This is totally off topic…but I’m gonna say it and suffer the consequences…

Today in beautiful Alabama, thunderstorms are rolling by like freight trucks on the interstate… dumping oceans of rain and bending the trees sideways while thunder is booming like the guns on the USS Arizona did. But it was far more than the weather that made it a miserable miserable day.

We buried my favorite nephew (in law) today… 33 years old and died of a massive heart attach very early last Sunday morning. I loved this young man like my own son. He married my niece, a beautiful sweet girl who since birth has been like a daughter to me. They made two precious daughters (12 and 9) who are like my own grandchildren. His parents were totally devastated as were all who knew this young man. He always had a smile for everyone he met, a story to make you laugh and a willing hand to help anyone who needed it. The hole he left will never be filled.

My reason for this post is to beg any of you that might have even the slightest idea that you might have a problem with your heart to seek medical advise. It might be indigestion. It could just be a pulled muscle that is making your right (or left)arm ache. It is possible that you’re just having a stressful day. But it might not be… better to know for sure. I’d much rather hear about your doctor telling you that you worried for nothing than hear a story like this about any of my FTE friends. AND if he does say it’s nothing and you’re not convinced … get another opinion and some tests. The cost is nothing compared to the loss your family will suffer. For the sake of all you love… don’t be a macho fool and tough it out. Trust me, you can’t just walk off a heart attack! Rolaids don’t work!

The doctor told him that his was just stress and prescribed Prozac for the anxiety. He never ran a test. Who’da thought a strong healthy 33 year old would have a problem ? I hope this doctor reconsiders his diagnostic techniques in the future.

I’ll never have enough friends and sadly too few people in this world that I truly love… I don’t want to lose another one to something like this… this is easy to fix if you do it now. Just do it. And,if you're the praying type...and I know many of you are from my grandson's trial... say a prayer for this family that is hurting so badly and for the future of this wonderful wife and these sweet young girls that have lost so much.

john

 

John -

I am so sad to hear of your loss and that of the family. I know exactly what you are talking about.

A good friend and truck building buddy of mine (Ivan Leatherman) had a massive heart attack last Friday night at the Riverside Show and Go Car Show. He died Saturday. He was in his early 50's with no history of heart trouble. The sad irony is that his truck (a 48 Chevy) is a four-page feature and three-panel pull out poster in the new Truckin' magazine I received yesterday. He never saw it. check it out.

I tried the macho thing you were talking about myself. It turned out to be my gallbladder, but in the diagnosis time, the doc found a rhythm problem with ny heart. It is now controlled and all looks good. But the doc pulled no punches about it. He told me it was just the kind of thing a person never notices until he drops dead. Sobering thought.

 

Sorry to hear of your loss - it does no good to tell you he went to a better place, but I believe that.

I have had two heart attacks - the first was a wake up call, the second told me to listen to what the first was saying. It left me disabled, which sucks but is better than the alternative. ( I am not so sure of my reception in this better place.)

When they happened there was no doubt that something bad wrong was going on - I just choose to ignore the problem. The first time I was about done unloading a trailer full of roofing scrap, and I finished and drove home and took a shower before going to the hospital.

The second time I had walked up a steep hill to a job interview in San Francisco - and passed out in the lobby of my prospective employer. I didn't get that job. I did drive home (175 miles) before going to the hospital. Again, I could not think so good, and just wanted to go home.

I have always been overweight and a heavy smoker, and ignored all the Doctors who warned me. I have no bitch coming, I did it to myself.

The sad part about your friend is that he was only 33; likely his problem was something he was born with - which his parents will always feel guilty about.

And don't be too hard on those who ignore the warning signs - restricted blood flow to the brain leaves your judgment impaired (The SOB Doctor tried to get my driver's license after the last one).

 

John,

So sorry to hear about your tragic loss. I'm sure you are already doing this but I would urge and of the young mans siblings to go get checked out. My fathers side of the family has a long history of heart problems, stong backs, weak hearts (and minds?) The typical pattern has always been for the men to work like dogs their whole lives, then retire and promptly keel over.

My Dad and Uncle both have had triple bypass surgeries (after their 2nd heart attacks) Needless to say, my wife is constantly on my hiney to take care of myself. I did give in last year and have a complete physical (I figured I was due as I hit the 40 year old mark) With the exception of needing to lose about 20lbs I passed with flying colors. My bloodwork all showed good.

My thoughts and prayers are with you and yours in this trying time
Bobby

 

John
You know we all share your sorrow as much as we are able to.

To add to your message, two years ago next month I pinched a nerve in my left shoulder area, closer to the neck than the arm, two Dr's and a Physical Therapist had the same diagnosis. I was under Dr. treatment for the problem and doing PT. In August I started having incidents when I could feel the muscles in the area tighten, with a POP like feeling, at first the pain was just in the local area of the nerve. After two or three incidents the pain started to spread to my chest. Yes I saw the Dr., four in fact. Had an EKG (Routine) and all agreed that it was the nerve. I went on to have about nine or ten of these "Nerve Flair ups. In October while scheduling a routine physical the Dr asked if I had ever had a "Stress Test", the Smart A** in me replyed that I didn't need a test, I had enough for anyone. The Thursday, the 17th of November I had the test, The following Tuesday I was in the Hospital getting the workups required for a beating heart surgery, becaus they were afraid to put me on a heart machine, My heart was at about 17% capacity, in other words I was just waiting to get buried.
As I am able to write this the operation was a success, it was determined that I had had somewhere between six and ten heart attacks, since I didn't know what was happening, I used meditation to bring the pain under control. Had I known then that they were heart attacks, I'm sure I would be dead because you can't stop a heart attack.

PLEASE GET REGULAR CHECKUPS, IF YOU HAVE THE SLIGHEST FEELING THAT YOU YOU ARE HAVEING UPPER LEFT QUADRENT PROBLEMS, SEE A SPECIALIST. i HEART ATTACK SYSPTOMS APPEAR GET YOUSELF TO THE ER.

Dick.

 

I am very sorry for your loss. Life is so short, and his was so very short. I am beginning to believe it's not so uncommon of an occurrance. I have a new neighbor in the house behind me who had a heart attack at age 32. They just bought the house.
He was a heavy smoker and drank lots of coffee. Luckily, he's recovering well.
We as americans, take our health for granted. WE eat the wrong foods, drink the wrong stuff. I should talk, as I'm a Diabetic. I guess I'm just lazy.........


Barry

50 F-1

 

I am very sorry to hear about your nephew. Your family will be in our prayers over here. My dads best friend from high school died in his early fifties of a heart attack. At the funeral my Dad asked his friends younger brother if there was a family history of heart trouble. Well while all the family was at the funeral he asked them and sure enough, enough of his family died of heart attacks to convince him to see a doctor and get a checkup. It was a good thing he did. Although he had no symptoms he was a ticking time bomb and the visit saved his life. He was in his mid forties at the time and is still around to talk about it. I wish your family the best.

 

I can add nothing to what any of you have said except that I am wearing a heart monitor as I type this, at this time it's diagnostic and not all that serious. Not many people know but I have had 2 heart ''procedures'' in the past year and if not for that someone else would be finishing my 56. DO THE RIGHT THING if you aren't feeling well, believe me, whatever you need to endure to be cured is better than the alternative. I want to eventually meet all of you so don't let me down!

 

It scares me to read about this stuff..

I just turned 23 last week, I'll have been married 3 years next week, and today is my son's 1st birthday.. Nine months ago I was at work and I felt like my heart started beating funny.. I got a little dizzy and had to sit down. I was pretty scared, and I started having a hard time breathing, but I thought it was just cause I was scared and freaking out.. I told the ladies in the office with me and they thought it was a good idea to call the fire department to come take my blood pressure. They came out and my blood pressure was fine, everything was fine, I felt OK, just tired. They told me it was probably because I didn't eat breakfast.. I never eat breakfast.
I think it was from stress.. Again I'm 23, married, newborn son, full-time stressful job, and also full-time college student.. I'm a prime candidate for a panick attack.
From then on I've felt different, I've had symptoms.
At night right before I fall asleep sometimes I wake up gasping for breath like I wasn't breathing. My heart still beets funny sometimes but not really bad.. I really only notice at night in bed when its calm and quiet.
A lady I go to school with was having the same symptoms and went to the doctor and told me what the doctor said. It was stress, to excersize, take B2 and Valerium Root at night to help get calm before sleepy time.
I started working out and exercising to get rid of some of that stress. I also started taking the B2 vitamins and Valerium Root at night. It worked pretty well, and then I stopped working out, stupid time change through me all off lol..
Its started to happen again within the past couple of months, but not as bad.
I never went to the doctor.

I bet I should.. I just didn't want my insurance premiums to triple for nothing.. thats stupid, isn't it?

 

John, truly am sorry to hear of this. We will add your nephew and his family to our prayers. Way to young ( it's always to young ) to pass on. I can't even begin to say how right you are about the assumptions of health or diagnosis ( an educated guess at best ) but to the lay person , it's just a guess. And I know from where I speak. Watch yourself, know yourself, feel yourself and get 2nd opinions if needed.
Jonathan

 

Thank you for posting this as a warning to others. It might just save somone's life. Its a terrible thing to lose somone at that age, but I truly feel sorry for his family. They are the ones who will be suffering now.

I am a lot like the rest of this group (this is odd????). My kidneys failed. I have had two heart attacks. I have a stint in there somewhere. I had a subdural Hematoma. I lost track of how many comas I have been in. The list goes on and on.

I would much rather spend a long time paying off a medical bill than not be here. Take John's advice. If you suspect anything, anything, go get it checked out.

 

Sorry for your loss John.
My youngest brother had a heart attack at 42 and had two stints installed. Now I really need to go ahead and make an appointment for a complete physical myself since I just rounded 60 and it's been 10 years since the last one.

 

Also sorry for your loss.

A year ago I woke up with mild chest pains (31 years old at the time). It only took me about 30 minutes to decide this isn't right, and woke the wife up to take me to the hospital. After a full morning of tests that indicated a heart attack, I was rolled in to the cardiac cath unit to get an angiogram and stint put in (pissed as hell only 31 with a heart attach??). Woke up after the procedure only to find out they found no blockage, it was a very mild form of paracarditis, apparantly a cold virus settled on the paracardium sac around the heart, inflammed it, and the heart was rubbing against it giving me the pain, and also causing the tests to indicate heart damage. My treatment: ibuprofen to reduce inflammation and let the cold virus die off like they all do. The official diagnosis: bad luck. That's all the doc could say.

My "roommate" in the hospital was a 40 year old biker looking guy whose voice sounded like he'd been smoking since he was a toddler. Overheard him talking with doch that he'd had chest pains for a month but he didn't want to come in because he was scared of what he might find out. His angio found blockage and they stinted him. All I could think was he's had this A MONTH? Don't screw around with your ticker man!

Scott

 

I'm very sorry to hear about what happened. I'll be prayin for everyone. It's hard to read that so many people on this forum that I enjoy so much have had such problems. You read about the things people are doing with their vehicles and questions and such and don't really think that they may have had problems in the past or currently. It really makes you think, I'm 27 and a high school Auto shop instructor in So-Cal, my first year in the class myself was extremely tough. I think it was in March of 04' one day I noticed that everytime I would bend over to pick somthing up or get up from sitting down I would get dizzy and almost fall over, I didn't think anything of it the first few times thought I was just getting light headed from getting up to fast. Well after lunch I was doing somthing bent over and when I came up I had to have a student catch me from falling over, and suddenly my chest felt tight. I called my manager and waited till school was over went home, called my father to come get me. While I was waiting for my father to show up I called my doctors office they asked some questions, then recommended that I call 911 that it sounded like I was having a heart attack. Well I didn't,waited for my dad and went to the ER, they took my blood pressure and close to 3 hrs after I left school my blood pressure was 187 over 98, and I was filling a little better, so I can only imagine how high it was before. The doctor said I was very lucky that I was getting dizzy, that was my bodies way of saying that there was something wrong and not every person gets a notice like that, they usually just die from it. It really made me open my eyes. I still feel different if I'm having a bad day and when this happens I usually just try to relax take deep breathes. Reading this post has made me sad, but is a reminder that I need to do more to try and stay healthy. I wish the best to everyone on this sight, and hope to get to meet some of you someday.

 

Cuz,

Sorry about your nephew.

Having recently had two heart attacks myself, I can attest to how “out of the blue” they can come. In some respects, I guess I was a prime candidate – smoker, ate whatever I wanted - whenever I wanted with no thought whatsoever to whether it was good for me or not (heck, I even put salt on my toast), no exercise whatsoever – other than cutting the lawn or shoveling snow.

Conversely – I was not the least bit overweight ( 5’ 8” and 168 lbs), only 52 years old, hyper and no history of heart trouble in my family. Additionally, my blood rpessure was and is fine.

I had been involved in a project that had me spending long hours pounding away at the computer keys from when I got home from work (where I pound on computer keys) till bed time and for 16 hrs per day on the weekends for about a month or so. I started to develop a numbness in my right arm (not my left as most people do), but chalked it up to temporary carpal tunnel syndrome or whatever… After about 4 or 5 days of it, I woke up in the middle of the night (a Wednesday night) with severe chest pain. Right in the center of my chest (behind the breast bone) . Felt like it was in my lungs. On my pain scale, it was a 7 out of 10 (kidney stone a few years was a 10). Felt nauseous and ended up puking, but after an hour or so the pain subsided substantially and I was able to get back to sleep. The next day, the pain was about a 2, but every cigarette made it a little worse. I lay down for a nap that evening after work and the pain disappeared completely for several hours afterwards. For the next 3 or 4 days, the pain was about a 2 or 3. Wasn’t sure what it was but figured it was going away……Then about 9:00 p.m. on the Sunday night it hit again – about a 7 on the pain scale again. By now I figured this wasn’t normal or minor so I got one of my young lads to take me to Emergency. The next day I was transferred to the Heart Institute in a nearby city and had a stent put in to open up one of my arteries. Another was blocked completely and another has about 50% blockage. I still have a small amount of pain every day so they’re putting me through tests to figure out why. I take 5 pills every morning and five pills every night. I take a shot(a spray actually) of nitro about 3 times every day (when needed) . I no longer smoke and I am on a strict diet that takes ALL the fun out of eating. The diet is quite simple – if it tasted good, I’m not allowed to have it anymore.

Hopefully this will help one of you develop an appreciation for;

1. How a heart attack can hit at any age.
2. How much diet impacts your chances of having one
3. How a heart attack doesn’t really have a classic/unmistakable feel to it

Regards,