Regarding our impending heart attacks

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I’m now at the age when I could very well have one of these most unbelievably awful things, 60. And now-a-days hardly a week passes when I don’t hear about someone in the news dying of one, and many are even younger than myself.

I’m by no means obsessed about when or if one is coming down the pike, but I do give some thought to 'em. One thing I hope doesn’t happen if I do have one is that nobody will be around to kick-start me back to this place. There are many things I enjoy about my life and the world but, collectively, they’re not worth going through something so excruciatingly painful only to be revived and then have to walk around worrying and wondering when the killer one is going to strike!:confused:

I also would hate to drop over in a busy public place from one, especially if it involved crapping the old pants.

Many years ago I was talking to an older fellow … and he told me that he had gone to the doctor due to feeling extreme pain under his chin; he said it felt like someone was holding a blow-torch there. The doctor told him he’d had a “minor heart attack” to which he replied, “Doctor, if that was a minor heart attack, I don’t want to know what a major one feels like!”

During all the time I’ve been in this world I’ve only been around two, maybe three, incidents where someone (in public) took the south bound by riding one of these things out. The two I recall didn’t happen right at the moment when I was in the areas, and they were both men. Gosh, I gotta think that would be one sobering thing to see – someone violently clutching at their chest in shear agony and terror, and then crumpling to the floor and dying right there on the spot!:frowning:

At least with cancer you can get your papers in order and create yourself an option… versus feeling like someone just walked up to you and slammed you in the chest with a kitchen knife.:eek:

I’d be most curious, respectfully so, to know any of your thoughts regarding these awful rotten things called heart attacks and, too, if you’ve ever had it happen in which you were talking to someone and then they had one. And I’d especially be interested to know from you folks that have had one or more, to give your feelings and insights about being in that situation I’ve described, like do you pretty much think about “the big one” coming out of the blue every two-minutes (or are you tougher than me and either seldom think about the next one or just laugh at the possibility)?

Like always, I thank you in advance for your time and friendly replies.:slight_smile:

2

If you are so worried, get yourself checked out, or talk to your Doctor. Their is a lot they can do to mitigate the risks if you are susceptible or have a risk (High Blood pressure, overweight, stress ful lifestyle, family history).

3

I think about stuff like this, too. And yeah, you can “get yourself checked out,” but people can leave the doctor’s office and drop dead in the parking lot. Also, I read somewhere (don’t have a cite, but it stuck in my mind) that most people who die from heart attacks, die from the first one. Add to that that women’s heart attacks can have different symptoms from men’s… At any moment, you could be in thin ice and not know it, in spite of clean bills of health and good self-care.

The key to peace of mind health-wise at our age (I’m 66) appears to be to take good care of yourself AND get okay with uncertainty. We can’t ignore it anymore, my friend, like we could at 20 or even 40.

After my husband died, I coined the phrase, “Sometimes you do everything right and they still die.” My cite for that is the homeless guy in Groundhog Day.

4

Every human who has been born has or will die. Yes people have dropped dead right after a doctors checkup. Or had a Heart Attack in hospital…my grand father. All you can do is reduce risk. You cannot eliminate the same.

5

Sure they will, with that attitude.

6

Pick your poison; does any of these sound less frightening?

The 15 leading causes of death in 2010 were:

  1. Diseases of heart (heart disease)
  2. Malignant neoplasms (cancer)
  3. Chronic lower respiratory diseases
  4. Cerebrovascular diseases (stroke)
  5. Accidents (unintentional injuries)
  6. Alzheimer’s disease
  7. Diabetes mellitus (diabetes)
  8. Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis (kidney disease)
  9. Influenza and pneumonia
  10. Intentional self-harm (suicide)
  11. Septicemia
  12. Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis
  13. Essential hypertension and hypertensive renal disease (hypertension)
  14. Parkinson’s disease
  15. Pneumonitis due to solids and liquids
7

I hid my unstable angina attacks, thinking (hoping) they were GERD or something else “minor” for about a month. The pain was worsening and the episodes went from one every few days to multiple episodes daily.

When I made a doctors appointment and told him I was having episodes of pretty nasty chest pain he scheduled a stress test. I had all kinds of abnormalities, had an episode midway through, and found out I’d already had a minor heart attack. I had a cardiac catheterization and stent placed the next day, then returned to work two days later (against doctors orders). I’ve been symptom free for a year.

Know what is worse than having a heart attack? Dealing with the fuckers who sell me medical insurance.

ETA: fuck you, Highmark.

8

I had a minor heart attack back in 2000. I was doing a full, max effort racing my daughter up a hill on bicycles. I was 46 YO at the time. I rode 25 miles back to the car; 35 miles more the next day; then I decided to see a doctor.

They can’t fix what it wrong without doing open heart, so I’m just living with it. To celebrate my 61st birthday this past weekend, I rode 100 miles one day and did a 39 mile recovery ride the next.

As far as dying, I’d rather go out like someone flipped a switch rather than something long and slow like some cancers. Of course I’d like the switched to be flipped at least 25 years from now.

9

Yeah, I’m starting to think that something relatively fast like a heart attack is the way to go; I’ve seen too many loved ones and friends’ parents die of cancer or things like congestive heart failure to think otherwise.

10

I’ve been on the table in the Heart Lab 14 times now. The first 11 were for Catherizations which resulted in a total of 7 Stents. That was spread out over 10 years. Then a Quad bypass, Then two more stents because of failed bypasses…

For me it was because I didn’t take care of my heart as well as I should have. 22 Years in the Army you would think I was in good health but smoking is one big negative… And both my parents died young with heart problems so its genetic.

Anyway Stop smoking, eat right and do cardio exercises…I plan on being here a long time yet. 3 years since the last problem…

11

I’m still on track for my goal of immortality.

Just today, I set a new personal best!

12

Wow. Can I ask what was done during the catheterizations that did not involve stenting? Were they just diagnostic? Did they go in through the groin each time?

I’m happy with the outcome from my one cath/stent, but have pretty much decided that’s it for intervention.

13

The first half quoted above doesn’t make sense. Are you hoping to be revived, or not? If you’re hoping for revival, don’t count on it. The success rate for CPR or those automatic defibrillators now commonly seen in public places is down around a couple percent.

My Mom reported that her first major heart attack didn’t hurt at all. She was at the office in mid-sentence then suddenly she was on the floor surrounded by paramedics. No pain there. She was one of those couple-percenters where CPR kept her going until the auto-defib kept her going until the paramedics got there.

She didn’t survive the next one, but she didn’t look like that was painful either. Remember, you’ve got to be conscious to feel pain. The one that gets you probably won’t leave you conscious for more than a couple seconds.
As to the second quoted part of your post I disagree. Anyone, regardless of age, can have their affairs in order all the time. Make your preparations now. After you’ve been diagnosed with a nasty cancer is not the time to start thinking about all the planning you’ve put off. You may well be hospitalized and drugged and … all of which makes doing that job right much harder than it needs to be.

My vote for the right way to live and to die is to be reasonably prepared every day to be your last. Both administratively and emotionally. Live each day well, enjoying it as you can with friends, family, or whatever makes you happy. And ideally you’ll spend about 3 seconds being really astonished that you’re about to be extinguished. Then game over.

Far better that than being tied to the railroad tracks of cancer / emphysema / whatever and hearing & feeling the train coming every day for months and months while each day is increasing misery versus the day before.

YMMV.

14

You can get an at home EKG device for <$500.

http://www.amazon.com/AliveCor-AC-009-UA-A-Heart-Monitor/dp/B00R9KZQGW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1433865798&sr=8-1&keywords=alivecor+ecg

http://www.rakuten.com/prod/portable-handheld-home-ecg-ekg-heart-monitor/228690714.html?listingId=204553363&sclid=pla_google_USAdvancedHealthcare&adid=29963&gclid=CJPupaD_gsYCFQUGaQodLJYAUw

If you are worried, wouldn’t one of those show if the symptoms you are showing are due to you having a heart attack so you know to go to the ER?

15

There are worse ways to go than by a heart attack. Actually, most ways are worse. Also you can survive a heart attack. I did. I had a heart attack in 1965! Fifty years ago. And a couple months. I never imagined I would make it to 78, but I did. But one of these days the hourglass will run out.

16

That is amazing!

Larry King had, I think it was, had a triple bypass back in the 1980s, and he’s still kicking.

Remember: as long as you don’t stop breathing you’ll never die.:wink:

17

It’s also helpful to know that, statistically, people who eat peanut-butter-and-mayonnaise sandwiches every day for 110 years tend to live to a ripe old age.

18

I’ve met various people who had heart attacks in their 30s or 40s but who lived to be about 80. So it happens. As treatment gets better and better fewer heart attacks and strokes are becoming fatal (as long as you get medical care quickly). I think (not sure) for strokes there is a 3 hour window where if you get help within 3 hours of the blockage the damage isn’t permanent. But I don’t know, and I’m not sure what the window is for heart attacks. It also depends on which artery you get your heart attack in.

19

Here’s a good place to salute ol’ Jim Fixx Health Guru to the Masses

20

Interesting article; he seemed like a very decent man. I wonder if he’d been taking a daily aspirin he’d still be with us? I guess we’ll never know.