WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-How heart attack symptoms are different for women

Four years ago, Marie Bonanno had unusual pains.

"I was getting pains in my neck, in my jaws, right above my ears, my gums," she said.

She brushed it off and went about her day. But hours later, she was rushed to the hospital. She was having a heart attack.

"They told me what I was having and I couldn't believe it," she said.

More women than men die of heart disease each year.

Cardiologist Mary Ann McLaughlin says that's because a lot of women don't recognize the first warning signs.

"Women can often have different symptoms than men when they have a heart attack," said Dr. Mary Ann McLaughlin of Mount Sinai Medical Center. "Typically men will come in with there's an elephant sitting on my chest."

Women on the other hand, can report neck, shoulder, upper back or jaw pain. They also complain of nausea or vomiting, sweating and extreme fatigue.

What triggers a heart attack can also differ between women and men. Doctors say emotional stress like the loss of a loved one or an argument is more likely to lead to heart attacks in women, while physical stress leads to more heart problems in men.

"Women come to the emergency room later than men," McLaughlin said. "The longer you wait to get that artery opened the more damage can occur and the damage can be irreversible. Women tend to come in six hours after men do."

Bonanno has advice for other women: don't ignore the warning signs and get to the hospital sooner.

"If I knew then what I know now I would have done something about it," she said.

And the 66-year-old is doing something now; controlling her blood pressure and cholesterol with medication and eating right.

In the U.S., nearly half a million women die every year from cardiovascular disease, more deaths than all cancers combined.