I had a mild heart attack at the age of 43. For weeks prior to the event, I had been experiencing a strong burning sensation centered at the top of my sturnum when I walked a distance more than a 100 yards. I had no idea what the sensation was. That sensation, which felt more like a burn than anything else, wasn’t on any list of symptoms for heart attack that I knew.
Indeed, it wasn’t actually a sign I was having a heart attack. It was merely a sign that I had a serious problem with one or more coronary arteries.
But I ignored that sensation.
After several weeks, on a Friday evening, I wasn’t feeling well and went to bed early. I woke up about 11pm with an ache centered in my left shoulder. After thinking about it for a while, I became more alarmed and woke my wife up to tell her. I immediately took a few aspirin and we talked about what we should do. We had 4 kids at that time, all under 10 years old. Luckily, my parents happened to be there that night and we decided to make a trip to the emergency room. I was sure I’d be back soon.
As it turned out, I didn’t return home for a week.
A week? I’ll describe what occurred that led to being away for a week in some future post. If I knew then what I know now, I would have returned home sooner because I wouldn’t have stood for some of the treatment stupidity that I was subjected to. More about those details later. The net result of this episode was that I ended up getting 3 stents placed in 2 arteries.
Then 5 years later, I felt that same burning sensation in the same place I had before while working in the back yard. On the second day of feeling this sensation, I came to my senses, saying to myself: “I can keep doing what I’m doing and wait for the heart attack to occur or I can get myself to the Emergency Room right here and now and deal with this before the potential heart attack occurs.”
The result of this episode was that I ended up with a triple bypass at 48 years old. Again, more details in a future post.
As I reflect on these events and everything I’ve experienced as a result, there are a few key things that I’ve learned.
The most important thing I learned is that, in this day and age, it is idiocy to ignore symptoms resembling angina symptoms or pain that might be heart attack related. You don’t have to die of a heart attack if you have symptoms and get yourself to a modern medical facility. Sure, bad things can happen in hospitals too and doctors and others can make mistakes.
But the major determinant of whether or not you survive a heart attack or not is how quickly you get yourself to an Emergency Room and make it clear when you enter the ER that you think you might be having a heart attack.
So, you’re worried about what your doctor may think if it’s a false alarm?
Well, get over it. And if your doctor says anything to question the wisdom of your having taken the precaution of getting yourself to the ER then that in itself is tremendous news. It just means you’ve found out in a non-crisis situation that you need to find yourself a new doctor!
November 5th, 2007 at 8:42 pm
So in looking back what was the risk factor that wasn’t optimal? What was the cause of your heart disease.
High crp,
High lipids
Lot’s of small ldl particles
lp(a)
hypertension
Joe E O
November 5th, 2007 at 9:17 pm
Hi Joe E O,
It turned out that I had/have High LDL, a very large number of small LDL particles, high Lp(a), low HDL, low HDL2b, and high blood pressure.
I’ll be talking about all this in more detail in future posts.
Thanks for stopping by!
November 6th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
I had a stroke at 46 but because I was female and all the symptoms I was having were right up the “menopause” alley therefore I didn’t take them too seriously. Headaches, dizziness, tiredness, slurred speech. It wasn’t until months later the left side of my face turned numb and I was having problems walking that I realized this was something altogether different and went to the hospital immediately. And as it turns out I was going through menopause as well, early menopause. I was seeing a doctor regularly and my blood pressure and cholesterol was perfect. Go figure.
After the stroke the neurosurgeon wasn’t sure why I had the stroke. The only thing he would tell me is that he thought my blood was too thick and to take a blood thinner/anti clotter which I did for about 5 years. Then I stopped and went low-carb, eliminated my sugar, stopped smoking, etc. 5 years low-carbing and more informed that most doctors about my condition, I am stroke free, my bloodwork is still perfect and I don’t see doctors anymore.
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