PSA: Recognizing a Heart Attack

I've never seen a study or correlation to beer, alcohol and a heart attack, in moderation, has anyone else? I used to be a weekend drinker only, two to three mixed drinks on a Friday and Saturday night. That's gradually increased to a couple of beers during the week as well. I personally think that's okay for my health though.

A little off topic but when I went through my divorce 11 years ago I went from eating three square meals a day to becoming a grazer. I was also eating more protein. I wasn't paying attention or doing any of this intentionally, I lost about 25 lb in 3 to 4 months. I'm tall and thin to begin with, but needed to lose about 20 so it worked out well. I was also going to the gym four times a week so I'm sure that contributed.

@highslice I hear you man. I deal with a lot of anxiety, fortunately I don't have panic attacks. It's not uncommon for me to wake up in the middle of the night with heartburn and quickly in my mind convince myself I'm having worse.. Meditation has helped me quite a bit, specifically headspace. I quickly start to practice some of the quick meditations and it works.
 
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mrsrobinson said:
I've never seen a study or correlation to beer, alcohol and a heart attack, in moderation, has anyone else? I used to be a weekend drinker only, two to three mixed drinks on a Friday and Saturday night. That's gradually increased to a couple of beers during the week as well. I personally think that's okay for my health though.

A little off topic but when I went through my divorce 11 years ago I went from eating three square meals a day to be coming a grazer. I was also eating more protein. I wasn't paying attention or doing any of this intentionally I lost about 25 lb in 3 to 4 months. I'm tall and thin to begin with, but needed to lose about 20 so it worked out well.

@highslice I hear you man. I deal with a lot of anxiety, fortunately I don't have panic attacks. It's not uncommon for me to wake up in the middle of the night with heartburn and quickly in my mind convince myself I'm having worse.. Meditation has helped me quite a bit, specifically headspace. I quickly start to practice some of the quick meditations and it works.
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sir it can cause high blood pressure, stroke , or another heart attack. my doctor said sure a couple day is fine. however a drink more than that on the boat, in fact alot more.
 
RBB said:
sir it can cause high blood pressure, stroke , or another heart attack. my doctor said sure a couple day is fine. however a drink more than that on the boat, in fact alot more.
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Yeah back in the married days it was nothing for me to drink a 12 pack of Corona Light while anchored out, rafted up. Guess that's why I'm not married to her anymore...
 
mrsrobinson said:
I've never seen a study or correlation to beer, alcohol and a heart attack, in moderation, has anyone else? I used to be a weekend drinker only, two to three mixed drinks on a Friday and Saturday night. That's gradually increased to a couple of beers during the week as well. I personally think that's okay for my health though.

A little off topic but when I went through my divorce 11 years ago I went from eating three square meals a day to becoming a grazer. I was also eating more protein. I wasn't paying attention or doing any of this intentionally, I lost about 25 lb in 3 to 4 months. I'm tall and thin to begin with, but needed to lose about 20 so it worked out well. I was also going to the gym four times a week so I'm sure that contributed.

@highslice I hear you man. I deal with a lot of anxiety, fortunately I don't have panic attacks. It's not uncommon for me to wake up in the middle of the night with heartburn and quickly in my mind convince myself I'm having worse.. Meditation has helped me quite a bit, specifically headspace. I quickly start to practice some of the quick meditations and it works.
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Not necessarily an MI but certainly can lead to cardiomyopathy, specifically alcohol induced cardiomyopathy.
 
I’d like to add something. IF you have had one it’s very possible another. Take your meds, see your doctors, change your lifestyle. I’ve had two already, one mild the other I already wrote about. Many of the meds have side effects and you will need to be aware of those.
One of mine was making my short term memory go to almost nothing. Doc adjusted the med and I’m fine. The other is ED, remember it’s the med, not you! They can adjust the med but there is no pill out there you really want to take.

My boat is my best med even when I’m just sitting in the slip. Sundays are my coffee mornings. I run out to Jamestown Beach drink my coffee and read a book.

Don’t forget about your family. IF you have had one, even a mild one, it scares the stuffing out of them. Your wife will go remove ever ounce of salt from the house. You will be eating more chicken, turkey, and pork. Just be understanding and try to enjoy, it’s not worth the fight. The one great thing the family did was to go buy a AED for the boat. LET them do whatever they want to cover your health and safety. You and it is important to them.

Alcohol is high in sugar and is a blood thinner, moderation is the key.
It cuts oxygen to the brain, one of the meds you will be on does the same. Meaning it will take very little to push you over the limit. You’ll be chasing the bikini girls and they will love the money you throw down.
 
dwna1a said:
My boat is my best med even when I’m just sitting in the slip. Sundays are my coffee mornings. I run out to Jamestown Beach drink my coffee and read a book..
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Well said. I cherish every moment on da boat, even at the dock, which is probably the #1 reason I am buying another one. I can't explain why, time on the boat was pure relaxation/stress free for me and I forgot about everything. Even when there was a breakdown/something to repair. Now that I WFH I plan to be on the boat more, with my laptop, working.

Eat your veggies/greens. Our moms told us this growing up, she was smart ;-) I eat fruit every day and greens as well. I'd rather go for the crap food though ;-) No white bread, opt for whole grain.

No processed foods, no added sugars in your foods. If you cannot pronounce an ingredient, don't buy it. Olive Oil is your friend as well.

Regarding salt I never added it to my food to begin with so I am good, plus I opt for "low/no salt" options when buying food. I rarely eat red meat, maybe once every couple of months. Be aware of what you will be losing though and supplement this with other foods.

I stay away from "western" drs as much as I can and opt for natural medicine doctors these days. I think folks forget drs are trained to prescribe meds, so I don't blame them. I recently remined my dr I hate taking meds, he replied "well, that's what I do".

I think all of us are saying this, moderation is key, eat healthy, exercise.
 
Wow. I so appreciate everyone chiming in with their experiences. Having a HA is a real mind-fck, and it is therapeutic in a schadenfreude kind of way to hear of other's experiences.

schadenfreude loosely translated....'misery loves company'
 
Getting my stress test as we speak.
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dwna1a said:
I don’t want to throw the system out of level but,

Even when you know all the possible symptoms your mind will lie to you. Over 25 years of training and hands on and my mind still lied to me. I felt like I was having a panic attack, it was a Summer day, worked all day outside. Came home cool shower and went out to day with the pup. Came in and still couldn’t settle down, so I took the pup out again. Came back in, still couldn’t settle. Another cool shower and my mind started working. I took two baby aspirin, one under the tongue. Things improved for a short time. Then I remembered I have nitro (very old nitro) it worked. Then I knew what was going on. But the mind lies, I drove myself to the fire station (dumb move). They were doing practice and classroom on recognizing a heart attack. A nice lady took my BP and she went white. I had no signs, no signals, no pain. They took me in, I had been having a left side heart attack. A month later and one big surgery, then 3 months of rehab.

Now I go in every six months. I’m on a list of meds. The bikini thread helps gets the blood moving.

Now I’m dealing with climbing PSA numbers
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Get the bigger boat buddy. Life can be too short.
 
bobeast said:
Curious about the process. Please share when done.
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So the process they did on me was... Put in IV then they inject a dye through the IV you have to wait 20 minutes for is to get in the bloodstream and work through the heart.
Then on to the Imaging/ CT machine. As the machine moves slowly from one side of your chest to the other that takes ten minutes then you get a CT scan image that takes 20 seconds.
Then you're off to another room to have a EKG and blood pressure hooked up to you and then you jump on a treadmill at a very low 4 minute walk as the inject you with another med that opens up all your blood vessels and heart valves as you have been running at a fast pace for 10 minutes. Then your back at the CT scan where they do the same images as before to look at your heart under stress.

All in all it took 1.5 hours.

I then will be reviewing the results with my Doc.
 
Joint Custody said:
So the process they did on me was... Put in IV then they inject a dye through the IV you have to wait 20 minutes for is to get in the bloodstream and work through the heart.
Then on to the Imaging/ CT machine. As the machine moves slowly from one side of your chest to the other that takes ten minutes then you get a CT scan image that takes 20 seconds.
Then you're off to another room to have a EKG and blood pressure hooked up to you and then you jump on a treadmill at a very low 4 minute walk as the inject you with another med that opens up all your blood vessels and heart valves as you have been running at a fast pace for 10 minutes. Then your back at the CT scan where they do the same images as before to look at your heart under stress.

All in all it took 1.5 hours.

I then will be reviewing the results with my Doc.
Click to expand...

Wow. That's more involved than I had imagined. Thanks for the update.
 
I'm on the old-school stress test; the elevated treadmill. First year after heart attack, I didn't make it past three minutes, and almost passed out walking across the room. Six years and six tests later, the doc finally pulled the plug after eight minutes, saying he didn't need to see anything more. Woo-hoo!
 
Joint Custody said:
So the process they did on me was... Put in IV then they inject a dye through the IV you have to wait 20 minutes for is to get in the bloodstream and work through the heart.
Then on to the Imaging/ CT machine. As the machine moves slowly from one side of your chest to the other that takes ten minutes then you get a CT scan image that takes 20 seconds.
Then you're off to another room to have a EKG and blood pressure hooked up to you and then you jump on a treadmill at a very low 4 minute walk as the inject you with another med that opens up all your blood vessels and heart valves as you have been running at a fast pace for 10 minutes. Then your back at the CT scan where they do the same images asmentioned what or when the seconf day before to look at your heart under stress.

All in all it took 1.5 hours.

I then will be reviewing the results with my Doc.
Click to expand...
I am doing the same thing on Friday. They said it is a two day appointment but have not said what or when to expect of day two? I guess I'll find out on day 1.
 
They induce me, no running on a treadmill. It’s a little different but works wonders.
 
I made my appointment for my stress test back in Feb and finally completed it today!
The technologist came out after the scanning was done and preliminarily reviewed for quality and told me to go home and absolutely do no exercise and call my Doc ASAP!
I went back to work and left a message for the Doc to call me and then looked up my test results. One thing I appreciate about Kaiser is how fast they update the records and make available for the patient to review. The stress study showed medium size, mild perfusion defect of the inferior wall. (Extent 11%, sum stress score 7) The rest study showed almost complete reversibility of these perfusion defects (extent 2%, sum rest score 2).
QUANTITATIVE PERFUSION DATA: Cedars SSS = 7, SRS = 2, SDS = 5

Gated stress study:
LV CHAMBER SIZE: Normal, calculated EDV = 121 mL
TID absent
LV EJECTION FRACTION: 43%
LV WALL MOTION: Mild hypokinesis of the inferior wall extending to apex.

Gated Rest study:
LV CHAMBER SIZE: Normal, calculated EDV = 117 mL
LV EJECTION FRACTION: 58%
LV WALL MOTION: No focal abnormalities of wall motion or abnormal thickening.

After 7 minutes on the tread mill my pulse went from 49BPM and BP 155/80 to 141 BPM and BP 202/101 with mild to severe upper chest pain at the peak of the test. Pain subsided as soon as the treadmill was shut off and I took a seat.

Obviously something is not right, will wait patiently for the Doc to call.

I took my new E bike out for a 5 mile ride last night and felt some discomfort in my chest and was glad that I was finally getting the test done today. I hope I just need to get back in the gym and get more exercise to regain some better cardiac health and function.
Carpe Diem
 
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