The 55-year-old director of special education for the Wausau School District didn't have the crushing chest pain people often think of as the hallmark symptom of a heart attack Instead, she felt extremely nauseated.
"I thought I was going to faint" and she became incredibly weak, Wicklund said. "I had very slight chest pain."
Heart attacks are the No. 1 cause of death in the United States among women and men, claiming the lives of about 446,000 people every year, according to the American Heart Association. It is the leading cause of death among women, outstripping deaths from all forms of cancer combined.
But symptoms of heart attacks among women often are more subtle than the crushing pain people frequently think of. Women are far more likely to experience nausea, shortness of breath, heart burn and discomfort in the neck, jaw, upper back or abdomen, according to www.mayoclinic.com.
Women who have heart attacks are likelier to die from them than men, according to the National Women's Health Information Center. If more women knew the warning signs and sought medical care promptly, more could survive.
Doctors are seeing more young patients -- particularly women -- with heart disease including heart attacks, said Dr. Paul Luetmer, a cardiologist and medical director at the Aspirus Heart and Vascular Institute in Wausau.
"A big factor is obesity and inactivity," he said.
The more subtle symptoms even can fool physicians, including the doctors at the walk-in clinic Wicklund went to. Wicklund said she and her doctors initially though she had a stomach virus.
"They were going to release me and send me home," but thought they ought to order additional tests at the emergency department just to be sure, Wicklund said.
Tests showed she had a heart attack.
"I was just in a state of shock," Wicklund said. Having exercised regularly and eaten healthfully for years, she never considered herself at risk for heart problems.
"My dad had open heart surgery at 59, but I didn't pay much attention. He was a meat and potatoes guy," Wicklund said. "I always went to the doctor and thought I took really good care of myself."
In reflecting back, however, Wicklund said she realized she was not handling stress as well as she needed to.
"Too many women are juggling a lot of stuff," and they might put their own health last, Wicklund said.
Doctors told her they think a heart spasm caused her heart attack, because testing showed she had no blocked arteries or structural problems.
Cardiac rehabilitation helped Wicklund bounce back from her heart attack, and Wicklund said she feels better than ever. Last spring, she accompanied other heart disease survivors and representatives from the heart association to Washington, D.C., where they lobbied Congress for more money for research, prevention and education.
"I want to help other women be more aware" of their risks for heart disease," Wicklund said.
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