Women's Heart Health

Heart disease and heart attacks have been thought of as a male problem for so long that women are still often misdiagnosed, even though heart disease is currently the number one killer of women in America.

Allison Teger, Spokesperson for WomenHeart, faced misdiagnosis before she had open-heart surgery last year. She's just 41-years old, proving that heart disease can strike younger women.

What makes the difference for a woman with heart problems, she says, "is a combination of early detection, accurate diagnosis and proper treatment." As a child she was diagnosed with two congenital heart defects, both of which are fairly common. Many children are born with heart defects. Some never affect them during their lives, and many are never diagnosed.

Teger stopped getting heart check-ups after she was a teenager. At around 40-years of age, she began experiencing medical problems. She was tired and her jaw hurt. She fainted while in her closet, experiencing nausea and a cold sweat. When she came to, she called for an ambulance.

Teger was aware of what to look for because of her past medical history, so she thought that it might be her heart from the beginning. But because she's slender, doesn't smoke and was younger than most heart attack victims, doctors missed the signals. Instead, they told her she had a panic attack and anxiety.

She was, of course, anxious because of her symptoms, "but what they didn't seem to know was that I was a licensed mental health counselor. I knew what a panic attack was supposed to be like, and this wasn't it."

So she kept pushing for more sophisticated tests, including an ultrasound of her heart. That test revealed her heart was enlarged, an enormous red flag. She also doctor-hopped in order to find a doctor who didn't dismiss her concerns.

"When I finally found a good local doctor (Dr. Oken) at Mayo clinic in Jacksonville, he was able to diagnose that my mitral valve was severely regurgitating (leaking) and my atrial septal defect (ASD- a hole between the left upper chamber and the right upper chamber) was also leaking. He was kind enough to consult with a regional center of excellence for congenital heart defects at Mayo clinic in Minnesota, and we agreed it was time for surgery."

She had more time to research and investigate than most women because of her early diagnosis. After she found the right doctor and had open-heart surgery, she began working for WomenHeart, hoping to help other women in her same position.

Even if you've never had any kind of heart problems in the past, there are women who discover that they've lived with an undiagnosed heart defect all of their lives. Just because you're twenty-five doesn't mean you're immune. The thing that can help with early detection and treatment is awareness. Know what the signs are and you're halfway there. And, Teger says, "don't be afraid to advocate for yourself."