Believe me, if breast cancer were the only killer of women, I would not begrudge it all the resources, time and tireless advocacy efforts that have and continue to be poured into it. But sadly, breast cancer is, by far, not the biggest killer of women! When I write this, I know that, when you experience a trauma or an illness, no matter what it is and how much awareness it ends up getting, it is never enough.
What is this #1 killer of all women, especially of women past menopause? It is heart disease! Yes, it's true and at the end of this blog I will provide sources where you can verify this grim and unsettling fact for yourself. Now, we are all well aware of heart disease in men because, traditionally, doctors and other health experts have always taken heart disease in men seriously. Men have been taught to fear heart disease and cancer. I have heard it suggested that a reason that women have been led to fear breast cancer much more than heart disease is not only because it is life-threatening, but because of the cultural idea that the breast is the symbol of female physical beauty and so when that is threatened or gone, many women are devastated. And the fear is not only loss of physical beauty but also the fear of losing attactiveness to spouses or partners as represented by the loss of the perceived symbol of this beauty. A threat of the loss of physical beauty is seen as somehow, in my opinion, as more immediate and more real than the loss of life itself. Also, we typically fear the treatments for breast cancer or other cancers, such as chemotherapy or radiation. Heart disease in women does not seem as threatening because no threat to female beauty is seen as associated with it. Heart disease just seems more mundane, no doubt because, in the free world, it is so commonplace as a cause of death. I have seen far fewer resources and much less awareness about heart disease in women than I have seen about breast cancer. By far! There are very few fundraising efforts about it, few businesses sponsoring any such and few causes devoted just to women's heart health. This is so unfortunate, for no doubt it is undiagnosed heart disease that kills more women than any of us know of. I'm not aware of how much training docors receive in medical school or during their residencies, concerning how to prevent, diagnose and treat heart disease in women (Remember, the female body is not the same as the male body and doesn't this also apply to the female heart?). And so doctors tend not to take symptoms of heart disease in women as seriously or dismiss any female concerns as being "stress," "nerves, or even "PMS"! I think part of all this is because womenhood, itself (pregnancy, menstruation, premenstrual syndrome, menopause) as almost become a disease itself and has been medicalized.
Health experts tell us that when women get heart attacks, symptoms might show themselves differently from those seen in men. And they also tell us that women are more likely to die of heart attacks than men are. So it seems to me that all women and those who care about them, need to be every bit as concerned, maybe more so, about heart disease than about cancer. However, a few years ago, I did see an Oprah Winfey talk show about women's heart health and so I give her credit for awareness, as one of the few high-profile people who have addressed this issue. Many more resources and much more advocacy and awareness need to go into women's heart health, diagnosis, treatment, and especially prevention. The government have done precious little in this area, including legislation or funding concerning women's heart health awareness, no doubt because because of the lack of of advocacy and awareness of citizens, including women. And health experts tell us that older women, at menopause, are every bit as vulnerable to getting heart disease as are men. During the childbearing years, we women have estrogen, a female hormone, to give us some protection against heart disease. At menopause, we lose this estrogen, a source of heart disease protection and so the heart disease risk climbs.
I think that we all know that prevention is the key, as it is in most things, in fighting heart disease in both genders. And the methods of prevention for women as pretty much the same as for men: Eat a well-balanced, sensible diet that is low in fat, especially saturated and trans fats, exercise regularly, avoid smoking, control weight, cholesterol levels and blood pressure, try to keep stress at manageable levels, and more. So I won't go into any more prevention talk here, because so much has been said already. But far more needs to be done about the diagnosis and treatment of heart disease in women. If we women would fear undiagnosed heart disease and its likely consequence, death or serious disability, as much as we would breast cancer or other cancers, we may be more motivated to action to beat this #1 killer of women as well as men.Research tells us that young people of both genders need to be concerned about heart disease and things related to it, such as diabetes and stroke. These are striking people at younger and younger ages, just as cancer is. Yes, older people need to be more concerned about things like cancer and heart disease than the young, but younger people should not be complacent and should live "heart-healthy" lives.
In my family, heart disease, much more than cancer, has been the biggest killer. The women in my family, like no doubt so many other women, have never been diagnosed with heart diease though such a diagnosis and proper treatment may have saved many lives. I wonder how many more of us, like me, have a family history of heart disease rather than a family history of cancer. And a family history of heart disease should concern women every bit as much as men and we women should work as hard, as men, to reduce the risk factors for heart disease and heart attacks, that we do have control over. Through the media and literature, I have heard much earlier and much more frequently about breast cancer and the need for its prevention through doing breast self-exams and getting mammograms, than I have heard about heart disease in women and its prevention. This needs to change so undiagnosed heart disease will stop killing women.
February is "Go Red For Women" month, for the purpose of heart disease awareness as it pertains to women. Yes, cancer, especially breast cancer, as words, seem to strike more fear in the hearts and minds of women than the word heart disease does. And it is with good cause that we women fear cancer. It is scary. Heart disease tends to be seen as almost mundane by comparison. If there is a family history of it, as there is in my family on both sides, it may not motivate many of us to take steps to prevent it as much as a family history of cancer would. To illustrate, there are women who, aware of their breast cancer risks, have elected to get double mastectomies and I can understand and sympathize with the drive to take every precaution to avoid something that you are at high risk of experiencing if you do not take preventable steps to do something about it! We have no control over any family history of heart disease, but we have control over and can take action concerning our lifestyles, including eating right, exercising, and avoiding unhealthy substances and having regular doctor check-ups. If we would educate ourselves about heart disease in women (heart disease in men has far more awareness), and try to bring awareness to others, heart disease many not claim so many lives and shorten them. I'm glad that, at least in my local school district, schools make it a point to involve students in heart disease awareness through fundraisers. We need much more community efforts like this in every community and save many lives!
Because of this insufficient awareness and lack of resources, there seem to be not many websites devoted exclusively to women's heart health, the rest of the resources being more a part of general sites. I hope that this one website will get many more views, as well as many shares. This is another part of lifesaving work.
Women and Heart Disease Website
Women and Heart Health
Comprehensive fact sheet page that answers many women's heart health questions
Women's Health Publications
Face sheet page with many links to resources
MedlinePlus/Heart Disease In Women Photo Courtesy of MorgueFile.com Photo by jdurham This photo can be found here.
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