Caroline’s heart attack went unrecognised: ‘I thought: I’m not crazy, am I?’

Myocardial infarction

Caroline is also at the talk show table. She had a heart attack nine years ago, at the age of 52. It just took her a long time to realize that. “The GP said: it must be menopause or stress or you’re too busy. Take some paracetamol and if it doesn’t go away, I’ll see you again in a few weeks. It didn’t go away after a few weeks, so I went back and said: ‘I feel really tired, I have a really bad pain between my shoulder blades and when I walk up the stairs I me panning.’ He said, ‘Just relax, I don’t know what it is’.” Then she goes back again. “All kinds of investigations were done, but nothing came of it.”

Cardiologist Janneke Wittekoek: ‘Stress is the leading cause of heart attacks in women’Also read

She gets a referral to a psychologist. The problem would be between her ears. “I thought: I’m not crazy, why am I here? You have to, because you have to take these steps, but I felt very unhappy there. Fortunately, the psychologist noticed that. She said: there is nothing wrong with you.”

Hospital admission

The problem only becomes apparent when she is riding her bike in the gym. “I didn’t feel well at all again, but I didn’t want to tell myself so I thought: I’m going home. But then a gym employee approaches her who starts asking questions. “She said, ‘I think it’s on your mind’. On her advice, she goes to the hospital, where she is kept for a week. “They could tell I had a heart attack, but they didn’t know what caused it.

That is both a shock and a relief. “Suddenly I was standing outside with a whole bag of medicine. I was surprised, all kinds of things went through my mind. I thought: I felt really bad, but it wasn’t in my head.” She has now found out exactly what is going on through a specialist cardiologist. Tears in her heart were the cause of her complaint. She asks women with complaints to be sure: “I stood up for myself and I would advise everyone to do so. “

Eva is on NPO 1 from Monday to Thursday at 7pm You are watching tonight’s program here back

Eva Jinek emotional after a conversation with terminally ill Eva (26): ‘I’m going to die young, but I’m not done with life yet’Also read