Heart Disease & the Gender Gap:
Health Story

Aired on Lifetime Television
Sunday, April 8 and May 20, 2007
Show 408

Not many people know that the symptoms of a heart attack can be very different for a man versus a woman, and that women need to watch for the symptoms earlier in life. Debbie Ann Schneider found out the hard way.  "I almost felt like I had asthma and I thought if I could relax and put some air on I would feel better because I couldn't take a single breath."  But after a while, the symptoms didn't get any better and she drove herself to the emergency room. "When they told me I had a heart attack I didn't believe it," says Debbie. Dr. Neica Goldberg says, "In terms of a heart attack, women should look out for shortness of breath and unexplained fatigue, pressure lower down in the chest, and many women can easily mistake it for stomach problems."  Debbie was only 42 when she had a heart attack, and now that she knows the differences in symptoms, she wants to tell everyone what to watch for.