Rosie O’Donnell recently sat down with wives/hosts Raven-Symone and Miranda Pearman-Maday on The Best Podcast Ever, and she talked about the massive heart attack she had in 2012. I’m glad she’s still sharing her experience, because she describes what many women tend to do when it comes to our own healthcare — dismiss a potentially serious situation. Sweep it under the rug. Even though she knew she felt more than a little fatigued when it was happening, and even with her family adamantly urging her to go to the doctor, she waited two days to go. And even then she still didn’t think it was serious enough for the ER. It most definitely was:
She was being a good samaritan: The health scare happened when O’Donnell was 50. She was in a hospital parking lot picking up a friend when a stranger asked her for assistance. “She said ‘Rosie, will you help me up?’ So I went over and I helped her up and it took a lot longer than I expected,” she recalled. “I got home and my arms were hurting. I thought, ‘That’s funny, it must’ve been from pushing her up.’ So I went about my business.”
Her kid knew right away that she looked off: The comedian continued, “I was in my little art studio and my son, who was only young at the time, said to me, ‘Mommy you look like a ghost.’” The mom of five explained to one of her sons that she was “so tired” and her arms were hurting. O’Donnell then Googled “women’s heart attack signs” and she had “a few of them” but not enough to worry herself because it didn’t “seem” like a heart attack.
Instead of going to the doctor she took two aspirins: “The truth of the matter is, I had this heart attack on a Monday at 10 a.m.,” the Emmy Award winner said, noting that she still continued with her regular daily routine. “I get home, I can hardly walk upstairs. I take two baby aspirin, I go to sleep, I wake up and my family goes, ‘You have to go to the doctor.’ I waited until the next day. So I had it Monday and on Wednesday I saw a doctor.”
She finally saw a cardiologist who immediately rushed her to ER: O’Donnell ultimately went to a cardiologist, rather than the emergency room, still assuming that it wasn’t a heart attack and not wanting to take away resources from people who need it. They immediately told her she was having a “massive heart attack” and she was rushed to the ER. “I was like, ‘Wait, wait, what?!’ I couldn’t believe it,” the former daytime host said. “And then I came to find out that the symptoms for a woman having a heart attack are very different than the symptoms for men having heart attacks.”
She had a type of heart attack called the ‘widowmaker’: At the hospital, doctors learned that O’Donnell had a 100% blockage of the LAD or left anterior descending artery — a type of heart attack alarmingly known as a “widowmaker.” She then had an operation to put in a stent to save her life.
The attack forced her to be in touch with her body: The A League of Their Own actress called herself “really lucky” to have survived the heart attack and said it changed her relationship with her body. “It forced me into my body and to be in touch with my body in a way that I never had been,” she explained. “It made me aware of feelings. I can kind of dissociate and do the world from my head and just try to use my intellect and not really pay attention to my body, but this forced me to pay attention.”
I am so guilty of not going to see the doctor when I notice an unusual symptom. Part of me feels like the answer always ends up being “it’s nothing,” and I’d rather not pay $30 – $200 for that report, thank you very much. But I may have a heart attack now myself if I get into the weeds on our healthcare system, so instead please check out this info on women and heart attacks.
This story brought me back to my grandmother, who had a very serious heart incident at 70. Like Rosie, she noticed some symptoms but didn’t think they were cause for alarm. Still, she went to her doctor and he had her do a stress test. My grandmother thought she’d ace that no problem, as she had a lot of energy. She flunked, spectacularly. The doctor would not let her leave the hospital, the results were so bad. She had to have an emergency quadruple bypass and aortic valve replacement. And because life is so often the theater of the absurd, I do vividly recall that the nurse’s station at that particular hospital had stacks upon stacks of Dunkin’ Donuts boxes. The smell of sugar hit you well before the towers of pink and orange. God Bless America!
photos credit: Faye’s Vision/Cover Images, Getty and via Instagram
It’s so important to understand symptoms. I found out recently that a UTI in the elderly doesn’t present the same way it does in younger people. In the elderly, they’ll have cognition problems and maybe hallucinations. So, if you think that grandma is losing her marbles, it might be that she has a UTI.
I’ve been through that with my Mom a lot in the past few years, she is 69 and has Multiple Sclerosis. It’s very scary and she acts like a small child. It’s terrifying how fast it progresses.
And pneumonia doesn’t always manifest as breathing difficulties. My dad would become disoriented and not have control of his lower limbs, falling or being unable to get up out of his chair. He would be in respiratory failure by the time we got him to the ER.
That happened a lot with my mum, esp when her dementia progressed – she was having issues understanding when she needed to ‘go’ and as a result kept getting UTI. You always knew when she had one as she’d physically lash out.
UTIs can present as completely bonkers behavior in the elderly. It’s shockingly common.
Dehydration is a huge contributing factor. Certain elderly may not react to thirst, be able to reach or hold a drink, may be concerned about incontinence so limit fluids etc
UTIs can definitely present like dementia in the elderly. My mom had no pain.
What I did with her is get a couple of water bottles. The rule is that she has to drink 1.5 liters of water from those bottles every day in addition to coffee or tea or whatever else. She doesn’t feel thirst and making it visual has helped.
This happened with my 96 year old grandmother recently. She’s okay now, but it was very confusing and scary.
Well, I have learnt something new today!
It’s good that celebrities talk about these things, share their experience and raise awareness.
I recently read that women often ignore the signs of a heart attack because the pain from our menstrual cycle desensitizes us to the intensity of a heart attack. Some women’s cramps are so bad they are worse than pain caused by a heart attack. We have learned to just deal with the pain.
When I was younger and my cramps were worse, I never took any kind of pain killer because in school they questioned any time you took a pill. It finally got bad enough that my doctor gave me a prescription because he did not want me to be desensitized to the pain as it could cause issues later on with having children and more down the line.
Apparently I still have a high threshold because about 2 years ago I had a block in my left kidney from a kidney stone and was borderline septic by the time I finally went to the ER and I only went because the pain had finally gotten so bad I was getting sick and couldn’t stand. Now I don’t wait so long to take pain killers and I monitor odd aches and pains more carefully. If it persists for more than a day or two I call the doc.
Know your body and listen to your body.
I found my own cancerous tumor.
I tried to convince myself I was just fine when I was having a stroke.
Know your body, listen to your body, take all necessary actions to save your body.
Sounds like my mother’s heart attack. She had no chest pain, but both of her arms hurt. She didn’t delay going to the doctor because the pain was so severe. She also had a stent placed and has recovered completely.
Women, read up about how a heart attack can present itself in women. The usual advice is usually geared towards men.
A friend of mine found out after the fact that she’d had a heart attack too! It’s scary. The symptoms for women are different than the classic ones you see depicted everywhere.
I read up on all that once during an anxiety attack, ended up convincing myself it was a heart attack, and went to the ER.
I also once had a panic attack so severe and intense that I was certain I must be having a heart attack. The symptoms for panic attacks and heart attacks (especially in women) can be eerily similar and tough for a layperson to disambiguate. I went to the ER and they assured me that it was indeed a panic attack. I was embarrassed and mortified that I’d been so “dramatic” and needlessly taken up precious ER resources. However, they emphatically told me that I’d done the right thing and urged me to tell all of my female friends and family the same thing. Better safe than sorry! Don’t be afraid to call your doctor, go to urgent care, or even go straight to the ER if you’re unsure what’s going on and it feels serious.
I edited out my initial round of swearing because 50 is so young for a woman to have a heart attack.
There is a subfield of cardiology called preventative (or preventive depending on the unit – who cares) cardiology. They can run tests to estimate your likelihood of a heart attack over the next number of years. These people are hot stuff and many of their services can be covered by insurance.
Get your blood pressure checked. Doctors call it the silent killer for good reason. And get diabetes screening labs done.
I hate that even rich and famous people are reluctant to go to the hospital when they’re sick. Great healthcare system we’ve got here.
At least she can actually afford American healthcare unlike most of the rest of us. My husband got some random letter saying that he was no longer on our healthcare plan and has been trying to call for days and no one answers the phone or will get back to him so hope he doesn’t have any issues. I’ve heard similar stories from friends all over the country where they just randomly got a letter saying their coverage is canceled and you can’t ever get a hold of anyone. would be really nice if we actually got some thing from all the taxes we pay here and this country actually cared the taxpayers. Today my husband heard some thing about the the Covid shots being like $200 this season without insurance so he just shrugged and said well I guess I’m just gonna get sick then. I told him I guess it’s not actually that important if our government decided we’re not even worth the amount to keep people getting boosters and shots. Kind of sick of hearing constant radio and TV ads saying about how important it is to get a booster when the government won’t even spend money on its actual citizens, but will drop millions on advertising. This is why so many of us stopped trusting the government with healthcare advice.
Hope this helps. Per the Health & Human Services website, COVID shots are free to every American, regardless of insurance cover or lack of: https://www.hhs.gov/coronavirus/covid-19-care-uninsured-individuals/index.html#:~:text=What%20to%20do%20if%20you,of%20the%20COVID%2D19%20vaccine.
I grew up in a cancer cluster (and I’m about Rosie’s age), where we lost 2 children and a Mom in the space of 3 years. See also: Catholic so pray away your sorrow, or “offer it up”, plus, to be fair to our parents, there was no good child therapy in the 70s. I have a group of friends from that time and we *all* have deep DEEP issues with going to the hospital — because that’s where they torture you, and then you die. Yes, adults, etc … but we have a pact where we call one another in these situations and talk each other into going to the doctor.
Don’t discount childhood trauma in these situations. Thirty years of therapy and you can still be all fucked up.
I’ve been trying to be better about taking care of myself and recently went to the doctor and asked her about a couple of minor issues I was having. She had me get some some blood drawn to see what was up. Now I’m being harassed by the financial office with a $6k+ bill. I’ve talked to them and to my insurance company several times over several weeks and everyone agrees that it’s likely a billing error, and yet they are still expecting me to pay this debt. I’ve stopped answering the phone. It’s enough to make you never want to go to the doctor again. Why do we pay for insurance?
Tealily, I’m sorry to hear this. You didn’t say what state you are in but in CA we have the CA Department of Managed Health Care. Basically it’s a state office meant to make insurance companies do what they are supposed to.
You have to keep meticulous documentation to get them to help.
Maybe whatever state you are in has a similar department.
When my kid was young a classmate’s mother died of a heart attack. Her symptoms were dread/ fear and the feeling she couldn’t breathe (no real pain). They kept checking her lungs for pneumonia/ asthma, but she was “fine.” 32 years old. We all learned that women can have different symptoms the hard way. If you feel like you can’t get enough air and have this feeling of doom and the doctor can’t find anything, make sure they also listen to your heart. If it persists, get a heart readout before believing it’s all in your head.
I agree that not enough has been done to educate the public about the differing symptoms in heart attacks for men and women. I also think people get so afraid they are terrified to go to the hospital. Jim Henson, who died of pneumonia, refused to go to the hospital until it was too late (he had previously been misdiagnosed by a physician).