The first inkling that something was wrong came in November 2024 when Dorothy Conneely spoke to her GP about aching muscles.
After a number of checks, her blood pressure medication was changed and she got on with life, reassured, but not feeling much better.
Then when the busy days leading up to Christmas arrived, she began to feel increasingly worse, with an aching pain in her collar bone, even joking to a friend that she felt like she “was having a heart attack”.
The 58-year-old Galway woman was unwittingly correct, but because the symptoms were not “the typical ones you see on TV”, she did her best to ignore them. She put them down to menopause and instead stayed focused on getting Christmas organised for her family.
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Once the big day was over, the unpleasant feelings continued and she really “didn’t feel right”. On St Stephen’s Day she decided to ring the out-of-hours doctor, who immediately told her to call an ambulance.
“I remember overhearing one of the paramedics saying to my husband that I was having a heart attack, but I thought that couldn’t be right,” she says.
“Then on the way to the hospital he told me that once I arrived, I would be surrounded by people but not to let it bother me and to just focus on the fact that I would be soon sitting in bed with a cup of tea and a piece of toast.
“This really calmed me down because it all became very full-on – the cardiologist was waiting for me.”
She was told she had a 99 per cent blockage and that a stent was needed to be put in immediately. “I had no time to process it and just gave myself up to the experts, who were all fantastic.
“The procedure was a success and I was kept in for three days, before finally being discharged,” she says.
“That was three months ago and I feel great now, but can’t believe that it happened as although I joked about it, I really had no idea that I was having a heart attack.”
The mother-of-three is not alone. New research from the Irish heart and stroke charity Croí and Global Heart Hub (GHH) reveals “alarming gaps in awareness of heart attack symptoms among women in Ireland”.
“Heart attack symptoms in women tend to be more subtle, making it hard to recognise and treat,” says Annie Faherty Costelloe, head of patient community engagement at Croí.
“Knowing there is so little awareness has compelled us to bridge the gap and work harder to educate women across Ireland about unique symptoms they may disregard.”
Although one in four women in Ireland die from cardiovascular disease, the survey showed that while many believed they could recognise the signs of heart attack, just 3 per cent were able to name all relevant symptoms.
Only one in two were aware that the critical warning signs in women – which include jaw, neck and back pain – may differ from those in men.
[ Heart attack survivor speaks of her ‘traumatic’ brush with death at 56Opens in new window ]
Heart disease remains the leading cause of death for women worldwide, with coronary heart disease claiming more than twice as many lives as breast cancer.
But despite these statistics, women are less informed about the risks and symptoms compared with men, often waiting an average of 37 minutes longer to seek medical help during heart attacks.
Dr Susan Connolly, consultant cardiologist at Galway University Hospital, said that while it was important to recognise that the symptoms might differ on occasion, women may also experience similar warning signs to men. So it is vital to seek advice if there are any concerns.
“In the majority of cases the symptoms are similar but the problem is that women are often under diagnosed and undertreated,” she says.
“There is a perception that women don’t have heart attacks as often as men so when they experience these symptoms they don’t believe this is what is happening – so there is a gender bias. This means they may present later as they are often caregivers, so don’t seek help because they don’t perceive themselves to be at risk of heart attack – we need to change that perception.”
Dr Connolly says women needed to start “looking at their risk”, particularly around menopause. They should get their cholesterol, blood pressure and weight checked and also, if necessary, make changes to lifestyle.
Conneely agrees, adding that it is important not to ignore any warning signs.
“I was incredibly lucky,” she says. “Looking back, the signs were there, but they weren’t what I expected a heart attack to feel like.
“So my advice would be that if you don’t feel right, just go to the doctor and maybe ask for an ECG,” she says referring to an electrocardiogram that checks the rhythm, rate and overall health of the heart. “It could save your life.”
