{"id":276451,"date":"2026-02-10T06:45:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T06:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/276451\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T06:45:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T06:45:07","slug":"woman-advises-people-to-have-symptoms-checked-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/276451\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman advises people to have symptoms checked \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Siobh\u00e1n O\u2019Connell was not too concerned when she experienced shortness of breath <\/a>and noticed her ankles were swollen <\/a>two years ago<\/p>\n

At the request of her friends, she mentioned her symptoms <\/a>to her doctor, who referred her to a cardiologist <\/a>due to a history of heart disease in her family.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connell (60) underwent tests at the Mater private hospital in Dublin. The results gave her the \u201cshock of my life\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe angiogram said my heart muscle was failing. I just remember thinking: \u2018What do I do now?\u2019 I thought: \u2018Oh Jesus\u2019,\u201d says the Dubliner.<\/p>\n

She had \u201cno pains or nothing\u201d. The \u201cgood news\u201d, she says, was that she did not need stents or a pacemaker and her condition could be treated with tablets. The experience forced her to become \u201cmore serious about what I was eating, alcohol and exercise as well\u201d.<\/p>\n

At the time of the tests in March 2024, her heart function <\/a>was about 25 per cent, O\u2019Connell says. She was informed about a year later that under 35 per cent puts a person at risk of sudden death.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s probably as well I didn\u2019t hear that in 2024 because I had enough going on,\u201d she says. She learned that normal heart function <\/a>is about 55 per cent. After interventions, her rate has reached 43 per cent, she adds.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel very lucky that I dodged the heart attack somehow. But other people mightn\u2019t. I thought I had swollen ankles and I was huffing and puffing<\/a>. I didn\u2019t realise how much help I needed in terms of my heart needing attention and looking after.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prof Mark Dayer, consultant cardiologist and clinical lead for heart failure at the Mater Private Network in Dublin, says heart failure is \u201cmore common\u201d in men overall, with roughly twice as many men as women experiencing it.<\/p>\n

But this changes at certain ages and when it comes to different types of heart failure, he says.<\/p>\n

Dayer says men tend to have more heart attacks, angina and a condition called dilated cardiomyopathy, which he explains is a \u201cbig heart that doesn\u2019t tend to pump very well\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn younger people, it tends to be men and it tends to be a heart that doesn\u2019t pump well,\u201d he says. Affected women tend to be older. \u201cIn the 75 to 85 bracket, it\u2019s roughly equal between men and women. In the very elderly, 85 or older, numerically, women have more heart failure than men.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why is there an increase in heart failure among older women? Dayer says the reason is not clear, but they have conditions such as high blood pressure, obesity, valve disease or diabetes, among others.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are differences in hormones, physical attributes and size that make men more likely than women to have certain conditions and vice versa,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no doubt that once women go through the menopause, they tend to catch up on men. Post-menopause, women really accelerate with getting coronary disease and other problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dayer also points to alcohol consumption countrywide, describing it as a \u201cbig cause of heart failure\u201d.<\/p>\n

Given the State\u2019s ageing population, increasing obesity rates and low physical activity levels, says Dayer, the issue will become more pronounced in the coming years.<\/p>\n

There is a need to focus on the differences between men and women regarding diagnosis and treatment.<\/p>\n

Despite a history of heart disease in her family, O\u2019Connell never thought it was something that would affect her. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou look back and think: \u2018Should I have known?\u2019 But life is so busy, and heart failure didn\u2019t cross my radar at all … I was thinking maybe the weight, but because I didn\u2019t have any pains, I didn\u2019t think the heart,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n

Now, almost two years on, she has turned her life around. She attends exercise classes several times a week, walks when she can and has reduced alcohol.<\/p>\n

To other women, she has one overriding piece of advice: \u201cIf in doubt, get it checked out.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Siobh\u00e1n O\u2019Connell was not too concerned when she experienced shortness of breath and noticed her ankles were swollen…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276452,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[134,5457,4195,36572,120906,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-276451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-health","tag-heart-disease","tag-heart-health","tag-hse","tag-mater-hospital","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}