Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S., yet experts agree the condition is often misdiagnosed in women.

For American Heart Month, doctors and patients are speaking out to help ensure that women’s symptoms get life-saving attention and treatment.

Dr. Philip Adamson, chief medical officer of Abbott’s Heart Failure Division, said women are often diagnosed with anxiety or depression when they are short of breath or experience fatigue — when the true culprit is heart failure.

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“Women can also be diagnosed with these conditions when they present with fast heart beats or ‘palpitations’ that can be the result of abnormal heart rhythms,” Adamson, who is based in Austin, Texas, told Fox News Digital.

“Several objective studies found that there is a systematic bias that leads doctors to misdiagnose coronary heart disease and heart failure in women.”

Studies have shown women are 52% more likely to have a delay in diagnosis than men when presenting with a heart attack, according to Dr. Bradley Serwer, a cardiologist and chief medical officer at VitalSolution, a Cincinnati, Ohio-based company that offers cardiovascular and anesthesiology services to hospitals.

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“Because heart disease may be under recognized in women, studies have shown that they receive less aggressive treatment,” Serwer told Fox News Digital.

“Women also have a lower representation in clinical trials assessing therapies for heart attacks than men.”

Here’s what to know.

Carol Pollard (left) and Tina Marston (right) both experienced misdiagnoses that put their lives at risk. Fox News Digitals spoke to the women about their experiences and why they’re encouraging others to advocate for their own health. (Carol Pollard / Tina Marston)

Heart disease symptoms chalked up to aging

Carol Pollard, 79, who lives in San Jose, California, is all too familiar with the danger of misdiagnosis. A few years ago, when the grandmother started feeling out of breath and very fatigued, she — and her doctors — at first chalked it up to getting older.

“My husband and I went to five cardiologists — and all five misdiagnosed me,” she told Fox News Digital in a phone interview.

Pollard was ultimately diagnosed with mitral valve regurgitation — otherwise known as a leaky valve — which is when the valve doesn’t close tightly and blood flows backward into the heart. 

She was placed on a variety of drugs, but none of them helped much with her breathing issues.

Carol Pollard, 79, was initially told that her symptoms were likely related to getting older. As it turned out, she had a leaky heart valve and a rare heart disease called cardiac amyloidosis. (Carol Pollard)

“At the time, the team of doctors couldn’t decide whether I was a little crazy or whether I was having panic attacks,” Pollard said.

“They planted that seed of doubt and I said to myself, ‘You have to listen to them,’” she went on. “So I went on the drugs they wanted me to go on, but I still couldn’t breathe.”

It was only later, when she was having additional tests to find alternate treatments for the leaky valve, that Pollard learned she had another condition that everyone had overlooked.

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“A heart biopsy finally gave us a diagnosis that all of them had missed, which is, I have a rare heart disease called cardiac amyloidosis,” Pollard said. 

With cardiac amyloidosis, a protein called amyloid builds up in the heart, which prevents it from functioning as it should.

“A rogue protein that developed in my bone marrow transferred into my blood and then attacked my heart, kidneys and GI tract,” she said.

Pollard (shown above, just slightly left of center) had the opportunity to visit the Abbott Technologies lab in California, where she met the team who made the MitraClip device that she credits with saving her life. (Abbott Technologies)

The only treatment for the condition was chemotherapy, which Pollard received for a year.

“They finally got me into remission, but I still couldn’t breathe due to the leaky valve,” she said.

Eventually, a doctor introduced Pollard to Abbott Laboratories, a medical products company that produces the MitraClip. It’s small device that clips the valve together and prevents blood from flowing back into the heart.

After a long road of testing and pre-qualifications, Pollard underwent the mitral valve procedure.

“The team of doctors couldn’t decide whether I was a little crazy or whether I was having panic attacks.”

“The day after [the surgeon] put that clip in my heart, I could breathe again for the first time normally in I don’t know how long,” Pollard said. “I was so elated and amazed and happy that when my daughter arrived at the hospital, we actually danced in the hospital room.”

Today, Pollard is feeling “pretty good,” although her cardiac amyloidosis is back. She still gets chemo once a month for that condition and sees her regular cardiologist and hematologist every few months.

Pollard’s breathing is fine thanks to the MitraClip, which she calls a “miracle procedure that saved my life and my sanity.”

Symptoms blamed on pregnancy and pinched nerves

Tina Marie Marston, 49, also had a long journey to her heart diagnosis.

When she was 28, the Georgia mother started experiencing symptoms of heart failure during pregnancy — fluid retention, shortness of breath, extreme nausea and vomiting.

“I was just so sick throughout that pregnancy and nothing seemed to be alarming [the doctors],” she told Fox News Digital in an interview. “It was just like, ‘Oh, you’re pregnant. This is just what happens.’”

Tina Marston’s heart disease warning signs were misdiagnosed as pregnancy effects and, later, a pinched nerve. “I always felt like something was off.” (Tina Marston)

Even months after giving birth, Marston said she “just never felt right — I always felt like something was off.”

In 2002, Marston returned to the hospital to get her symptoms checked. 

“I remember the doctor listening to me with a stethoscope, but he didn’t run any type of X-rays or do any bloodwork,” she said. 

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The doctor told Marston she had “a touch of walking pneumonia,” then gave her a prescription and said to allow three days for it to work.

“On the second day, I called a friend and I said I have to go back to the ER, because if I go to sleep, I’m not going to wake up,” she said.

That was when the doctors discovered that Marston had a hole in her lung, congestive heart failure, full-blown pneumonia and postpartum cardiomyopathy — which is heart failure that occurs between the last month of pregnancy and five months after delivery. 

Tina Marston is now an active advocate for women’s heart health and an LVAD ambassador for Abbott Technologies. (Tina Marston)

“The doctor told me not to come back for three days, but I came back two days later,” she said. “What would have happened if I hadn’t come back?”

After spending a few days in the ICU, Marston was discharged and adopted a whole new lifestyle, with a focus on heart-healthy nutrition.

A few years later, in 2010, she experienced another life-threatening misdiagnosis. When Marston went to the hospital with excruciating leg pain, she was told it was a pinched nerve — but days later, doctors realized her legs were riddled with dangerous blood clots that had to be surgically removed.

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“I could have lost both legs,” she said. “I had no blood flow for at least a week.”

In her late 30s, Marston received an LVAD (left ventricular assist device) — the HeartMate II by Abbott — a device that helps the heart pump blood from its lower chambers to the rest of the body.

To help other women facing the same struggles, Marston recently founded a nonprofit called the Tina Marie Marston Foundation. She is also a legislative advocate for the Georgia American Heart Association.

Preventing misdiagnoses

While it’s difficult to put a number on how many cases of women’s heart disease go misdiagnosed in the U.S., Adamson said it is “common.”

“Objective studies have found there is a medical bias that women are at low risk for developing heart problems,” he noted. “This bias exists for all cardiovascular diseases, from coronary issues to late-stage heart failure.”

“Women’s health is a very important issue and requires self-advocacy to find the right medical provider who recognizes the bias,” a doctor told Fox News Digital. (iStock)

“The bias is particularly common in women who suffer from a unique type of heart failure that arises because the heart is stiff and cannot adequately relax, which the medical community calls ‘heart failure with preserved ejection fraction,’” Adamson said. 

“Many women with this type of heart failure, especially women of African descent, downplay their symptoms or don’t seek care because they are busy caregivers who often also work outside the home,” the doctor noted.

To prevent potentially deadly misdiagnoses, Adamson emphasized the importance of women being their own advocates.

“Many women … downplay their symptoms or don’t seek care because they are busy caregivers who often also work outside the home.”

“Women’s health is a very important issue and requires self-advocacy to find the right medical provider who recognizes the bias,” he told Fox News Digital.

“Tina [Marston] is a great example of someone who knew something was wrong and advocated for appropriate treatment,” he said. “She would not let the system blow her off — instead, she took things into her own hands and found what was available on her own.”

A doctor stressed the importance of finding the right provider who understands how to properly manage all risk factors for heart disease. Marston and Pollard also urged women not to hesitate to ask questions. (iStock)

The doctor said it’s essential to find the right provider who understands how to properly manage blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, weight control and other risk factors – including genetics – for developing early heart disease.

“I can’t emphasize enough how important it is for women to be aware of their health and partner with health care providers who have overcome the typical biases leading to misdiagnoses,” Adamson added.

“Sometimes the problem is anxiety, but make sure all options have been considered. We need to care for the amazing heart.”

A cardiologist noted that not all women will experience classic symptoms like chest pain. “Be aware that heart attack symptoms for women may include shortness of breath, abdominal pain, nausea or just not feeling right,” he told Fox News Digital. (iStock)

Serwer, the Ohio cardiologist, also noted that not all women will experience classic symptoms like chest pain.

“Be aware that heart attack symptoms for women may include shortness of breath, abdominal pain, nausea or just not feeling right,” he told Fox News Digital.

The doctor also urged women to be aware of their individual risks for developing heart disease and start making modifications early. 

Studies have shown women are 52% more likely to have a delay in diagnosis than men when presenting with a heart attack, a cardiologist said.

“Know your medical conditions and your family history,” Serwer advised. “Sit down with your health care team to help identify ways to reduce your risk. Don’t wait until after you have a heart attack to start treating your high blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes.”

If symptoms do arise, the doctor said, don’t ignore them.

“Don’t wait until after you have a heart attack to start treating your high blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes,” a cardiologist advised. (iStock)

“Seek medical attention and raise the concern that you may be afraid you’re having a heart attack.”

To other women, Pollard’s advice is to “listen to your body — because I wasn’t listening to mine.”

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She told Fox News Digital, “I think many times, women are misdiagnosed because they don’t pay attention to themselves. There’s that ‘no pain, no gain’ mentality … I think we are given these messages that teach us to ignore the signals of our body,” she said. 

“Our body is very smart, and when it’s telling you something is wrong, you need to listen to it.”

“I think many times, women are misdiagnosed because they don’t pay attention to themselves,” one heart patient told Fox News Digital. (iStock)

“I take part of the blame for taking so long to be diagnosed because I wasn’t taking my pain seriously,” she added.

“Being out of breath and terribly fatigued is not necessarily a part of getting old.”

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Marston advised women to “never second-guess yourself” and to never hesitate to ask questions.

“It should be a partnership where you’re working together with your doctors,” she said. 

“You should have a team that accepts questions without any hesitation.”

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Post-menopausal women may soon have a new weapon in the fight against bone loss.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently granted clearance for a vibration belt known as Osteoboost.

The prescription device is intended for post-menopausal women who have low bone density, a condition called osteopenia, according to the company’s manufacturer, Bone Health Technologies.

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“A study conducted at the University of Nebraska Medical Center showed the efficacy of Osteoboost in directly stimulating bone growth and preserving bone mineral density and strength in postmenopausal women with osteopenia by sending low-frequency vibrations directly to the lumbar spine and hips,” Laura Yecies, CEO of Bone Health Technologies in Redwood City, California, told Fox News Digital.

Fewer than 10% of patients who meet the criteria for osteoporosis medications are taking them — and many others are not compliant with taking them on a regular basis, Yecies noted.

The Osteoboost technology is “safe, medication-free and easy to use at home, making it suitable for a wide variety of patients with bone density loss,” she said.

The FDA approved the device on Jan. 18 based on National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded research.

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The NIH’s findings were presented at last year’s annual scientific meeting of the Endocrine Society in Chicago as well as the American Society of Bone and Mineral Research in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

The findings are currently under peer review for publication. 

The Osteoboost technology is “safe, medication-free and easy to use at home,” the CEO said. (Bone Health Technologies)

“There are some studies that are as much as 15 years old that have found whole-body vibratory stimulation can have a beneficial effect on bone strength,” Chris Morris, M.D., a rheumatologist at Arthritis Associates in Kingsport, Tennessee, told Fox News Digital. Morris is not affiliated with Osteoboost.

Research inspired by NASA

In 2013, Dr. Shane Mangrum, a physician who is also a co-founder of Bone Health Technologies, saw a need for preventing spine fractures in patients with osteoporosis after treating many patients with compression fractures, Yecies said.

The doctor aimed to find a treatment that did not involve taking medications.

After learning about research by NASA that showed mechanical stimulation of bones through whole-body vibration could improve bone density, Mangrum pursued grant funding to develop and test the initial prototype of the Osteoboost belt. 

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This led to additional funding that supported a study that Yecies calls “pivotal.” 

The study, led by Dr. Laura Bilek, a researcher from the University of Nebraska Medical Center and a clinical adviser to Bone Health Technologies, included 126 post-menopausal women who had low bone mass but did not have osteoporosis.

The participants were 62 years old, on average; 98% were White and 96% were non-Hispanic.

Bone mass peaks during the early 30s and then starts to decline.  (iStock)

The women were randomly assigned to a treatment group or a control group, but were not told which treatment they were receiving, according to Bilek, who spoke to Fox News Digital.

The treatment group used a vibration belt, while the control group used a “sham device” that created a sound but did not deliver vibration.

Both treatments were administered five times a week for 12 months, and the researchers ensured that all participants met the daily recommended amount of calcium intake.

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The researchers evaluated CT scans for each group to gauge changes in the strength of the lower spine, Bilek said.

They found no significant differences in the change of lower spine vertebrae between the active group and the control group.

But when comparing the different age categories, the researchers found that women between 50 and 60 years old who received the active treatment had significantly less bone loss compared to the control group, the researcher noted.

The researchers were primarily looking for change in the strength in the lower spine by using images of computed tomography (CT) in each group, said the lead researcher (not pictured). (iStock)

Among those who used the belt a minimum of three times a week, the control group had approximately five times less bone strength and almost seven times less bone mineral density compared to the active treatment group, the researchers found.

“This is especially important for women during the menopause transition, when women lose bone rapidly,” Bilek told Fox News Digital. 

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Morris agreed, noting that “this new therapy has the potential to be a non-medication approach to the improvement of bone density and reduction of fracture risk.” 

The technology has the potential to “improve balance and mobility in people who are at a greater risk of fracture,” he added.

“This new therapy has the potential to be a non-medication approach to the improvement of bone density and reduction of fracture risk.” 

Menopause accelerates bone loss in women due to the loss of estrogen, with up to 20% of bone loss occurring during and after menopause, according to The Endocrine Society’s website.

“The Osteoboost has the potential to help millions of women with low bone mass who are at risk of progressing to osteoporosis,” said Bilek.

Study limitations

While Morris called the research “promising,” he noted that it did not look at whether the participants had a reduced risk of fractures after using the vibration belt. 

Bilek’s research team looked at “surrogate markers” (substitute values) for bone strength, because directly determining fracture risk would have required following the participants over a number of years.

The research also did not compare Osteoboost with standard medication therapies that have shown to be effective in reducing the risk of a fracture, Morris added.

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“Additionally, I would be interested in whether this might be something to add to the currently available medications to provide even more benefit,” he said.

As Yecies told Medscape Medical News, a price has not yet been set for the Osteoboost device, and out-of-pocket costs are expected to differ by patient. 

The company aims to begin shipping the device later this year, she noted.

Osteopenia  vs. osteoporosis 

“Osteopenia and osteoporosis both refer to a medical condition in which there has been a loss of calcium and the protein framework of our bones,” Morris told Fox News Digital.

Bone mass peaks during the early 30s and then starts to decline, according to Healthline. 

Approximately 34 million people in the United States have osteopenia, as Cleveland Clinic stated. (iStock)

Osteopenia occurs when the body breaks down bone faster than it builds new bone.

Someone has osteopenia, or low bone mass, if the T-score is -1 to -2.5. With osteoporosis, the T-score is below -2.5. 

“This number is important, because the lower the score, the higher the risk of fractures due to worsening bone weakness,” noted Morris. 

Approximately 34 million people in the United States have osteopenia, as Cleveland Clinic stated. 

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The condition increases the risk of osteoporosis, which is the most common bone disease in the U.S., per the CDC.

Doctors diagnose both bone conditions based on a test called a DEXA scan, which measures bone density.

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“The test compares a person’s bone density to that seen in a 30-year-old with similar height, weight and gender,” Morris said.

Approximately half of all women will have a fracture during their lifetime, primarily occurring during the osteopenia stage. 

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If painful leg cramps have woken you up in the middle of the night, the condition can be both scary and confusing.

You may think it’s due to the position you’re sleeping in — but there’s more to know about nighttime leg cramps than that. 

In original interviews, two physicians gave a “leg up” on the causes and treatments of nighttime leg cramps.

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Here’s what to know.

What are nighttime leg cramps? 

More commonly known as a charley horse, a nighttime leg cramp is when the muscles in a leg quickly tighten up.

A charley horse is a sudden, painful and involuntary muscle spasm or cramp, noted health.com. While it usually happens in your leg, especially the calf, it can actually happen in any muscle.

A person can be woken up as a result of painful leg cramp symptoms, said Mike Sevilla, M.D., a family physician with Family Practice Center of Salem in Salem, Ohio. 

“Sometimes the cramps last a few minutes, but I have had patients whose leg cramps lasted longer than that,” he said.

Who gets nighttime leg cramps? 

Nighttime cramps become more common as people get older and unfortunately, can become more frequent, Sara Austin, M.D., an associate professor of neurology at the Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin, told Fox News Digital. 

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She is also a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology.

If you experience frequent leg cramps, your primary care doctor should test to make sure your thyroid hormone level is normal.

Most of the time, nighttime leg cramps just happen — but there are some causes, she said.

Being human. “That’s the most common cause. We all get them sometimes,” she said.

“If you notice that the cramps are associated with weakness in the extremity, or if they consistently interfere with the way you walk, you should bring that to your doctor’s attention.” (iStock)

Hypothyroidism. If you experience frequent cramps, she said, your primary care doctor should test to make sure your thyroid hormone level is normal.

Dehydration or very intense exercise. “Make sure if you sweat excessively or are dehydrated that you drink more fluids, preferably with some electrolytes,” she cautioned.

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Restless leg syndrome. Those who have restless leg syndrome seem to describe some of their symptoms as cramps, she said. 

“If you consistently feel like you wake up after being asleep for several hours and you feel symptoms in your leg — cramping, tingling, burning, aching — that are relieved by getting up and walking around, you might have restless leg syndrome,” Austin said. 

“If you find that you’re having two to three cramps every night for weeks to months, you should check in with a neurologist.”

Speak with your doctor for further evaluation.

Can leg cramps be a sign of serious conditions?

Some neuromuscular diseases are associated with more frequent muscle cramps, but this is not common, said Dr. Austin. 

“They are very rare,” she said.

There are also prescription medication options for nighttime leg cramps, “but patients should check with their family physician before considering prescription meds.” (iStock)

“But if you find that you are having two to three cramps every night for weeks to months, you should check in with a neurologist,” she advised. 

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“Or, if you notice that the cramps are associated with weakness in the extremity, or if they consistently interfere with the way you walk, you should bring that to your doctor’s attention.”

How can someone treat leg cramps?

When leg cramps begin, start with a gentle stretching of the muscles, said Sevilla of the Family Practice Center of Salem. 

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“In addition, what may help symptoms include massage of the area and application of a heating pad.”

When leg cramps begin, start with a gentle stretching of the muscles.  (iStock)

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Also, he said, “consider over-the-counter pain medication like acetaminophen or ibuprofen.”

There are also prescription medication options, “but patients should check with their family physician before considering prescription meds.”

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