Comedienne, actress, author and television personality, 50-year old Rosie O’Donnell at first thought that she had pulled a muscle, last week, but when nausea and clamminess where added she began to think that maybe something was wrong. After browsing the web about the symptoms of women’s heart attacks, Rosie decided to take an aspirin, just in case.

The former talk show host visited her doctor the next day to find out that she did in fact have a heart attack, her left anterior descending artery (LAD) was mostly blocked. Rosie is lucky the aspirin helped, in some cases it doesn’t and what she should have done was call 911.

A lot of people associate heart disease with something that men get, but in fact, more women die of heart disease every year than men. The symptoms can vary from shortness of breath and pains shooting down the right side of the body, they may feel abdominal pain, back pain, nausea, jaw pain or breaking out into a sweat.

The good news, according to Dr. Oz, is that heart disease is preventable in most cases if you eat healthy, stay active and manage stress and anxiety effectively. Check out his website for awesome tips on leading a healthy lifestyle.

You can help yourself, you are in control of your lifestyle and no matter what you choose to do, whether you follow a celebrity fitness routine, go vegan, join the gym, cut out the fats and start walking every day, do something to help yourself before you face a situation like Rosie did and who knows, you might not end up as lucky. For more information on heart and stroke, contact the Heart & Stroke foundation.