This is an attempt to understand something horrible that just happened to someone at my office. He’s a really nice guy, in his mid-50’s I’d guess, quite active (as in he biked ~ 10 miles a day each way to and from work on a regular basis until he had to have double hip replacement surgery a couple of years ago).
A couple of weeks ago, he had what was initially described to me as a heart attack. Now we are being told that his heart is no longer capable of pumping, and he had some device implanted (which was not described as a pacemaker) to keep his heart functioning, and will spend a couple of weeks in the hospital if all goes well, and then be released to rehab. It’s unknown when he will return to work, if ever, and apparently the only thing that would fix his problem is a heart transplant, which he does not want to do.
What kind of medical issue would make something like that happen to a person?
(Obviously this is not a request for medical advice - the poor guy is at one of the best hospitals in the country right now. I’m hoping to get over there to visit him one of these days soon, and trying to think of something I could bring him. Being in the hospital sucks, and my tendency for sick people is to cook or bake something, but I’m guessing that’s inadvisable under the circumstances. Maybe something to read?)
It’s not possible to answer this question without more information. There are any number of problems that it could be, myocardial infarction being high on the list. Even saying a heart is “not able to pump” is too vague to be meaningful.
All kinds of things.
Heart muscle damage from an infarction (heart attack) if the muscle is deprived of oxygen for a long enough time, it will die, and prevent the heart from pumping.
Electrical issues (sinus node problems, preventing a correct heart rhythm).
Heart valve damage, meaning that the heart beats, but blood doesn’t get pumped very well.
Enlarged heart muscle, which causes a reduction in pumped volume, to the point where it might be insufficient.
…and these are just the ones I know about as a CAD patient myself.
Was this in an effort to control some other disease ? Perhaps it was blood pressure he was controlling.
Anyway, he may have enlarged his heart. Some people seem to suffer from an enlarged heart, which comes from the risk factors of genetics, life style, and blood pressure …
Maybe we should have screening for heart diseases at 40 and 45 ?
My sister almost wound up in that situation due to an auto-immune disorder, where her immune system attacked and started to destroy her heart muscle. It’s more rare than heart attack or some others, but it could be something like that. She used to exercise a lot but due to the damage she can’t be nearly as active as before.
I’ve known a couple people who suffered heart damage from various infections.
Really, it’s hard to say without knowing more details.
A hole in the heart will eventually make the pumping stop, as the person bleeds out and dies. A major blockage of arteries will prevent it from delivering blood, though perhaps not from pumping (ineffectually) for some time.
Take a CPR course and you will learn all about this!
Sounds to me like his heart may have been “fibrillating”. That is where the heart muscles “freak out” and no longer work as a “team”. Sort of like trying to pedal a bike while pressing down with both feet onto both pedals at the same time - not going to get you anywhere!
They make electrical gizmos called a “defibrillator”, which will “shock” the heart back into “sync”. The heart muscles will then work as a team and pump blood again. Defibrillators can be seen in public places in a small cabinet on the wall with “AED” or “Defibrillator” marked on it. Defibrillators can also be installed internally.
Note ANYONE can grab one of those AED units off the wall and just follow the directions on it for placing the sticky pads. It will then tell you what to do. It WILL NOT SHOCK a person if the heart is working ok or if the pads are not placed correctly. Better to take a CPR/AED class, but still these are so foolproof, anyone could use one. More on this…
How does this fit with the OP description? Fibrillation is transitory, either you die or the heart restarts, while the OP’s coworker has some apparently permanent issue, regardless of the exact nature of the original “heart attack”.
Part of the problem here is that I am getting bits and pieces from various management people, and they aren’t using the actual medical terms, they’re being vague (whether intentionally or not, I have no idea). I don’t know for sure that it wasn’t a pacemaker, but I think if it had been, the word “pacemaker” would have been used.
I have no idea whether high BP was part of the issue, but he does have a very stressful job and had apparently been through some very tough personal crises over the past year as well. The poor guy’s life has really been crap lately.
Those of you who have experienced something similar, or know people who have - what would have been most appreciated from someone who really doesn’t know you very well? I’m really stumped.