WHEN Katelyn Jill had the sudden urge to crack her black she had no idea it was an early warning sign for a heart attack.
“I was also sweating so bad, and I don’t sweat,” the 32-year-old from the US recalled of the terrifying ordeal.
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It was 2018 and her daughter, Quinn’s birthday – a day that should have been filled with joy and celebration.
But for Katelyn, a digital marketer, the day quickly took a terrifying turn.
While the mum was getting ready for the party, an overwhelming wave of heat hit her, and she began sweating uncontrollably.
The discomfort intensified as sharp pain shot through her arm and back, leaving her in excruciating agony.
Read more on heart attacks
“I felt like I had to crack my back,” she explained while speaking on her show, Your Breakthrough Podcast.
Her friend, who was helping with the party preparations, noticed Katelyn’s distress and tried to crack her back, but it offered no relief.
As Katelyn struggled to find a comfortable position on the bed, her symptoms only worsened.
“My back is killing me, my arm feels dead, I’m starting to lose all sensation in my hands, I’m sweating and my mouth feels numb,” she says while describing the frightening experience.
Suddenly her friend, who used to work in an ambulance, came too the realisation Katelyn could be having a heart attack.
“I was like, that’s impossible. I’m 32,” she recalls.
They decided to look at Katelyn’s Apple watch’s EKG monitor, which can track heart rate.
“[The results] looked insane. I’ve never seen anything like it,” she explained.
Katelyn ran downstairs to warn her daughter she would have to call an ambulance.
The ambulance arrived quickly, and the paramedics performed another EKG.
Katelyn was told they would “have to get [her] to the hospital, lights and sirens, right now.”
At the hospital, doctors were baffled.
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Despite conducting numerous tests and performing two surgeries to insert stents into her heart, they found no blockages.
“No one knows why that happened,” she said.
After a week in the hospital, she was discharged, but her nightmare was far from over.
Mere days after returning home, Katelyn suffered a second shock heart attack, which she said was “equally bad” as the first.
Once again, she was hospitalised for a week, while doctors were still unable to provide any answers.
I learned that stress was not only a completely uncomfortable way to live, but that kind of pressure on your life can harm you as well
Katelyn Jill
It wasn’t until two years later that Katelyn found some much-needed clarity.
A new cardiologist took another look at her case and asked, “Have you ever heard of broken heart syndrome?”
Also known as takotsubo cardiomyopathy or stress cardiomyopathy, broken heart syndrome is a temporary condition that causes the heart muscle to weaken and change shape.
It can be life-threatening and mimics the symptoms of a heart attack.
Up until that point, Katelyn had been struggling with depression and stress.
“I had been more broke than I had ever been and I was in a terrible relationship that was wreaking my peace,” she explained in a video she shared on TikTok about the heart attack.
Women vs. men heart attack symptoms
It’s a myth that women and men have different heart attack symptoms.
Symptoms can vary from person to person, but there are no symptoms that are more common in women than in men.
Heart attacks are generally associated with men.
And that is hardly surprising, considering the standard image shown on TV.
These misconceptions around who is more likely to have a heart attack can mean women are less likely to seek and receive treatment.
These misconceptions may also delay diagnosis, making poor outcomes more likely.
Coronary heart disease kills more than twice as many women than breast cancer in the UK every year.
But despite this, it’s often considered a man’s disease.
Symptoms of a heart attack can include:
- Chest pain – the chest can feel like it’s being pressed or squeezed by a heavy object, and pain can radiate from the chest to the jaw, neck, arms and back
- Shortness of breath
- Feeling weak or lightheaded, or both
- An overwhelming feeling of anxiety
It’s important to know that not everyone experiences severe chest pain.
The pain can often be mild and mistaken for indigestion.
Source: British Heart Foundation + NHS
The event marked a pivotal moment for Katelyn.
“I learned that stress was not only a completely uncomfortable way to live, but that kind of pressure on your life can harm you as well.”
She added: “At that moment I realised I had to figure something out because I couldn’t leave this earth because of stress.”
A new life
Katelyn knew she had to make substantial changes – not only for her health but for the future of her children.
She decided she needed to become financially stable, so decided to start posting
Having lots of experience trying out different jobs to make money, Katelyn decided to launch social media pages, showing people how to make money only.
Since then, she has accumulated over 200,00 followers on Instagram, and over 5,000 followers on TikTok.
Through these platforms, she generates income via affiliate marketing.
“I can work from home, I can be with my kids, I can schedule doctor’s appointments when I need,” she explained.
“If there’s a day that I just cannot get out of bed, I don’t. It’s been the biggest blessing.”
