What These 5 Women Want You to Know

The next tales are from ladies who’ve skilled heart problems and their journeys by prognosis, therapy, and restoration.

In 2022, Anjellica gave beginning to her third son. She anticipated she would expertise some postpartum fatigue. However her signs have been removed from typical. She felt like she was drowning when mendacity down and had issue respiratory.

“The primary indicators didn’t really feel dramatic or apparent in any respect, which is a part of what made them so harmful. I used to be extraordinarily in need of breath doing easy issues — strolling up stairs, carrying groceries, even speaking at occasions,” Anjellica instructed Healthline.

Her well being declined quickly. By November, she was positioned on the transplant listing. Simply days later, she acquired a donor coronary heart simply six months after giving beginning. Restoration was grueling, however Anjellica pushed by.

“Wanting again now, the indicators have been there — I simply didn’t acknowledge them for what they have been. I normalized all the pieces. The fatigue, the breathlessness, the swelling, the best way my physique felt prefer it was struggling to maintain up. I didn’t understand that ladies, particularly postpartum ladies, can expertise coronary heart signs that don’t seem like the textbook model,” she stated.

Her journey impressed a brand new goal: She entered nursing faculty and desires to focus on cardiovascular care. Right now, she advocates for maternal coronary heart well being in her South Carolina neighborhood.

“Ladies must know that coronary heart signs aren’t one-size-fits-all. Shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, dizziness, nausea, swelling, again or jaw ache, and simply an amazing sense that one thing isn’t proper all matter,” Anjellica famous.

“Particularly for girls who’re pregnant or postpartum, these signs ought to by no means be disregarded as ‘regular.’ In case your physique is whispering — or screaming — you need to hear,” she added.

Lori’s coronary heart illness journey started at 17 with a prognosis of utmost hypertension.

She ignored drugs and signs for years, till Easter Sunday 2005, when she skilled heavy chest stress, ache radiating down each arms, on the spot nausea (being sick), and chilly sweats.

The following day at work, her signs intensified, so Lori drove herself to the ER — smoking a cigarette on the best way. Whereas being evaluated, she was requested if she smoked. Lori joked that she had stop smoking “5 minutes in the past.”

That second marked the top of her smoking behavior and the start of a brand new chapter. Lori had suffered a heart attack and had six stents in her coronary heart.

Restoration was each bodily and emotional.

In 2018, she confronted one other scare: 100% blockage in her widowmaker artery, resulting in a second coronary heart assault.

This time, worry of dropping a brand new job precipitated her to delay her therapy, however the expertise was a wake-up name.

Right now, Lori champions coronary heart well being and psychological wellness, serving to others with comparable experiences flip ache into therapeutic and connection.

“We all know that women and men can have completely different symptoms and signs. Males normally have: excessive chest ache, radiating ache within the left arm or each arms, breaking out in chilly sweat,” Lori instructed Healthline.

“Ladies can have completely different signs equivalent to: fatigue, uninteresting ache [in the] neck, again, or jaw, shortness of breath, nausea, indigestion, and total, simply not feeling properly,” she added.

Alex was a wholesome and thriving ER nurse. Sooner or later, whereas having lunch together with her husband, she out of the blue felt dizzy, her speech slurred, and her face drooped.

Her husband, a police officer, acknowledged the indicators of a stroke and drove her to the emergency room. Her coworkers recognized her as a stroke affected person.

“Inside hours, I realized I had a clot in my proper center cerebral artery. As a result of we acted rapidly, I used to be in a position to obtain lifesaving therapy, which included TPA and a thrombectomy,” Alex instructed Healthline.

Days later, she was discharged with no lasting deficits.

“The velocity of my husband’s actions and the speedy care supplied by the emergency room employees on the hospital I labored at made the distinction in my survival and the prevention of long-term deficits,” she stated.

Alex returned to work 4 weeks later. She’d had a change. Her expertise deepened her empathy and adjusted how her colleagues strategy stroke signs — proof it could actually strike anybody, at any age. Although the trigger was unclear, contraception could have performed a job.

“I had no warning indicators. I used to be younger, lively, and wholesome. I exercised every day, ate properly, maintained a wholesome weight, didn’t smoke or use medicine, and solely drank alcohol sometimes. I had no underlying medical situations,” Alex stated.

“If something, my expertise challenges the damaging assumption that strokes solely occur to older adults or folks with apparent danger components. I used to be 24 years previous and doing all the pieces “proper,” and but I nonetheless had a stroke,” she added.

Now, Alex educates ladies on stroke signs and the significance of trusting your instincts—even once you’re the one used to giving care.

“Strokes don’t discriminate by age. I used to be 24 years previous when mine occurred. If one thing feels ‘off,’ take heed to your physique and take it severely, irrespective of how younger or wholesome you assume you might be,” she stated.

Alex famous that it is very important keep in mind FAST:

• Face drooping
• Arm weak spot
• Speech issue
• Time – name 911

Nonetheless, she additionally famous that FAST isn’t at all times dependable, particularly in females.

“As an emergency room nurse at a delegated stroke facility, I’ve seen firsthand how strokes can current in methods which can be usually neglected,” she instructed Healthline.

“Ladies also needs to concentrate on sudden dizziness, stability or coordination points, imaginative and prescient modifications like blurred or double imaginative and prescient, or lack of eyesight in a single or each eyes. Extreme complications, particularly these described as ‘the worst headache of my life,’ will also be an indication,” she stated.

Migdalia moved to Tampa, FL, together with her service canine, Milo, in early 2024, in preparation to journey the world.

Persistent cough, fatigue, and fast weight acquire signaled one thing wasn’t proper.

“I stored considering it was stress, or perhaps asthma, or simply being out of practice. I dismissed each single signal as a result of I seemed wholesome on the skin,” Migdalia instructed Healthline.

Regardless of a wholesome way of life, her signs have been dismissed as stress or flu — even by a pulmonologist she noticed.

On the insistence of a buddy, Migdalia sought assist once more. She insisted on displaying docs a recording of her nighttime wheezing and coughing.

That recording could have saved her life.

Assessments revealed Migdalia had end stage heart failure. Her coronary heart resembled that of an 85-year-old. She was instantly admitted to the hospital.

“I’d been having signs for years, perhaps even many years. At seventeen, I used to be hospitalized at Yale for coronary heart points. They recognized me with dilated cardiomyopathy, put me on treatment, and scheduled follow-up,” she stated.

“However the follow-up by no means occurred. I normalized the fatigue, the dizziness, [and] the chest ache as a result of nobody took it severely, together with me. By the point I collapsed in Tampa at 39, my ejection fraction was 10%. My coronary heart had been failing for a very long time. I simply didn’t understand it,” Migdalia continued.

In February 2025, Migdalia acquired a heart transplant. Genetic testing revealed cardiomyopathy linked to a particular gene, prompting most of her household to pursue testing and preventive care.

“Ladies must know that coronary heart assault signs aren’t at all times chest-clutching ache. For girls, it may be jaw ache, nausea, excessive fatigue, shortness of breath, again ache, issues we’re taught to push by,” she famous.

“Ladies are dismissed extra usually than males after they report cardiac signs. So if one thing feels off, in case your physique is screaming at you, don’t let anybody, together with your self, discuss you out of getting checked,” Migdalia added.

Restoration has had challenges, together with a rejection scare, however Migdalia has remained resilient. She’s now writing a memoir, rediscovering her creativity, and embracing a future formed by advocacy, reflection, and hope.

“Belief your physique. I spent my profession as a psychological well being therapist educating different folks to advocate for themselves, and I couldn’t do it for myself. I waited for another person to validate what I used to be feeling earlier than I took it severely. That nearly killed me,” Migdalia stated.

“If I hadn’t recorded myself wheezing at evening and performed it for the physician, he would have despatched me dwelling with flu treatment. You already know your physique higher than anybody. If one thing doesn’t really feel proper, preserve pushing till somebody listens. And in the event that they gained’t hear, discover somebody who will,” she added.

At 35, Shanelle was a wholesome mother, avid walker, and former athlete. One night, she was struck with intense nausea, sweating, and chest ache. She brushed the signs off as a abdomen bug.

“I had gained a big quantity of weight in a brief time period, which is definitely why I began strolling and attempting to be extra lively. However I didn’t cease to ask why the burden was approaching so rapidly. I used to be centered on fixing it as a substitute of actually understanding it,” Shanelle instructed Healthline.

Per week later, throughout a stroll together with her mother, the ache returned. She instructed her mother, “I must go to the hospital.”

On the ER, exams revealed she’d had a coronary heart assault.

“Ladies want to grasp that signs could be refined or really feel unrelated to the guts. Sudden nausea, unexplained sweating, excessive fatigue, shortness of breath, lightheadedness, and fast or unexplained weight acquire are all issues we should always not ignore,” Shanelle stated.

Shocked and overwhelmed, she might solely consider how busy she was. However she wanted emergency open-heart surgical procedure to deal with a number of blockages.

She underwent coronary artery bypass grafting. Restoration was powerful, however her neighborhood rallied to assist her.

Now, 9 years later, Shanelle shares her journey to encourage ladies to take heed to their our bodies, advocate for care, and by no means ignore the indicators.

“Please take note of your physique. I do know it sounds cliché, however it’s so actual. Our our bodies talk with us lengthy earlier than there’s a disaster. We simply must decelerate sufficient to listen to it,” Shanelle stated.

“Don’t normalize fixed exhaustion. Don’t ignore unexplained signs. If one thing feels severe, name 911. It’s higher to be improper on the hospital than proper at dwelling,” she stated.