KICKING DEPRESSION
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Now would be a good time to talk about depression and heart attacks.
I have been having chest pains.
They started ... don't get mad ... about two months ago. I know, I know, I should have gone to the doctor right away. But I am an alcoholic. Denial is an instinct. I have been ignoring the pain. I assumed that the tightness in my chest and deep, constant ache just beside my right wing bone in my back was just stress.
And the unusual fatigue? I have been working too much and too hard. Throughout it all I have pushed the memory of December 2006 out of my mind. That's when I began having heart palpitations. In January 2006 I had a stress test. Nothing abnormal. My doctor told me it must be stress.
"Ha!" I told her. "I laugh in the face of stress! I'm a journalist. My life is one big deadline."
"It's stress," she said. She was right. Three months later I sunk into the deepest, darkest depression I had ever known. It was awful. The heart palpitations were a warning that I chose to ignore, like I have been doing for the last couple of months.
Which brings me to my current chest pains. I have a million reasons why I could not possibly have heart problems: I work out a lot. I don't smoke, drink, eat wheat or fried food. My cholesterol, blood pressure and weight are all normal. So I consulted the ultimate fear monger — the Internet.
Here's what I learned from the experts at the American Heart Association and the Mayo Clinic.
The frequency of angina (chest pain that can include back discomfort) has been strongly linked with depression and anxiety.
Fifteen to 20 percent of heart attack survivors meet the criteria for severe depression.
Depression is twice as common in women as in men, and it increases the risk of heart disease by two to three times compared with those who aren't depressed.
Risks associated with depression and marital status increased further, with the highest risk in depressed patients who were unmarried.
Guess who has depression and is not married? I called my doctor. My doctor had me in her office that afternoon. My EKG was slightly abnormal. She ordered a stress test. We will see what that reveals.
In the meantime I am going to work on denial. It's not just a river in Africa, you know.
Christine Stapleton writes for The Palm Beach Post. E-mail: christine(underscore)stapleton(at)pbpost.com. To read previous columns, go to PalmBeachPost.com/depression