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Show i s Women and Heart Attacks I i X I Nr ia V jp ,4 What every woman should know, a special to The Forum Tiffany Castagno RN, BS. Jeanette Dahl RN, BSN. Katy Street RN,BSN. Contributing Writers Heart disease the number one killer of women worldwide; it kills more women every year than all types of cancer combined. Heart disease has historically been viewed as a male disease; its time for this to change. Heart disease kills one woman every minute somewhere in the world. Your risk increases dramatically after menopause. The good news is, there are things you can do to prevent it. A heart healthy diet, exercise and regular checkups with your healthcare provider can make a difference. Another powerful tool is education. is GET TO KNOW YOU R RISK FACTORS There are many risk factors of heart disease, some you can change, and some you cannot. For example, age, race, and family history cannot be changed. But if you have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, are overweight or obese, and live a sedentary lifestyle, you can do something about it. By making the decision to live a healthier lifestyle, you can drastically reduce your risk of developing heart disease and decrease your chances of having a heart attack. Talk to your healthcare provider and refer to the resources below for tips on getting healthy. r i THE SEX DIFFERENCE I I The signs and symptoms of a heart attack women experience can be very different than those of a man. The classic signs and symptoms of a heart attack including chest pain, left arm pain, sweating and shortness of breath are based on the male experience. Women often do not ex- perience chest pain at all. During the attack women are likely to feel short of breath, weakness, fatigue, cold sweats and dizziness. Women can experience early symptoms of a heart attack for up to six months before it actu- 1 ally happens. j j j j j Women report unusual fatigue, sleep disturbance, heart burn and anxiety in the weeks to months before their heart attack. If these are recognized as warning signs and addressed early, the severity and prognosis of heart attacks in women could be greatly decreased. If you are a woman and you begin to feel fatigue, shortness of breath, anxiety, weakness, dizziness, or a cold sweat, even in the absence of chest pain or pressure, you may be having a heart attack! according to the National Institute of Nursing Research website. Do not delay treatment! lJJ r i RESOURCES The Healthy Heart Handbook for ; ! I I f 5 Women: www.thehearttruth.gov American Heart Association: www.heart.org Go Red for Women: www.goredforwomen.org 4 t My 'AIDS days' Some Kevin Packer Columnist 'vs. of the material in this column may be suitable for mature audiences only. Reader discretion is advised. I get tired of people telling me what to do. Doctors, family, professors and friends all try to help me when Im down or not feeling well. I have known my doctor (Doctor R to protect his identity) for over 18 years. He is an HIV specialist. He knows everything about my life: my sex, my innards and my moods. But when I tell him life sucks he is trained to throw pills at the problem. My friends and family, I guess, because they dont want to think about me being sick, usually tell me to basically get over whatever Im experiencing. Maybe because I was so strong for so long they dont want to hear I have cracks in my armor. Sometimes I want to bitch. But, typically, I get the usual list of recommendations from my friends: Meditate Get outside to a group Or just plain get over Go thing it and think positive Rarely do I hear lets talk. My anger rears its ugly head every so often. Living with this disease is not as easy as the pharmaceutical company ads ul might have you believe. Its difficult to find a way of expressing my anger. I stopped, for the most part, drinking alcohol to get rid of my emotional pain. My family has a history of alcoholism so that disease scares me (one more reason to be pissed off about my health situation). But I figured out early, partying was not the way to stay alive. In fact my lack of drug history is probably one of the reasons I stayed healthy so long. In addition, according to The Pride Institute (a LGBT recovery institution) In the LGBT community, research suggests that alcohol abuse and dependence occurs at even higher rates than in the mainstream population. Independent studies collectively support the estimate that alcohol abuse occurs in the LGBT community as rates up to three times that in the mainstream non-hurtf- population. But every so often I think about smoking that joint or taking the latest trendy pill. But the drug, mixed with my AIDS meds, can kill me. Smoking the joint wont but maybe it actually is a gateway drug for someone like me. I call the bad days my AIDS day. Ive begun to notice a pattern of AIDS days occur when I have to return to the pharmacy to pick up meds. Ive had to stretch out picking up my many different meds to every couple of weeks so I can afford them (I take 10 pills a day). Those days are definitely days to stay away from me. I cant really explain why I get so upset on those days. Its not just the cost even though a month supply of one med alone is more than a car payment. Maybe those days happen because I am forced to rely on things outside my body to keep me well. Being out of control frustrates me. Growing up I never, ever took meds to cure even headaches or help with colds. It had to be really bad to get me to a doctor or a pharmacy. Im like my dad in that. He hates the doctor too even though, at 92, he needs them as much as I do. But its a pain to live this alone. Its so difficult to meet other guys because of my disease. I have no one to help me deal with this. I am pretty much all on my own. When my last boyfriend dumped me I had this feeling it was over for me as far as relationships go. I seem to be too damaged in other gay mens eyes. I look well but I am not worth loving because I am going to die. Its not my intent to come off as a whiner. Life throws out challenges and most of them I like. Even mountain biking, I will strive towards the next hill, pushing my limits instead of stopping to rest. ' I get that I have other issues besides HIV. Fear of rejection is one of them. A deeply scarred heart is another because sometimes I see red flags when there might not be any. I am learning to accept having my AIDS days as I learn to look forward to the good ones. These days might include a sunset from a campground, days with my God-kid- s, or my next trip to an exotic island. And, yes, time to myself with no one telling me what to f do or how to feel. Senate passes 'Feed America Day Department of Agriculture: Roughly 35 million Americans in households with inadequate food supply For the eighth consecutive year, the U.S. Senate has designated the Thursday before Thanksgiving Day as Feed America Day. the Sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch resolution the Senate adopted in September encourages Americans to forego eating two meals and to donate the money they would have spent on the food to the church or charity of their choice, which would then use the proceeds to feed the hungry and attend to their basic needs. During these tough economic times, too many Americans of all ages are going to bed hungry, Hatch said. Many of us have friends, neighbors and relatives who have lost their jobs, homes and ability to provide for their families. Moreover, the supplies at emergency food pantries in Utah and across the nation often run dry during the holidays. It has been my experience, though, that the milk of human kindness in our home state never runs dry, the senator continued. Im confident that we in Utah will rise with our (R-Uta- h), fellow Americans in other states on Feed America Day to reach out in compassion to those in need and donate generously to administer to their needs - not only during Thanksgiving and Christmas, but throughout the year. Cathy Caputo Hoskins, executive director of the Salt Lake Community Action Program (SLAP), said the agency she presides over has been keeping pace with the growing numbers of Utahns who are in need. During the past three years, the annual number of food boxes we have given to Utahs population has more than doubled, from 32,047 to 66,956, Hoskins said. And we are only one of many agencies providing nutritious food to those many of them families with children who would otherwise go without. In the past our community has been very generous in helping us with this critical problem, Hoskins added. It low-inco- me - See - FEED AMERICA on Pg. 14 |