How does a diagnosis of heart disease affect womens lives?
One of the things that we found from the survey that is borne out by my experience with patients is that many women become depressed after a heart disease diagnosis. If undetected, depression can have a significant effect on women’s ability to get better. Women who are depressed are not going to want to exercise and eat right. Health care professionals need to better screen and treat women with heart disease for depression in order to improve both their mental and physical health. What heart health advice do you have for women? There are some very simple things women can do to try to stay healthy: know their risk factors; not smoke; exercise more; and look at their diet. Beyond that, I think it’s important for individuals to know the signs and symptoms of heart disease. If they have those symptoms, they should go to their doctor. If their doctor is not taking them seriously, they should consider seeking a second opinion or switching doctors. Women have to be their own biggest advocates
