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"Your heart does amazing things for you every day. It powers you through Spin class, beats wildly when you meet the love of your life and aches when you read about the latest natural disaster. Most of us take for granted that it will keep happily ticking for years to come. But odds are, you already have at least one risk factor for cardiovascular disease\u20149 out of 10 women do, the American Heart Association in Dallas reports. Heart disease is the number-one killer of American women, a fact that only half of women under age 35 know. Many of us also don't realize that a sick heart can lead to more than just a heart attack; it can result in a stroke or aneurysm, or cause the arteries to shred spontaneously\u2014all potentially deadly events that may come with only the subtlest warning signs. Don't find out your heart is in danger after the fact, as these women did. Let their lessons inspire you to live a longer, heart-healthier life.\\n\\n### Lori Anne Parker, 39: \\\"I Thought It Was Swine Flu\\\"\\n\\nIn the summer of 2009, I was working as an editor by day; painting, teaching and trying to finish my doctoral dissertation by night; and getting by on about four hours of sleep. One evening, as I was driving home from school, I got this really weird, severe pain in the fingers of my right hand. It felt as if it were freezing deep inside the marrow of my bones and up through my skin. Then the pain traveled into my wrist, up my arm, across my chest and into my left arm. I managed to make it home, where I felt sick, threw up and went to bed. This was right in the middle of the swine flu scare, so I assumed I'd caught it.\\n\\nThe next morning, the pain was gone and I didn't have a fever, so I knew it wasn't the flu. My heart was fluttering, but I figured I was just jacked up from the caffeinated drinks I'd had the night before, so I got up and went to work. My heart continued to flutter all day, and out of curiosity I looked online for the symptoms of a heart attack\u2014I had every one of them! But I was in total denial. I have no family history of heart disease and I'd been a vegetarian for more than 20 years; I just couldn't believe that's what had happened to me. By the end of the day, I felt better, but four days later, as I was on my porch painting, I experienced the same bizarre symptoms. That time, I faced the truth: I walked inside and told my fianc\u00E9, \\\"I'm having a heart attack.\\\"\\n\\nAt the hospital, I learned I had a spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD): Two of the arteries in my heart had started to split, and if they totally ruptured or if the tear reached my aorta\u2014the largest artery in the body\u2014I would die. Doctors performed open-heart bypass surgery right away to reroute blood flow around the torn arteries. The procedure was successful, but I was out of work for 10 weeks and had to undergo cardiac rehabilitation, in which doctors oversaw how I exercised, for three months to strengthen my heart.\\n\\nI'm lucky I'm alive\u2014a SCAD is usually diagnosed postmortem. Hormonal changes during pregnancy can trigger dissections, but because I wasn't expecting, my doctors suspect my arteries were naturally small or weak. And even though they assured me I couldn't have caused it, it made me realize I wasn't living life in a way that was good for my body. Now I make sure I get seven hours of sleep, I exercise more and I pace myself by taking on only the projects that are most important to me. I also tell everyone, \\\"If you are having symptoms, listen to your body and go to the doctor right away.\\\" I can't believe I read that list of heart attack symptoms and stayed at work. If I had gone to the hospital after my first event, I could have prevented the second one.\\n\\n### Katy Coffy, 31: \\\"I Had a Heart Attack at 28\\\"\\n\\nMy dad had open-heart surgery when he was 34, and his dad passed away from a heart attack in his 60s. Knowing we had a family history of heart disease, my mom made sure we were active and didn't allow junk food in the house\u2014I didn't have soda until I was 18! Even so, a month after I turned 28, my worst fear came true.\\n\\nIt started when I woke up at 2:30 A.M. and threw up. I chalked it up to food poisoning and went back to sleep, but two hours later, I woke up feeling as if an elephant were sitting on my chest. I was sweating and felt pain running down my left arm. I'm a nurse, so I knew those were classic heart attack signs. I woke up my fianc\u00E9 and told him I had to get to the hospital. It was surreal. Part of me wasn't surprised, because of my family history, but another part thought, I'm having a heart attack at this age\u2014how can this be?\\n\\nWhen the doctors saw me\u2014a 28-year-old marathoner\u2014they said, \\\"You're not who we expected to see!\\\" All my years of running and healthful eating probably saved me: One of my coronary arteries was completely blocked, and the doctors told me the only reason I survived was because my heart was so strong.\\n\\nI had a bad reaction to one of the drugs I was given, so I had to stay in the hospital four months. Now I'm studying to become a nurse-practitioner working with cardiac patients, and my cardiologist just gave me the OK to run a half marathon in November. I'm nervous, but he said he'd even run it with me!\\n\\n### China Terrell, 33: \\\"My Fatigue Seemed Normal\\\"\\n\\nI remember being so tired four years ago, I would put on my pants some mornings and then have to rest before I put on my jacket. I was working long hours as an attorney, and I was constantly dizzy and out of breath. One day, while talking to a client, I passed out. When I came to, my coworkers had to persuade me to go to the ER. My blood pressure was really low\u2014which, like high blood pressure, could indicate a heart problem\u2014but the doctors ruled out a heart condition because I was young and thin, and suggested it might be dehydration or low blood sugar.\\n\\nA few weeks later, I traveled overseas for vacation, and when I came home, my back hurt from sleeping on strange beds, so I went to the ER. After taking my vitals, the doctor said, \\\"Your back is fine, but your pulse is extremely high. I want to test your heart.\\\" A chest X-ray revealed that my heart was as big as two fists\u2014it should have been the size of one. The doctor said to me, \\\"I'm checking you in to the hospital and calling a cardiologist.\\\" I thought he was joking. I was going furniture shopping with my boyfriend that afternoon! I didn't realize how serious it was until the technician's eyes popped during the echocardiogram. That's when I thought, Oh, my God. Am I going to die?\\n\\nI learned I had a giant aneurysm in my right atrium\u2014which means the wall of the heart chamber had ballooned out and blood was sitting there, coagulating. There were clots the size of ping-pong balls, and if one of them had traveled elsewhere, like to my lungs, I could have died. I kept asking the doctors, \\\"Was there anything I could have done?\\\" They said no, that it might be congenital, but they don't know the cause for sure.\\n\\nI had open-heart surgery to remove the aneurysm, and the doctor said, \\\"When we get it out, you'll be able to do more than you ever imagined.\\\" He was right. I feel great, and last summer I hiked Tajumulco, the tallest peak in Central America. Looking back, I realize I had all the symptoms of a heart condition: fainting, dizziness, fatigue. My body was telling me a story, but I wasn't listening. Today, I try to give undivided attention to anything and anyone I care about, and I put myself at the top of that list.\\n\\n### Susie McDonald, 40: \\\"My 'Migraine' Was Really a Stroke\\\"\\n\\nI felt totally fine that morning in 2001 while I was getting ready for work. But as I grabbed my keys, my ears started to ring. My eyes felt as if they were crossing, and my left side started trembling uncontrollably. I called my boyfriend, Joe, and left a message that he had to come home immediately and take me to the hospital, then I crawled into a fetal position under the dining room table, where he found me 15 minutes later.\\n\\nJoe took me to the hospital, where I happened to work in the marketing department. The doctor ordered a CT scan, but it didn't show anything, and I was diagnosed with a complex migraine (I have a history of migraines), given Valium and sent home. When I woke up the next day, my left side felt numb, as if I had slept on it funny, and I was having trouble speaking. Thinking it was still the migraine, I stayed home, but I was back at work the next Monday. That day, I met with the hospital director, who saw me dragging my left leg and sent me for an MRI. It showed evidence of a prior stroke in the lower part of the brain. I lost it. I know some stroke victims never recover.\\n\\nThe doctors tried to figure out why someone who ate healthfully and had never smoked had a stroke. They now say it was connected to my birth control: I had been on low-dose estrogen pills for about 10 years, and both the Pill and my history of migraines raised my risk. (See box at right.)\\n\\nBecause I was fit, I recovered quickly. After about eight weeks of physical therapy, I got most of my movement back. My left hand still shakes when I'm tired or dehydrated, but that's the only side effect. The worst part was when my doctors told me it could be too risky to get pregnant, because pregnancy hormones could have the same effect as those in the Pill. But I felt strong enough to try, and I now have two wonderful children with Joe (who's now my husband). You can't tell by looking at me that I've had a stroke, but it has left some emotional scars. I realized that even if you do everything right, you can't control everything\u2014strokes can happen to anyone. That's scary, but it also makes me appreciate every moment I'm given now."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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