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Just had a heart attack

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Re: Just had a heart attack

#101

Post by rswail »

JshWright wrote: post #67
melling wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How, about detecting one of the side effects of a heart attack? You can then evaluate if you have a problem by any of the other symptoms. If I'm experiencing chest pain and my smart watches is indicating that my heart rate is irregular, for example, maybe I shouldn't be ignoring this.

A heart attack isn't likely to cause an irregular heartbeat (at least not until well after the damage has been done). It's common for heart attacks to cause cardiac conduction anomalies called 'blocks', but these generally don't result in any irregularity of the pulse.

While I was waiting to go into the angiogram, I was feeling my pulse... it was weird, there was three beats, then a gap, or three regular beats and a fourth straight after the third... was fascinating to listen to...

Apparently I'm weird because I wanted to watch the angio. They kept telling me that they "didn't need my help" :)

I was saying "how often do you get to see your insides?"

Re: Just had a heart attack

#102

Post by rswail »

robbiep wrote: post #86
rswail wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't quite get the 90 minutes, got symptoms starting around 15:30, was in ED at 16:30 and getting the angio at 19:00. The interesting thing (aside from watching the angio, the technology is very cool), was that I'd previously had a minor infarct and didn't know it on a much smaller artery. They found collaterals (I think the terminology is right) where the body "bypasses" the blocked artery.

that is the right term - it happens when there are long term arterial subacute blockages - ischaemia/reduced oxygen flow triggers tissues to release vessel growth factors that will lead to extra artery growth. Bizzarely this leads to situations where diabetics (who develop lesions all along their vessels, and thus have lots of areas of narrowing) can potentially be more protected from a sudden blockage compared to so…

Yay, something that diabetes actually benefits :)

No, not really, but hey, its worth clutching at straws...

Re: Just had a heart attack

#103

Post by cLeEOGPw »

This is right, I started working for my uncle and had to shift bags of peat at a plant nursery at around 14, because of it I over developed chest muscles that caused me to have my first of about 4 'heart attacks' at around 17. It was caused by the muscles in my chest squeezing the heart and forcing it to stop briefly. Kinda puts me on my ass, but I can feel is still to this day and now understand how to relax when i feel it begin to come on (I'm 31 now and still kicking)

Re: Just had a heart attack

#104

Post by sillysaurus3 »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #91
sillysaurus3 wrote: post #88

You're quite lucky that you could afford that hospital trip. In the US, it would typically go like "My doctor made some tests and he said that it doesn't look like a heart attack but something is wrong with one of the lines on my ECG. He asked me if its ok to call the ambulance for doing more checks at the hospital. I said no, I can't afford that. So I died four weeks later." This isn't an exaggeration. Many people l…

It's a partial truth though, right? There is a system for emergency healthcare for those without even medical insurance, isn't there? Also, wouldn't you "just" get treated, rack up a bill and then go to prison for non-payment - guess that might be worse than dying?

There is, but people only use it in emergency situations. Getting someone to the emergency room usually takes at least 10 minutes, so if the artery clogs 100%, it often results in death. The key factor in the above scenario was the exploratory treatment to figure out what was wrong, and discover the 99% clogged artery. Such treatment is possible in the US, but it will definitely rack up a huge bill if you decide to pursue it. You won't go to prison for nonpayment, but it's possible you'll lose your assets. And if your dependents need those assets, like a house, it's easy to make the "wrong" choice of avoiding treatment unless doctors know exactly what the problem is.

Health insurance is ostensibly for this type of situation, but in reality if you're going to the hospital because "There's something wrong with me but nobody knows what," then the fear of insurance companies not covering it is very real. I don't know if they're legally allowed not to cover it in that scenario, but people have been screwed so often by insurance companies that the default decision making calculus is usually to assume the insurance company won't pay for anything.

This all assumes that you're someone with a relatively standard job and life. If you're lucky enough to have good health insurance and a fair amount of savings, then none of this applies, of course, since you can just get treatment in the same way as the parent commenter.

Re: Just had a heart attack

#105

Post by Mahn »

Ever since I started my startup nearly 3 years ago I've been experiencing what I'd describe as heart "flutters", "sneezes" or "thumps"; very short and sudden "misplaced" beats. They happen very ocassionally, perhaps once or twice a week. I've done all sorts of checks with a cardiologist, but everything checked out fine.

I've since learned not to panic when they happen and just live with the little shocks, but, you know, I'm only in my 20s, I can't help but wonder what my heart will do when I get to my 40s.

Re: Just had a heart attack

#106

Post by wpietri »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #91
sillysaurus3 wrote: post #88

You're quite lucky that you could afford that hospital trip. In the US, it would typically go like "My doctor made some tests and he said that it doesn't look like a heart attack but something is wrong with one of the lines on my ECG. He asked me if its ok to call the ambulance for doing more checks at the hospital. I said no, I can't afford that. So I died four weeks later." This isn't an exaggeration. Many people l…

It's a partial truth though, right? There is a system for emergency healthcare for those without even medical insurance, isn't there? Also, wouldn't you "just" get treated, rack up a bill and then go to prison for non-payment - guess that might be worse than dying?

A reasonable person knowing that they would die without treatment would surely take the enormous debt.

But the problem is that "feeling some pain in your chest" is a long way from knowing that death is certain. And if your habit is to avoid going to the doctor because you know the bills could ruin your life, then your default will be "I'm fine!" As the OP made clear, getting to the hospital quickly can be the difference between life and death.

I just did a quick Google search, and a reasonable estimate puts the number of deaths from not having insurance in the same ballpark as gun deaths or car deaths: http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/january/make_that_22000_uni.ph...

Re: Just had a heart attack

#107

Post by JshWright »

breitling wrote: post #75
AdamN wrote: post #69

No 911 service here in Kenya :-(

What do people do in case of an emergency? There must be some local version of 911, no?

Hopefully friend or family have a car and are able to get you to some sort of medical care. If not, you die (I've spent some time in Kenya, and as a paramedic, I was curious about this, so I asked)

Re: Just had a heart attack

#108

Post by mkagenius »

rswail wrote: post #53
robbiep wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doctor here. The 'typical' signs of a heart attack are chest pain usually described as dull, heavy or tight, with radiation to the arm(s) and neck. The patient often also complains of diaphoresis (sweating) , shortness of breath and perhaps weakness. 'Typical' signs do not present in everyone: in particular diabetics are at increased risk of having 'silent' heart attacks, And chest pain that is not typical may also b…

As someone who had a heart attack exactly a month ago (100% block on LCx) I can say that I had pain that started in the arm, went up across my shoulder blades and pain in my jaw. Cold sweats as well. It happened over a period of about 15-20 minutes. Luckily I recognized the signs and was very near a hospital ED. I wasn't in incredible pain, but I knew what was happening. I was actually driving and made the decision t…

> I'm T2 diabetic and had let my sugars get out of control.

What were your readings at the time, if you don't mind?

Re: Just had a heart attack

#109

Post by ctdonath »

Mahn wrote: post #105

Ever since I started my startup nearly 3 years ago I've been experiencing what I'd describe as heart "flutters", "sneezes" or "thumps"; very short and sudden "misplaced" beats. They happen very ocassionally, perhaps once or twice a week. I've done all sorts of checks with a cardiologist, but everything checked out fine. I've since learned not to panic when they happen and just live with the little shocks, but, you kn…

At 40, I generally felt fine, but something in my heart rhythm just seemed out of sync. TL;DR - went to a cardiologist, who basically asked me "why are you still alive?" and wanted to install a pacemaker the next morning ("don't die in the meantime").

Re: Just had a heart attack

#110

Post by JohnBooty » 

  > Learn the warning signs and call 911 if in doubt.
I'd be super-dead if not for this advice. Few years ago I was 34 years old. Only moderately overweight, and I was very healthy in general.

One night I had pain and tightness in my chest. This isn't really anything new, because I have asthma and sometimes it feels like that. But then I noticed pain radiating from my chest down the inside of my arm. I realized that was one of the signs of a heart attack.

Got to the hospital just in time. Almost went into cardiac arrest in the ER. Lips were blue, heart rate began to plummet, etc.

It turns out it wasn't a heart attack, actually - it was peridcarditis, an inflammation of the lining around the heart. In severe cases (although this seems rare) it can swell so much that your heart can't pump effectively. You can die. I almost did.

Moral of the story doesn't change! Even if you're young and healthy, get to a hospital if you feel something in your chest.

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