I recently read an interesting article about menopause symptoms turning out to be heart disease. Apparently the two share a lot of the same signs, such as hot flashes, fatigue and trouble sleeping. Many women assume that these symptoms are menopause or just a part of getting older. These signs shouldn’t be overlooked, even if you’re in great health. The lady in the article had perfect blood pressure, a healthy diet and exercised regularly. She also assumed it was menopause and found out that it was heart disease.
“I thought I knew the risk factors for heart disease and I didn’t think I fit any of those profiles,” Griffin explained.
The one risk factor she overlooked was menopause.
“The message is that all women are at risk for developing heart disease, particularly after menopause,” Carolyn Landolfo, M.D., a cardiologist at The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., explained.
Dr. Landolfo says after menopause, a woman’s risk of heart disease skyrockets by 70 percent. Fatigue, shortness of breath, trouble sleeping, nausea and burning sensations are all signs of heart disease that many women brush off as hassles of menopause.
“A lot of things get confounded by aging,” Dr. Landolfo said. “People say, ‘I’m just getting older. I need to exercise.’ There’s always an excuse.”
After age 50, nearly half of all deaths in women are due to some form of heart disease. That’s more than the number of deaths from all cancers combined.
“Women’s symptoms tend to be minimized not only by themselves but by their doctors as well, and so I think it’s important for women to take charge and ask their doctor, ‘Could this be a sign of heart disease?’” Dr. Landolfo said.
