February is American Heart Month, a time to raise awareness about the risk factors for heart disease, the symptoms and what you can do to protect yourself from the silent killer.
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ABC7 spoke with Nazneen Saleem from Oak Brook. She survived cancer and multiple heart attacks and is a member of the 2024 Go Red For Women Class of Survivors.
Our Chicago: Women's Heart Health Part 1
Doctor Mercedes Carnethon, President of the American Heart Association Chicago Metropolitan Board and Vice Chair of Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, also joined ABC7 to talk about women's heart health.
According to the CDC, more than 60 million women in the U.S. are living with some form of heart disease. 45% of women 20 years old and older are affected by cardiovascular disease.
"It's such an alarming statistic. And as we consider heart disease in women, so many women aren't aware that it is the leading cause of death among women," said Dr. Carnethon. "Broadly, heart disease includes things people often hear about such as heart attacks or death of the heart muscle. It also includes problems with the heart pumping, the way that it functions leading to heart failure. As well as arrhythmias or heart rhythm problems that can often lead to things such as sudden cardiac death or cardiac arrest. And then other disease of the vascular system. We include under the broad umbrella stroke, peripheral vascular disease. So, problems with pain in the legs. And unfortunately, we're in this position because of the rising rate of risk factors. Risk factors such as sedentary lifestyle, poor quality diets, high levels of stress that's manifest in poor sleep quality. And then not taking care of ourselves and being proactive about prevention."
The traditional symptoms of heart attacks include crushing chest pain, shortness of breath and nausea. Dr. Carnethon said women often experience a different set of symptoms.
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"They can be a bit more subtle and include pain in one arm, dizziness, just generally not feeling like oneself," Dr. Carnethon said. "Being short of breath engaging in an activity that wouldn't ordinarily lead to that. I think the most important thing that we can do, especially as caregivers and women is pay attention to ourselves. If something doesn't feel right, get it checked out with your doctor because it could be heart disease."
Our Chicago: Women's Heart Health Part 2
Saleem survived a bout with cancer in her 20's, only to find out after giving birth at age 31 that she had serious issues with her heart.
"The next morning after giving birth, I started having a racing heart," said Saleem. "I just knew that there was something off."
A nurse took a look and acknowledged that Saleem's heart was racing, but she urged her to wait a bit.
"But all day long, I consistently felt awful. And I knew there was just something wrong," Saleem said.
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Saleem said she's generally pretty healthy so she really advocated for herself.
"And with that, a number of tests were run and it was determined that I had a leaky aortic valve," she said.
A week later, she needed open heart surgery.
"And it was really terrifying, but I'm really glad I advocated for myself," she said.
At one point, Saleem was put on a heart transplant list. She said it gave her hope that there was another way.
"If I didn't make it out of my third open heart surgery, we had an option," Saleem said. "And I do my best to stay as optimistic as possible. It's tough when you face a lot of challenges, in any situation. But it was really helpful to know that there was a plan B and a phenomenal healthcare team to take care of me."