A heart attack survivor has spoken of the trauma of her brush with death and the impact of living with heart failure.
Karen MacLaughlin was speaking at the launch of three projects aimed at protecting and improving heart health in women.
The Dublin mother of three was aged 56 when she suffered a major heart attack in 2020 despite having no apparent blood pressure, weight or cholesterol risk factors.
She told of how she woke from her sleep with a pain under her left shoulder blade that she thought was gastritis – inflammation of the stomach lining – but came to realise was a heart attack.
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When she was hospitalised, she said, she “surprised everybody by surviving”. Ms MacLaughlin was diagnosed with heart failure. She was told she had a large scar on her heart, which would not recover, and she needed an internal defibrillator as she was at high risk of sudden adult death.
She was discharged after 2½ weeks, with “a new box in my chest, surrounded by boxes of medication and a very distressed family”, she said, adding she was “terrified and traumatised”.
In the following months she was exhausted after simple activities, such as getting dressed, and “felt completely trapped” in her home, unable to leave without assistance.
She said cardiac rehab gave her the confidence to start rebuilding physical capacity. Ms MacLaughlin said it took two years of medication, building exercise capacity and psychological support before she could accept what occurred and that she would be living with limitations.
[ Heart disease in women: ‘I was so shocked by news of my artery blockage’Opens in new window ]
“Five years on, I’m living well with heart failure. I’m very grateful to have time with my family,” she said.
She is able to cycle and exercise, though her condition requires “daily management”. She is no longer able to work as a midwife, but she volunteers as a patient advocate.
She said: “Fear no longer consumes me but when I do get that gastritis pain, flutterings in my heart, I go straight to ‘is this it? Am I done?’”
She believes her main risk factor for the heart attack was “persistent and prolonged stress”, as she sought to balance a busy work and family life.
She said she hopes the three projects announced on Wednesday will “improve outcomes for people”.
The projects were launched by Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill.
They include a maternal care clinic at St Michael’s Hospital in Dún Laoghaire for cardiovascular assessment and risk evaluation, as pregnant women diagnosed with hypertensive disorders and gestational diabetes are more likely to develop cardiovascular disease in later life.
A second project examines how social determinants of health affect self-care behaviours of women at risk of and diagnosed with heart failure.
The third project involves improving prevention and early diagnostic strategies to ensure that women at risk of heart failure are quickly identified and given appropriate onward referral and management.
Ms Carroll MacNeill said “women’s health outcomes are poor” across a range of conditions and there is “a long way to go to reverse generations of under appreciation of women’s healthcare”.
She said “we are making some progress” and praised what she described as the “three excellent heart projects”.
The Department of Health’s chief nursing officer, Rachel Kenna, said cardiovascular disease “remains one of our biggest challenges, not just in Ireland, but globally”.
She said one in four women in Ireland dies from heart disease or stroke.
