Anyone Here Have A Heart Attack?

[jwhcars]

I would suggest that you get physical and cardio check up. You may have had a anxiety attack caused by stress , a qualified doctor should be able to figure it out.
I went thru the same thing a few times over a few years. I told my wife this is BS they never find anything wrong....the next time I go to the ER I am going in dead.
One night after supper I started out feeling bad just like all the other times and then the pain kept getting worse and my wife drove me to the ER a mile from our house. It is a good thing that I listened to my wife because I coded in the ER. The doctor told her had I coded at home that I would not have made it.
Bottom line is this "If you do not feel well call an ambulance and get checked out"(I was lucky that I only live a mile from the ER)
Do not be mister tuff guy as it may well cost you your life.

I am glad that you are feeling better but do get yourself a complete check up.

[BeyGon]

get a check up, I almost waited too long.

I began to get sweaty for no reason and I thought my teeth hurt. It seemed my back hurt and I was getting short of breath. Since I wasn’t doing any manual labor I thought I was coming down with some kind of pneumonia. This went on for a week or two and I couldn’t shake it. One Saturday evening I was feeling particularly bad and short of breath. When I went to bed I couldn’t sleep well and kept getting up for water so I finally looked on the computer for “walking pneumonia”, every time I put something in the next answer it gave me was “HEART ATTACK”. My left arm started feeling funny and it was getting a little numb. I chewed some aspirin and went back to bed. My wife Patti was getting worried and told me to call the doctor. I had a new GP since I came back from Costa Rica, a Dr. Jxxxxxx who had an office up by Hoag Hospital. I didn’t think much of him so far but called anyway, he wasn’t really very helpful but said if I thought I had a problem I should go to emergency. I got a little more rest but it was getting light so I got up and took a shower. I told my wife I was going to drive up to Hoag Hospital, it wouldn’t be a bad drive on a Sunday morning from Dana Point. I didn’t tell her everything, I didn’t mention all the symptoms I thought I had. She worries so much. I really was in denial and I thought when I got there they would just tell me to take two aspirin and go home. When that happened I was going to an auto wrecking yard in Huntington Beach and would be home by noon. She wanted to drive me but I said NO, I could do it. She decided that since I would be gone all morning she would go to work for a while.

I got to Hoag about 9am and went into the ER, the room was full and I wondered how long it would take to see anyone, I told the woman at the desk some of my problems and she had me sit down right away. When you go to ER with a heart problem you go directly to the front of the line. They wheeled me in to emergency to see the Doctor where they did some quick tests, an EKG and they took some blood. The Doctor asked me if I had ever seen a heart specialist before and I said yes, I had seen Dr. xxxxxxx a couple years ago before I moved to Costa Rica, just for a check up. He said, “You are in luck, he and Dr. xxxxxx are here this morning”. Just a few minutes later Dr. xxxxxx came in, she said, “well Dean, you may have some problems and we are going to keep you here at least overnight for some more testing. She said they might have to do some work on me. I thought about how bad I wanted to get to the wrecking yard but what could I do. I was stuck. I called my wife and told her I would be there over night and she said she would pick up a couple car magazines for me and drop by in a couple hours. Cool, she would bring me reading material.
I was dressed in my white gown, lying on the bed in ER, plugged into everything you could imagine, I even had an IV. The Doctors told me I would be there until they got a room ready for me in the “Hotel”, that’s what they called the fourth floor where a lot of the rooms overlook the Newport Harbor. So, I was just hanging around doing nothing and started to feel REALLY BAD. One of the Doctors looked up at the monitors and asked, “are you OK?”, I said no, I feel like ****, I said I feel worse than I did when I got here. He yelled out something and all of a sudden there were people all over the place, hands all over me, just like on TV, unplugging some stuff and plugging in other stuff, Dr. xxxxx was instantly there and they started pushing me out of ER and down the hall, she was holding my hand and telling me to stay calm. We hit the first corner, I mean, WE HIT the first corner, we had to back up and try it again, we were almost running. She said, “I bet you didn’t think you would be on Toad’s Wild Ride this morning did you?” I said, no but I’m thinking this is the most fun I’m going to have this morning.

We got to the Cath Lab and it was all set up, the Doctors and staff were in their uniforms, all the people in their place, just like they had been waiting for me. They had been having a Sunday morning training class of what they wanted to do in the lab and were just going over procedures, and then I came along. Dr. xxxxxx asked me if I wanted to be put to sleep and I said no, I thought I should stay awake for this. You never know, why rush it. They shaved me and stuck the needle in my groin, watching the monitors on the wall they could see the progress as that thing ran up my leg. If I still had my glasses on I could have been watching it all. After awhile he said, “Dean, you know that pain in your chest” I said Yes, “well right about now it’s going to go away”. And, it did. Cool, I got my first Stent. The Doctor said I needed another one but they would only do the emergency one right now, I would have to come back when I got better for the next one. I told Doctor Haskel they probably induced the hart attack to pay for their morning session at the hospital and he thought that was funny. They stitched me up, taped me up and sent me up to ICU.
So, a little later my wife showed up and found me there, boy was she surprised. Just after she got there Dr. xxxxxx came in and talked about the procedure, she said I had 99 percent blockage and if I had that attack anyplace else I would probably not have made it. Even here if they weren’t already set up in the lab, if everyone wasn’t there and dressed, it could have been bad. She said “today you had all your ducks in a row, all the cards stacked just right”. Because of the quick action I had almost no scaring of the heart, Not bad.

so don't put it off. That was on a Jan. 20th so I just celebrated another birthday.

[BernieP]

July, 8 years ago at age 48 I came up from garage about 10 PM and had a classic MI. Chest pain, left arm went numb, jaw pain, cold sweating ect. My wife called for an ambulance, get to the closest hospital and "yes you are having a heart attack". They gave me 2 injections to break up the clot but it didn't work so they put me in a chopper to a trauma center with a cath lab. I had a quad bypass that night. During the episode I had a lot of damage to the heart muscle. Off work for 3 months but with rehab (exercise) I was able to come back. I do not have the stamina I used to but overall everything is good.

Find a cardiologist and get checked out, then do what he tells you to do. Prior to this episode I had never missed a day of school or work do to any illness. My father dropped dead in mid sentence at 71.

[Racerbvd]

My big wake up was a bit more than 3 months ago,I was at my doctor hoping that some of the health issues that I have been dealing with for the past year had improved enough so I could get off some of the meds and start driving again

Well, the results weren't good, but he noticed that I was favoring my left arm, and asked a few questions...

Well, my diet has changed & I quit drinking but had & still do exercise, and still having some of the symptoms

[Shoepop]

At 46 I had VERY mild chest tightness did not think anything about it at the time other than I may be coming down with a chest cold so I popped a few aspirins and kept working, chest pain keep getting a LITTLE worse every few hours so I kept taking aspirins every few hours up to 5 325mg at a time. This went on for two days. At about 2AM night of 2nd day I woke up and felt like someone was sitting on my chest, but still relatively little pain. I woke my wife up and told her to take me to hospital still thinking I just had a bad chest cold in hind sight I never had a cough. On the way to hospital my wife was stopping at stop signs etc. about halfway there chest pain got so bad I told her to run the signs and hit it the gas. To make it short I walked in and was wheeled out 5 days later after a quint bypass. A week later at home one graft failed and back to hospital for a rotobladation (sp) of an old artery a week later another failed another rotobladation then every 2 years a stent for a total of 6. Going on 4 years no problems 58 now and doing well. Minimal heart damage because of the aspirins, it has not impeded much of my physical activity. I had NO other symptom's the first go round other than tightness in chest, no "Here I come Elisabeth" pain until well into the second day so symptoms can start very mildly. Don't do what I did if you do I hope your as lucky.

[Jandrews]

This has turned into a very scary, but very good thread. I honestly believe some of the information posted here will help someone take the right action at the right time.

Some of the stories posted here are precisely why I started this thread. It seems that MI's are not always, in fact maybe rarely, easily identified. There has been some really good descriptions of the wide variety of symptoms that define a heart attack. This will help people realize what MAY be happening, and the other message here of "act now when in doubt", will certainly save some people.

It is a little troubling, however, to hear the remarks here (from docs, mostly), that there aren't really good screening tests that are highly accurate. It sounds like the bottom line is to minimize your risk factors day-to-day, and when something questionable happens, ACT NOW. Those two things alone are certainly good advise, but it would be great if one knew that they were at high risk purely from a heart diagnostic. In other words, some people seem to have very high risk lifestyles or behavior choices, but have no problems. Others manage their risk factors very closely, and end up with catastrophic results.

For me, if I have any questionable symptoms, I will hit the ER. I have good insurance, so there should be no reason to try to "tough it out".

Thanks for the stories guys. I think there is some valuable "real-life" information here that is not readily available in this kind of straight talk anywhere else.

JA

[p911dad]

I see this thread is about run out, but I just want to add one thing. I had a stent placed in my descending anterior aorta of the heart (blocked 90%, doc said I likely would have had the "widowmaker" in short order) this past October. Feeling good now, but my comment is my cardiologist told me and the wife that virtually all the docs in his cardiology practice, including the young docs (its a big practice here in Charlotte) are taking Lipitor, even if they have low cholesterol, as a primary defense against getting blockages. I will now be taking that forever so it seems.

[Joeaksa]

One thing about Lipitor. My doc gave me some samples to take but I stopped after finding out about some of the side effects.

Evidently on a lot of people it give you Parkinsons shakes and thats the last thing I need.

Am controlling my chlosterol (yea I know its not spelled right) taking natural stuff and last reading was 141 so feel that Lipitor is not a benefit to me.

Joe A

[Jandrews]

Here is a very dumb question, but isn't it surprising that the medical community has not developed some sort of "solvent" for plaque? After all, isn't it just a fatty, waxy substance that builds up on the arteries? Seems like with all the incredible chemistry that we have now that someone would have come up with some sort of safe "HemoTechron" LOL!!

My cholesterol has always been ~150, but I tend towards low HDL and high triglycerides. I am taking Tricor for the triglycerides, and Benecar for very slightly high blood pressure. I have not had my labs done since I started the Tricor, but have my annual physical scheduled for mid-February. Since on the Benecar, my blood pressure averages around 105/62, sometimes lower. So it appears I am very responsive to that medication.

I exercise regularly in an attempt to manage the low HDL, so I am hoping that with the Tricor will help minimize my risk factors. I also eat extremely clean usually, but do have a blowout feast once in awhile. I always feel like crap afterwards, but good food is one of life's great pleasures.

Anyway, can any docs explain why a good solvent hasn't been developed?

Thanks,

JA

[VaSteve]

Originally Posted by Jandrews

This has turned into a very scary, but very good thread. I honestly believe some of the information posted here will help someone take the right action at the right time.

Some of the stories posted here are precisely why I started this thread. It seems that MI's are not always, in fact maybe rarely, easily identified. There has been some really good descriptions of the wide variety of symptoms that define a heart attack. This will help people realize what MAY be happening, and the other message here of "act now when in doubt", will certainly save some people.

Well believe it not, this thread is what I thought of. I had read this years ago and recalled some superficial detail....left arm, aspirin. I was surprised at how long ago the thread was posted and I recalled it...I don't know what I had for lunch.

I had no chest pains, but did feel nauseous and I think that's when I started freaking out. I have always heard that "those that need 911 don't call and those that don't, do". So we called. I'm not crazy about a fuss made about me, and having all those co-workers (who I barely know) security guards and then EMTS hanging around really set me off. I don't do "medicine" well (ask my dentist) so the combination of all this really gave me a scare. I almost don't like thinking about it.

My Dad had a history of heart problems. He had a quadruple bypass at age 51 and tuneups after that. I'm 36. I lean towards the healthier side, eating a lower fat diet (my body can't handle a lot of grease and fat). A good "foodie" meal to me, is like drinking a fifth of liquor, I feel like crap later. I get some good exercise, but people die running as well.

As silly as it is, this site has a lot of good "data points" for life in general.

[NY65912]

Back in 1994 I had back surgery. They got me up the next day. As soon as I sat in the chair I felt an overwellming sick feeling, pain in the left chest as though there was a truck parked on it, nausea, cold sweats. I asked my roomate to call the nurse.

She came in took a look and hit the panic button. Code red! The crash cart comes into my room as my wife and dad are coming to visit.

Heart attack right? All the classic symptoms.

Nope, 5 blood clots to my left lung. Pulmonary emboli. Got injected full of Heparin and rushed to surgery for an angio and insertion of a Greenfield filter.

The problem is it's made me paranoid. The least little strange feeling and I feel like it's happening again. I guess I'm just damaged goods.

[Shoepop]

As a follow up I went to Mayo in Phoenix after my last stent 3 years ago. They ran every test imaginable changed my meds around put me on Plavix to keep what I have clean. At final consult I was told 60% genetic, my father had a heart attack @ 38 and passed away from a massive @ 74, 20% life style, smoking, heavy boozing, poor eating habits etc. and 20% stress level. I cleaned up the 40% I could control and taking meds for the other 60. I'm 6' never have weighed over 185#'s, never had high blood pressure and always felt good. You do get paranoid after an event , I ALWAYS carry a spray bottle of nitro and PANIC if I pat my pocket and can't feel the bottle even though I have not had to use it in 3+ years.

[SteveinTO]

If you suddenly can't do that which you formerly could do, time for a trip to the cardiologist. Doesn't matter if it's run 20 miles or climb the stairs. If you suddenly can't, you're clogged.