitely want to seek care.
Melanie: If you are somebody who gets your wellness exam and you are told you have high blood pressure or high cholesterol; how important is adherence to your medicational intervention, healthy lifestyle, any of those things to hopefully preventing heart disease or a heart attack in the first place?
Katie: So, if you are diagnosed with any of those things and prescribed medications; it is absolutely critical that you take your medications exactly as prescribed. If you have high blood pressure, obviously take the medication like the doctor prescribes but also empower yourself. Get a way to check your blood pressure at home. Monitor it in the morning and at night. Keep a log of it. Talk to your doctor about it. See if the medication is improving the blood pressure to a desired range. A lot of times I know doctors will give patients these medicines and may not talk with them about where they want to see the patient’s target blood pressure so, you can ask, be an informed patient, about where you want your blood pressure to be. With cholesterol medications, the same.
Make sure you are taking those medications as you are supposed to but also look at changing your diet. A lot of times when it comes to needing these medications, sometimes just a simple lifestyle modification can really improve things for you. You can reduce the amount of sodium that you are intaking in your diet. Just reading food labels, decreasing the amount of salt you put in things. That can help with high blood pressure. Reducing the amount of saturated fats that you are eating in foods. That can help with cholesterol levels as well. And there are tons of resources out there to guide you in making those changes. One of the main websites I send patients to is the American Heart Association or any other recommended low-fat diets, Mediterranean diet, things like that can help with these patients.
Melanie: Where does exercise fit into this picture?
Katie: Exercise is critical. I’m a huge proponent for exercise and I don’t mean that you need to go run out there and join a boot camp or run marathons. Simply walking thirty minutes a day reduces your risk of any cardiac event significantly. So, if you can take an extra 30 minutes, get up 30 minutes earlier in the morning, take a walk around the block or in the evening take a brisk walk; you will definitely reduce your risk of heart disease just by taking that 30 minutes for yourself.
Melanie: Best advice now Katie, what you would like us to know about early heart attack signs, the difference with men and women and what can we do to prevent cardiovascular disease and hopefully stave off a cardiac event in the first place?
Katie: I think awareness is key. You definitely want to do your best to live a healthy lifestyle; avoid smoking, eat healthy most of the times. No one expects you to be perfect but try your best. Exercise, move your body and then it should unfortunately if any of those symptoms come about recognize if you are having chest pain, recognize if you are having excessive fatigue, weakness, nausea or vomiting, back pain, shortness of breath, a feeling of fullness in your chest, anything new or different is critical to address that and like we had discussed as well; making sure you stick to the medication regimens that your doctor has you on. It’s absolutely critical that you take medications exactly as prescribed and should for any reason there be an issue with affordability for medications; talk to your doctor or talk to the hospital. We have special teams called case managers who can help with different programs from different pharmacology companies that will help with affording the cost of medications as well. I know that the biggest key is just that early recognition and prevention. So, if we can prevent a heart attack, that’s the biggest piece.
Melanie: Absolutely true. And it’s so important that people hear your message and are aware as you say of those signs and symptoms and get their well checks and adhere to their medications. Such important information. Thank you so much for joining us today. You’re listening to TVH Health Chat with Temecula Valley Hospital. For more information please visit www.temeculavalleyhospital.com. Physicians are independent practitioners who are not employees or agents of Temecula Valley Hospital. The hospital shall not be liable for actions or treatments provided by physicians. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening.
Melanie Cole (Host): Heart disease is the number one killer of women and is more deadly than all forms of cancer combined. But in women versus men, the symptoms can be dramatically different. What would you do if you thought that you were suffering a heart attack? My guest today is Katie Baca. She’s the cardiac care coordinator at Temecula Valley Hospital. So, Katie, let’s talk first how prevalent is cardiovascular disease and the signs and symptoms of it. Are they actually different in men and women?
Katherine Baca (Guest): Yes. Men and women do have very different symptoms when it comes to heart attacks. Some of the symptoms that you will see in women also contributes to the fact that women are less likely to seek immediate medical care which is unfortunate and really puts women at a disparity. Typically, women can feel completely exhausted, drained, dizzy, or nauseous. They also feel upper back pain that can travel up into the jaw as well as stomach pain. Some women think they are having the flu, heartburn, an ulcer. They will take Tums and try and manage their care at home. It’s a real challenge to pinpoint in some women because the symptoms are so vague. Men typically feel that pounding chest pain, the elephant sitting on their chest, kind of what we see in the media is what male symptoms usually are. And that’s not to say that the roles can’t be reversed. But typically, men have more the pronounced chest pain that’s identified. Women have more of the vague symptoms.
Melanie: Katie, people get confused between heart disease and a heart attack and they are not quite sure how one leads to the other. How much in advance would you experience some of those symptoms, whether it’s the men and what they see in the media or the women and the very different type of symptoms? How long would you be suffering those symptoms before the actual heart attack happens?
Katie: So, that’s a little bit more of a complicated question. It’s a little bit more individual. People can feel symptoms days to weeks ahead of time prior to a major cardiac event. But the issue is that once you are feeling that you might be having a heart attack, it is crucial to get medical care as quickly as possible. Most heart damage occurs within the first two hours of a heart attack and unfortunately, that’s the average amount of time it takes people to decide to go to the emergency room. So, it’s really important that once people start recognizing those symptoms, oh I have a funny heartburn when I exercise or gee, I get pressure in my left shoulder when I’m stressed out; go and start talking to a provider about those symptoms before it becomes a major issue and of course, if you are feeling like you are having chest pain or worried you may be having a cardiac event, call 9-1-1 immediately and get taken to the hospital, never drive yourself.
Melanie: Katie you mentioned the difference with men and women and how women don’t often seek care, which we have to realize that we have to put our own masks on before we put the masks of our loved ones on, but when you are talking about some of these symptoms of heart disease and you mentioned stress, stomach pain, heartburn; these are a lot of symptoms women go through all the time just because we are stressed out and busy. When do these symptoms become something that you say, you know what, this is not just stress or panic or anxiety?
Katie: You know that’s a very good point. I think women typically are the care providers in our families and unfortunately, we tend to put ourselves on the back burner when it comes to serious issues. When it comes to having these vague symptoms, I think the best thing to understand is to know yourself, know your body, know your baseline. If you know that you can walk up the stairs in your house everyday and it’s not a problem, but one day all of the sudden you are extremely short of breath walking up the stairs; that’s a sudden change. You want to look for symptoms that are different from your daily norm. if you are used to cleaning the house and it not being an issue and then all of the sudden today you are cleaning, you are fatigued, you are diaphoretic, you are having arm pain; those are new symptoms and it’s just really important to know yourself and to listen to your body. If things are changing and it really is dramatically different; you definitely want to seek care.
Melanie: If you are somebody who gets your wellness exam and you are told you have high blood pressure or high cholesterol; how important is adherence to your medicational intervention, healthy lifestyle, any of those things to hopefully preventing heart disease or a heart attack in the first place?
Katie: So, if you are diagnosed with any of those things and prescribed medications; it is absolutely critical that you take your medications exactly as prescribed. If you have high blood pressure, obviously take the medication like the doctor prescribes but also empower yourself. Get a way to check your blood pressure at home. Monitor it in the morning and at night. Keep a log of it. Talk to your doctor about it. See if the medication is improving the blood pressure to a desired range. A lot of times I know doctors will give patients these medicines and may not talk with them about where they want to see the patient’s target blood pressure so, you can ask, be an informed patient, about where you want your blood pressure to be. With cholesterol medications, the same.
Make sure you are taking those medications as you are supposed to but also look at changing your diet. A lot of times when it comes to needing these medications, sometimes just a simple lifestyle modification can really improve things for you. You can reduce the amount of sodium that you are intaking in your diet. Just reading food labels, decreasing the amount of salt you put in things. That can help with high blood pressure. Reducing the amount of saturated fats that you are eating in foods. That can help with cholesterol levels as well. And there are tons of resources out there to guide you in making those changes. One of the main websites I send patients to is the American Heart Association or any other recommended low-fat diets, Mediterranean diet, things like that can help with these patients.
Melanie: Where does exercise fit into this picture?
Katie: Exercise is critical. I’m a huge proponent for exercise and I don’t mean that you need to go run out there and join a boot camp or run marathons. Simply walking thirty minutes a day reduces your risk of any cardiac event significantly. So, if you can take an extra 30 minutes, get up 30 minutes earlier in the morning, take a walk around the block or in the evening take a brisk walk; you will definitely reduce your risk of heart disease just by taking that 30 minutes for yourself.
Melanie: Best advice now Katie, what you would like us to know about early heart attack signs, the difference with men and women and what can we do to prevent cardiovascular disease and hopefully stave off a cardiac event in the first place?
Katie: I think awareness is key. You definitely want to do your best to live a healthy lifestyle; avoid smoking, eat healthy most of the times. No one expects you to be perfect but try your best. Exercise, move your body and then it should unfortunately if any of those symptoms come about recognize if you are having chest pain, recognize if you are having excessive fatigue, weakness, nausea or vomiting, back pain, shortness of breath, a feeling of fullness in your chest, anything new or different is critical to address that and like we had discussed as well; making sure you stick to the medication regimens that your doctor has you on. It’s absolutely critical that you take medications exactly as prescribed and should for any reason there be an issue with affordability for medications; talk to your doctor or talk to the hospital. We have special teams called case managers who can help with different programs from different pharmacology companies that will help with affording the cost of medications as well. I know that the biggest key is just that early recognition and prevention. So, if we can prevent a heart attack, that’s the biggest piece.
Melanie: Absolutely true. And it’s so important that people hear your message and are aware as you say of those signs and symptoms and get their well checks and adhere to their medications. Such important information. Thank you so much for joining us today. You’re listening to TVH Health Chat with Temecula Valley Hospital. For more information please visit www.temeculavalleyhospital.com. Physicians are independent practitioners who are not employees or agents of Temecula Valley Hospital. The hospital shall not be liable for actions or treatments provided by physicians. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening.