# Regarding our impending heart attacks **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 9, 2015, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-our-impending-heart-attacks/722054 "2015-06-09T10:12:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2015, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-our-impending-heart-attacks/722054/61 "2015-06-15T16:49:27Z")
Yeah, and then there’s my brother’s heart attack which felt like heartburn but wouldn’t go away. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2015, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-our-impending-heart-attacks/722054/62 "2015-06-16T01:27:45Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Yeah, and then there’s my brother’s heart attack which felt like heartburn but wouldn’t go away. Yeah, and there was the guy who thought that “heartburn” might be something, but died within a week, before he could settle on which cardiologist to go to. I’m so sorry about your brother. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2015, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-our-impending-heart-attacks/722054/63 "2015-06-16T04:30:07Z")
> [@Dibbs](#): > > 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. > > \ > > Like always, I thank you in advance for your time and friendly replies.🙂 Friendly replies? How many threads have you read here, you slacker? 🙂 I added that last because I had mine at age 27. Technically they called it a _cardiac incident_ because I didn’t do any permanent damage to the muscle at that point - basically my BP went nuts and took the heart along for the ride. I’ve had to pack nitro around with me since I was 30. It’s like most things; if you survive you learn how to deal with it. If you don’t survive you find out which religion (or none) is right. The main thing is knowing what it feels like when that elephant sits on you or someone rips your shoulder blade out the back. Those are usually the ones you can survive. The ones that kill you are like the bullets in war movies - you never hear them coming. ---
**Author:** ![Dibbs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/da6949/32.png) [@Dibbs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dibbs)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2015, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-our-impending-heart-attacks/722054/64 "2015-06-16T04:51:38Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > Friendly replies? How many threads have you read here, you slacker? 🙂 > > I added that last because I had mine at age 27. Technically they called it a _cardiac incident_ because I didn’t do any permanent damage to the muscle at that point - basically my BP went nuts and took the heart along for the ride. I’ve had to pack nitro around with me since I was 30. > > It’s like most things; if you survive you learn how to deal with it. If you don’t survive you find out which religion (or none) is right. The main thing is knowing what it feels like when that elephant sits on you or someone rips your shoulder blade out the back. Those are usually the ones you can survive. The ones that kill you are like the bullets in war movies - you never hear them coming. None of that strikes me as particularly comforting to know.☹ But it is what it is, I guess.☹ But am glad that you’re still kicking.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2015, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-our-impending-heart-attacks/722054/65 "2015-06-16T22:12:16Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Yeah, and there was the guy who thought that “heartburn” might be something, but died within a week, before he could settle on which cardiologist to go to. > > I’m so sorry about your brother. Oh no, he’s alive! Man, I have been posting incomplete stories lately. :smack: He was in the hospital for quite a while and when he went home he got panic attacks (really, not another heart attack) and went back into the hospital for a while. It was probably a month all together, one stent and some heart muscle death. He then had another episode and two more stents, and is told he will have to have a valve replacement sooner or later. This all started when he was 38. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2015, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-our-impending-heart-attacks/722054/66 "2015-06-17T00:45:17Z")
Just skimmed the latest posts here. Has anyone mentioned strokes yet? Specifically, to compare strokes with heart attacks? If you have your long-afeared heart attack and drop dead right on the spot, some would argue that isn’t the worst possible thing that can happen. Compare with a stroke that leaves you totally quadriplegic, or perhaps \*semi-\*vegative, so you’re sentient enough to sorta-kinda understand the condition you’re in. Then some caregivers have to feed you, bathe you, turn you over in bed every few hours, clean out your bed pans and wipe your butt, sprinkle some water on you and set you on the window sill in the sunshine – _24/7/365¼ for the next untold number of years._ Everyone’s entitled to his own preference, but no one can guarantee that that’s what you’ll get. Which outcome would _you_ prefer? ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2015, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-our-impending-heart-attacks/722054/67 "2015-06-17T00:50:51Z")
(Missed edit window) ETA: **Dibbs** , I see you’re kinda new here. Did you ever see **Blinkie** ’s threads? He had a stroke at a too-young age and ended up with Locked-In Syndrome. He could only communicate by blinking his eyes, and he had some kind of blink-to-text translator to communicate and make posts. (Some would say that isn’t _total_ Locked-In Syndrome. Some can’t even blink to talk.) Someone remind me – is **Blinkie** still with us, or did he pass away a while back? ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2015, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-our-impending-heart-attacks/722054/68 "2015-06-17T00:57:15Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Someone remind me – is **Blinkie** still with us, or did he pass away a while back? Okay, just did the research. [RIP blinkie (Ask the guy with Locked In Syndrome)](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=539322), see [Post #396, 12/18/2014](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=17988534#post17988534). ---
**Author:** ![Dibbs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/da6949/32.png) [@Dibbs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dibbs)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2015, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-our-impending-heart-attacks/722054/69 "2015-06-17T03:43:09Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Okay, just did the research. > > [RIP blinkie (Ask the guy with Locked In Syndrome)](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=539322), see [Post #396, 12/18/2014](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=17988534#post17988534). Thanks for the link. Sorry to hear about the poor fellow going through that. The more I hear of what some (aging) folks are going through the more it makes me realize how good I’ve got it, at least for now. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-our-impending-heart-attacks/722054/70 "2015-06-23T02:49:03Z")
[This article](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/23/health/a-possibly-lifesaving-guide-to-heart-attacks.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0) seems appropriate for this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Dibbs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/da6949/32.png) [@Dibbs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dibbs)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-our-impending-heart-attacks/722054/71 "2015-06-24T19:53:44Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > [This article](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/23/health/a-possibly-lifesaving-guide-to-heart-attacks.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0) seems appropriate for this thread. Thanks! I filed it to Favorites and will look at it later (assuming I don’t drop dead first). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-our-impending-heart-attacks/722054.md?page=3)