I recently read an article by a 37-year-old woman who was experiencing symptoms of severe heart problems but was repeatedly misdiagnosed by doctors who never tested her for cardiac issues.

She was thin and athletic, after-all. Her extreme shortness of breath, dizziness and weakness were attributed to an allergy, asthma or anxiety by various doctors and emergency room staff. Even after an EKG showed she had had a heart attack, a hospital cardiologist dismissed it as a false positive. Only after she insisted did her regular doctor put her through extensive tests and discovered she not only had had a heart attack but was suffering from a serious, life-threatening condition as a result of not having been treated.

We think of heart disease as a “man’s” disease or one more likely to occur over age 65. Yet, each year in the United States, about 9,000 women under age 45 have heart attacks.

Many younger women, in particular, don’t believe they are having a heart attack. This is partially due to the fact that the symptoms in women are different from the chest pain associated with heart attacks in men. Women are more likely to experience a feeling of indigestion or burning, tightness and pain in the jaw or arm, shortness of breath or extreme fatigue.

Unfortunately, several studies have shown that women do not get the same care and treatment as men after being diagnosed with heart disease and are more likely to die as a result.

Control your risk factors

Your chances of having a heart attack or stroke in your lifetime depends on certain risk factors you have at age 45. Women with two risk factors – elevated blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes or smoking – have about a 30 percent chance, according to a study conducted at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.

Obesity and lack of exercise further increase your risk. The American Heart Association notes that if you can avoid the conditions that put you at risk for heart disease until you turn 50, chances are good that you may never develop it.

Heart disease is the number one killer of women in America. The time to take your heart health seriously is now. Eat right, maintain a healthy weight and stay physically active. Plus, begin tracking your blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar, so that you can be treated early if need be, particularly if there’s a history of diabetes or cardiovascular disease in your family. In fact, the American Heart Association recommends you start getting your cholesterol checked at age 20.

February is American Heart Month. To learn more about cardiovascular disease, visit the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women website.

Photo Credit:  © Ugur Anahtarci | Dreamstime.com

So the fact that we’re thriving this year means we should say yes to every opportunity right?

This week I received a lot of offers that I could definitely perceive as opportunities for expansion.  Like today, at the LA Times Travel Show, there was an opportunity to zipline across the convention room floor.  It looked like fun and even though I was feeling less than 100%, have been known to suffer from vertigo, and am usually the girl who is in the exception category of most freak statistics; I figured I’d better do it.

You see, I ran into an acquaintance, who like me is on the hustle and she said that she did and that I should because it was fun and I couldn’t possibly let her think that I was a chicken the next time I ran into her and she asked if I did it and I didn’t, COULD I?  So I signed the waiver releasing the company of responsibility in the event of my sudden (and likely) death.

Clipped into the seat-belt-diaper and holding a very heavy clip that made me feel like a carcass ready to hang in a butcher shop, I started to climb the stairs.  Three steps from the top, my vertigo kicked in and I suddenly flashed back to the time I was almost at the top of a climbing wall in a rock gym and had to get down.  That time, it would have been beneficial to conquer my fear.  This time, I knew it wasn’t.

Why am I up here, I thought while my knees were shaking.  I’m tired.  I feel like crap.  I have no real desire to conquer this fear today and really, it’s just because I don’t want to deal with the judgement of someone I don’t really know.  I reminded myself that grade six ended a long time ago and then, here’s what I did.

I  said, no.

No to the dude at the top of the stairs holding out his hand, no to the lady at the bottom of the stairs who was telling me how fun it was and yes to my tired, off-kilter self.

I’ve written before that I’m a recovering “bottle-up” type who wants people to like me but I also really want to help.  So sometimes I’ll say yes to men who ask for dates, potential business opportunities, events, experience — give it or them a chance.  Even if I start off with the best of intentions, if I’m headed in the wrong direction, my inner guidance system course corrects so that I don’t do things that don’t align with my beliefs, values, goals and ultimately my own self care.  Usually it requires cleaning up a mess which is why I’m getting much more comfortable with saying no.  I’ve learned that just because you’re expanding and upleveling doesn’t mean you have to lower your own standards, cross boundaries and work at the pace that others expect of you.

Be kind to yourself.  Saying no to others means saying yes, to you.

Ever said “yes” to someone you should have said “no” to?  What happened?