SCAD is a rare heart disease that attacks 1 in 1M women in their childbirthing years. SCAD stands for spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD). I suffered from SCAD the day after I gave birth to my first baby. SCAD is a nontraditional form of heart attack. A heart attack was the last thing on the minds of my doctors, nurses and I. But, at 5 am the day after giving birth via emergency c-section
I experienced intense pain in my upper back and left arm, so I paged for my nurse and asked if I had been given painkillers by ivy while I was asleep? she said yes, but I was feeling terrible so I asked for more morphine, only to be denied.
The nurse told me that I was feeling terrible because I hadn’t been walking enough after surgery and needed to walk. So the nurse forced me to walk while I was hunched over from the pain delivery and this new unexplained pain I was experiencing.
As I got back into bed feeling like death was on my doorsteps; I cried in pain and asked to see my delivering doctor who was teaching at a local university. 30 minutes later the doctor came and requested an ECG out of precaution because I was experiencing pain outside the norm. ECG tests for the event of a heart attack and although it is uncommon for a woman to experience a heart attack shortly after childbirth my doctor wanted to cover her bases.
I will continue this series every Tuesday. But, if you are pregnant or soon to be pregnant read about SCAD, and talk to your doctor about the possible risk. SCAD is rare, but being informed never hurt anybody. I wish you all great health.
