PSA: Recognizing a Heart Attack

bobeast

Dance the Tide
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Oct 22, 2017
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Isleton, CA
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2002 310DA
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We've all seen it on TV. A gentleman of a certain age, clutches his chest in clear agony and falls unconscious to the floor. That is most certainly one of the manifestations of a cardiac event. But let me tell you a less dramatic story.

I felt a bit of indigestion on Sunday. No big deal, must have been something I ate. The feeling lingered into Tuesday morning getting slightly worse. Then a very slight tingling of the right hand. Subtly lingering in the background was the feeling that "somethin' ain't right". Told the admiral that something was going on in my chest, and off we went to the ER. Two stents and one cautionary tale later...

I would not presume to dispense medical advice, except to say research the signs. Don't let TV dramas lull you into a false sense of security. And finally, listen to that little voice.

Many of us here are gentlemen of a certain age, so thought I would share.
 
A number of people have discussed heart attacks today in the "How old a fella are ya" thread...
 
A number of people have discussed heart attacks today in the "How old a fella are ya" thread...
...and I'll reiterate it, since this is a thread specifically directed that way, and I almost didn't respond to it as I should have.
I had been running around with the dogs a bit in the evening. Wife was working late. While sitting on the couch, catching my breath, i had sudden, heavy pain. Thinking I had dislocated a rib again (too many face plants off of the dirt bike through the years), I tried the usual shallow breathing and repositioning my torso that had helped in the past, to no avail. My assumption would be that, were it an actual heart attack, that it would return pain spikes with each beat, but this was just straight-up crushing pain. Checked for a pulse at my wrist; all good. Checked blood pressure with cuff; nothing unusual. Headed to the ER, and was confirmed with an EKG that I was having a heart attack. It was the infamous left anterior descending artery, also known as the Widow Maker.
Don't screw around. Time is of the essence. Better to pay for an ambulance ride than suffer the alternative.
 
Glad you’re here to tell the tale. A very good friend and a mentor went home on a Friday and developed what he though was a stomach bug over the weekend. Vomiting due nausea. I worked with his wife and the Monday morning his wife came into the office talking about how he was sick the whole weekend. A few hours later she got the call that he was having difficulty breathing and the ambulance was on the way. She didn’t make it to the hospital before he passed away. Guy was 47 and in great shape. Doctor stated he probably would have survived if they caught the signs 24-48 hours sooner. Eats me up more so this year as I’m the age he passed 10 years ago. By no means a solution to visiting your primary and staying up on your routine check ups but the Apple Watch has some great health monitor features including an ecg.
 
I have a stress test at nuclear medicine department at Kaiser next Friday. We actually were scheduled to take a cruise with the club, but I think I will pass and keep my appointment after all. Way too many cardiac event stories among my peers lately to put it off.
Carpe Diem
 
I have a stress test at nuclear medicine department at Kaiser next Friday. We actually were scheduled to take a cruise with the club, but I think I will pass and keep my appointment after all. Way too many cardiac event stories among my peers lately to put it off.
Carpe Diem

Good choice. Some of the newer "stress" tests, don't even require you to do the whole treadmill thing. they just chemically induce the stress and watch your body's reaction.
 
This thread deserves as many stories as possible, so here is mine. I woke up about 2am with what I thought was heartburn. I got out of bed, took some Tums, no help. Tried various different home style remedies all while smoking cigarettes. After an hour or so, no relief. I started to worry and woke up wife. We sat and smoked some more cigs. After another hour wifey gets up and goes to pee and comes back dressed and says lets go to the ER which is about 15 miles away. We both have a cig or 2 on the way. I walk in to the front desk and say I either have the worst case of indigestion or having a heart attack. Literally 2 minutes later I am in a room hooked up to all kinds of machines. I am told I am still having a heart attack. I am now loaded into an ambulance and taken to the real hospital another 10 miles away. I had 2 stents put in as soon as I arrived. The Doctor comes to check on me mid morning, looks at me an says " I am not sure why you are still here, most don't survive " . Needless to say I don't smoke anymore. This was 3 years ago. I am still a over weight 6'2" 230lbs. I need to drop 20lbs, but stopping smoking changes the metabolism. I was 63 at the time. I enjoy every day now. No guarantee for tomorrow or even later today.
 
Circumnavigating my block is 1.3 miles. I take the dog counter-clockwise, which takes us uphill from the garage door for 1/4 mile. It always made sense to me to get my heart rate up asap, and then finish on flat ground to get home. That logic nearly killed me.

Last month, after a few weeks of neglecting walks and the exercise bike, I grabbed the leash and Jade and I nearly jogged up the hill on a very cold, snowy Thursday. At the top of the hill, I had to rest for the first time ever. (missed sign #1) The cold air was felt brutal to my lungs. I attributed that to mouth-breathing because of my lack of activity. (missed sign #2) I also felt like I had tweaked my upper back - I kept trying to stretch and pull my shoulders back to re-align things. (#3) Hours later, my "lungs and back" still hurt. (#4) This is the first time I've actually counted these events. Yes, I feel like a total idiot.

At dinner, I had no appetite and got cold and dizzy. (#5) I grabbed my BP cuff and measured 88/60. I didn't exactly miss this sign - I just mis-diagnosed it. I've always looked for high BP - low didn't scare me. (#6) I poured a glass of red wine and my BP rebounded to nearly ideal levels, so instead of going directly to the ER I followed my regular bedtime routine.

After a horrible night of restless sleep and wild temperature swings (jeezus - #7!?), I awoke and took a COVID test because we were expecting company from out of town for the wkd. Negative, so I told them to come.

I was lethargic all wkd. My BP kept plummeting, but would rebound quickly. (I know, I know). #8

At one point my buddy looked at me from across the room and said, "dude, I just watched you turn completely grey!". 9

At some point early Monday morning, I had night sweats. I awoke in drenched sheets, but feeling great. WTH??? (yep, I guess this is #10). I figured I had kicked some sort of non-C19 virus. I showered and drove to work. I didn't feel great as I pulled into the lot at work... I walked into a conference room, set my things down and was about to pull out a chair when my boss looked at me and said, "you look awful. Go home". (#11)

I went directly to an Urgent Care, but by the time I arrived my temp had normalized and my BP was high. I guess #11 is on them, but they did tell me that if anything else happens that I should go to an ER.

I finally went to the ER on following Wednesday morning. Before even telling her my story, the Cardiac CNP looked at me and said, "you're lucky to be alive - you ignored a lot of signs".

Thanks @bobeast for starting this thread. It might save the life of a dumb-ass like me.
 
Circumnavigating my block is 1.3 miles. I take the dog counter-clockwise, which takes us uphill from the garage door for 1/4 mile. It always made sense to me to get my heart rate up asap, and then finish on flat ground to get home. That logic nearly killed me.

Last month, after a few weeks of neglecting walks and the exercise bike, I grabbed the leash and Jade and I nearly jogged up the hill on a very cold, snowy Thursday. At the top of the hill, I had to rest for the first time ever. (missed sign #1) The cold air was felt brutal to my lungs. I attributed that to mouth-breathing because of my lack of activity. (missed sign #2) I also felt like I had tweaked my upper back - I kept trying to stretch and pull my shoulders back to re-align things. (#3) Hours later, my "lungs and back" still hurt. (#4) This is the first time I've actually counted these events. Yes, I feel like a total idiot.

At dinner, I had no appetite and got cold and dizzy. (#5) I grabbed my BP cuff and measured 88/60. I didn't exactly miss this sign - I just mis-diagnosed it. I've always looked for high BP - low didn't scare me. (#6) I poured a glass of red wine and my BP rebounded to nearly ideal levels, so instead of going directly to the ER I followed my regular bedtime routine.

After a horrible night of restless sleep and wild temperature swings (jeezus - #7!?), I awoke and took a COVID test because we were expecting company from out of town for the wkd. Negative, so I told them to come.

I was lethargic all wkd. My BP kept plummeting, but would rebound quickly. (I know, I know). #8

At one point my buddy looked at me from across the room and said, "dude, I just watched you turn completely grey!". 9

At some point early Monday morning, I had night sweats. I awoke in drenched sheets, but feeling great. WTH??? (yep, I guess this is #10). I figured I had kicked some sort of non-C19 virus. I showered and drove to work. I didn't feel great as I pulled into the lot at work... I walked into a conference room, set my things down and was about to pull out a chair when my boss looked at me and said, "you look awful. Go home". (#11)

I went directly to an Urgent Care, but by the time I arrived my temp had normalized and my BP was high. I guess #11 is on them, but they did tell me that if anything else happens that I should go to an ER.

I finally went to the ER on following Wednesday morning. Before even telling her my story, the Cardiac CNP looked at me and said, "you're lucky to be alive - you ignored a lot of signs".

Thanks @bobeast for starting this thread. It might save the life of a dumb-ass like me.
I have been experiencing several of the symptoms listed above so I reached out to my GP a few weeks ago kind of thinking he would hop to it and tell me to come right in for a complete exam or something. He reviewed my file and told me to get an EKG right away and he would consult with Cardiology. A week or so later I was put on the schedule for a stress test which is coming up on the 18th. I am looking forward to it to either determine that I have issues that need mitigation or just confirm that I am old so these "symptoms" are just part of life over 60. It does seem like the medical community these days are more about being reactive than pro-active though. I try to eat well and I stay quite active but I do not keep an exercise regimen. I often think I should but I just do not enjoy it enough to walk ten feet down the haul and do it. Perhaps I will be motivated after the 18th.
Great thread. I hate to feel like I am being a hypochondriac so I seldom use the medical system. Then I consider the $1800 per month that my employer is paying for a gold plated HMO plan and figure why the hell not take advantage of as much of it as possible.
Carpe Diem
 
Good thread. Thanks to all of you that contribute your stories. The more we all hear about this, the more likely we will be to not ignore symptoms.

I have never been a complainer and tend to not go to the Doctor unless a bone is sticking out or blood is pouring out of something. I have broken a few bones over the years that show up later on an X-ray for something else. And I have some lingering injuries that could have been fixed properly if I didn't try to let it heal itself. Shattered my big toe "knuckle" 4 years ago from a slap shot that hit the inside of my foot. Doctor says its too late now to try to properly fix it without potentially making it worse. So it's very much in my character to "tough it out".

But that won't work with a heart attack. So I need a kick in the head every once in a while, and this thread can help do that.
 
Sumbitch! I think we need to start a poll thread to see what percentage of us has had a heart attack! While laying in the hospital, I watched a couple of guys who looked younger than I shuffling along with their nurse and IV tree in tow, and it looked like they'd had their chests cracked. I can't even find the scar where they ran the stent up through my femoral artery. There, but for the grace of God...
 
I spent two weeks ago Tuesday early morning in the ER. Woke up at 2am heart beating very erratic and very hard to breath and catch my breath. I gave it a hour and with no improvement I went to the ER. They did a quick EKG on my and determined that I was in AFIB. After 3 hours hours a IV and some other meds my heart stabilized.

Good thing about going to the ER it put me in front of the cardiologist the very next day. I have had a CT scan of my heart , doing stress test on this coming Monday and more imaging of my heart on Tuesday and then meeting with the cardiologist again on wednesday.
My hope is he takes me off the heart pill and blood thinner as having ED sucks... and I really don't like to be dependent on meds.

This guy has been very thorough. If anything I think the AFIB has been a early warning of something bigger that was going to happen and has made me want to take better care of myself. I am 54 , workout everyday, eat mostly clean and 20 lbs overweight. I quit smoking years ago but still vape also I do enjoy my red meat and drinks.

Well when you look at the list of triggers for AFIB it goes in this order.

Sleep apnea ... I have it
Smoking/ Vaping... I do it
binge drinking... I have two or three a night and on the boat maybe five or six
Pills for acid reflux... I take them
diet/overweight... I love my bacon, rare steak, eggs, sweets. and for my age and height I could lose 18 pounds
Having covid... I had it in January

So the last two weeks I haven't drank, I have started to clean up what I eat, changed my vape from 6% to 2% nicotine and only vape a couple hours a day... I hope to toss it by next week. Sleep apnea I need to just get a damn capap and stop putting it off.

The whole thing has been a little bit of a mind "f" as I have never really been sick and that was my first trip to the ER in all my years.

I think one of the nurses said it best... Your not 30 anymore and even though your strong and healthy you do need to adjust some things for your age because as we get older it just takes longer for our body's to recover from all the fun we enjoy.
 
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I spent two weeks ago Tuesday early morning in the ER. Woke up at 2am heart beating very erratic and very hard to breath and catch my breath. I gave it a hour and with no improvement I went to the ER. They did a quick EKG on my and determined that I was in AFIB. After 3 hours hours a IV and some other meds my heart stabilized.

Good thing about going to the ER it put me in front of the cardiologist the very next day. I have had a CT scan of my heart , doing stress test on this coming Monday and more imaging of my heart on Tuesday and then meeting with the cardiologist again on wednesday.
My hope is he takes me off the heart pill and blood thinner as having ED sucks... and I really don't like to be dependent on meds.

This guy has been very thorough. If anything I think the AFIB has been a early warning of something bigger that was going to happen and has made me want to take better care of myself. I am 54 , workout everyday, eat mostly clean and 20 lbs overweight. I quit smoking years ago but still vape also I do enjoy my red meat and drinks.

Well when you look at the list of triggers for AFIB it goes in this order.

Sleep apnea ... I have it
Smoking/ Vaping... I do it
binge drinking... I have two or three a night and on the boat maybe five or six
Pills for acid reflux... I take them
diet/overweight... I love my bacon, rare steak, eggs, sweets. and for my age and height I could lose 18 pounds
Having covid... I had it in January

So the last two weeks I haven't drank, I have started to clean up what I eat, changed my vape from 6% to 2% nicotine and only vape a couple hours a day... I hope to toss it by next week. Sleep apnea I need to just get a damn capap and stop putting it off.

The whole thing has been a little bit of a mind "f" as I have never really been sick and that was my first trip to the ER in all my years.

I think one of the nurses said it best... Your not 30 anymore and even though your strong and healthy you do need to adjust some things for your age because as we get older it just takes longer for our body's to recover from all the fun we enjoy.

I have 10 years on you but other than that, it sounds like very similar vices / lifestyle. Let's call that a foreshadowing, absent the mentioned lifestyle changes. ;)
 
The whole thing has been a little bit of a mind "f" as I have never really been sick and that was my first trip to the ER in all my years.

I hear ya there. There can be a serious emotional toll to stuff like this. I thought I was coping with the whole "almost dying" stuff when I looked around at the impact of the people closest to me and realized that it F's with more minds than just my own.
 
So apparently I'm in the same boat ,pun intended. I had the tests and three days after seeing my cardiologist was rushed to the ER while having a heart attack. I saw him Tuesday August 24 and woke up Friday August 27th @4am with a mild chest pain. I get up hit the bathroom go downstairs to walk it off but it got MUCH worse quickly. I panicked and ran up the stairs to wake my wife to take me to the ER. Well I woke her turned around passed out, fell down a flight of stairs, broke my nose & woke up with her yelling at me to stay down as I was trying to get up.
Good news is an ambulance ride to the hospital, EMS were at my house in under two minutes, an hour later the doctor is explaining to my wife that I had a 100 percent blockage in my right coronary artery, he placed one stent. I was lucky because they said if it had been my left coronary artery I wouldn't have survived.
So I'm much more appreciative of seeing the sun come up everyday! I also no longer care about lots of crap that used to bother me. The last thing I'll tell you about is the most important because I ignored the signs myself. The first sign came the day after my cardiologist told me that I was in great heart health, his words were "whatever you're doing keep doing it and you're good for twenty years".
Anyway the next day I had heartburn really bad but I NEVER have heartburn? That was sign #1 and it went away after maybe two or three hours. The day before my heart attack I was coming out of the gym and got a zinger of a chest pain that stopped me in my tracks #2 but it went away as fast as it came on. It was a hot two weeks here in NY and I had been doing a lot outside in the heat but also not very good at hydrating. Apparently ice tea with vodka while on the boat doesn't count. After the zinger I moved some stuff over to my daughters house then went home and very unusually took a nap for a couple of hours #3 onset of extreme fatigue.
So I missed three warnings in two days and since I've dealt with multiple spine surgeries over the years I've learned to just ignore aches & pains because it goes with the normal day to day living. I'm 64 could lose a few pounds and am now working on losing 25lbs. After seeing this post I felt I had to share because a) I also ignored three signs and B) the signs weren't anything like the drama of TV. So if you feel a zinger that goes away or a rush of fatigue or shortness of breath(I never did) or numbness down the arm(never did) or that little voice in your head that says something isn't right do NOT ignore it!!! Life is too short to be a tough guy, get it checked out ASAP!!
 

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