Mary Beth Ireland didn't feel right.
Her lower jaw hurt and she was winded, but she wasn't alarmed. She had a New Year's dinner to prepare for her family.
But when Ireland, 47, of Natrona Heights awoke shortly before ringing in 2008 with hardly the strength to walk to her kitchen, she gave in and went to the hospital. Doctors said she got there just in time to avoid what the medical profession calls a "Happy Holidays Heart Attack."
"My advice to anybody, after this experience, is go to the hospital," Ireland said. "Don't put it off -- go; just go."
During the two weeks surrounding the winter holidays, heart-related deaths increase about 5 percent, according to University of California, San Diego, and Tufts University School of Medicine scientists who looked at death records from 1973 to 2001. Christmas Day had the highest spike, with 12.4 percent more deaths than normal.
Doctors long had attributed the increase in holiday heart problems to cold weather-related activities, such as shoveling snow, but recently have come to believe that holiday stress plays a bigger role, particularly because problems spike in warmer climates as well, said Dr. Amish Mehta, director of echocardiography at West Penn Hospital.
"We all feel that it is a stress-related increase, but that is a very abstract thing to evaluate," Mehta said. "Stress can encourage various behaviors that contribute to a heart attack, such as smoking more, eating more, eating less healthy foods, abnormal physical activity."
Dr. Dan Edmundowicz, director of preventative cardiology at UPMC's Cardiovascular Institute, agreed.
"Even though we think of the holidays as happy times, there are a lot of people who don't have happy holidays," Edmundowicz said. "They get under the gun, so to speak. People who are financially strapped and can't provide all they want to for their family, all the bad things we don't want to talk about around the holidays, unfortunately these people feel. This is the kind of stress that really causes problems."
Some people ignore symptoms.
"They don't want to inconvenience themselves, or especially others, so they put off visiting the hospital," Mehta said.
Ireland's symptoms lasted several days, but they were so vague and scattered that she wasn't sure which doctor to visit. That's more common among women who might not experience the classic heart attack symptoms of pain in the left arm and chest tightness.
On Jan. 2, 2008, after a few days in the hospital, Ireland underwent triple bypass surgery to alleviate her blocked arteries.
"If Mary Beth hadn't come in when she did, she could have dropped dead," said Dr. John Balacko, the West Penn Allegheny Health System cardiologist who treated her. "She was hanging on by a thread and she didn't even know it."
To avoid inducing a heart attack, doctors have several recommendations.
"Try to deal with stress as best you can," Mehta said. "Avoid unhealthy foods. Eat in moderation, drink in moderation and maintain physical activity, even in winter months."
And, though symptoms of heart problems can masquerade as indigestion, exhaustion or jaw pain, it is better to err on the side of caution, Edmundowicz said.
"The message is that symptoms that are unfamiliar are concerning," he said. "Those are things that deserve attention. Do not put them off; get evaluated." To see more of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/. Copyright (c) 2008, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
Copyright (C) 2008, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review