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Just had a heart attack
131–140 of 219 posts
Re: Just had a heart attack
#132You'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…
This is an exaggeration, and it's an unfortunate one, since it distracts from the truth of what you're saying. As many have pointed out, a person who chose to be taken to the hospital would be taken to the hospital and treated whether they could pay for it or not. The result of this would be a serious amount of debt, but likely could be paid down with a monthly payment. The worst case scenario is bankruptcy, which su…
People will weigh the risk/benefit differently if there is a large cost involved. A doctor says "everything seems to be fine, but I'd like you to go to the hospital to be on the safe side." If you have good insurance or socialized healthcare, there is no question -- you will go to the hospital and get checked out. There is no reason not to, and it could save your life. If you have no insurance, then the question becomes "is it worth the certainty of a huge expense, for a small chance that I have a disease?"
Everyone has a threshold of what they consider serious enough to warrant a hospital visit. When you introduce massive expenses you shift that threshold upwards, which means missed diagnoses and an increase in avoidable deaths.
Re: Just had a heart attack
#133Mindcrime, we're all here hoping for your fast recovery. The place wouldn't be the same without you. :-)
Re: Just had a heart attack
#134You'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…
This is an exaggeration, and it's an unfortunate one, since it distracts from the truth of what you're saying. As many have pointed out, a person who chose to be taken to the hospital would be taken to the hospital and treated whether they could pay for it or not. The result of this would be a serious amount of debt, but likely could be paid down with a monthly payment. The worst case scenario is bankruptcy, which su…
You would be surprised to know that hospitals would treat the person with the cheapest drugs and not do the major heart surgery. Not all hospitals, mind you, I know Mt Sinai (NYC) will most likely treat the person fully, but some will give enough heart meds to make the person feel "okay" until he/she dies.
Also, often after treatment, hospitals will just write the treatment as a "loss" and get a tax break. I've had friends pay $20 for a broken arm fixed. The problem is that many will give sub-par treatment, won't do the surgery, etc.
American health care system is an atrocity.
Re: Just had a heart attack
#135Ever 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…
I'm 42 and have had palpitations since I was in my teens. My father who is 72 has the same things.
My recommendation is to get checked out by your doctor and a cardiologist and trust what they say. Meaning, when they tell you everything is fine you should believe that.
I mainly experience PVCs (http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/premature-vent...). I probably experience those at least a handful of times per day. When I'm super stressed I can have them a dozen times per hour. The link I provided gives you common triggers and can help you reduce their frequency.
Re: Just had a heart attack
#136I had my MI when I was 23 when I was cycling to work. Took me about two hours to get treatment, and I was lucky as my Triponin peaked around 35 IIRC. My symptoms were chest pains (not too severe, about as bad as a really severe running stitch) and an extreme shortness of breath.
I didn't find Rehab that bad, but then I was the youngest person there by about 30 years and a bit of a novelty. The drugs were the absolute pits though, I found that my reaction time dropped by about half a second. It took me about 2 months to be able to play squash again even after I regained by physical fitness.
They never found a root cause for my MI (there was no plaque , and they don't know why the clot formed). I still get asked if they know why it happened - like that's the most important thing. It's okay to not want to share any causes of your MI with everyone who asks. Apart from your medical professionals, they don't have a right to know.
Good luck and let me know if you ever need to talk.
Re: Just had a heart attack
#137Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is an exaggeration, and it's an unfortunate one, since it distracts from the truth of what you're saying. As many have pointed out, a person who chose to be taken to the hospital would be taken to the hospital and treated whether they could pay for it or not. The result of this would be a serious amount of debt, but likely could be paid down with a monthly payment. The worst case scenario is bankruptcy, which su…
Which part is an exaggeration? The death? Hardly. It usually takes some time to get someone to an emergency room, so if their heart fully clogs, the outcome is often death. Or that people will usually forego seeking treatment because they can't afford to rack up huge bills? Again, not really an exaggeration. If you have a house that you live in with your spouse and child, then you need that house, and people will oft…
It is an exagerration to say that the situation you described was typical (though "too common" might fit). You implied that you could not obtain treatment if you cannot afford it. And now you're adding the largely fictional risk of losing your home into the mix. Yes, it is possible to lose your home in bankruptcy but only if the equity in your home exceeds your state's homestead exemption (often, but not always, $50,000) by an amount large enough to make it worth selling. This will not often be the case for a person who is driven into bankruptcy by medical bills.
I do agree (as I said) that people should not be put in the situation of having to choose between preserving the lives they have built for themselves, and obtaining healthcare. But I think it's important to be scrupulously accurate and responsible on this topic since the discussion itself could influence somebody's decision not to seek treatment.
Re: Just had a heart attack
#138Earlier quoted context omitted.
You say this as if being in debt and unable to make the payments, is no big deal. Getting calls from aggressive debt collectors at work, at home, on my cell, even to relatives and coworkers, is a form of "debtor's prison". When I asked for breakdowns of the debt itself, which I'm allowed to do under the FDCPA, I rarely got a breakdown of the total debt. One company responded to my request by serving me papers and fil…
Getting calls from aggressive debt collectors at work, at home, on my cell, even to relatives and coworkers, is a form of "debtor's prison" Well, have I got great news for you! There is this thing called the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Here it is: http://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/rules/rulemaking-regulatory-r... Want to stop calls to your work, at home, on your cell and even to your relatives and coworkers? Sen…
Did you even read my post? I mentioned the FDCPA. I'm very well aware of what my rights are under it. Most of the companies I dealt with didn't give a shit about it and simply passed my debts along to different companies who each got to take a whoops and pass it on again..
Re: Just had a heart attack
#139Earlier quoted context omitted.
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?
You would absolutely be treated. That's a requirement the federal government makes of any hospital that receives medicare/medicaid payment (if you're interested in learning more, google 'EMTALA'). You will also absolutely get a bill, which could be quite large, and could be sent to collections, and could destroy your credit history. While those last three aren't certain, they're common enough that they should give yo…
Note that EMTALA only requires hospitals to give you stabilizing treatment.
Re: Just had a heart attack
#140Earlier 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…
> 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. This is mostly for men, right? I've read previously that the symptoms for women are quite different.
I'm glad you brought up the point about women, because I'm actually writing this from my mother's hospital room where she's been for about a month after a heart attack of her own.
Her experience was very, very different from what we're taught to expect from a heart attack as men. She'd been nauseous and tired, with some chest tightness and general malaise, for a period of about 4 days before my stepdad told her to go to urgent care, where they put her on an ambulance to the ER, where they admitted her to the cardiac ward. She had been having a heart attack for most of that four-day span and wrote her symptoms off as "just part of being a 66-year-old woman." The length of the event caused her to go into shock, and she's had all sorts of problems falling out from that. She's stable now, at least, and is recovering well, but she should've sought medical care much, much sooner.
Since this happened, I've spoken with dozens of men and women I know about heart attack symptoms, and so far only a couple of people knew how different the presentation was across genders. If you have any late(ish)-aged women in your life about whom you care, make sure they know what a heart attack might feel like for them. My mom got lucky and has had a great team of doctors working on her recovery, but you can't count on luck the way you can count on knowledge.