Heart Attack
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tomcornhole
Posts: 1,084 Member
Had a heart attack this past Saturday. Two, actually. Ridiculously painful events. Got 3 stents in the big arteries (85% blocked) and one angioplasty in a smaller one (100% blocked, this one caused the heart attack). All things considered, I got lucky for a couple reasons:
1. The completely clogged small artery caused the heart attack and that lead the docs to find the big boys getting ready to kill me
2. Being fit and having a strong heart resulted in zero discernible damage to my heart. Doc says I would be dead if I were not in great shape.
Five days later and I feel good. Heart was operating at 55% capacity right after the heart attack. Should be at 70% plus now and could go higher as I recover. I can already tell I have way more energy than I did before the heart attack.
Reason for this post is to let people know that I ignored clear signs that I was in trouble. Over the past year, I noticed some changes that I attributed to being old or just nags:
1. Once a month or so over the past year, I would get some discomfort in my chest and a pain in my left elbow. It would last a couple of hours and be just a dull ache. Never thought much of it, but now that I know how clogged up I was, that was my body telling me I was about to die. These are classic symptoms of angina.
2. Over the past 3 months, I was unusually tired after lifting, to the point I had to take a nap after every training session. I was also falling asleep a lot during meetings at work. Just tired. I was making good progress on my lifts, but it was killing me.
3. My cholesterol was always at 250-260 for the last 30 years without any issues. During my physical last June, it jumped to 316. I thought it was a fluke but then I got tested again in Aug for life insurance and it was 319. Twice. I blew it off as a non-issue.
I should have been less arrogant and talked to my doc about what was happening. Maybe she would have caught this maybe not. My EKG right after the heart attack was normal. The echocardiogram was also normal. The only thing that found the clogged arteries was the angiogram and I don't know if my doc would have had that done before the heart attack.
So, I had the shite scared out of me. Prognosis is good. Should be able to return to all normal activity, including power lifting. Stuck on blood thinners for a year. And I have to carry nitroglycerine and aspirin everywhere I go. We'll see how it goes.
Tom
1. The completely clogged small artery caused the heart attack and that lead the docs to find the big boys getting ready to kill me
2. Being fit and having a strong heart resulted in zero discernible damage to my heart. Doc says I would be dead if I were not in great shape.
Five days later and I feel good. Heart was operating at 55% capacity right after the heart attack. Should be at 70% plus now and could go higher as I recover. I can already tell I have way more energy than I did before the heart attack.
Reason for this post is to let people know that I ignored clear signs that I was in trouble. Over the past year, I noticed some changes that I attributed to being old or just nags:
1. Once a month or so over the past year, I would get some discomfort in my chest and a pain in my left elbow. It would last a couple of hours and be just a dull ache. Never thought much of it, but now that I know how clogged up I was, that was my body telling me I was about to die. These are classic symptoms of angina.
2. Over the past 3 months, I was unusually tired after lifting, to the point I had to take a nap after every training session. I was also falling asleep a lot during meetings at work. Just tired. I was making good progress on my lifts, but it was killing me.
3. My cholesterol was always at 250-260 for the last 30 years without any issues. During my physical last June, it jumped to 316. I thought it was a fluke but then I got tested again in Aug for life insurance and it was 319. Twice. I blew it off as a non-issue.
I should have been less arrogant and talked to my doc about what was happening. Maybe she would have caught this maybe not. My EKG right after the heart attack was normal. The echocardiogram was also normal. The only thing that found the clogged arteries was the angiogram and I don't know if my doc would have had that done before the heart attack.
So, I had the shite scared out of me. Prognosis is good. Should be able to return to all normal activity, including power lifting. Stuck on blood thinners for a year. And I have to carry nitroglycerine and aspirin everywhere I go. We'll see how it goes.
Tom
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Replies
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Glad to hear you made it through relatively unharmed. Hard to hit new PRs when you're dead.0
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Great post, so glad all is okay. Keep up the lifting!!0
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Glad you caught it! Thank you for sharing, maybe you will save another life too!0
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Not something you want to see in your 5/3/1 log.0 -
That sucks.
Glad to see you're (more-or-less) OK now.0 -
Always sobering to be reminded being a gym rat ain't a guarantee of health.0
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Glad you're ok Tom, and thanks for sharing your story.0
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Glad the prognosis is good. Thanks for sharing. (Although, now I am probably going to walk around for the rest of the day worrying: 'Am I next? I feel tired after lifting...hmmm....Is that a dull ache? Or a sharp one?' You know, identifying a little too closely with something, like we all invariably do.)
Good luck and get on with the recovery.0 -
Aaiieee! I just creeped your profile and you're only two years older than me, one more than my husband! Way too young for this! This is a good lesson for many of us, who think that fitness is the magic bullet that makes us invincible.
Sounds like you were "lucky" in several ways! I'm glad things are going well. I wish you a speedy recovery.0 -
Glad to hear you are recovering well. Had a similar experience in 2006, including ignoring multiple signs. Go easy and let your body heal, it will. Blood thinners suck but part of the protocol. I'm off all meds except for daily aspirin and very low statins med.0
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Glad you survived, and probably with faster recovery than average folks those times are based on.
I'm betting another example of how good exercise can't outpace a bad diet - obviously not for short-term weight loss goals, but for some, long-term healthy goals.
But for you, have you had huge junks of life time that had poor diet as far as this issue is concerned?
Or perhaps more genetically tilted to go that direction?0 -
I'm glad you feel better. Don't forget to take your aspirin! Are you going to go to a healthy heart program? I think I would laugh to see a lifter at one
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Glad you survived, and probably with faster recovery than average folks those times are based on.
I'm betting another example of how good exercise can't outpace a bad diet - obviously not for short-term weight loss goals, but for some, long-term healthy goals.
But for you, have you had huge junks of life time that had poor diet as far as this issue is concerned?
Or perhaps more genetically tilted to go that direction?
I had a full heart checkup in 2008 when I retired from the Navy which included a stress test and cat scan. No blockage at all. So something happened between 2008 and now and I'm not sure what that could be, but I suspect genetics might be part of it. I'm adopted and don't know my birth parents so no history available. I'll keep eating a balanced diet like I have been and stay fit. Not sure what else I can do. Other than update my will and stuff. I did write a 7 page walk through for my wife that I titled "Tom is dead, now what?" Walked her through money, life insurance, burial, house, cars, pension, social security, trusts, etc... Made her cry but she knew how important it was because her dad died 3 weeks ago.
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Family history might not have helped much either. Got a friend's family where mom and dad have no cholesterol problem at all, though semi-decent nutritious diets.
But the daughter as teenager had high numbers. As adult and attempting with just diet and exercise to lower them, never had success. Was on the meds since early 20's.0 -
I'm so glad you are okay. Thank you for sharing this to help us all. Best wishes for a full recovery.0
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+1. "Suck," in my case, meant that the blood thinners made me bleed profusely every time I even nicked myself, and bruise all over for no discernible reason. Then there's peripheral edema -- but hey, that's all behind me now. One of my siblings did note that the primary side effect of that blood thinner, in my case, was grumpinessBlood thinners suck but part of the protocol.
It still seems odd that I have prescriptions that I have to refill -- never had those for the first 6 decades -- but can live with the daily baby aspirin, and now that I'm not as worried about duking it out with traffic I've been able to get back on the bike a bit, and walk more vigorously, in addition to the strength training that I started as part of my own private cardiac rehab a couple of months back. Hoping to get completely off the micro-dose of beta blocker and drop the statin dosage down out of the stratosphere to something more like maintenance levels.
Hang in there, Tom. You're way more fit, and younger, than I was, and it sounds like they caught you like they caught me, before we went over that cliff into cardiac damage. You'll pull through in fine shape, and now that you know what you're dealing with, you'll find ways to train your heart to keep you going for a good long stretch of the road ahead.0 -
Glad to hear you are okay!
Just wanted to put it out there that if a person has untreated sleep apnea that can cause heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and a host of other problems. A person does not have to be overweight to have sleep apnea, and common signs of sleep apnea include witnessed apnea events, snoring, waking up frequently at night to urinate, waking up with a headache, nightmares, feeling fatigued and/or sleepy during the day, and having a family history of heart attack, stroke, and/or diabetes.
So if anyone has any of the signs above, get yourself checked out at a sleep clinic, ESPECIALLY if you have already had a heart attack or stroke.0
