'I should have died': Rosie O'Donnell warns women about ignoring unique symptoms of heart attack

WASHINGTON (TND) — Actress, comedian, and talk show host Rosie O'Donnell has advice for the public: don't ignore the symptoms of a heart attack.

O'Donnell, who had what she described as a massive heart attack at least a decade ago, appeared on "The Best Podcast Ever" Monday and spoke about her near-death experience.

I should have died," O'Donnell said during the interview with Raven-Symoné and Miranda Pearman-Maday. “I was really, really lucky.”

O’Donnell, 61, said she was “rushed to the ER” for a heart attack when she was 50 years old.

She said she was picking up a friend from a chemotherapy treatment at a hospital in New York when another woman in the parking lot asked her for help.

She said, ‘Rosie, will you help me up?’" O'Donnell said. "And so I went over and I helped her up and it took a lot longer than I expected. I got home and my arms were hurting. And I thought, ‘That’s funny, it must’ve been from pushing her up.’ So, I went about my business.”

Her son later said something that made her think twice.

He said to me, 'Mommy you look like a ghost. I don't know what happened to you,'" she said, adding that she felt tired and her arms were still hurting.

O’Donnell said she took to the internet and searched for signs and symptoms of a heart attack. She said she felt “a few of them,” but she "didn’t really sound the alarms yet.”

But she later realized she had a massive heart attack.

Well, the truth of the matter is, I had this heart attack on a Monday at 10 in the morning. I went to therapy at 2, and I said to my therapist, ‘Do you think that I could be having a heart attack?’ And she said, ‘You know, you always do this. You semanticize your feelings.' I go, 'Well, I'm very tired. Can I go home?"

She then drove her scooter home. It took about 15 minutes.

I get home, I can hardly walk upstairs," O'Donnell said. "I take two baby aspirin, I go to sleep, I wake up and my family goes, ‘You have to go to the doctor,'" she said.

O'Donnell said she waited until the following day to see a cardiologist. It was then she finally received the medical attention she desperately need.

They said, 'Sit down. You're having a massive heart attack. You've already had one. We're taking you to the ER,'" she said. "I was like, 'Wait. Wait. WHAT?!' I couldn't believe it."

She said she later learned the symptoms of a heart attack for men and women are "very different" despite the fact that more women in the U.S. die annually from heart attacks.

"It's just the patriarchal view of medicine and how we're all kind of subject to its whims and its misogyny," O'Donnell said, adding that she went on to do an HBO special about the signs and symptoms to help better educate women and their loved ones.

The American Heart Association advised women who any any of the following signs to call 911 immediately:

• Uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain in the center of your chest. It lasts more than a few minutes, or goes away and comes back.
• Pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach.
• Shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort.
• Other signs such as breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness.

As with men, women’s most common heart attack symptom is chest pain or discomfort," the non-profit organization noted on its website. "But women may experience other symptoms that are typically less associated with heart attack, such as shortness of breath, nausea/vomiting and back or jaw pain. We’ve all seen the movie scenes where a man gasps, clutches his chest and falls to the ground. In reality, a heart attack victim could easily be a woman, and the scene may not be that dramatic. Even when the signs are subtle, the consequences can be deadly, especially if the person doesn’t get help right away."

O'Donnell said as frightening as the experience was, it was also eye-opening.

"This forced me to pay attention to my body in a way that I never had been," O'Donnell said.

O'Donnell, who has five children, started her career as a comedian. When she was a teenager, she appeared on "Star Search" in 1984.

She went on to host her own syndicated daytime talk show "The Rosie O'Donnell Show" between 1996 and 2002, which won several Daytime Emmy Awards.

O'Donnell also starred in movies such as "A League of Their Own" alongside Tom Hanks, Madonna, and Geena Davis. She also portrayed Betty Rubble in "The Flintstones" film. Most recently, she was a host on the talk show "The View."