Is Your Doctor's Ignorance Increasing Your Risk of Heart Disease?

The common misconception that males are more likely to suffer from heart disease has since been put to rest. It has been proven, with statistics, that women are just as likely to suffer from heart disease as men.

This may come as a shock for many women, but that doesn’t negate the fact that it’s true. For years women have associated heart disease with men primarily. But many doctors are now saying that women have always been just as likely to suffer from this issue.

The chances are equal

The difference is that many women will simply ignore the symptoms of heart disease, for one reason or another. They seem to be more worried about cancer. There has been a large stigma attached to breast cancer and how it kills women, which is understandable. But women should now be more concerned with heart disease, which is their number 1 killer.

The American Heart Association has done a good job raising awareness for this problem over the years. They have been trying to let women know what they can and cannot do in order to reduce the risk of heart disease. There have also been studies that show women between the ages of 29 and 45 are now more likely to be diagnosed or experience symptoms of heart disease. This is a very scary fact to digest, especially if you are a young woman.

It seems that the symptoms for heart disease in women are often different than that of men. Women experience things like discomfort in the neck, jaw, shoulder, upper back and abdomen. They may also experience dizziness, nausea, pain in their right arm, fatigue, sweating and shortness of breath. Typically men will not experience these symptoms. Men are more likely to complain about chronic chest pain.

Your doctor could be doing more

Some blame can be placed on the shoulders of American doctors nationwide. They don’t seem to be approaching heart disease aggressively. They need to make this a priority, and really show women that this is a problem that is killing millions every year.

Simply prescribing drugs is not good enough to regulate the risk of heart disease. Often many women, and men for that matter, are given drugs, which make the think that they don’t have to do anything else to prevent issues from occurring. The truth is that preventing heart disease encompasses much more than taking a pill to “avoid” health risks.

Fixing the problem from within

Women across the nation must take this problem into their own hands. Keeping your body is good shape is the best way to start. Problems like obesity and diabetes can result in heart disease. So for the sake of the backbone of this country, women, there must be significant changes made to ensure that they will no longer suffer badly from heart disease.

The only way this problem will cease to exist is if women realize that this killer is lurking just around the corner. We do such a good job of making women, and the rest of the globe, aware of disease like breast cancer. Why can’t we allocate those efforts to making millions aware of heart disease?

The problem can only be fixed within, I really hope in the future more will be done when in comes to heart disease in women.