Totally unexpected

[Pjays]

I'm a fit 61 year old. Don't drink, never smoked. Regular excersise along with being a hands on builder. I'm not over weight and eat healthy.....so why me? Last Wednesday, I got pains in my chest while at work that I dismissed quickly as they went away within a couple of minutes. Got home at 5.00pm, and passed my wife as she left to cut someone's hair, (mobile hairdresser), by 6.00 the pains in my chest returned with vengeance. If she didn't walk in the door at 6.05, I wouldn't be writing this! The ambulance arrived & I was blue lighted to Papworth where I had a stem fitted in my Aorta artery. The next day I was told I had a heart attack of the worse kind, and was lucky to have survived. My Aorta ruptured and caused a blood clot in my heart. I'm waiting for results regarding heart damage. I was released after 3 days and recovering well. Hard for me to sit around doing nothing , but heeding the warnings. My business of 30+ years will suffer but hey, I'm still here. If it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone.

[Wodney1966]

Wow chill out and keep your chin up with your feet up 😜😜😜😜😜

[arty_sax]

What a fantastic outllook you have mate.. well done and god bless your Mrs... for her fast reaction.. follow the rehab advice to the letter.... always take your meds... dont take any risks. Good luck.... we are here if you need any support or want to share any experiences.

[Pjays in reply to arty_sax]

What a lovely reply. Thanks mate. Appreciate it

[Daveyboy77]

Totally agree. Had my h/a 1 year ago to the day. Out the blue never saw it coming. Yes your life has changed but look at it from a different angle if I never had the attack then I would have kept on eating the same old crap foods.

Not saying I was over weight but remembered what the last gp said before the h.a I could do with losing a couple of pounds. Which iam happy to say I did then bang . But as you said still here. So take it easy and enjoy life .

Take care.

[pinnelli]

Wow what a story. Similar to my situation only I was only 46 & super fit. Big cyclist, & mountain sports, nothing was ever too hard to do endurance wise.

No risk factors:-). I had a few chest pains week leading to cardiac rest, GP dismissed me twice as I was fit, low BP, low cholesterol, then out cycling, thank god with a mate that day whose x royal marine so knew what to do. We were in middle of no where & I had HA. , arrested twice, over 25 mins before professional help arrived.

I was put in coma for 4 days & in hospital 10 days. I'm lucky as no heart damage & have 1 stent. Like you I guess I feel cheated, especially when I see over weight middle aged guys eating crap / not keeping fit!

I see my cardiologist privately through work health care plan & learnt a lot more. Seems we all have some plaque in arteries as we get older, fact of western life and diet. Whilst my arteries are "prestige"they believe a vulnerable plaque rupture and as in your case they cleared a blood clot not fatty tissue. Could be stress (not proven), heavy excercise, or just shit luck.

Take all support you can, don't hold back, rehab, the works, I've even had anxiety support. The good news is my outlook on everything has changed, a kind of 'journey'. And you can return to things eventually. I went skiing with my wife and kids last week only 6 months after. Ok a lot less vigorous than normal & yes I was nervous but what an achievement so soon.

Take care & celebrate fact you're alive rather than be too hard on yourself, though I certainty was at first.

[Andyman in reply to pinnelli]

Interesting about stress I think I must have always been on the edge but it was stress that tipped me over the edge.

[Pjays in reply to pinnelli]

What a journey you have been on mate. Still new to me. Yes feel cheated big time! My business partner won't mind, (worked together for 35 years), but often said he was a heat attack waiting to happen with just his life style! Me.... As he said, not you! Kept fit, feel young for my age, life style good, and then wham. Had a bad day before. Had pains and tightness in the chest and got quite tearful. I thought he we go. But pains now gone. Reading others, I suspect everyone goes through this? Reading your story, makes me think! Why you? Just not fair is it. All the best, and thanks for the support.

[Pjays in reply to pinnelli]

Done a reply to you but might have gone another post

[Andyman]

I always tell everyone don't ever think it won't happen to you. Because in fact it does.

[Mariann]

Hang in there, life isn't done with you yet!

[Markl60]

Most of us, including me, tend to think our past diet was not that bad. The truth is we simply did not realise just how bad it was. Simply because we did not eat at Macdonalds or went easy on the meat does not make a good diet. The biggest culprit in the western diet when it comes to promoting heart disease is SUGAR. Lets face it we have all been consuming far too much sugar and before anyone says, I dont take any in my tea, I am talking about the shovel full of stuff that exists in many westernized foods. Of course this is before we get onto the insulin rush promoting foods that we never think of as heart disease promotors like BREAD. Bread causes a greater sugar spike than most foods in fact I am pretty sure it measures 100 on the GI index. Wheat was also shown to have the highest connection with heart disease in the massive China Study that was carried out. The message is lower your insulin surges, this is certainly the main culprit