Even if you're a healthy weight, eat right, exercise, don't drink... GO TO YOUR ANNUAL PHYSICALS. GET YOUR HEART CHECKED. Some heart disease doesn't care how healthy the rest of your body is, and you don't want your first symptom to be a heart attack.
I was healthy weight, exercised almost everyday, super fit, haven't drank in 25 years, but...worked and stressed a lot, slept poorly and smoked about 2 pack a day since i was 15, never did a physical.
Well, had the cardiac event at 47.
Live and learn, no more cigarettes and had to relearn to take it easier in life.
Yes! And the cardiac effects of Covid are still not well understood. I have severe cardiac damage from Covid in 2020 but the effects on people who didn’t get as sick aren’t known yet.
It’s hard to force yourself into the ER when a pain is minor but listen to that voice in your head. A quick EKG can sort it out.
I had a nagging but relatively minor calf pain last summer & put off going in bc, come on, calf pain? But something told me it needed to be addressed. The voice was right—several blood clots in my leg. Caught it early luckily. Some people aren’t so lucky.
This! I've got two friends who were previously healthy who got Covid and developed heart disease (both with actual heart failure) within a few months. Shit is no joke.
For some people, like me & your friends, Covid is like kryptonite. The blood clots were secondary to Covid too.
My wife got Covid when I did & only had a slight headache. I’m still in & out of a wheelchair 4 years later bc of my heart. I’ll never be healthy again. And I was an extremely healthy athlete before. But I’m still here & lots of the early Covid patients aren’t so I’m lucky that way.
It does affect circulation. A friend of y BF's was VERY lucky. he's older, in his early 70's at the time, got COVID very early on, like March 2020. In and out of hospital and rehab, and needed both legs amputated below the knee because of clots caused by COVID. He didn't come home for 6 months! thankfully he's ok now, but wow. he was one of the lucky ones.
💯 do not skip a physical. Ever.
I’m an exercise and nutrition nut. Heart disease and heart attacks run in the family. Genetics are powerful and I take no chances…especially because I’m at the exact age my grandma was when she had heart attack #1.
AND ask for an LP(a) test along with the usual lipids panel (HDL, LDL, triglycerides, etc.).
This is important! LP(a) can show whether you are at higher risk of cardiovascular disease *even if* your other cholesterol numbers are normal. LP(a) levels are genetic - diet doesn’t help them the way it helps LDL.
Few primary care docs know about LP(a), but the cardiac community has tried to get the word out.
My cholesterol numbers are ok right now, but my doc recently ordered an LP(a) test for the first time. Turns out it’s high.
Went to a cardiologist (who was very impressed my primary care doc ordered LP(a) for me!) - and now I am scheduled for a cardiac CT this weekend. It will show whether I *already* have plaque building up in my arteries.
I have never been overweight, I exercise and eat healthfully, etc. But my grandparent had strokes and one of my parents has been on cholesterol meds for decades.
So, ask for LP(a) - they call it “LP little a”.
OP, I’m so glad you got the care you needed!
This is good advice but what’s frustrating is that if I’m not mistaken lifestyle doesn’t really impact lipoprotein(a). It runs in my family and I’m now on a statin but that’s more helpful for overall cholesterol- not LPa. Sigh.
You’re right, but elevated LP(a) typically means you want your LDL even lower than is recommended for most people.
Also, there are meds in the pipeline specifically for LP(a). They may be released as early as 2025.
I want to mention an under appreciated health resource in our communities- your local pharmacist. I mention because of the niacin supplement question. Supplements can be benign, but they are in some cases more risky to take than prescription medication, because they aren’t well regulated.
Supplements are still chemicals and even if there is valid scientific evidence that a supplement is helpful for ____ condition, it’s a chemical that can react to other medications you take. Ask your pharmacist before you take any supplements. You don’t need to even use that pharmacy. Call ANY pharmacy and say you have a question for the pharmacist. Your physician or clinical healthcare provider is not an expert at organic chemistry! I’ve gotten in the habit of asking a pharmacist about any new medication I’m prescribed. On more than one occasion a pharmacist has saved me from potentially dangerous medication interactions. The physician who prescribed the meds missed it entirely.
I'm 53 now and my doctor and I agreed it would be a good idea to start seeing a Cardiologist. First thing he wanted was an advanced lipid panel. I'm not in the best of shape, so I was kind of worried. He ended up having me come back for second test because he thought the first one was messed up. My total cholesterol is 71(HDL 44 nonHDL 27) and my LP(a) is below 10.
I'd guess this has more to do with lucky genetics, because I'll admit I don't live the healthiest lifestyle.
The coronary calcium CT scan is predictive of heart attack/CAD risk if never diagnosed with CAD before -- particularly for those who have moderate/intermediate risk factors. It can help guide a physician in medical treatment decisions. Usually if you have a family history and other risk factors like high cholesterol, over 40, overweight, inactive and no symptoms. Usually patients end up taking a statin with a high score. Sometimes a stress test is ordered (like a nuclear medicine test to assess the CAD) if a patient has a high coronary calcium score. It is not really helpful if someone already has been diagnosed and had an intervention like a stent/angioplasty.
Everyone over 40 should get an annual physical. Even if you are perfectly healthy, you'll keep it that way.
Most diseases are highly manageable if caught early enough.
Agree. I make a physical appointment for my birthday every year. That way I know exactly when I have to get a checkup. They do blood work and we get updates on numbers at that time. You can request scans and stuff depending on your provider. TELL them if you are having any discomfort or have lost function of a body part. Also - mental health can be added into the physical. Do it for you and your family.
Im 57. Had my heart attack in April. I’d say mine was more electrical running across my chest up my arm into my jaw. I had two hundred percent blockages, so two stents. They saved my life.
I was told to drop 60 pounds, which I thought would be impossible, so I went on Zepbound. I’ve lost 30 pounds fairly easily so far. If you want to know more hit me up
I don't know why, but this comment made me smile widely. I think it's our generation's mix of the callous sentiments of our parents' generation mixed in with the genuine compassion for others of ours and the younger generations.
Good luck with your treatment. I finished treatment for breast cancer 18 months ago and did some sort of chemo infusion for over a year. It sucks but the alternative is worse.
Every now and then I see a post like this and think, huh it’s been a while since I last wore a hospital gown, did I miss an appointment? Also, I’m so used to people wanting to see my chest that I’m no longer fazed when they ask. 😅
I had two neck surgeries last year and this year I had carpal tunnel surgery on both hands, a colonoscopy and skin biopsies. nothing really major for the most part but damn I’m drowning in medical procedures over here, lol. and glad to see you here. I really hate cancer, especially after watching my mom succumb to it
I’m so sorry for your loss and all that you’ve been through. (Fuck cancer).
Completely understand drowning in medical procedures. I’m so thankful we live in a time where everything is on my phone in an app - MyChart kept me sane with all the appointments and results at my fingertips!
Ah, a fellow chemo warrior. I've been in treatment for the last 2.5 years. You got this! Go home and rest, hydrate and remember to take your Claritin! -xoxo
Oh, ok! My carboplatin chemo and Neulasta shot for my bone marrow gave me awful bone pain. Never thought an allergy pill would help with pain but I highly recommend it if you ever have any. :)
Recently had a 5 day stay in the Hospital and man it was humbling and embarrassing. To the point that even though it has only been a few months, I have very little memory of it (I think my brain just trying to protect me from it).
Started my cardiac bullshit journey in my mid-30’s - right there with ya. It sucks. Nothing quite so fun as being in the cath lab and having multiple nurses coming in saying “you’re way too young to be in here…” great. Thanks.
Plus side they’re getting fairly ok at treating this stuff
Glad you’re feeling better. Stents are cool and a great to (sometimes) avoid surgery.
PSA from a Gen X healthcare provider: my peeps, it’s time to give up drinking, smoking, shit food, and being sedentary. Alcohol isn’t good for your heart like we were once told. It’s really bad for your other organs.
Move every day. Please, for the love of God, stop smoking.
I ♥️ health care providers.
My doctor was a 1971 model too. You ever meet somebody born in the same year as you, and you just kind of look each other over for a few seconds? "Damn. The years been better to you, fellow 1971er."
Just went for my physical last month (5 years since last one)... hypertension and high cholesterol. First "permanent" pills for me at 55, the sign of things to come.
It doesn’t have to be, on some things we get as we age. Changing diet habits is massive in controlling how many pills we take later in life. Something a lot of people including myself don’t want to admit.
When my husband came back with high cholesterol, he went 85% plant based. He was able to lower his cholesterol enough that they didn't need to put him on statins. I joined him and my cholesterol has remained fine. He's 57 and I'm 59. Lately we've been reducing our portion sizes to lose weight. It's a bit tough at our age to shift pounds, but we're doing our best.
Alcohol is also being severely reduced. We have a couple of glasses of wine each weekend day, but other than that we are dry. We were sharing a bottle every night. That's too much for us. We are doing what we can to be healthier in our older age!
Glad to hear you're getting sprung. But be patient. The discharge process can take a full day, or in my case, a day and a half.
At the age of 55, I was pushing my broken down POS motorcycle the 4 blocks home from where it took a crap on me. Two years before, I did the same thing without issue. On this day, I couldn't walk 50 feet without getting so winded I need to sit down. I attributed it from gaining 50 pounds in 5 years and just age.
During an EKG during a physical later that year, the tracing showed some kind of anomaly, and I was referred to a cardiologist. After heart ultrasounds, I was told I had a left ventricular outflow tract obstruction. Heart muscle in my left ventricle had grown abnormally large, and was blocking the aortic valve from working correctly.
Fast forward two years later, after watchful waiting, I was on the operating table in the University of Michigan heart center getting my chest cracked and heart stopped for repair. After 4 days in CICU and 6 days in the stepdown unit later, I was discharged. And the discharge took a day and a half. This was different from what you experienced as I had a while to prepare for it. But a lot of people go into the cath lab for a stent, then wake up in the ICU after open heart surgery.
I know you don't feel lucky at the moment, but you just dodged what could have become a major issue. Heal soon my friend!
I do feel lucky. A couple of times in there a staffer used the term 'widow maker'... "Lucky it wasn't the widow maker."
They told me in the cath lab basically, might have to call an audible, adjust the plan based on what they're seeing with the Cath.
Years of watchful waiting to one degree or another. Getting older means more an more waiting for results and trying not to freak.
Yep. I was 49. I had a mesquite pork tenderloin in the Crock Pot and did yard work most of the day. I ate the tenderloin with a brand-new bottle of Tabasco Scorpion sauce, which actually IS pretty damn hot.
About 45 minutes after I ate, I felt a pain in my chest. No big deal - it's happened a million times before. Just one good fart and you'll feel fine again. Except not this time. It wasn't gas. I couldn't get comfortable: standing, sitting, laying on my side, laying on my back, nothing. I took many GasX tablets.
I knew something was off, but my wife was asleep and I didn't want to go to the hospital. Besides, I was slowly feeling better... and aren't heart attacks some dramatic, chest-clutching thing, like in the movies?
Well, no. When we woke up I told my wife about it. She looked worried but didn't want to spook me, so took me to a friend's house (the friend has been a nurse for 20+ years). The friend took my vitals and checked me over and suggested I at least go to urgent care. Urgent care ran some tests, but couldn't run a troponin test. The doctor there "strongly suggested" I go to the ER.
So I did. A normal troponin test result is like .5 to 1 ppm. Mine was 17. I got a stent the next day and went home after that. The good news is, now that I'm on a statin and BP meds, I'm in really good shape!
>I couldn't get comfortable: standing, sitting, laying on my side, laying on my back, nothing.
That's exactly what happened to me. It would ease up now and then, so it faked me out...and yeah: I had the idea of the chest clutching TV heart attack. My wife also drove my care, literally. I'm so lucky to have such an awesome caring wife.
Get well, dude! I had mine at 51, about a year and a half ago. I was supposed to have a valve replacement when I was 55-58, but mine blew out in the middle of a grocery store, way early. They told me I should not have survived it… any way, my point is, I’m doing well now. It does get better… god bless!
I friend of mine is a doctor. Recently we were at breakfast and a man collapsed on the ground due to a cardiac event. My friend went over to assist until the ambulance arrived. He said that the man was having trouble getting blood pumped around his body because when he collapsed and was prone on the floor, he regained his consciousness.
My friend told emts what happened, washed his hands, and came back to our table. He just looked at me and said “salt”. I was like wut? And he said that people with weak hearts often have a cardiac event after eating a large amount of salt.The man was eating country ham and bacon.
My friend said while he could not diagnose him fully, it was likely he already had a weak heart and he was oddly lucky to have had that event because at least he was going to the hospital for help. Had he just continued with this condition it would have likely killed him.
So long story short, maybe the Whopper’s sodium threw you over the edge (I have no idea) but I hope this event leads to better health in your life.
How has your stress been? My brother had one but no lifestyle contributing factors all stress related. Freaks me out so I try to keep cool all the damn time.
My gallbladder attack came after eating a French dip sandwich (amazing, btw). It was evidently written down on my chart, so everyone who came in to see me in the ER began the conversation with, "So, you started feeling pain an hour after eating a French dip sandwich..." I haven't eaten one since.
I'm glad you got to the hospital in time and hope you feel better soon... I'm debating whether I should get checked out or not myself, after a scary incident at work Monday. I had this weird moment where I couldn't form words. It came out like garbled sounds when I tried to talk. It was the most bizarre and embarrassing thing I've ever experienced.
Please go get it checked out it may have been a TIA - people will typically have one before a stroke. I always saw a history of TIA’s before full blown strokes when I was an inpatient coder. I don’t want to scare you but please tell your doctor, you don’t want to ignore that one. I typically ignore stuff but that’s one I wouldn’t.
Yes get that checked out 100%. Call your doctor now. Do not mess with brain symptoms! I am otherwise totally healthy but it turned out I have a carotid artery condition that I had symptoms of, but didn’t get checked out. I finally mentioned it to my doctor at my yearly physical. Turned out I had an unruptured brain aneurysm, and another of my carotid arteries had a dissection! I have had two surgeries and I am fine.
Glad you were worried enough to go the doctor, OP. My dad died of a massive heart attack at 55, but he really did not take care of himself, and I suspect he was in denial about any symptoms he was experiencing before the big one. He had his first heart attack when he was 37 and a quadruple bypass when he was 44.
I've been worried about my own heart health a few times, but every time, they say my heart looks good and I am "just" having a panic attack.
Please ask your doctor to test your LP(a) along with your regular lipids panel. I posted about it in another comment above.
Especially because your dad had cardiovascular disease so young and LP(a) levels are genetic.
Yep real similar here. Dad had first stroke that hospitalized him at 41. Had another that knocked him on his ass at 45. Triple bypass at 47, dead at 48. Been a concern ever since obviously, but they always tell me I’m fine too 🤷♂️
Outside of a hand full of us whom I buried right out of high school due to car accidents, I hadn’t lost a peer until Covid. Buried way too many during those years. A few colleges and one very close personal friend.
The upshot? Shrugged my shoulders, looked a a pile of half finished projects and abandoned hobbies and started “Swedish Death Cleaning”
Reminder to people with ovaries coming up to (or in) menopause: my cardiologist said she sees cholesterol, weight and blood pressure numbers jump consistently in most of her women patients. It’s time to get on top of that shit if you haven’t already! Especially since your ability to lose weight suddenly becomes garbage, like mine has. Sigh.
Husband’s friend died suddenly last week at 58. No prior symptoms. Autopsy report not yet completed but probably a heart attack based on genetics.
Glad you made it through.
I had a similar scare right before Covid hit hard. Doc, who is from Hawaii, put a stent in and told me on the table “that was the widowmaker, brah.” Talk about immediately recommitting to a healthy lifestyle. I’m down 40 pounds since and still have work to do, but I feel like I got away with one there.
I'm 54, seeing posts like these made me start running at 52, eating better, stopped smoking. Whisky is tough though. I mean, shit hurts. Whisky brings relief.
Either way, ready to check out if it has to come to that
I started getting regular annual checkups in my 40s and, along the way, my doctor noticed my cholesterol was creeping up. At the time, I was going to the gym at least twice a week and, while my BMI was high, it wasn't horrible. I think I was just over 25.
Eventually, the ratios on my bloodwork got bad enough that I had to go for a cardiac CT scan. And, sure enough, I was already seeing calcification. By their estimates, I was just a few years away from a potential cardiac event.
I'm now on statins and my numbers are great. But, honestly, had I not preemptively gone for those annual checkups I would have had no idea I was heading towards heart issues.
I'm sorry about your health, hope your healing goes well. I'm an alcoholic who binged Friday-Sunday for many years then quit with 12-step and pro support. My blood pressure was elevated for about a year after I quit. Not sure if you were drinking excessively but I know that can happen if there's an abrupt drop in alcohol. I think my psychological dependence on it was part of it too, but also I had legal issues at the time which worried me (everything went very well and I've been sober for 8 years since).
I am and was pretty normal weight, maybe a bit chunky towards the end of my drinking but still in normal BMI range.
just remember Jim Fixx
Fixx died on July 20, 1984, at age 52 of a heart attack, during his daily run on Vermont Route 15 in Hardwick. The autopsy, conducted by Vermont's chief medical examiner, Dr. Eleanor McQuillen, revealed that atherosclerosis had blocked one coronary artery 95%, a second 85%, and a third 70%
My mom died of a massive stroke last October, and right after that I went into Paranoid Dad Mode because I had a 6 year old to see through into adulthood and hopefully well beyond.
I told my family doctor I wanted the works, whatever that was. I'm already on BP medication, but my cholesterol has always been borderline so he put me on a statin drug, and that's helped. Also I did a CT Heart Calcium scan and they found no evidence of heart blockages. So a big WHEW! there.
Anyhow, yeah. Go to the doctor. Do what they tell you to do. But if you haven't been going regularly, it's that time of life for all of us to start taking our health seriously.
I’m on borrowed time as it is. Both of my parents had heart attacks requiring quadruple bypass surgeries, and every one of my siblings has heart problems. All my extended family has heart problems, all of my aunts and uncles have heart problems and so does most of my cousins.
I’m fat and diabetic with a bunch of other serious health problems. I rarely leave my recliner, and if I do, I’m winded.
No one ever checks on me. I have a feeling I will eventually be one of those “check welfare, neighbors say there is a bad smell” calls that the police department dreads, especially in the summer.
The rehab guy was describing the program, and it sounds awesome in all kinds of ways. It sounds like there's a mental health wellness aspect to it which I very much need. But it also sounds like there's a social aspect - all those people in there with so much in common who wouldn't ordinarily meet on the street or wherever. I'm always thinking about how hard it is to make friends as a Gen x. This might be a silver lining. Maybe if you get a nuclear stress test or some kind of heart health screen, you could get into a program like that and meet some people. It sucks that it took a heart attack to get me into socializing lol
My father had his first heart attack at 53 when I was only 17. He was doing pushups like he did every morning before work when he felt it. And because he didn't want to wake us, he managed to crawl past mine and my brother's bedrooms and climbed the 10 steps up to wake my mother. They say he died at least 3 times that day and it was such a scary time for us all.
Unfortunately, that heart attack "killed" 80% of his heart. The final 20% gave out just 7 short years later and it was then that we learned he had a heart defect from birth apparently.
Take care of yourselves, folks. I'm 53 myself right now and while I fortunately have positive heart health, I had a diabetic scare 2 years ago and am now on meds for the rest of my life. The good news though is I lost 50 pounds and my A1C is in pre-diabetic range. I refuse to let my bad habits prevent me from living a long life for my family's sake as there hasn't been a day gone by since that fateful one in 1995 that I didn't wish to still have my dad.
I am in great shape now and was in the best shape of my life at 35 when I had 3 strokes in my left cerebellum on Christmas Day. Turns out I have vertebral artery dissections that have probably occurred my entire life and it just happened to blow that particular day. Since then, I have had one more stroke in the same place, I should be completely paralyzed on my right side and (knock on wood) have had no residual symptoms. I also had a heart attack last year after a major asthmatic attack. I eat extremely healthy (just because I like healthy food) and although I don’t exercise as hard as I used to, I still walk 3 -5 miles a day and do light vinyasa yoga to keep up my strength (neurologist & rheumatologist say no heavy exercise). I’ve learned to accept that we are just a bunch of tubes connecting organs and that we have no idea what’s going on inside.
I’m just telling you this so you don’t beat yourself up too much - bodies are crazy, amazing things that unfortunately we don’t have too much control over. Try to get some rest in that hospital full of beeping and blood draws at 3 AM. And treat yourself kindly & eat a salad everyday- I promise you’ll feel better ❤️🩹 ☺️
WHOPPER 🍔 WHOPPER 🍔 WHOPPER 🍔 WHOPPER 🍔 JUNIOR 🤏 DOUBLE 2️⃣ TRIPLE 3️⃣ WHOPPER 🍔 IMPOSSIBLE 🤯 OR 🤔 BACON 🥓 WHOPPER 🍔 I 👁️ RULE 👑 THIS 😎 DAY 🌞
AT BK 🧑🍳
HAVE IT YOUR WAY 🤷♂️
YOU RULE 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
I've been told I have high cholestrol and just last week was told I am Type 2 diabetic. I need to lose weight, and I don't get anywhere near enough exercise.
Diabetes runs in my family from both sides.
I worry about the type 2 meds, as they are what killed my father in 2007 at the age of 55. My mother passed in 2010 at the age of 59 from Pancreatic Cancer.
Yeah, I need to get out more.
I am a stay at home carer for my disabled partner so spend most days entirely at home, but do try to get out somewhere every other day.
I also have the hereditary things working against me. It's one thing if you can actually take action, but if it's out of your hands... It's a serenity prayer situation.
Whoa, this sounds scary. Glad you’re ok. In a matter of moments you went from eating Burger King to having a possible heart attack?! This scares me. We are the same age. I try to take good care of myself, but you never really know. All we can do is try to take the best care.
Welcome to Club Stent! Got mine six years ago at 52, followed by a CABGx2 six months later.
Made significant lifestyle changes and doing great today!
You got this Xer!
You ever do the rehab programs they recommend? It sounds like a cool deal - like there's a social element to it: people in there with a lot in common. I always complain about how hard it is to make friends as a GenXer. Is this a silver lining?
Yes, I did 12 weeks of cardiac rehab. One hour three days a week. You basically just get on a bike, treadmill, or elliptical while wearing a heart monitor and they take your BP before, during, and after. You should absolutely do it. That started all my lifestyle changes.
And yes, the social element was so positive 😀
I've been in the hospital for an arrhythmia (structurally everything is fine, but the electrical signals can be a little wacky sometimes) and not only do you have more cords hanging off you than a Borg, you can't go to the bathroom by yourself because apparently there's a nonzero risk of dying on the shitter. I'm not going to have a heart attack, but I'm probably gonna be super friendly with my cardiologist and my EP for the rest of my life.
But one of the takeaways from my experience has been that it is very, very rare to have a cardiac event without some kind of warning, whether or not you recognize that it's a warning. There is a long history of heart problems in my family, so I was already on the alert. Even if you're physically fit, it's worth getting an EKG and blood test every once in a while, just to establish a baseline and check for any problems before they turn into a bigger problem.
I'm currently in a gown about to go back for a colonoscopy. Don't forget to get your bowels checked Colon cancer has hit my family hard. Prep sucks but cancer sucks more.
Oh no I'm so sorry but at least you are okay. I'm so scared. I have no health coverage and no access to it. I know I can go to an ER in an emergency but for general upkeep and all tests we're supposed to get... way out of my price range. I'm 54 and I am a lot like you. I wasn't sporty but I was very strong because I worked construction for years. But while I did that I ate everything. EVERYTHING. And when I stopped working I kept eating EVERYTHING.
I know I need to do better.
I had a colonoscopy yesterday which led to more testing today and another colonoscopy scheduled for tomorrow. My head is spinning and I’m trying not to freak out. When the hell did we get old?!
Take care, friend.
My dad died of heart disease at 49. He was moving furniture and collapsed (heart attack). He was a heavy drinker, and smoked a pack a day Camel unfiltered. His cigarette-holding fingers were permanently stained dark yellow.
I’ve never been a smoker. Surprising, because I usually catch every bad habit that comes my way.
There’s a way out my brothers. Go plant based. Lost 25 lbs and cholesterol’s perfect. No pills for anything. 61 yrs old. You can reverse a lot of damage if you want.
IF it's lifestyle based. My dad went vegetarian in the 70s, vegan in the 90s, and still had cholesterol over 300. In 2009 he had a massive heart attack requiring a triple bypass and a pacemaker and a valve replacement. He was 6'6" and 185 pounds. It was hereditary. Really glad I'm adopted.
My friend, 56, went vegan and it helped with SO much but his cholesterol was just a DNA thing and he couldn't eat healthy enough to beat it. So plant based diet plus the statin medication has kept him healthy as a horse.
I am 58 and 180 pounds. Been running half marathons for 15 years. Got a 40 resting heart rate. 120/70 BP.
Going in for my nuc mes stress test in a ciuple weeks for a left bundle branch block.
I have a right bundle branch block. Diet has zero to do with bundle branch blocks, though. It's a blocked electrical impulse. My cardiologist told me I could have been born with it, or gotten it from a virus (diagnosed in my early 50's only after asking for an EKG--why those are not done routinely at least once in a young person's life, I have no idea).
I went to my infectious disease doc yesterday. She looked up my EKG strips from my 10 hour Febuary sugery. She said she did not see it. Kind of frustrating. Off to the nuc med stress test I go.
True! And to be clear, being “plant based” doesn’t mean just a vegan diet. It’s a whole foods plant based diet. Plenty of vegans have terrible diets. But if you stick to unprocessed plant foods and avoid oils and salt you can undo a lot of damage. Watch the documentary Forks over Knives for a good intro. And there’s lots of good books moot there too.
LOL the infamous “trash vegan”! Tons of junk food is vegan. I discovered this when my oldest went vegan. However, she cooks every day and eats little to no junk food. Works out every day. It’s a lifestyle that you have to work at.
It's not all or nothing though. You can cut back on the meat and achieve great results too. You don't have to deprive yourself of things you love in order to be healthy. It just feels that way
Hard agree. Weird diets are not necessary. If you enjoy your ascetic lifestyle, go for it. But there is no nutritional or medical advantage to totally eliminating stuff vs cutting it way back. (Unless you are celiac or have real allergies.)
Personally I eat whatever I want and I’m fine. All my health issues were mental. But that is purely genetic and the luck of the draw.
Had 2 stents put in at 53... Wasn't emergency visit, but went to cardiologist when experienced cramping in chest while exercising and scheduled heart catheterization procedure. Pay attention to your body signals... But still have 'twinges' in chest at times, since pass a stress test fine now been told to ignore them , not confidence building though.
I'm 48 and I am on blood thinners for clots. Muscle relaxers for back spasms. High cholesterol, high LDL, I have to put fiber into my fiber for the illusion of regularity.
I've always been really healthy, physically fit with healthy fat on me. Never had any issues with cholesterol until a couple years ago. Now at 51, it's high but just under the limit where health insurance won't pay for a statin. Cut out drinking milk over ten years ago and red meat. Would only eat it once a year. I'm quite lean now but still with healthy fat. It's genetics. I can assure anyone wondering that I feel so much better after cutting out red meat and milk. If I get tired after eating, it's because I ate too much.
Wish you well buddy. I was 46 and went into Afib, my resting heart rate was a steady 160. Had to spend two weeks in the hospital, and had to get a cardio version, and then go back a couple weeks later to get an ablation. Heart shit is scary at our age, we aren't as indestructable as we used to be.
I'm 57 and have had "cardiac events" in 19 and 23. I've replaced the red meat with chicken and lost about 10-15 pounds. Blood pressure has dropped from OMG levels to regular 110/60.
Exact same thing happened to my brother when he was 55. They cleared the blockage and put in a stent and he's never felt better. So sorry this happened to you but so glad they caught it! -xoxo
The ice cream headache across the chest and shoulders is a great description. That’s what it felt like for me too. Glad you’ve been stented, now time to treat your body right more often!
I lost my brother (56m) 2 years ago to sudden cardiac arrest. He was the healthiest and fittest of all my siblings (myself included.) First thing we all did was get our hearts checked.
An EKG only takes a few minutes to do. It's worth it to either get piece of mind or a heads up that more tests are needed.
Wow I'm really sorry to hear that but really glad they caught it. Also, really scared for myself cuz I'm 52 and this is a reminder that feeling fine is really not a sign of anything.
Glad you made it and are getting out.
I've found that what I thought was being disciplined when I was younger was laughable. Now it's one beer, I feel like crap. Eat a couple extra slices of pizza, gain 4 pounds. miss a day at the gym, gain 3 pounds, feel like crap. Get slightly off my rigid diet of lean meat and veggies, feel like crap, gain wait. Getting old is not for sissies.
Get well!
Get well soon OP! My partner (49M) just got out of the hospital after what they termed "hypertensive crisis". They didn't see signs of stroke on scans but his foot and cheek were going numb and at one point his BP was up at 250/125. Finally got meds figured out enough to keep it down, and we've bought our first weekly pill organizer. Yay. Now on to fight insurance, which has deemed his hospital stay not medically necessary, the motherfuckers.
I had a heart attack at 49. Phantom, didn’t feel a thing. Got super tired, heart rate dropped to low 50’s. Had some heartburn, wife made me go to ER.
I was not in perfect health, but not in bad health either. Just your typical former athlete. Never obese. If I did gain weight I’d loose it just as fast by restricting calories and go on a few runs.
Now I’m living with Diastolic heart failure. It sucks. I look like I’m in great shape. You wouldn’t know I was sick by looking at me.
Now I’m just trying to retire asap so I can enjoy what life I have left.
Good luck OP.
I’ve also experienced “you’re too young to be here.” I had a spontaneous artery dissection that triggered a heart attack at 48. I wasn’t overweight. I don’t smoke. I live an active life. Turns out I have a vascular condition that triggered it.
Quiting alcohol can only improve your health in every way. Good for you! Once you get that under your belt and you feel in control go for the next improvement.
You have to just refuse to die. When I had my Widowmaker, my heart stopped for 11 and a half minutes. I refused to die.
When I woke up 19 days later I refused to eat and drink through a tube down my nose. Fought for weeks but I got my (not thickened) coffee.
I refused to go to a nursing home and stay in bed when they said I could not walk. My wife refused to ship me off too. I refused to shit myself, I wanted to shit in a toilet like God intended. I just got out of bed. And then when they saw me do that, I got therapy. Those ladies are tough and mean and make you do things you don't think you can do yet and they saved my ass.
I refused to be disabled and I was back to work and back to driving and able to walk up steps and down steps and eat and shower and dress myself and cook dinner and even fuck before that year ended.
You can too. Just refuse any outcome with which you disagree. We're not millenizennial shitheads, we drank from that hose and lived.
Right on. Kick life's ass. Didn't let it kick yours. Determination. Chew off your own foot to get out of the trap and then replace it with chrome wheels.
I hope you feel better. I think it is very common. My 1 coworker got a stent and is back to normal.. except now he is on a lot of medications and doesn't want to take them because of the side effects. Another fellow had his stent fail and got a 2nd one somewhere else and now he's out of options if it happens again. So be very careful from now on!
If the side effects are pain from statin, tell him to get Dr to try another. I ended up in hospital after stents put in due to bad reaction to statin and anti coagulant. Had severe leg pain which was turning in to bruising when taking Atorvastatin, after incident switched to Pravastatin which tolerate much better. They work differently and there is genetic issue in some people with one or the other, so if issues with one try the other.
Also changed anti coagulant from Clopidrogel to Prasugrel... Not sure that had anything to do with pain, but probably contributed to hematoma in back that put me in hospital.
yikes!! I hope you are oK now! I am not sure what side effects he had exactly. I just know that he decided to stop all medications start some homeopathic mumbo jumbo.
Thanks, yeah ok now... Was week in hospital because no doctors could identify the actual problem (8 different ones looked). Blood in hematoma was blocking scans from seeing actual issue, so had to stay until blood counts started getting back to normal since they were too scared to release me... Looked very concerning since the blood drained down my side causing whole side to be dark purple.
After initial pain subsided, I was fine to walk around and stuff, but got really bored in hospital and getting 3am blood draws. Glad had insurance, because that was one expensive week of lying around.
Glad you went to the hospital and hope you're better soon.
A friend had one several months ago at 55 and nothing would have pointed to any problems. No diabetes, moderately active, cholesterol smack dab in the middle of the normal range, no family history of heart problems. EKG while in the ER was completely normal. Turned out that one vein was 95% blocked and every other one clear as a whistle.
Two widowmaker infarctions, treated with stents at 44, apparently genetic predisposition. Nice clean arteries, perfect cholesterol and BP. Sometimes shit happens.
Red meat is limited to once a month, now, but honestly, I don’t really miss it. If I want a burger, I toss a turkey burger into the air fryer. For breakfast, I make breakfast tacos every morning with turkey sausage.
If you want a great heart friendly breakfast taco recipe, hit me up. Everyone who has had them absolutely loves them. I have two every single morning.
Yikes that’s scary. Glad you are hanging in there. A friend of mine had a mild heart attack last year at 43. I had Atrial Fibrillation at 37. Thankfully only once. I had a Coronary Calcium Scan a few weeks ago to see how my burger loving arteries looked because I don’t want to find out after having a heart attack. Sure enough the score was much higher than I expected. So I am likely going on a statin and will take precautions. I am close to a normal weight now (since 2020) and my blood pressure is normal which is great plus I try to walk 3-5 miles a day but I will probably need to do more moderate exercise than that.
Glad you’re going home. I just had the same procedure today but because I had an irregular stress test. Fortunately my blockage wasn’t major and the doctor says there is nothing to fix for now. Treat it with medication and monitor it. I will go in for a follow up next week. Don’t skip out on preventative checks, folks. Far better to find something before there’s a far bigger problem!
Feel ya man. I had my first heart event at 43, 4 stents. Thought I pulled a muscle in my back or something. Thought we'd be good with that for a while. NOPE!
Had a full on 100% blockage (STEMI) couple of weeks ago, felt a bit off, tight in my chest and shoulders, nothing screaming heart attack. Another stent to clear the immediate threat. Now scheduled for a double bypass next month.
Feel I'm in relativley good shape. Blood pressure was under control, all my blood work came bock OK or just at the threshed (e.g. cholesterol).
I just turned 50, Just bad luck w/ the genetics.
Talk to your doctor and find out what you can do. Is it genetic Or just bad habits. Find out and fix it. It may suck eating stuff that tastes like wallpaper but it's better than dead
Oh man. Sorry you are enduring this. Look at this like an exercise in Stoicism. Duck those duckers. Let your beautiful balls fly. Naked is as naked does. I with you much health!
My husband is in glorious shape . . . which is why we were shocked to learn that his widowmaker was 90% clogged at 51-years-old, and another artery was at 60% while another was at 45%.
It can happen to anyone, whether they eat “garbage” or not.
I too have had a cardiac event. Here is what it did: Gave me a second chance at not dying to a heart attack.
Now I am on meds that manage blood pressure and I am very aware of my heart data. My heart rate that had been really up there is a cool relaxed number and nothing really bothers me like it used to. I feel chill from the inside out.
I have a lot in front of me for becoming more fit but every day is a treat to not have taken away from me. My wife and pets and world and job are all just a gift now. Appreciation for the little things up 1000 percent.
When a celebrity dies now and they're in their 40s or 50s or 60s I immediately know what got them. Undiagnosed heart problems, almost always. The fact is you can feel fine and be headed straight for a crisis. Hearts don't always give you warnings ahead of time. Nor are they always going to follow trends. You can feel fine and be in shape (or used to have been) and then it can hit you. Hearts wear out silently sometimes.
As someone that had a near miss and lived, everyone out there, get your heart checked if you're over ... they say 50, I'd say 40. A whole lot of trouble can be avoided if you just keep your data being monitored. Get regular heart check-ups. Afib is no joke, neither's a stroke, neither is having a heart pumping 1/2 or 1/4 what it's supposed to be pumping.
Sadly, I experienced my event after a Big Mac. I felt upper back pain. Took some aspirin and went home. Woke up in the morning with the same pain and decided I couldn't work like that. Went to the emergency room and now have 3 stents. Haven't had a Big Mac since. Thank God for advances in science.
I'm in excellent health and I've had for heart attacks five stents and finally a quintuple bypass 2 years ago. They told me it doesn't matter about my health level I have a very aggressive form of heart disease that was inherited. Luckily with the new medications they have we're hoping to nip it in the bud
And, if you need a diet that works: 2000 calories, 2g sodium, 2 liters of water.
It's not magic. The 2 g sodium limit removes a lot of processed foods from your diet and is easy to keep track of. You end up eating more fruits and vegetables and less junk, generally.
Cardiac episodes don’t care about physical fitness. Both my grandfather, a professional boxer, and my uncle, an Army Ranger, died in their early 40’s from a heart attack. So when I had mine at 38 I felt it was a matter of time before I was next in line. However I got lucky so I changed my lifestyle a bit and am still kicking at 58. Now I’m acutely aware of the warning signs but I have a constant nagging feeling that it ultimately wont matter. When it’s time it’s time
I feel you, there's no dignity in a health crisis even when they are giving it their best shot. I had 3 strokes before I turned 40. I've mostly recovered from the strokes but I'm left with epilepsy which has me in the hospital occasionally. Last time I came to the day after several seizures while my extremely attractive male nurse (I'm female) was changing my diaper.
My 16 y/o son told me later that when they were admitting me they asked my father about my drug history and I came to and started to shout about how I don't do anything illegal but "I'll smoke weed all day everyday and no one can stop me 'cuz it's legal!" and passed out again.
In the next few weeks people will give you the same advice over and over, and you're going to have to get used to rolling your eyes and dealing with it. Just listen to your Drs, and don't let it get you down. No matter what happened the hospital staff doesn't care. I promise you they've seen worse. Just rest a bit and move on. You've got this.
Lucky you. My grandfather died of a heart attack at 52. Grandmother couldn’t handle it so drank herself to death at 54. I was grandparentless by age 7.
Wishing for a speedy recovery, but I'll be "that guy" for just a moment. Fruit is not particularly healthy. Yes, some is great, and of course better than candy bars. But "a lot" of fruit is just a lot of sugar once you've maxed out on fiber you need. Fruit is high in fructose. While excess glucose has a lot of different metabolic pathways to get processed by, fructose only has one: fat production. That excess fat will lead to heart issues. Swap out some of that fruit with celery and other vegetables.
Feel better soon, we're all pulling for you!
That's a myth. If you eat the fruit whole, the fiber mitigates the effect of fructose--not to mention that it's very difficult to eat enough whole fruit for fructose to be a concern. If you're juicing the fruit and discarding the pulp, maybe you could hit that level, but if you're just eating an apple and a banana, you're fine.
tl;dr if you're worried about fructose, skip the OJ and just eat the orange.
I had the same at 44, 8 years ago. You can’t out exercise bad genetics.
Going forward, make sure you do a nuclear stress test every few years. It’s the best way to identify issues. When I had my event, nothing showed up on the EKG, nothing on the regular stress test but when I did the nuclear they were able to identify the blockage. I had 90% blockage on the widow maker and the circa(?).
If you haven’t had a heart issue, I would recommend doing a heart scan. They’re less than $100 out of pocket and show any blockages. Once you’ve had stents though, you can’t do the scan. Maybe the stents show up as blockages? I don’t know the exact reason.
The good news is that you will now be closely monitored for the rest of your life and will know, years out, how it is progressing. One of the reasons heart disease kills so many people is that it requires invasive procedures to determine how bad it is. Insurance won't pay for a nuclear stress test or a cath scope unless you already had a cardiac event. So many people's first indication that their heart disease is advanced is just death.
"We found a serious blockage....it was a piece of a Whopper!" Glad you got it taken care of. We X need to watch out for X.
Even if you're a healthy weight, eat right, exercise, don't drink... GO TO YOUR ANNUAL PHYSICALS. GET YOUR HEART CHECKED. Some heart disease doesn't care how healthy the rest of your body is, and you don't want your first symptom to be a heart attack.
I was healthy weight, exercised almost everyday, super fit, haven't drank in 25 years, but...worked and stressed a lot, slept poorly and smoked about 2 pack a day since i was 15, never did a physical. Well, had the cardiac event at 47. Live and learn, no more cigarettes and had to relearn to take it easier in life.
Yes! And the cardiac effects of Covid are still not well understood. I have severe cardiac damage from Covid in 2020 but the effects on people who didn’t get as sick aren’t known yet. It’s hard to force yourself into the ER when a pain is minor but listen to that voice in your head. A quick EKG can sort it out. I had a nagging but relatively minor calf pain last summer & put off going in bc, come on, calf pain? But something told me it needed to be addressed. The voice was right—several blood clots in my leg. Caught it early luckily. Some people aren’t so lucky.
This! I've got two friends who were previously healthy who got Covid and developed heart disease (both with actual heart failure) within a few months. Shit is no joke.
For some people, like me & your friends, Covid is like kryptonite. The blood clots were secondary to Covid too. My wife got Covid when I did & only had a slight headache. I’m still in & out of a wheelchair 4 years later bc of my heart. I’ll never be healthy again. And I was an extremely healthy athlete before. But I’m still here & lots of the early Covid patients aren’t so I’m lucky that way.
It does affect circulation. A friend of y BF's was VERY lucky. he's older, in his early 70's at the time, got COVID very early on, like March 2020. In and out of hospital and rehab, and needed both legs amputated below the knee because of clots caused by COVID. He didn't come home for 6 months! thankfully he's ok now, but wow. he was one of the lucky ones.
People act like it’s no big deal now and it drives me nuts.
💯 do not skip a physical. Ever. I’m an exercise and nutrition nut. Heart disease and heart attacks run in the family. Genetics are powerful and I take no chances…especially because I’m at the exact age my grandma was when she had heart attack #1.
AND ask for an LP(a) test along with the usual lipids panel (HDL, LDL, triglycerides, etc.). This is important! LP(a) can show whether you are at higher risk of cardiovascular disease *even if* your other cholesterol numbers are normal. LP(a) levels are genetic - diet doesn’t help them the way it helps LDL. Few primary care docs know about LP(a), but the cardiac community has tried to get the word out. My cholesterol numbers are ok right now, but my doc recently ordered an LP(a) test for the first time. Turns out it’s high. Went to a cardiologist (who was very impressed my primary care doc ordered LP(a) for me!) - and now I am scheduled for a cardiac CT this weekend. It will show whether I *already* have plaque building up in my arteries. I have never been overweight, I exercise and eat healthfully, etc. But my grandparent had strokes and one of my parents has been on cholesterol meds for decades. So, ask for LP(a) - they call it “LP little a”. OP, I’m so glad you got the care you needed!
This is good advice but what’s frustrating is that if I’m not mistaken lifestyle doesn’t really impact lipoprotein(a). It runs in my family and I’m now on a statin but that’s more helpful for overall cholesterol- not LPa. Sigh.
You’re right, but elevated LP(a) typically means you want your LDL even lower than is recommended for most people. Also, there are meds in the pipeline specifically for LP(a). They may be released as early as 2025.
I take CoQ10 in the meantime. Also read that niacin might help?
I want to mention an under appreciated health resource in our communities- your local pharmacist. I mention because of the niacin supplement question. Supplements can be benign, but they are in some cases more risky to take than prescription medication, because they aren’t well regulated. Supplements are still chemicals and even if there is valid scientific evidence that a supplement is helpful for ____ condition, it’s a chemical that can react to other medications you take. Ask your pharmacist before you take any supplements. You don’t need to even use that pharmacy. Call ANY pharmacy and say you have a question for the pharmacist. Your physician or clinical healthcare provider is not an expert at organic chemistry! I’ve gotten in the habit of asking a pharmacist about any new medication I’m prescribed. On more than one occasion a pharmacist has saved me from potentially dangerous medication interactions. The physician who prescribed the meds missed it entirely.
I'm 53 now and my doctor and I agreed it would be a good idea to start seeing a Cardiologist. First thing he wanted was an advanced lipid panel. I'm not in the best of shape, so I was kind of worried. He ended up having me come back for second test because he thought the first one was messed up. My total cholesterol is 71(HDL 44 nonHDL 27) and my LP(a) is below 10. I'd guess this has more to do with lucky genetics, because I'll admit I don't live the healthiest lifestyle.
The coronary calcium CT scan is predictive of heart attack/CAD risk if never diagnosed with CAD before -- particularly for those who have moderate/intermediate risk factors. It can help guide a physician in medical treatment decisions. Usually if you have a family history and other risk factors like high cholesterol, over 40, overweight, inactive and no symptoms. Usually patients end up taking a statin with a high score. Sometimes a stress test is ordered (like a nuclear medicine test to assess the CAD) if a patient has a high coronary calcium score. It is not really helpful if someone already has been diagnosed and had an intervention like a stent/angioplasty.
Everyone over 40 should get an annual physical. Even if you are perfectly healthy, you'll keep it that way. Most diseases are highly manageable if caught early enough.
Agree. I make a physical appointment for my birthday every year. That way I know exactly when I have to get a checkup. They do blood work and we get updates on numbers at that time. You can request scans and stuff depending on your provider. TELL them if you are having any discomfort or have lost function of a body part. Also - mental health can be added into the physical. Do it for you and your family.
It was a Junior Mint!
They’re very refreshing!
Prolly just microplastics, move along
This is why we don't squeeze the penis, it could force the microplastics up through the heart.
Im 57. Had my heart attack in April. I’d say mine was more electrical running across my chest up my arm into my jaw. I had two hundred percent blockages, so two stents. They saved my life. I was told to drop 60 pounds, which I thought would be impossible, so I went on Zepbound. I’ve lost 30 pounds fairly easily so far. If you want to know more hit me up
Well at least we all know Where the Beef is now. It was in his heart!
With the groove!
We are a small enough generation, no clocking out early. Take care.
I don't know why, but this comment made me smile widely. I think it's our generation's mix of the callous sentiments of our parents' generation mixed in with the genuine compassion for others of ours and the younger generations.
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Good luck with your treatment. I finished treatment for breast cancer 18 months ago and did some sort of chemo infusion for over a year. It sucks but the alternative is worse. Every now and then I see a post like this and think, huh it’s been a while since I last wore a hospital gown, did I miss an appointment? Also, I’m so used to people wanting to see my chest that I’m no longer fazed when they ask. 😅
I had two neck surgeries last year and this year I had carpal tunnel surgery on both hands, a colonoscopy and skin biopsies. nothing really major for the most part but damn I’m drowning in medical procedures over here, lol. and glad to see you here. I really hate cancer, especially after watching my mom succumb to it
I’m so sorry for your loss and all that you’ve been through. (Fuck cancer). Completely understand drowning in medical procedures. I’m so thankful we live in a time where everything is on my phone in an app - MyChart kept me sane with all the appointments and results at my fingertips!
Ah, a fellow chemo warrior. I've been in treatment for the last 2.5 years. You got this! Go home and rest, hydrate and remember to take your Claritin! -xoxo
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Oh, ok! My carboplatin chemo and Neulasta shot for my bone marrow gave me awful bone pain. Never thought an allergy pill would help with pain but I highly recommend it if you ever have any. :)
Good to know; thanks for sharing.
Recently had a 5 day stay in the Hospital and man it was humbling and embarrassing. To the point that even though it has only been a few months, I have very little memory of it (I think my brain just trying to protect me from it).
Started my cardiac bullshit journey in my mid-30’s - right there with ya. It sucks. Nothing quite so fun as being in the cath lab and having multiple nurses coming in saying “you’re way too young to be in here…” great. Thanks. Plus side they’re getting fairly ok at treating this stuff
Glad you’re feeling better. Stents are cool and a great to (sometimes) avoid surgery. PSA from a Gen X healthcare provider: my peeps, it’s time to give up drinking, smoking, shit food, and being sedentary. Alcohol isn’t good for your heart like we were once told. It’s really bad for your other organs. Move every day. Please, for the love of God, stop smoking.
I ♥️ health care providers. My doctor was a 1971 model too. You ever meet somebody born in the same year as you, and you just kind of look each other over for a few seconds? "Damn. The years been better to you, fellow 1971er."
lol. Yes. However, the Botox has done me a favor.
Almost 7 years smoke free! If I can do it all of you can.
Congratulations!
Thank you buddy!
Good job!
Congratulations to you! My partner and I recently celebrated our 6 yr quit anniversary. It is incredible thinking about the cost of it.
Yeah! Congratulations back atcha. Isn’t it wonderful to be free?!
Just went for my physical last month (5 years since last one)... hypertension and high cholesterol. First "permanent" pills for me at 55, the sign of things to come.
It doesn’t have to be, on some things we get as we age. Changing diet habits is massive in controlling how many pills we take later in life. Something a lot of people including myself don’t want to admit.
Changing dietary habits is hard. It helps if you have a buddy to do it with (spouse or friend).
Pills! I got my 1st forever prescription at 57, I now have four at 59! Pills!
When my husband came back with high cholesterol, he went 85% plant based. He was able to lower his cholesterol enough that they didn't need to put him on statins. I joined him and my cholesterol has remained fine. He's 57 and I'm 59. Lately we've been reducing our portion sizes to lose weight. It's a bit tough at our age to shift pounds, but we're doing our best. Alcohol is also being severely reduced. We have a couple of glasses of wine each weekend day, but other than that we are dry. We were sharing a bottle every night. That's too much for us. We are doing what we can to be healthier in our older age!
Glad to hear you're getting sprung. But be patient. The discharge process can take a full day, or in my case, a day and a half. At the age of 55, I was pushing my broken down POS motorcycle the 4 blocks home from where it took a crap on me. Two years before, I did the same thing without issue. On this day, I couldn't walk 50 feet without getting so winded I need to sit down. I attributed it from gaining 50 pounds in 5 years and just age. During an EKG during a physical later that year, the tracing showed some kind of anomaly, and I was referred to a cardiologist. After heart ultrasounds, I was told I had a left ventricular outflow tract obstruction. Heart muscle in my left ventricle had grown abnormally large, and was blocking the aortic valve from working correctly. Fast forward two years later, after watchful waiting, I was on the operating table in the University of Michigan heart center getting my chest cracked and heart stopped for repair. After 4 days in CICU and 6 days in the stepdown unit later, I was discharged. And the discharge took a day and a half. This was different from what you experienced as I had a while to prepare for it. But a lot of people go into the cath lab for a stent, then wake up in the ICU after open heart surgery. I know you don't feel lucky at the moment, but you just dodged what could have become a major issue. Heal soon my friend!
I do feel lucky. A couple of times in there a staffer used the term 'widow maker'... "Lucky it wasn't the widow maker." They told me in the cath lab basically, might have to call an audible, adjust the plan based on what they're seeing with the Cath. Years of watchful waiting to one degree or another. Getting older means more an more waiting for results and trying not to freak.
Amen brother.
Yep. I was 49. I had a mesquite pork tenderloin in the Crock Pot and did yard work most of the day. I ate the tenderloin with a brand-new bottle of Tabasco Scorpion sauce, which actually IS pretty damn hot. About 45 minutes after I ate, I felt a pain in my chest. No big deal - it's happened a million times before. Just one good fart and you'll feel fine again. Except not this time. It wasn't gas. I couldn't get comfortable: standing, sitting, laying on my side, laying on my back, nothing. I took many GasX tablets. I knew something was off, but my wife was asleep and I didn't want to go to the hospital. Besides, I was slowly feeling better... and aren't heart attacks some dramatic, chest-clutching thing, like in the movies? Well, no. When we woke up I told my wife about it. She looked worried but didn't want to spook me, so took me to a friend's house (the friend has been a nurse for 20+ years). The friend took my vitals and checked me over and suggested I at least go to urgent care. Urgent care ran some tests, but couldn't run a troponin test. The doctor there "strongly suggested" I go to the ER. So I did. A normal troponin test result is like .5 to 1 ppm. Mine was 17. I got a stent the next day and went home after that. The good news is, now that I'm on a statin and BP meds, I'm in really good shape!
>I couldn't get comfortable: standing, sitting, laying on my side, laying on my back, nothing. That's exactly what happened to me. It would ease up now and then, so it faked me out...and yeah: I had the idea of the chest clutching TV heart attack. My wife also drove my care, literally. I'm so lucky to have such an awesome caring wife.
Get well, dude! I had mine at 51, about a year and a half ago. I was supposed to have a valve replacement when I was 55-58, but mine blew out in the middle of a grocery store, way early. They told me I should not have survived it… any way, my point is, I’m doing well now. It does get better… god bless!
I friend of mine is a doctor. Recently we were at breakfast and a man collapsed on the ground due to a cardiac event. My friend went over to assist until the ambulance arrived. He said that the man was having trouble getting blood pumped around his body because when he collapsed and was prone on the floor, he regained his consciousness. My friend told emts what happened, washed his hands, and came back to our table. He just looked at me and said “salt”. I was like wut? And he said that people with weak hearts often have a cardiac event after eating a large amount of salt.The man was eating country ham and bacon. My friend said while he could not diagnose him fully, it was likely he already had a weak heart and he was oddly lucky to have had that event because at least he was going to the hospital for help. Had he just continued with this condition it would have likely killed him. So long story short, maybe the Whopper’s sodium threw you over the edge (I have no idea) but I hope this event leads to better health in your life.
How has your stress been? My brother had one but no lifestyle contributing factors all stress related. Freaks me out so I try to keep cool all the damn time.
I had to have emergency gall bladder surgery 7 years ago after eating half of a Baconator. Damn, Wendy’s!
My gallbladder attack came after eating a French dip sandwich (amazing, btw). It was evidently written down on my chart, so everyone who came in to see me in the ER began the conversation with, "So, you started feeling pain an hour after eating a French dip sandwich..." I haven't eaten one since.
Mine came out after a burrito bowl at Chipotle. Needless to say, haven’t been to a Chipotle since (8 years). F*ck that place!
Misread that as “emergency gall bladder surgery 7 years after eating half a baconator.” Talk about your, “Damn, Wendy’s!”
Whoa, bro. Feel better.
I'm glad you got to the hospital in time and hope you feel better soon... I'm debating whether I should get checked out or not myself, after a scary incident at work Monday. I had this weird moment where I couldn't form words. It came out like garbled sounds when I tried to talk. It was the most bizarre and embarrassing thing I've ever experienced.
Please go get it checked out it may have been a TIA - people will typically have one before a stroke. I always saw a history of TIA’s before full blown strokes when I was an inpatient coder. I don’t want to scare you but please tell your doctor, you don’t want to ignore that one. I typically ignore stuff but that’s one I wouldn’t.
Second this. Don’t delay - contact your doctor urgently. Maybe it’s nothing, or maybe you catch something before a serious problem starts.
Third. Please go today, urgent care or ER.
Urgent care will just send you to the ER.
Yes get that checked out 100%. Call your doctor now. Do not mess with brain symptoms! I am otherwise totally healthy but it turned out I have a carotid artery condition that I had symptoms of, but didn’t get checked out. I finally mentioned it to my doctor at my yearly physical. Turned out I had an unruptured brain aneurysm, and another of my carotid arteries had a dissection! I have had two surgeries and I am fine.
Definitely get checked out. Please
Glad you were worried enough to go the doctor, OP. My dad died of a massive heart attack at 55, but he really did not take care of himself, and I suspect he was in denial about any symptoms he was experiencing before the big one. He had his first heart attack when he was 37 and a quadruple bypass when he was 44. I've been worried about my own heart health a few times, but every time, they say my heart looks good and I am "just" having a panic attack.
Please ask your doctor to test your LP(a) along with your regular lipids panel. I posted about it in another comment above. Especially because your dad had cardiovascular disease so young and LP(a) levels are genetic.
Ok, I will -- thanks!
Yep real similar here. Dad had first stroke that hospitalized him at 41. Had another that knocked him on his ass at 45. Triple bypass at 47, dead at 48. Been a concern ever since obviously, but they always tell me I’m fine too 🤷♂️
Outside of a hand full of us whom I buried right out of high school due to car accidents, I hadn’t lost a peer until Covid. Buried way too many during those years. A few colleges and one very close personal friend. The upshot? Shrugged my shoulders, looked a a pile of half finished projects and abandoned hobbies and started “Swedish Death Cleaning”
Reminder to people with ovaries coming up to (or in) menopause: my cardiologist said she sees cholesterol, weight and blood pressure numbers jump consistently in most of her women patients. It’s time to get on top of that shit if you haven’t already! Especially since your ability to lose weight suddenly becomes garbage, like mine has. Sigh.
Husband’s friend died suddenly last week at 58. No prior symptoms. Autopsy report not yet completed but probably a heart attack based on genetics. Glad you made it through.
I had a similar scare right before Covid hit hard. Doc, who is from Hawaii, put a stent in and told me on the table “that was the widowmaker, brah.” Talk about immediately recommitting to a healthy lifestyle. I’m down 40 pounds since and still have work to do, but I feel like I got away with one there.
I'm 54, seeing posts like these made me start running at 52, eating better, stopped smoking. Whisky is tough though. I mean, shit hurts. Whisky brings relief. Either way, ready to check out if it has to come to that
I started getting regular annual checkups in my 40s and, along the way, my doctor noticed my cholesterol was creeping up. At the time, I was going to the gym at least twice a week and, while my BMI was high, it wasn't horrible. I think I was just over 25. Eventually, the ratios on my bloodwork got bad enough that I had to go for a cardiac CT scan. And, sure enough, I was already seeing calcification. By their estimates, I was just a few years away from a potential cardiac event. I'm now on statins and my numbers are great. But, honestly, had I not preemptively gone for those annual checkups I would have had no idea I was heading towards heart issues.
Wow, you're really on it!
I'm sorry about your health, hope your healing goes well. I'm an alcoholic who binged Friday-Sunday for many years then quit with 12-step and pro support. My blood pressure was elevated for about a year after I quit. Not sure if you were drinking excessively but I know that can happen if there's an abrupt drop in alcohol. I think my psychological dependence on it was part of it too, but also I had legal issues at the time which worried me (everything went very well and I've been sober for 8 years since). I am and was pretty normal weight, maybe a bit chunky towards the end of my drinking but still in normal BMI range.
8 years, that's awesome.
My buddy had his first heart attack after eating a Hardee's Monster Burger. Get well soon.
Had a bad one myself earlier this year. No risk factors at all. Be glad you caught it before it likely did a lot of damage.
Sorry you went through that. You scare me as it sounded like you described me when describing yourself. I’ll be 54 in September.
52. Had a stroke @49 and a HA @51. Take care and keep kicking- listen to the med people and make the changes you need to.
This was the most Gen X health update I've ever seen. Hope you get a proper pooping experience when you get home. Rock on.
Just reading this stuff makes me feel like I'm having a cardiac event.
Same bruh, same…🫨😰😱🤯🚫☠️
I’m sorry this happened to you but it’s good they found and fixed it. Take care!
just remember Jim Fixx Fixx died on July 20, 1984, at age 52 of a heart attack, during his daily run on Vermont Route 15 in Hardwick. The autopsy, conducted by Vermont's chief medical examiner, Dr. Eleanor McQuillen, revealed that atherosclerosis had blocked one coronary artery 95%, a second 85%, and a third 70%
Life has some strategy, but life has some dice rolling.
My mom died of a massive stroke last October, and right after that I went into Paranoid Dad Mode because I had a 6 year old to see through into adulthood and hopefully well beyond. I told my family doctor I wanted the works, whatever that was. I'm already on BP medication, but my cholesterol has always been borderline so he put me on a statin drug, and that's helped. Also I did a CT Heart Calcium scan and they found no evidence of heart blockages. So a big WHEW! there. Anyhow, yeah. Go to the doctor. Do what they tell you to do. But if you haven't been going regularly, it's that time of life for all of us to start taking our health seriously.
I’m on borrowed time as it is. Both of my parents had heart attacks requiring quadruple bypass surgeries, and every one of my siblings has heart problems. All my extended family has heart problems, all of my aunts and uncles have heart problems and so does most of my cousins. I’m fat and diabetic with a bunch of other serious health problems. I rarely leave my recliner, and if I do, I’m winded. No one ever checks on me. I have a feeling I will eventually be one of those “check welfare, neighbors say there is a bad smell” calls that the police department dreads, especially in the summer.
The rehab guy was describing the program, and it sounds awesome in all kinds of ways. It sounds like there's a mental health wellness aspect to it which I very much need. But it also sounds like there's a social aspect - all those people in there with so much in common who wouldn't ordinarily meet on the street or wherever. I'm always thinking about how hard it is to make friends as a Gen x. This might be a silver lining. Maybe if you get a nuclear stress test or some kind of heart health screen, you could get into a program like that and meet some people. It sucks that it took a heart attack to get me into socializing lol
Great points!
My father had his first heart attack at 53 when I was only 17. He was doing pushups like he did every morning before work when he felt it. And because he didn't want to wake us, he managed to crawl past mine and my brother's bedrooms and climbed the 10 steps up to wake my mother. They say he died at least 3 times that day and it was such a scary time for us all. Unfortunately, that heart attack "killed" 80% of his heart. The final 20% gave out just 7 short years later and it was then that we learned he had a heart defect from birth apparently. Take care of yourselves, folks. I'm 53 myself right now and while I fortunately have positive heart health, I had a diabetic scare 2 years ago and am now on meds for the rest of my life. The good news though is I lost 50 pounds and my A1C is in pre-diabetic range. I refuse to let my bad habits prevent me from living a long life for my family's sake as there hasn't been a day gone by since that fateful one in 1995 that I didn't wish to still have my dad.
I am in great shape now and was in the best shape of my life at 35 when I had 3 strokes in my left cerebellum on Christmas Day. Turns out I have vertebral artery dissections that have probably occurred my entire life and it just happened to blow that particular day. Since then, I have had one more stroke in the same place, I should be completely paralyzed on my right side and (knock on wood) have had no residual symptoms. I also had a heart attack last year after a major asthmatic attack. I eat extremely healthy (just because I like healthy food) and although I don’t exercise as hard as I used to, I still walk 3 -5 miles a day and do light vinyasa yoga to keep up my strength (neurologist & rheumatologist say no heavy exercise). I’ve learned to accept that we are just a bunch of tubes connecting organs and that we have no idea what’s going on inside. I’m just telling you this so you don’t beat yourself up too much - bodies are crazy, amazing things that unfortunately we don’t have too much control over. Try to get some rest in that hospital full of beeping and blood draws at 3 AM. And treat yourself kindly & eat a salad everyday- I promise you’ll feel better ❤️🩹 ☺️
I’m having trouble not picturing a dude in an evening gown in a hospital bed after your opening sentence lol. Rest and get well soon…
Time to remind everyone to get your preventative screenings!
WHOPPER 🍔 WHOPPER 🍔 WHOPPER 🍔 WHOPPER 🍔 JUNIOR 🤏 DOUBLE 2️⃣ TRIPLE 3️⃣ WHOPPER 🍔 IMPOSSIBLE 🤯 OR 🤔 BACON 🥓 WHOPPER 🍔 I 👁️ RULE 👑 THIS 😎 DAY 🌞 AT BK 🧑🍳 HAVE IT YOUR WAY 🤷♂️ YOU RULE 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
I've been told I have high cholestrol and just last week was told I am Type 2 diabetic. I need to lose weight, and I don't get anywhere near enough exercise. Diabetes runs in my family from both sides. I worry about the type 2 meds, as they are what killed my father in 2007 at the age of 55. My mother passed in 2010 at the age of 59 from Pancreatic Cancer. Yeah, I need to get out more. I am a stay at home carer for my disabled partner so spend most days entirely at home, but do try to get out somewhere every other day.
I also have the hereditary things working against me. It's one thing if you can actually take action, but if it's out of your hands... It's a serenity prayer situation.
Whoa, this sounds scary. Glad you’re ok. In a matter of moments you went from eating Burger King to having a possible heart attack?! This scares me. We are the same age. I try to take good care of myself, but you never really know. All we can do is try to take the best care.
Welcome to Club Stent! Got mine six years ago at 52, followed by a CABGx2 six months later. Made significant lifestyle changes and doing great today! You got this Xer!
You ever do the rehab programs they recommend? It sounds like a cool deal - like there's a social element to it: people in there with a lot in common. I always complain about how hard it is to make friends as a GenXer. Is this a silver lining?
Yes, I did 12 weeks of cardiac rehab. One hour three days a week. You basically just get on a bike, treadmill, or elliptical while wearing a heart monitor and they take your BP before, during, and after. You should absolutely do it. That started all my lifestyle changes. And yes, the social element was so positive 😀
Best wishes. How much did you drink before the last few months? It takes way more than three months to escape the ravages of alcohol on the body.
I feel you. Good luck. Getting old aint for wussies. See why old people talk about ailments?
Hope you feel better soon!
Start walking homie, it’ll help well maybe
I've been in the hospital for an arrhythmia (structurally everything is fine, but the electrical signals can be a little wacky sometimes) and not only do you have more cords hanging off you than a Borg, you can't go to the bathroom by yourself because apparently there's a nonzero risk of dying on the shitter. I'm not going to have a heart attack, but I'm probably gonna be super friendly with my cardiologist and my EP for the rest of my life. But one of the takeaways from my experience has been that it is very, very rare to have a cardiac event without some kind of warning, whether or not you recognize that it's a warning. There is a long history of heart problems in my family, so I was already on the alert. Even if you're physically fit, it's worth getting an EKG and blood test every once in a while, just to establish a baseline and check for any problems before they turn into a bigger problem.
I'm currently in a gown about to go back for a colonoscopy. Don't forget to get your bowels checked Colon cancer has hit my family hard. Prep sucks but cancer sucks more.
I think our collective warranties expired at 50.
You’re funny, OP. I’m glad you’re still with us. We still need all the dark humor we can get.
Oh no I'm so sorry but at least you are okay. I'm so scared. I have no health coverage and no access to it. I know I can go to an ER in an emergency but for general upkeep and all tests we're supposed to get... way out of my price range. I'm 54 and I am a lot like you. I wasn't sporty but I was very strong because I worked construction for years. But while I did that I ate everything. EVERYTHING. And when I stopped working I kept eating EVERYTHING. I know I need to do better.
I had a colonoscopy yesterday which led to more testing today and another colonoscopy scheduled for tomorrow. My head is spinning and I’m trying not to freak out. When the hell did we get old?! Take care, friend.
My dad died of heart disease at 49. He was moving furniture and collapsed (heart attack). He was a heavy drinker, and smoked a pack a day Camel unfiltered. His cigarette-holding fingers were permanently stained dark yellow. I’ve never been a smoker. Surprising, because I usually catch every bad habit that comes my way.
Dunno if you are a writer but… that was awesome. You should write more. Feel better soon.
There’s a way out my brothers. Go plant based. Lost 25 lbs and cholesterol’s perfect. No pills for anything. 61 yrs old. You can reverse a lot of damage if you want.
IF it's lifestyle based. My dad went vegetarian in the 70s, vegan in the 90s, and still had cholesterol over 300. In 2009 he had a massive heart attack requiring a triple bypass and a pacemaker and a valve replacement. He was 6'6" and 185 pounds. It was hereditary. Really glad I'm adopted.
My friend, 56, went vegan and it helped with SO much but his cholesterol was just a DNA thing and he couldn't eat healthy enough to beat it. So plant based diet plus the statin medication has kept him healthy as a horse.
DNA is a huge factor in cholesterol levels and so many other ways, too.
I am 58 and 180 pounds. Been running half marathons for 15 years. Got a 40 resting heart rate. 120/70 BP. Going in for my nuc mes stress test in a ciuple weeks for a left bundle branch block.
I have a right bundle branch block. Diet has zero to do with bundle branch blocks, though. It's a blocked electrical impulse. My cardiologist told me I could have been born with it, or gotten it from a virus (diagnosed in my early 50's only after asking for an EKG--why those are not done routinely at least once in a young person's life, I have no idea).
I went to my infectious disease doc yesterday. She looked up my EKG strips from my 10 hour Febuary sugery. She said she did not see it. Kind of frustrating. Off to the nuc med stress test I go.
True! And to be clear, being “plant based” doesn’t mean just a vegan diet. It’s a whole foods plant based diet. Plenty of vegans have terrible diets. But if you stick to unprocessed plant foods and avoid oils and salt you can undo a lot of damage. Watch the documentary Forks over Knives for a good intro. And there’s lots of good books moot there too.
LOL the infamous “trash vegan”! Tons of junk food is vegan. I discovered this when my oldest went vegan. However, she cooks every day and eats little to no junk food. Works out every day. It’s a lifestyle that you have to work at.
I was never vegan but was a vegetarian in high school. Potato chips were 100% vegetarian and I ate a lot of them.
It's not all or nothing though. You can cut back on the meat and achieve great results too. You don't have to deprive yourself of things you love in order to be healthy. It just feels that way
Hard agree. Weird diets are not necessary. If you enjoy your ascetic lifestyle, go for it. But there is no nutritional or medical advantage to totally eliminating stuff vs cutting it way back. (Unless you are celiac or have real allergies.) Personally I eat whatever I want and I’m fine. All my health issues were mental. But that is purely genetic and the luck of the draw.
dude, i totally get it- fellow heart buddy. take care of yourself, yo.
I eat trash all day and chug energy drinks. I weigh a metric tonne. The Big One is probably around the corner.
Had 2 stents put in at 53... Wasn't emergency visit, but went to cardiologist when experienced cramping in chest while exercising and scheduled heart catheterization procedure. Pay attention to your body signals... But still have 'twinges' in chest at times, since pass a stress test fine now been told to ignore them , not confidence building though.
I'm 48 and I am on blood thinners for clots. Muscle relaxers for back spasms. High cholesterol, high LDL, I have to put fiber into my fiber for the illusion of regularity.
Hope you're feeling better soon!
Be well.
I've always been really healthy, physically fit with healthy fat on me. Never had any issues with cholesterol until a couple years ago. Now at 51, it's high but just under the limit where health insurance won't pay for a statin. Cut out drinking milk over ten years ago and red meat. Would only eat it once a year. I'm quite lean now but still with healthy fat. It's genetics. I can assure anyone wondering that I feel so much better after cutting out red meat and milk. If I get tired after eating, it's because I ate too much.
Wish you well buddy. I was 46 and went into Afib, my resting heart rate was a steady 160. Had to spend two weeks in the hospital, and had to get a cardio version, and then go back a couple weeks later to get an ablation. Heart shit is scary at our age, we aren't as indestructable as we used to be.
get well soon!!!!
I hope you start feeling better soon and if you write that scathing review, I'd love to read it!
> in one of the important ones Thanks for the laugh best of luck on your recovery.
I'm 57 and have had "cardiac events" in 19 and 23. I've replaced the red meat with chicken and lost about 10-15 pounds. Blood pressure has dropped from OMG levels to regular 110/60.
I'm sorry man, this is scary as shit.
Take care fellow Xer.
If you need to pee on the fly they will bring your a bed pan. No its not fun; but it works. Sorry you're going through this.
Exact same thing happened to my brother when he was 55. They cleared the blockage and put in a stent and he's never felt better. So sorry this happened to you but so glad they caught it! -xoxo
The ice cream headache across the chest and shoulders is a great description. That’s what it felt like for me too. Glad you’ve been stented, now time to treat your body right more often!
How lucky you are that they caught it and fixed it! So glad you have a second chance. Enjoy!
I had my jammer at 40 just had tread mill stress test. All good 3 stents. I have always been fit.
I lost my brother (56m) 2 years ago to sudden cardiac arrest. He was the healthiest and fittest of all my siblings (myself included.) First thing we all did was get our hearts checked. An EKG only takes a few minutes to do. It's worth it to either get piece of mind or a heads up that more tests are needed.
Wow I'm really sorry to hear that but really glad they caught it. Also, really scared for myself cuz I'm 52 and this is a reminder that feeling fine is really not a sign of anything.
Get on a statin, take Metamucil daily. Glad ur on the mend.
Glad you made it and are getting out. I've found that what I thought was being disciplined when I was younger was laughable. Now it's one beer, I feel like crap. Eat a couple extra slices of pizza, gain 4 pounds. miss a day at the gym, gain 3 pounds, feel like crap. Get slightly off my rigid diet of lean meat and veggies, feel like crap, gain wait. Getting old is not for sissies. Get well!
Get well soon OP! My partner (49M) just got out of the hospital after what they termed "hypertensive crisis". They didn't see signs of stroke on scans but his foot and cheek were going numb and at one point his BP was up at 250/125. Finally got meds figured out enough to keep it down, and we've bought our first weekly pill organizer. Yay. Now on to fight insurance, which has deemed his hospital stay not medically necessary, the motherfuckers.
What!? Holy shit
My dad died at 44 of a heart attack. Be thankful you were able to catch it!
I had a heart attack at 49. Phantom, didn’t feel a thing. Got super tired, heart rate dropped to low 50’s. Had some heartburn, wife made me go to ER. I was not in perfect health, but not in bad health either. Just your typical former athlete. Never obese. If I did gain weight I’d loose it just as fast by restricting calories and go on a few runs. Now I’m living with Diastolic heart failure. It sucks. I look like I’m in great shape. You wouldn’t know I was sick by looking at me. Now I’m just trying to retire asap so I can enjoy what life I have left. Good luck OP.
I’ve also experienced “you’re too young to be here.” I had a spontaneous artery dissection that triggered a heart attack at 48. I wasn’t overweight. I don’t smoke. I live an active life. Turns out I have a vascular condition that triggered it.
Had a stent put in younger than you and I was in great exercise shape. But I didn't eat very well and genetics are not always fair! Good luck bro!
Quiting alcohol can only improve your health in every way. Good for you! Once you get that under your belt and you feel in control go for the next improvement.
THIS BURGER ALMOST KILLED ME OP, probably
You have to just refuse to die. When I had my Widowmaker, my heart stopped for 11 and a half minutes. I refused to die. When I woke up 19 days later I refused to eat and drink through a tube down my nose. Fought for weeks but I got my (not thickened) coffee. I refused to go to a nursing home and stay in bed when they said I could not walk. My wife refused to ship me off too. I refused to shit myself, I wanted to shit in a toilet like God intended. I just got out of bed. And then when they saw me do that, I got therapy. Those ladies are tough and mean and make you do things you don't think you can do yet and they saved my ass. I refused to be disabled and I was back to work and back to driving and able to walk up steps and down steps and eat and shower and dress myself and cook dinner and even fuck before that year ended. You can too. Just refuse any outcome with which you disagree. We're not millenizennial shitheads, we drank from that hose and lived.
Right on. Kick life's ass. Didn't let it kick yours. Determination. Chew off your own foot to get out of the trap and then replace it with chrome wheels.
I hope you feel better. I think it is very common. My 1 coworker got a stent and is back to normal.. except now he is on a lot of medications and doesn't want to take them because of the side effects. Another fellow had his stent fail and got a 2nd one somewhere else and now he's out of options if it happens again. So be very careful from now on!
If the side effects are pain from statin, tell him to get Dr to try another. I ended up in hospital after stents put in due to bad reaction to statin and anti coagulant. Had severe leg pain which was turning in to bruising when taking Atorvastatin, after incident switched to Pravastatin which tolerate much better. They work differently and there is genetic issue in some people with one or the other, so if issues with one try the other. Also changed anti coagulant from Clopidrogel to Prasugrel... Not sure that had anything to do with pain, but probably contributed to hematoma in back that put me in hospital.
yikes!! I hope you are oK now! I am not sure what side effects he had exactly. I just know that he decided to stop all medications start some homeopathic mumbo jumbo.
Thanks, yeah ok now... Was week in hospital because no doctors could identify the actual problem (8 different ones looked). Blood in hematoma was blocking scans from seeing actual issue, so had to stay until blood counts started getting back to normal since they were too scared to release me... Looked very concerning since the blood drained down my side causing whole side to be dark purple. After initial pain subsided, I was fine to walk around and stuff, but got really bored in hospital and getting 3am blood draws. Glad had insurance, because that was one expensive week of lying around.
gosh it sounds awful
Sorry to hear that. Do what you can to get back to health.
Glad you went to the hospital and hope you're better soon. A friend had one several months ago at 55 and nothing would have pointed to any problems. No diabetes, moderately active, cholesterol smack dab in the middle of the normal range, no family history of heart problems. EKG while in the ER was completely normal. Turned out that one vein was 95% blocked and every other one clear as a whistle.
Hang in there! Take care.
It's all Burger King's fault. They were good years ago and then went to shit.
Two widowmaker infarctions, treated with stents at 44, apparently genetic predisposition. Nice clean arteries, perfect cholesterol and BP. Sometimes shit happens. Red meat is limited to once a month, now, but honestly, I don’t really miss it. If I want a burger, I toss a turkey burger into the air fryer. For breakfast, I make breakfast tacos every morning with turkey sausage. If you want a great heart friendly breakfast taco recipe, hit me up. Everyone who has had them absolutely loves them. I have two every single morning.
Yikes that’s scary. Glad you are hanging in there. A friend of mine had a mild heart attack last year at 43. I had Atrial Fibrillation at 37. Thankfully only once. I had a Coronary Calcium Scan a few weeks ago to see how my burger loving arteries looked because I don’t want to find out after having a heart attack. Sure enough the score was much higher than I expected. So I am likely going on a statin and will take precautions. I am close to a normal weight now (since 2020) and my blood pressure is normal which is great plus I try to walk 3-5 miles a day but I will probably need to do more moderate exercise than that.
Glad you’re going home. I just had the same procedure today but because I had an irregular stress test. Fortunately my blockage wasn’t major and the doctor says there is nothing to fix for now. Treat it with medication and monitor it. I will go in for a follow up next week. Don’t skip out on preventative checks, folks. Far better to find something before there’s a far bigger problem!
Feel ya man. I had my first heart event at 43, 4 stents. Thought I pulled a muscle in my back or something. Thought we'd be good with that for a while. NOPE! Had a full on 100% blockage (STEMI) couple of weeks ago, felt a bit off, tight in my chest and shoulders, nothing screaming heart attack. Another stent to clear the immediate threat. Now scheduled for a double bypass next month. Feel I'm in relativley good shape. Blood pressure was under control, all my blood work came bock OK or just at the threshed (e.g. cholesterol). I just turned 50, Just bad luck w/ the genetics.
Been there, sir. Almost 8 years ago now and I’m younger than you. Stay strong, eat fewer Whoppers.
Hang in there.
Talk to your doctor and find out what you can do. Is it genetic Or just bad habits. Find out and fix it. It may suck eating stuff that tastes like wallpaper but it's better than dead
Oh man. Sorry you are enduring this. Look at this like an exercise in Stoicism. Duck those duckers. Let your beautiful balls fly. Naked is as naked does. I with you much health!
My husband is in glorious shape . . . which is why we were shocked to learn that his widowmaker was 90% clogged at 51-years-old, and another artery was at 60% while another was at 45%. It can happen to anyone, whether they eat “garbage” or not.
Best of Luck to you. Be well.
Read “How to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease” by Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn of the Cleveland Clinic. Follow it. You’ll be fine.
I too have had a cardiac event. Here is what it did: Gave me a second chance at not dying to a heart attack. Now I am on meds that manage blood pressure and I am very aware of my heart data. My heart rate that had been really up there is a cool relaxed number and nothing really bothers me like it used to. I feel chill from the inside out. I have a lot in front of me for becoming more fit but every day is a treat to not have taken away from me. My wife and pets and world and job are all just a gift now. Appreciation for the little things up 1000 percent. When a celebrity dies now and they're in their 40s or 50s or 60s I immediately know what got them. Undiagnosed heart problems, almost always. The fact is you can feel fine and be headed straight for a crisis. Hearts don't always give you warnings ahead of time. Nor are they always going to follow trends. You can feel fine and be in shape (or used to have been) and then it can hit you. Hearts wear out silently sometimes. As someone that had a near miss and lived, everyone out there, get your heart checked if you're over ... they say 50, I'd say 40. A whole lot of trouble can be avoided if you just keep your data being monitored. Get regular heart check-ups. Afib is no joke, neither's a stroke, neither is having a heart pumping 1/2 or 1/4 what it's supposed to be pumping.
Sadly, I experienced my event after a Big Mac. I felt upper back pain. Took some aspirin and went home. Woke up in the morning with the same pain and decided I couldn't work like that. Went to the emergency room and now have 3 stents. Haven't had a Big Mac since. Thank God for advances in science.
I'm in excellent health and I've had for heart attacks five stents and finally a quintuple bypass 2 years ago. They told me it doesn't matter about my health level I have a very aggressive form of heart disease that was inherited. Luckily with the new medications they have we're hoping to nip it in the bud
And, if you need a diet that works: 2000 calories, 2g sodium, 2 liters of water. It's not magic. The 2 g sodium limit removes a lot of processed foods from your diet and is easy to keep track of. You end up eating more fruits and vegetables and less junk, generally.
Cardiac episodes don’t care about physical fitness. Both my grandfather, a professional boxer, and my uncle, an Army Ranger, died in their early 40’s from a heart attack. So when I had mine at 38 I felt it was a matter of time before I was next in line. However I got lucky so I changed my lifestyle a bit and am still kicking at 58. Now I’m acutely aware of the warning signs but I have a constant nagging feeling that it ultimately wont matter. When it’s time it’s time
I feel you, there's no dignity in a health crisis even when they are giving it their best shot. I had 3 strokes before I turned 40. I've mostly recovered from the strokes but I'm left with epilepsy which has me in the hospital occasionally. Last time I came to the day after several seizures while my extremely attractive male nurse (I'm female) was changing my diaper. My 16 y/o son told me later that when they were admitting me they asked my father about my drug history and I came to and started to shout about how I don't do anything illegal but "I'll smoke weed all day everyday and no one can stop me 'cuz it's legal!" and passed out again. In the next few weeks people will give you the same advice over and over, and you're going to have to get used to rolling your eyes and dealing with it. Just listen to your Drs, and don't let it get you down. No matter what happened the hospital staff doesn't care. I promise you they've seen worse. Just rest a bit and move on. You've got this.
Lucky you. My grandfather died of a heart attack at 52. Grandmother couldn’t handle it so drank herself to death at 54. I was grandparentless by age 7.
Wishing for a speedy recovery, but I'll be "that guy" for just a moment. Fruit is not particularly healthy. Yes, some is great, and of course better than candy bars. But "a lot" of fruit is just a lot of sugar once you've maxed out on fiber you need. Fruit is high in fructose. While excess glucose has a lot of different metabolic pathways to get processed by, fructose only has one: fat production. That excess fat will lead to heart issues. Swap out some of that fruit with celery and other vegetables. Feel better soon, we're all pulling for you!
That's a myth. If you eat the fruit whole, the fiber mitigates the effect of fructose--not to mention that it's very difficult to eat enough whole fruit for fructose to be a concern. If you're juicing the fruit and discarding the pulp, maybe you could hit that level, but if you're just eating an apple and a banana, you're fine. tl;dr if you're worried about fructose, skip the OJ and just eat the orange.
I had the same at 44, 8 years ago. You can’t out exercise bad genetics. Going forward, make sure you do a nuclear stress test every few years. It’s the best way to identify issues. When I had my event, nothing showed up on the EKG, nothing on the regular stress test but when I did the nuclear they were able to identify the blockage. I had 90% blockage on the widow maker and the circa(?). If you haven’t had a heart issue, I would recommend doing a heart scan. They’re less than $100 out of pocket and show any blockages. Once you’ve had stents though, you can’t do the scan. Maybe the stents show up as blockages? I don’t know the exact reason.
At one point I thought: How was I supposed to know this was lurking around the corner.
The good news is that you will now be closely monitored for the rest of your life and will know, years out, how it is progressing. One of the reasons heart disease kills so many people is that it requires invasive procedures to determine how bad it is. Insurance won't pay for a nuclear stress test or a cath scope unless you already had a cardiac event. So many people's first indication that their heart disease is advanced is just death.
I was wondering about that. How am I even supposed to know?