Help with an assignment

carachel2 · Mar 28, 2006

I am a nursing student in my second year at the University of Reno, Nevada. I have an assignment in one of my classes to join a list serve and pose a question which I then further research and write my experiences down. We are currently reading about CHF and related issues. In my readings I have noticed how women present with different signs when experiencing and MI, when compared with men. I was wondering what some of the presenting symptoms are that women are admitted with? Is is truely random and inconsistent in the way women present? Us women, we are crazy! Thanks.

Let's see: back pain, shoulder pain and jaw pain seem to be big. Epigastric pain seems to occur a lot with women, as does shortness of breath (as the only symptom).

If you are studying CHF and related issues, please make SURE you and your classmates are educated about peripartum cardiomyopathy....enlargement of the heart, reduction in EF that occurs in the last trimester of pregnancy or in the first 4-5 months postpartum. Countless women in this time period (especially postpartum) present to their ob or PCP or to the ER with signs and symptoms such as new onset of a cough (without sputum production, no recent cold or fever), orthopnea, paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea, edema, excessive fatigue, etc. and are told they have a.)asthma b.)anxiety and are turned away without being properly diagnosed. JUST because a woman just had a baby does not mean you don't need to pick up your stethoscope and listen to breath sounds.

studynerd · Mar 28, 2006

Thanks for the info., your response will be very helpful to my paper. It is very interesting about the peripartum cardiomyopathy. Your input has been very useful and information. I am currently working in the postpartum unit for my clinicla and this information is coming at a perfect time for me. Have a great day.

carachel2 · Mar 28, 2006

Thanks for the info., your response will be very helpful to my paper. It is very interesting about the peripartum cardiomyopathy. Your input has been very useful and information. I am currently working in the postpartum unit for my clinicla and this information is coming at a perfect time for me. Have a great day.

I would consider it a WONDERFUL favor if you would educate your classmates and the unit about PPCM. I had it and help answer questions on a website for patients with PPCM. When I called my ob I was told to "move around a bit more." :uhoh3:

Not a SINGLE postpartum nurse picked up their stethoscope and listened to posterior bilateral breath sounds. Not one. Neither did the perinatologist who discharged me. :nono: In retrospect, I should have been more aggressive, but I had never heard of this and I really just wanted to get home.

I think a paper or presentation on PPCM would be a wonderful clinical project :idea:

utahliz · Apr 1, 2006

Women, diabetics and the elderly are less likely to have substernal crushing chest pain during an MI and more likely to just feel fatigued or think they have indigestion. Women are more likely to have the pain referred to their back.