Had a heart attack AMA
I had a heart attack Wednesday, a stent put in, and am bored in the hospital. Ask me anything.
Posted Oct 24, 2009, 5:29 PM UTC
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I had a heart attack Wednesday, a stent put in, and am bored in the hospital. Ask me anything.
Posted Oct 24, 2009, 5:29 PM UTC
[deleted]
I know it was a heart attack b/c the cardiologist said it was and I went into cardiac arrest.
I waited until after the first bout of chest pain passed and I realized this was something new. I had a colleague take me and had another wave of pain on the way.
A colleague took me to the hospital as it was faster than waiting for an ambulance and there was no way I could drive.
what did the pain feel like? what did they do at the hospital? what is the post IC care?
what was your health like before? any idea about cholesterol, BP, resting HR, etc. how old are you?
The easiest way to explain it is that when you take a big bite of steak, but don't chew it well enough and swallow it. Then you get that painful stuck feeling.
Well, that painful stuck feeling is how it feels to have a heart attack, only way amplified. The location was upper right hand side of my chest, radiating to my neck/jaw/teeth and to my right arm. Worst pain I've ever had in my entire life.
I went into VTAC at the hospital and they were able to resuscitate me after a few minutes. They shipped me to another hospital which did a heart cath and placed a stent. About three weeks later, I was still having problems (passing out, angina) so they did an angioplasty in three different places in an artery.
Most aftercare involved taking a ton of new medicines (like 10) and doing cardiac rehab, which essentially involves walking a few miles at least three times a week.
My health before sucked. I smoked cigarettes (since I was 13, I'm 40), had a high cholesterol diet, and am morbidly obese. I have no idea what my cholesterol or resting heart rate are, but my blood pressure was very high. I'm on blood pressure meds now.
On Monday, I'm getting my cholesterol checked and I now take fish oil twice a day as well as some cardiac specific multivitamins, Plavix, aspirin, etc.
Missed this the other day, so hope you get the message.
thanks for the info. i had a bunch of test and everything came back fine. i guess it was just muscle cramps from my workout, i just have never felt the like before. was weird.
happy to hear you've taken control of your health, though!