right arm as well.
.....Studies have also found that other common symptoms of acute cardiac trouble in both men, but again especially in women, include intense fatigue (this can often be a sign both of worsening chronic heart disease and the onset of an acute heart attack itself), intense “weakness”, shortness of breath (which in the case of a heart attack might even occur in the absence of any chest pain at all), intense nausea and indigestion, lightheadedness, and breaking out in a cold sweat (this latter symptom is actually a good one to get in that a recent study found that breaking out in a cold sweat worries people so much that it’s the most likely symptom to induce someone go to emergency to check out their cardiac status).
.....I must add, of course, that most of the time, those symptoms will – happily – not turn out to be due to a heart attack or even a heart condition, but hey, the only way you can ever be sure is to have a doctor evaluate them for you.
.....It’s also important to stress that although this information applies to both genders, it should be taken especially to heart (pun intended) by women, mainly because even though heart disease is the number one killer of Canadian women by the proverbial country mile, most women, studies reveal, still don’t consider heart disease something to worry about, so they often ignore the symptoms mentioned earlier until it’s too late.
.....As well, it’s really important for women to discuss those “milder” symptoms with their doctors because (and this is still the subject of much debate in the medical business) studies show that women often receive less intense treatment and investigation for heart disease and heart attacks from their doctors than do men.
.....Bottom line, folks, the next time you have chest pain and you think it may be cardiac in origin (you can credit my wife with this one):
.....Be a smartie
.....And don’t be like Artie
.....Don’t worry, folks - she’s keeping her day job.

Dr. Art Hister can be heard on CKNW and other Corus Radio Network stations on House Calls on Saturdays at 10 AM, as well as seen on Global TV news on Saturday mornings at 9:20.