Any survivors on here, cardiac arrest, heart attack, cancer....

All best wishes to you both.

 

Thanks!

 

I too didn't recognise the symptoms, I thought that I had just got really cold down to the bone or had bonked, just couldn't understand why I felt so bad, with an ache under my armpits,& no energy, I was halfway round a 32 miler when it started, but like a fool rode all the way home as I didn't put 2 & 2 together till I had got showered at home.
Don't be surprised if a 30 min walk is a tad ambitous, I was told to go for a 5 minutes walk on release, 2.5 minutes got me to the end of our street, to say i was knackered was an understatement, to add insult to cardiac injury, a woman came past on a bike puffing & panting, I could have actually cried at the thought i used to sprint up there, but couldn't hardly walk to the end of the street now, however I upped the walk time till I was easily doing 3 to 4 miles, then got back on the bike, did about 3 miles at first & steadily upped the distance till i'm now doing 46 milers, with about 960 meters of climbing at an average of 15.5 mph, but it's taken 12 months of hard work/dieting/gym work, if you get the chance do the cardiac rehab it really helps, all the best for your recovery take it easy

 

Best wishes to both of you

 

Hope this went well for you both.

 

Full body MRI scan and bone density test(s) now been set up for Saturday. Two weeks after I was told the scan would be done. Being done at a not so local private hospital.

CSF leaks may be linked to bone thinning, caused by long term drug mis-use. I got put on it in March 77, to try to help control the epilepsy. Getting classed as a drug abuser is the only way they could start treatment.

 

The angiogram came back clear so they didn't need to fit another stent which is really good, but it still leaves us with no explanation for the unusual ecg readings that gave them the concern in the first place. On an intellectual level I'm very much relieved as they have really taken it seriously and ran every possible test possible (perfusion test, chest xrays, bloods, angiogram...) and have found nothing of concern, but on an emotional level I'm still a bit unnerved.

I think what doesn't help is the experience we had when she had the initial heart attacks. She'd been getting all the symptoms (shortness of breath, chest pain, tingling in arm...) for a few days, it got worse after a dog walk and we called an ambulance when we got home. The paramedics were lovely, ran some tests and found she had an extremely low heart rate but ecg looked ok but on balance thought best to run her into the hospital. In the QE they ran some more quick tests and said that there was something unusual but that they were fairly sure she hadn't had a heart attack (harder to diagnose in women apparently), instead of doing an angiogram there and then they booked her in in a fortnights time.

3 days later while walking a dog she was looking after she starts to feel really unwell, as it was a dog she hadnt looked after before she forced herself to walk home instead of sitting down to rest as she would have done if it had just been our dogs that she could trust not to dart off. I'd had a job cancelled so by chance was at home, she flew through the door, dropped the dog in the back room and collapsed in front of me. The paramedic who came out was absolutely horrible to her, she'd obviously taken one look at the old hippy wagon on the drive (bedford tk horsebox/camper conversion) and at us and at my partners age and assumed she was having a panic attack/time wasting/being hysterical. Accused her of wasting their time, told her to stop being silly and get up and walk (she was to weak to even get up by herself let alone walk down the drive unaided) to the ambulance and then tried to convince us not to go into hospital. Thankfully I put my foot down and insisted they took us into the QE, as within 5min of being in there, they'd carted her away from me, her heart stopped 3x and had to be resuscitated & emergency stent fitted.

The whole experience was so traumatic, especially the wait for the ambulance when she was loosing consciousness, then the attitude of the paramedic + knowing that if they'd done the angiogram on her first visit to hospital they would have fitted a stent and she would not have had the heart attacks. Its brought back all those emotions and not having a conclusive answer has left me a bit on edge. But the important thing is that its put my partner's mind at rest at least (she has no memory of the event, so has different emotional baggage from it).

Its been surprisingly cathartic and helpful just to write all this down, as its not something I've really discussed in any detail with most people/

 

Being able to just talk about it can make a big difference - and when you talk to us here, you know you're talking to people who know how it feels!

 

@NickNick, have a word with the local ambulance service. Who-ever came out and said that needs something saying to them. They were lucky this time, next time??

Due to the way my fits/siezures/attacks start, I'm nearly always the last to find out. I've been accused of being drunk(ALL the muscles can relax), "before"(I'm on autopilot) more than once. And it's only when what most people will know as one happens they know there's something wrong.

 

Over a £1000 for the MRI scan. I never asked about the bone density tests.

Started well, got a name for a place that doesn't exist, then sent an address for a different location.

 

@NickNick I completely understand your feelings on being intellectually satisfied but emotionally unnerved.

I haven’t had the poor treatment you received but I did experience an evening when I thought I was having a second attack. It must have been 9-10 months after my attack. I had chest discomfort for several hours which was getting worse though I had none of the sensations I’d experienced during and after my heart attack.

In one part of my mind I knew it was muscular, in another a heart attack and in a third a huge fear that despite all my efforts these were wasted as I was going down again. This third feeling was hugely distressing, even more than the thought of having a second heart attack. My thought process was I can be physically fixed but no matter what I do it will come back.

About midnight I got up and told my wife she had to take me to A&E. Obviously she did. I had all the usual tests, stayed overnight, saw a consultant and was sent home in the morning with an all clear. It was muscular.

I feel it is difficult for people who have not experienced a life threatening illness, attack etc. to understand how hopeless one can feel if one thinks there is a repeat or regression. For me the idea after months of discipline, exercise, diet etc. to feel I was back at square one was overwhelmingly hard.

Hopefully you can take some comfort from the knowledge others experience similar thoughts and emotions. It’s very natural.

 

It's "the known unknown's, and the unknowns that aren't yet known" as one nurse put it to me on another trip to A&E, that cause the biggest worry. Do you go with something you may be right about or wait?

I seldom get the chance to decide, but I've left nearly everytime, first time.

 

ABSOLUTELY!

It took me over a month to be able walk 50 metres without taking a long rest and several more months to build up to a range of 1 km. It took me 8 months to get off medication and back on my bike, but it only took 3 months after that to get ill again and end up on meds for life.

It completely did my head in. In fact, I would say that my mind was by then in in a worse state than my battered body! It's why I went completely OTT posting and talking about it. It is a form of PTSD. I'd say that it took me about another year before I was able to stop thinking about it for 10-12 hours a day.

It has taken me over 5 years to get to the point where I can go several days at a time without worrying about future relapses.

 

That sounds a horrific experience. I completely understand your worry. My heart attack came completely out of the blue and there was no apparent cause for it.The artery tore, rather than being blocked. I was a a 40 year old woman, with a relatively healthy life style. I was very lucky that they recognised it as a heart attack and took me straight into hospital.

Four years later, I still worry whenever I get chest discomfort or experience shortness of breath. When I go to the doctors with these symptoms, they say "Well you do have heart damage. Your heart doesn't work as well as it should." They don't seem to understand that I'm always worried that it's another heart attack.