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TEMOIGNAGES
Doctor (Rouen, France)

Sabine, 39 years old

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I had been taking combination birth control pills since I was 16 for acne and I continued to self-prescribe them. I didn’t have the time to see a gynecologist because I worked too much and had kids to take care of. I didn’t have any significant medical history, apart from a family history of migraines, and a few headaches. I did smoke a bit, two to five cigarettes per day. Last year, the day before summer vacation, I woke up and had trouble talking and I couldn’t move my arm. My husband called 911 and in the emergency department, an MRI confirmed I’d had a small stroke. I was really lucky because I recovered fully in a few weeks, but it could have been much worse. I learned that migraines combined with tobacco use and estrogen-progestin pills put women at risk for stroke. Tell everyone you know about this so that other women can avoid what happened to me.

 

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Hélène, 26 years old

Medical Resident (Lille, France)

I’m a resident in my fifth semester and plan to specialize in emergency medicine. Something I recently experienced during a shift in the emergency department led me to do my thesis on coronary syndrome in women. This illness has been on the rise among women for many years. While men receive good [...]

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Rosita, 68 years old

My name is Rosita. I’m 68 years old and for more than 35 years, I’ve suffered from various cardiac issues related to a malformed mitral valve. In 1998, I had a very successful mitral valve plasty procedure, but still had a stroke in 2012 after hastily completed thrombolysis. Fortunately, there [...]

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Annie, 64 years old

For several years, I’d been having heart rhythm problems lasting an hour at a time, three times per week. Then it increased to four days a week. It was an arrhythmia. Treatment wasn’t helpful. I had palpitations every day even if I wasn’t doing anything other than eating. It was an ordeal. I [...]

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