I had a heart attack

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Originally Posted By: 69GTX
Glad you're ok Jimmy.

I asked my doctor a year ago why don't they do routine scannings for blockages like this during an annual physical...or at least every 5-10 years once past 40-50? Unless you have enough risk factors piled up they just won't do it because of costs. In my case, they wasted money doing EKG tests on me the last 10 visits...why not just one look at the arteries instead? While I don't have all the negative markers they require, I've had higher blood pressure since my early 20's (now 63)...and for 10 years there I was 50 lbs over-weight and getting too little exercise.

I'd still love to know how my arteries look so that what happens to Jimmy, doesn't happen to others. It shouldn't have happened to Jimmy. Hey, they spend plenty of money doing colonoscopies and the sort, why not an occasional check of the arteries? Half of the heart disease out there has little to no relationship to cholesterol/diet. Isn't that worth picking up early?


There are risks with heart catheterizations. And there is considerable costs. Screening 10 screening 20 healthy people to find 1 problem is not medically or cost effective. If you are that interested/concerned why don't you just go and get it done.

I am sure the OP is on statins now. Get your cholesterol checked and even if its high normal I personally was on statins. My cholesterol was 220 Total 150 LD . It is now 172 Total 89 LD Thats a Huge Change
 
Very Happy to hear you made it through. You lived through one of most people's worst nightmare's. I had a friend that is an RN Nurse in good shape and all, had a heart attack at age 37. Several Others at my work male, in their early 40's heart attacks, some were considered "hyper fit" even.

For me? Cholesterol problems run in my family. I do my best to eat well, dont exercise as much as I used to mainly due to a back injury, but I do what I can.

Scary stuff for sure. Very Scary. Thank Goodness your wife was there to help you.


GOD BLESS.


Jeff
 
Glad they gotten your arteries opened up and you're feeling better.

Angioplasty is a great thing. Almost miracle like.
 
That kind of pain and panic is difficult to describe and deal with. I'm glad you survived. For you, it might have been a wake-up call especially if you can remember the event as it really happened. You will receive symptomatic help with drugs but make sure you take an interest in learning how all this stuff works and all the things you can do to help yourself. This self-taught education will be the most important school you ever attended. There will be no cheating on a test or failing to do homework if you want to maintain a healthy active lifestyle. You will receive an untold amount of "useful" advice. Treat all this as an adventure. No poor-little-me stuff. You'll be surprised how smart you become when the prize for failure is a wheelchair and lime jello on Wednesday.
 
Jimmy, thanks for the warning. I can tell you you that you are a lucky man. 2 weeks ago my closest friend, friends since we we 2 years of age, had his first MI in the early morning. He didn't survive.
 
Originally Posted By: Jimmy9190
Thanks for your replies and support. It was a scary and bad time. I am resting here at home, no idea when I will go back to work yet. I can't even drive until the cardiologists give me a clearance for it. My job has a high level of stress and pressure to meet deadlines and time standards, and my commute is pretty bad too. I don't know yet if I will go back to work or find another job. So far my boss and her boss have been very understanding and sympathetic, but the everyday stress could have had something to do with this. Unfortunately, I have very little family history to go on. I have never met my father, and my mother died of leukemia when I was 12. I was raised in a group home in Georgia. I know my mother's older brother my Uncle Harold had heart trouble and I am pretty sure my older brother had heart trouble and high blood pressure too, but he refused to get it treated. He committed suicide about 10 years ago. Maybe it is genetic in my case, but I have no way to find out. For now I will just follow doctor's orders and take it easy, then start a heart-healthy exercise program. I am very glad to be alive.


It sounds to me like you're heading in the right direction. Keep one thing in mind, your boss might be sympathetic now, unfortunately odds are that sympathetic compassion might wear off in time. Unfortunately it is human nature. I have painting friends that passed away, and I have spoken with their spouses, one story that rings loud and clear over and over again is this: A customer calls looking for an estimate, the spouse says so and so died. After the customer replies I'm sorry to hear that, w/o a pause and in the same breath they ask for a referral to do their painting work. Bottom line is a lot of people, bosses included don't care or don't care for long. I'd look for a less stressful job.
 
Originally Posted By: Al


There are risks with heart catheterizations. And there is considerable costs. Screening 10 screening 20 healthy people to find 1 problem is not medically or cost effective. If you are that interested/concerned why don't you just go and get it done.

I am sure the OP is on statins now. Get your cholesterol checked and even if its high normal I personally was on statins. My cholesterol was 220 Total 150 LD . It is now 172 Total 89 LD Thats a Huge Change



I was figuring there are less invasive procedures out there than catherizations, such as sonograms, dye injections, etc. Screening 20 somewhat healthy looking people to find 1 case of deadly coronary heart disease sounds worthwhile to me. They do colonoscopies on most males over 50-60 (not just 1 in 20). I would imagine heart disease kills more people than colon cancer.

No one should hang their hat on cholesterol numbers to determine risk probability for heart disease. That's a 1960's Red Herring that's been proven to be no more than 50% effective. My wife's family has very high cholesterol numbers...and no one from her parents on down have died from heart disease. Science is figuring out there are better markers for heart disease (such as homocysteine, HS CRP, genetic screens, etc.). Your body makes 8X-10X the cholesterol you get from food. Controlling the oxidation of cholesterol is the issue. The synthesis of Vitamin D3 in your body through the skin is dependent on cholesterol. In summary, it seems to me to know your true health, you have to know how blocked your arteries are. Someday that will be an easy and inexpensive procedure. Industry already does that for piping systems.
 
Originally Posted By: 69GTX

I was figuring there are less invasive procedures out there than catherizations, such as sonograms, dye injections, etc. Screening 20 somewhat healthy looking people to find 1 case of deadly coronary heart disease sounds worthwhile to me. They do colonoscopies on most males over 50-60 (not just 1 in 20). I would imagine heart disease kills more people than colon cancer.

No one should hang their hat on cholesterol numbers to determine risk probability for heart disease. That's a 1960's Red Herring that's been proven to be no more than 50% effective. My wife's family has very high cholesterol numbers...and no one from her parents on down have died from heart disease. Science is figuring out there are better markers for heart disease (such as homocysteine, HS CRP, genetic screens, etc.). Your body makes 8X-10X the cholesterol you get from food. Controlling the oxidation of cholesterol is the issue. The synthesis of Vitamin D3 in your body through the skin is dependent on cholesterol. In summary, it seems to me to know your true health, you have to know how blocked your arteries are. Someday that will be an easy and inexpensive procedure. Industry already does that for piping systems.

Sorry but it makes no sense to perform expensive procedures on a group of people to detect a minimal amount of problems...Why not do tests to detect for brain vascular problems. They kill as many as heart attacks, why not do a body scan with MRI to detect cancers. It goes on and on. You are looking at someone to pay for these tests?...not you? If you want the tests just get them done and then you pay.

Its cost effective and low risk to do colonoscopies to detect polyps. Colon cancer is the most frequent cancer that is almost always preventable.

And Statins are proven to prevent strokes and heart attacks to a large degree. You undergo a complete evaluation for your risk factors and if there is a 15% chance of you having a stroke/heart attack in the next 10 years you will be prescribed statins to get it below 11% So if you are trying to get an expensive test and choose not to prevent it in the first place..I have little sympathy.

Also everyone should get evaluated for risk factors to determine what their risk of dying from a vascular event in the next 10 years...its not just cholesterol. Have you done that?
 
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I am amazed in this age of being able to scan almost anything, that they cannot do a non evasive scan for blocked arteries.

Glad things went well.

Before the heart attack were you seeing your doctor on regular basis including blood work?

Recent articles have suggested medicine is as effective as a stent, but they typically do stent for a blocked artery.
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
I am amazed in this age of being able to scan almost anything, that they cannot do a non evasive scan for blocked arteries.

Glad things went well.

Before the heart attack were you seeing your doctor on regular basis including blood work?

Recent articles have suggested medicine is as effective as a stent, but they typically do stent for a blocked artery.


I'm not sure there's such a thing as a non evasive scan unless you're under anesthesia and can't evade the scan. Normally it'd be an echo-cardiogram which is basically ultrasound. I think if you appear healthy, you'd never get one.
 
I have high blood pressure, hypothyroidism/Graves' Disease and cholesterol that is not good but not completely horrible either. I have been on BP and cholesterol medicine for over 10 years, but could not tolerate many of the statins my doctor tried. Before the heart attack I was on Zocor and Fenofibrate. The cardiologist took me off everything but the Fenofibrate and put me on Lipitor and some other different BP medicine, plus a daily aspirin dose and a blood thinner. I get labs done every 3 months for my thyroid disease and cholesterol/triglycerides. Up until now my regular doctor said all levels were within normal range and my A1C is under control since I cut out way down on my sugar intake. The blockage had probably been building up for years. I did not eat a very good diet after my first wife died back in 2004 and only started eating better in the last few years. I am probably about 40 pounds overweight but I am 6'2" so I don't look obese. My wife and I are both making immediate changes in our lifestyle and I know I will get better and stay that way.
 
I'm glad you got help quickly, that's the key. Some people wait too long and the myocardium suffers too much necrosis and you are left weak and heart failure prone. Some patients don't survive their first myocardial infarction due to dysrhythmias.

I work in a cardiac cath lab, i have for the past 28 years. and for most non cardiac patients the first event is very surprising and upsetting.
Me? Having a heart attack? Sometimes there are warning signs, but for many with acute plaque rupture, a heart attack is the first symptom.

Glad you are doing well.

PLEASE! PLEASE! DO NOT STOP YOUR DUAL ANTIPLATELET MEDS( Aspirin with Plavix, or Brillinta, or Effient ) UNLESS YOUR PHYSICIAN TELLS YOU TO!

PM me if you have questions.

Bryan
 
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Originally Posted By: spasm3
I'm glad you got help quickly, that's the key. Some people wait too long and the myocardium suffers too much necrosis and you are left weak and heart failure prone. Some patients don't survive their first myocardial infarction due to dysrhythmias.

I work in a cardiac cath lab, i have for the past 28 years. and for most non cardiac patients the first event is very surprising and upsetting.
Me? Having a heart attack? Sometimes there are warning signs, but for many with acute plaque rupture, a heart attack is the first symptom.

Glad you are doing well.

PLEASE! PLEASE! DO NOT STOP YOUR DUAL ANTIPLATELET MEDS( Aspirin with Plavix, or Brillinta, or Effient ) UNLESS YOUR PHYSICIAN TELLS YOU TO!

PM me if you have questions.

Bryan


Thanks for your advice, the doctor does have me taking Brilinta with 81 mg Aspirin and he said I will be on it for a long time to come. I know I am very lucky to be alive and will do exactly what the docs say from now on. The doc said my heart muscle is weak in one area but it should get better with time, the right medicine and good diet/exercise.
 
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