In the fast paced environment of Los Angeles , women are constantly on the move and going about with their daily errands. Cardinal battles has been with women neglecting signals that their body has been sending them. I do admit that at times its easy to miss them, however to be able to navigate the busy industry women have to actively identify these signals.

Despite cardio vascular diseases being one of the leading causes of deaths in women, there still is a prevailing conception that it is a male dominant health concern. This is issue further worsens the already distressing gap for diagnosis and treatment of cardio vascular diseases in women.

The Calm Before the Outburst

Hollywood has romanticized heart attacks which have fascinated many women over the years. However a more realistic depiction includes subtle signs of distress that a number of Southern Californian women tend to ignore.

Let’s take the case of Sarah, a forty-five year old executive from Westwood who visited my practice in the last year. For a few weeks she had been experiencing a broad range of fatigue and assumed it was just due to the long Working hours and the heavy Los Angeles traffic. She did have mild nausea and slight soreness of the jaw which to her were not important enough to seek out medical attention. She had no real consideration for it until a colleague of hers urged her to get help, at which point she had already been experiencing early signs of heart disease.

Unveiling the Heart Vocabulary of a Woman

Women tend to have a rather different experience than men when it comes to the heart. One symptom that continues for both men and women is chest pain but for women the rest of the signs are complex as they experience more discomforting signs other than chest pain such as:

Suffering from undue amount of fatigue, that even walking across the Westwood Boulevard feels as if the person has exerted themselves too much. This fatigue is deeper chest pain than being able to rest, without issue.

Feeling discomfort in the upper torso, which can often feel like the neck, jaw and upper back rather than the chest, when carrying too many bags.

Disturbances in all digestive processes which might be thought to be due stress, or a post dinner digestion from that new fancy Los Angeles restaurant. Many women cite nausea, retching or indigestion as symptoms of suffering from a heart attack.

How do we not observe these Signs?

In my practice in Westwood, I’ve turned up many factors which can make it quite difficult to diagnose the heart disease of women on various occasions:

The ‘caregiver paradox’ is however very dominant in most women in Los Angeles. Women seek to take care of their family, their work as well as the society at the expense of sinking their health. They may regularly take their children or spouses for routine check-ups but for themselves, none are attended.

The stress of an active Southern Californian swimming pool of a lifestyle tends to make stress and weariness a regular feature. If being tired out or having a short breath is part of life, it is more difficult to pinpoint those as risk factors.

And sexism is still prevalent in media and communication industries. Even in well developed societies like Los Angeles, heart symptoms are considered to be in women out of tension or anxiety and hence wrongly interpreted and poorly managed.

Combating the Problem: Recognition and Prevention

In order to combat the problem it’s beneficial to work with risk factors that are woman orientated. Noted below are some of them:

Life long Hormonal alterations, including Tensions related to time or stress of pregnant women and women going through menopause.

The Exertion Distress of Urban Los Angeles.

The genetics plus Lifestyle alterations.

Women Auto Immune conditions are found to occur more frequently in women than in men.

Modern Scientists are Treading Towards A New Horizon

For some time now the surgery center located in Westwood has been conducting intensive research and has been able to collate an extensive strategy in regard to women’s heart health. This includes :

Focused Risk Assessment that aims to consider and understand the unique struggles of women residing in Los Angeles.

Use of advanced techniques for testing that is specifically aimed towards women.

Development of a treatment plan that provides individual tailored medicine while Keeping in mind the influence of hormones and the lifestyle factors.

The Preventive arm deals with Multitasking and always on run.

Community And Knowledge As Catalysts For Improvement

Raising the Awareness of women’s chronic heart illnesses continues building beyond the walls of our medical office located in Westwood. We are helping women’s self understand their bodies through:

Organizing effective seminars focusing on problem across different neighborhoods within Los Angeles.

Providing heart bothers support actively to women.

Forming ties with dry pounds and fitness programs.

Providing materials for caring and working women to manage heart health.

Be Concerned, Take Concrete Steps: Your Heart Health Is Real And Important

Always more than anything, if any of the following symptoms are noted, make sure to see your doctor as soon as possible, including but not limited too:

Prolonged and Constant exhaustion, For no motives.

Stress or unbearable felt in the upper part of the body.

– Difficulty breathing

– The urge to vomit or actually vomiting

– Maladaptive sleep patterns

– Panic attacks and a feeling of impending death.

Act swiftly. Heed the warnings of your body and consult a doctor right away. If you are a resident of Greater Los Angeles, you have access to state of the art cardiac facilities.

Future Actions

Arrange a meeting with our specialists at our new Westwood branch and tell us what your heart issues are. We will come up with a tailored approach to your health problems and your risk factors.