What These 5 Women Want You to Know

The next tales are from girls who’ve skilled heart problems and their journeys via 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 problem respiration.

“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 instances,” Anjellica advised Healthline.

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

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

Her journey impressed a brand new objective: She entered nursing college and needs to concentrate on cardiovascular care. At the moment, she advocates for maternal coronary heart well being in her South Carolina group.

“Ladies have to 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 must hear,” she added.

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

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

The subsequent day at work, her signs intensified, so Lori drove herself to the ER — smoking a cigarette on the way in which. 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 shedding a brand new job brought on her to delay her therapy, however the expertise was a wake-up name.

At the moment, Lori champions coronary heart well being and psychological wellness, serving to others with related 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 advised Healthline.

“Ladies can have completely different signs resembling: fatigue, boring ache [in the] neck, again, or jaw, shortness of breath, nausea, indigestion, and general, simply not feeling effectively,” she added.

Alex was a wholesome and thriving ER nurse. In the future, whereas having lunch along 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 shortly, I used to be capable of obtain lifesaving therapy, which included TPA and a thrombectomy,” Alex advised Healthline.

Days later, she was discharged with no lasting deficits.

“The pace of my husband’s actions and the fast care supplied by the emergency room workers 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 possibly strike anybody, at any age. Although the trigger was unclear, contraception might have performed a job.

“I had no warning indicators. I used to be younger, energetic, and wholesome. I exercised day by day, ate effectively, maintained a wholesome weight, didn’t smoke or use medication, and solely drank alcohol often. I had no underlying medical situations,” Alex stated.

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

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

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

Alex famous that you will need to bear in mind FAST:

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

Nevertheless, she additionally famous that FAST is just not at all times dependable, particularly in females.

“As an emergency room nurse at a chosen stroke facility, I’ve seen firsthand how strokes can current in methods which can be typically missed,” she advised Healthline.

“Ladies also needs to concentrate on sudden dizziness, stability or coordination points, imaginative and prescient adjustments 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,’ can be an indication,” she stated.

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

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

“I stored pondering it was stress, or possibly asthma, or simply being off form. I dismissed each single signal as a result of I appeared wholesome on the skin,” Migdalia advised Healthline.

Regardless of a wholesome life-style, 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 might 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, possibly even many years. At seventeen, I used to be hospitalized at Yale for coronary heart points. They identified 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 realize it,” Migdalia continued.

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

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

“Ladies are dismissed extra typically than males once 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, speak 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 instructing different individuals 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 night time and performed it for the physician, he would have despatched me house with flu treatment. You recognize your physique higher than anybody. If one thing doesn’t really feel proper, maintain 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 making an attempt to be extra energetic. However I didn’t cease to ask why the load was approaching so shortly. I used to be targeted on fixing it as a substitute of actually understanding it,” Shanelle advised Healthline.

Every week later, throughout a stroll along with her mother, the ache returned. She advised her mother, “I have to go to the hospital.”

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

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

Shocked and overwhelmed, she may 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 robust, however her group rallied to assist her.

Now, 9 years later, Shanelle shares her journey to encourage girls to hearken 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 should 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 unsuitable on the hospital than proper at house,” she stated.