Trying to eat more vegetables, fruits, fish…. I really thought I was doing fine with my diet. Can I cheat once a month and have a hamburger and fries? I have cut out processed lunch meat… I do watch my sodium intake etc….
I was only about The doctors here immediately put me on 40 mg a day of avorstatin. Was 20 mg with simvastatin…. It has only been 5 months and at times I feel a twinge or think I can feel alittle discomfort where my stent is at at the LAD.
I remember that stent placement was very uncomfortable. An invaluable resource, absolutely. This is a wonderful site. I experienced significant chest and left arm pain on three occasions over the last two weeks. I walked in, they performed some initial tests and one hour later I was in the cath lab. They put the stent in, ordered several medications for me and they told me I would be fine if I exercised, took my medications and ate correctly. They told me I was very, very lucky. The moral of my story is if you experience chest pain, go to the hospital and always listen to your secretary!
In March I went out for a jog and collapsed on the living room floor. I was defibrillated 3 times for cardiac arrest. They got me to the E.
They performed angioplasty and put in a stent and I have done well. Only symptoms were dizziness after jogging and collapse. One point I would like to make is that in the ER my cardiac enzymes did not elevate so they checked for other issues such as seizures and stroke.
This is called non-stemi. My wife was persistent that she had performed CPR, and I was defibrillated for cardiac arrest. She had to continue to tell them that it was my heart. My point being that it is important to have an advocate who tells the story to the medical staff at the hospital in order to get the appropriate care as soon as possible.
My advice is learn CPR. I had this Widowmaker heart attack Saturday morning. Friday night I got home late from work. Our dear friends from out of townhad arrived for the weekend. We went and grabbed some dinner and dropped off a laptop at Micro Center before heading home. I mentioned briefly to my wife when we got home that my chest hurt. I honestly thought though that I had over done it by eating dessert since we had been on the Whole 30 program the past two months.
We went to bed. I woke up at am feeling uncomfortable. I did not get up, and drifted back to sleep. At am I woke up again and got up. I took two baby aspirin and an antacid. I went to the bathroom. I felt really bad. My chest hurt as did both of my arms. My wife came into the bathroom and took my blood pressure. She took it again and got the same reading.
I tried to talk her out of it but the discussion was short. In the time it took me to walk down the stairs to the driveway, I went from being very uncomfortable to being in desperate peril. She drove me through every red light and nearing mph to the hospital.
Every moment counted. I arrived, had an immediate EKG, and the doctor told me I was having a heart attack and they had to get me into surgery immediately. One stent was placed in my RCA. It is only today, Tuesday, that I am finding out just what kind of heart attack I had and how close I came to death. The long rehab begins soon. Much work to be done. Russ, I had the widow-maker on July 19 , at the age of My wife also brought me to the hospital with my two young kids in the back seat of the car..
I worked hard in Cardiac rehab, changed my diet and am doing great.. Going to mountain bike in Moab Utah for three days next week.. I actually did the White Rim Trail in Canyonlands miles in 2 days 6 months after i had it.. God Bless you will be fine. Thanks Mark. I had the widow maker on December 13, Just made it the hospital. Had four stents placed. I started cardiac rehab and lost 16 pounds in 3 weeks.
Your experience has encouraged me. God bless. Had widow maker ojjhhhhhjn nov 5 had open heart surgery that night. They tried to open the blockage but during the process it actually caused the artery to start leaking. With all the blood thinners in my system the surgery was touch and go. Bleed thru 9 units of blood before it finally stopped 3 days later.
Im a single dad raising 2 daughters. I will never forget waking up 4 days later and see them standing next to bed. Pack a day smoker, but still exercised. Cholesterol was Ironically, that was the day we changed the clocks to spring forward. I later found there was a significant increase in MIs during clock changes. Had two stents placed in a cardiac cath through the femoral artery.
Passed out during the event and did not awaken until 4 days later. I later spoke to the ambulance crew who told me my heart stopped and they aspirated me for nearly 15 minutes and shocked my chest about 15 times.
I awoke to find burns and rashes on my chest. Needless to say, it was a traumatic event. I did so many stupid things before and after my MI. Only now have come to realize, by the grace of God that I am still here. I am learning my limits. I want to help anyone I can that is going through this because the most important thing I learned is that you cannot fix all the associated problems with this type of event by yourself.
The advantages of an ambulance trip to the ER are that they will know by EKG and blood tests, on the way, what is wrong with you before you get there, and they will call the ER to prepare for your arrival, and have a whole team there ready to help. Your wife is a brave woman…I told my wife NEVER try to drive me to the ER…call and have an ambulance take me…your brave and loving wife could have caused more harm to you and herself and others by driving so fast…my hats off to her BUT she did no one any favor by driving you to the ER.
Best wishes to you. She saved your life. Hope you have a great recovery. IN THE er!!!!!!! So scary you guys. What are you guys doing for diets now to hopefully prevent it in the future? I am 39 years old, an avid runner and wieght lifter. I also had the widowmaker. Do to my excessive cardio fitness my heart had minimal damage.
My coworkers think i am nuts because i came back to work 3 days after my heart attack and stent was placed. This happened april 4 ,i had no clue thought it was indegestion. Wont take that for granite ever again. Was cutting up an evergreen tree Thursday afternoon and got a burning pain in my chest and felt an invisible hand squeezing my throat and breathing felt like my lungs were filled with cotton. My wife called the clinic and they said to get to an ER stat. Was given a nuclear stress test and on the treadmill I got my heart rate up to and the cardiologist noted an abnormal EKG pattern.
I was experiencing the same sensations only worse. The cardiologist and surgeon were waiting in my room before transport had gotten me back to my room. I was in the OR in no time. LAD blockage and had a stent put in. I praise and thank God for living in a time of modern medicine and the gifted medical staff at Providence Hospital in Everett, WA. In June of , at the age of 37, I experienced a heart attack due to a blockage in the LAD artery in my heart.
I went from feeling well to feeling excruciating squeezing chest pain that became progressively worse while I was driving on a busy highway.
I took the first exit I saw, exited my car, entered a nail salon and collapsed on the floor. I was transported to the nearest hospital where my symptoms started, again. I was held overnight for observation and was given a nuclear stress test the next morning which I failed miserably.
Hi doc…thanks for the article. I actually have a question for others — who like me — have recently suffered a widow maker heart attack. Am I the only one experiencing this after a major heart attack? Is it normal? How long will this last? Is there anything I can do to feel better sooner?
Dear Friend…. In a nano second your view on life and living change. As someone told me, you have 2 lungs but only 1 heart…make the best of it. If you are on Plavix, hang in there.
That stuff is nasty but worth it. If your hospital has group cardio counseling, go…demented humor…misery loves company! Email the AMerican Heart Association — they will provide great feedback. One foot after the other — you can do it! Problem is support groups are very limited in my area. Nobody to compare notes and action plans with.
Met others out walking daily as part of rehab, similarly afflicted. Seems like most of us older folks take our exercise seriously after an event like this. Remember diet is paramount too. I eat more fiber now than most rabbits. Eliminating red meat and most dairy products along with a bump from Lipitor has helped keep my cholesterol below Read those nutrition labels.
I learned the hard way…. Good luck to all. I had my widow maker 9 days after you. I asked to be placed on Zoloft and that, along with getting back to running and meditating, has helped a lot. It was a traumatic experience I really cry off and on for no reason at all.
I just felt mild indigestion passed out twice in 2 days rushed me to erase what a mess. My husband had this widow maker and felt anxious and worried after even though he did not remembered a thing. I suggest to buy a blood pressure machine to have peace of mind and check with your dc if you can do cardio rehab excercicig with monitoring. Rich I was told that a blockage in the LAD is called a widowmaker. I heard this through a nurse when I was just in the hospital a few days ago getting stents put in the LAD.
I dont know how true it is but that is what I was told. I wanted to tell you how sorry I am to hear of your wifes passing. Im sorry that you are hurting. I had a Widow Maker on Jan 23, I was in recovery room from having my left shoulder replaced. I was very lucky, we had the stent in place under 1 hour.
I am 30 years old. Jim, that is SO scary. As a mom with three young kids and a husband coming up on 40 it is a huge concern. I am glad to see you were so lucky, god bless. Im 36 yrs old. In feb. I had terrible pain in my chest and arms. It wouldnt go away so i drove to the er. Within five minutes of getting there i had died. They revived me and i had two stents put in. My lad was percent blocked and one in the back of my heart was 80 blocked.
I only have 35 percent of heart strenth left. I experienced the depression too but it has gotten better. Im still scared that i may not be so lucky next time. Its hard to except at such a young age. I never experienced the depression, but more questioning why I lived when so many others die. I have no career, no family that depends on me, nothing. Why am I still here? I still ask myself that 10x a day. God has you a plan for you. You are young yet you were saved for a reason.
Enjoy the life you have left I am 61 and I find a reason every day to enjoy my life. I had mine 24 Dec 15, and the pain experienced will never be forgotten. Afterwards I felt depressed and hopeless, but it soon left knowing cardiac rehab was there to put me back into shape. I believe heavy work stress did lead to the heart attack LAD with three out of possible stents inserted.
My husband too had a heart attack and double bipass at your age. The depression and anxiety is real but you can get thru it all. He will be 60 in July and while life has been challenging, your life and your experience counts.
Help others to get thru this. Too many rehab places of old folks and no one to help the young. Be that person and make a difference. I had the LAD by-passed last Monday. They did it by Robot assisted off pump surgery. I was done on Monday and home on Thursday.
Funny thing is that aside from feeling tired a lot I had no other pain in the chest before the operation. They found it during a Cardiac cath and it was to big for a stent. I am still amazed at what they did and how little it hurt afterward. Wish you all the best. You, my friend, were very, very lucky.
Off pump surgery is much easier on the body than On pump surgery. I have 35 stents, and 2 failed CABG grafts. Good luck to you, hope it continues! My husband, at age 68, had a heart attack in February fell unconscious on kitchen floor. Involved LAD. He was put in a coma to make it easier on his heart and was eventually ambulanced to a bigger hospital for testing.
He survived but he could not get the required surgery because of his other health issues. He is managed on a lot of prescription meds including the water pill furosemide.
He has accepted all what has happened, rarely complains. It would be just too difficult for him to go on a holiday. A plane—never. What a life! No wonder he keeps falling asleep in his front-room chair during the day. Im sorry to hear about your husband. With all that is wrong you failed to mention a bright spot in his life…. I have many health probs very similar to your husbands.
I have even been told by a dentist that he cant repair my teeth due to my heart and also diabetes! Nothing like a toothache most days. One thing I cant live without is my husband. He copes when I cant. You are all he needs. Does anyone know if this is normal? What are your thoughts on the cardiac calcium scan or mammogram of the heart , which detects lesions and previously undetected heart disease noninvasively?
I am doing research for an article on the subject and would like to be able to quote you. My husband just had the calcium score done. We assumed surgery but because his nuclear stress test showed good flow, his doctor put him on cholesterol meds. No surgery. His cholesterol is under The doctor is a top cardiac surgeon in or area so at have to trust his decision but area a bit confused.
We discuss this with him but he felt like it was the best course of action. Open heart surgery is not for sissys, neither is it a cure for heart disease. It took 6 months for all the grafts to fail, and they had to go back to the native arteries. The surgery itself almost took me out. Go slow into the surgery thing if at all possible. I am glad you are okay and doing well. Are you sure it was the Widow Maker though? Most people die within an hour. Not all Heart Attacks are the WindowMaker.
I am just curious, how much of your LAD was blocked? Great work and nice and clear and easy to understand explanation by DR Mustafa, I am 55 yrs old and only 3 days ago i placed three stent in my coronary arteries at NYU langone the procedure was done by DR Coppola a great DR and a pioneer in treating cardiovascular disease and who happened to treat my father some 40 years at saint Vincent hospital ,when the procedure was done i was told by Dr Coppola assistance DR ferrass that the culprit was thee widow maker and i had no clue what that mean but it did picture my wife of 32yrs wearing black,anyway it is like day and night for me i could run my 4 mills easily as appose to the yard 4 days ago,thank god for those doctors and thank god for science.
Thank you for your comments and we are glad you are ok and caught the dreaded widowmaker in time. I just lost my 45 year old brother two months ago who was the picture of health. His was at the gym at the time working out with his daughter. His funeral service had the largest amount of people pay their respects that the funeral home had ever seen.
He was a coach, a mentor, a great father, and had touched many lives in his 45 years on this earth. God puts us on this earth for a purpose and when that purpose has been fulfilled in His eyes, he may take us regardless of how incredible science is with regards to the Docs. His job was done here on earth so God created another angel.
Your story sounds just like what happened to my brother. He died October 31 at at age of Pretty sure was widow maker. He was fire fighter and picture of health. No warning or symptoms of any kind. The funeral home was packed as he has many brothers in the fire dept and the guard. But God wanted him for some reason. I too am a nurse and have seen a lot. He was fine one minute and not the next. Got him to hospital in 3 minutes.
He was gone. My brother touched so many lives. My mother died at I guess his plan was for her to die at 42? I was having discomfort off an on for a good while — shortness of breath, chest discomfort, arm pain, neck and shoulder pain and middle of the back pain.
I also have a hernia that I was told would cause the same symptoms, so I attributed a lot of it to this. And I have 3 herniated discs in my neck and one in my back, so I thought my pain was also coming from them. My husband and I were out of town with a group of friends. While at a banquet, I attempted to dance and within 30 seconds, my chest started hurting, so I sat down until it passed and did nothing the rest of the evening.
We went to bed around and my husband dozed off. I could not get comfortable and still had mild pain, so could not sleep. My husband jumped up, called the front desk of the Hyatt and they called Emergency personal were there within 6 minutes and it was a 15 minute ride to the hospital, but I was in good hands!
They performed a nuclear stress test that is done in 2 parts. They injected the contrast meds and took about 35 pictures. After about 15 minutes, they completed the test. When I got back to my room, they did an ultrasound and it showed the blockage, which still had a trickle of blood flowing. I had surgery to place a stent early the next morning.
I should have known better because of family history. My dad passed away at the age of 63 with a heart attack in Then 4 years ago, one of my brothers had a heart attack at the age of 58 and he has had numerous problems since then, but is still alive.
His prognosis is not good. Then in August, , my baby brother who was 49 at the time, had a heart attack with the same LAD artery, and they had to bring him back twice in the emergency room.
He was blessed as he was only 5 minutes from the hospital and taken there by a friend. As a result of his, he has heart damage and an enlarged heart, but is doing well. Hello Janet Thank you for sharing your story. It is only too common for people to ignore the early signs of a heart attack or mistake them for something else like gastric reflux or other conditions. Family history is one of the biggest predictors of Coronary Artery Disease and it should alert people to the possibility that they could be having a heart attack.
One should never ignore the symptoms and if you are at all unsure then seek medical attention and let the experts decide. I am glad things worked out well for you and you are ok. Hello Dr. I just had 2 stents placed in the LAD a few days ago. I didnt have a heart attack but many symptoms of one. An abnormal stress test came to be and thats when combined with being symtomatic a radial cath was done. I still have 2 blockages that are 60 and less in there. Since having the procedure I still have some chest pain.
Not as much as before and I still get winded with exercise. Is this a normal part of recovery? No, did you feel any better at all after the stents. I had chest pains early August while shopping. This has been a wakeup call for me.
Of course I have been reading a lot about the heart, LAD, and healthy eating habits. Talked with my doctor. I have been on meds for pre-diabetes, hypertension, and high blood pressure for some years, gave up smoking 30 years ago, and have been relatively active when it comes to exercise. Heading to the grocery store tomorrow.
Gotta do something because I would like to live a lot longer. I am curious. Do you have past family history in CAD? It seems that your risk factors were controlled? Unless your diet was that bad?
What did it consist of? Anyway, I stumbled upon this site and in reading all of the survival experiences of LCA occlusions I really understand how how fortunate I am. Ahmed for an informative site. I had open heart surgery 2 years ago,buy the have stopped up. I have chest pain all the time please h3lp. My health conscious active 62 to uncle was just weaned from the vent and had the aortic balloon removed today. Stent worked very well. Thank God for helping people performing CPR.
I think there is a lot to be said about vascular calcification and deposits…. I am a renal dietitian. The chemical, including monocalcium phosphates and many others are concerning.
My athletic Uncle has a normal cholesterol. This has been very helpful for me. They say he has no right artery. We never thought this would happen. Thanks to you Dr. Reading other similar stories makes me feel less fearful and more hopeful. Aug 3rd I passed out while driving, hit a utility pole.
The airbag revived me. I got out of the vehicle and ems arrived within minutes. I was revived at roadside and taken 15 minutes drive to hospital. Cath lab placed 4 stents in 30 minute procedure. Why was I spared? But the fact that I have been spared means I need to focus on recovery first, then making sure I am worthy of this chance every single day.
THAT is what I will use as a goal to get me through rehab, recovery, the hard times mentally, and the times my meds make me feel terrible… Please keep striving if you are dealing with this disease, you can live well again. My LAD was blocked. It was so narrow it looked like the thickness of a single hair. I remember that is was a Thursday night because I had an important business meeting scheduled for Friday. Shortly before bedtime I experienced mild discomfort in my chest, nothing else.
I drank an Alka Seltzer to relieve the discomfort. I actually felt pretty good enroute, never experiencing anything other than the memory of the earlier brief discomfort. None of the typical warning signs. Anyway, as I arrived at the ER I suffered a major heart in front of the reception desk.
It was the LAD. I had a stent implanted and was prescribed Warfarin. After a few days returned home and felt pretty good. Two days later I began suffering major intestinal pain and returned to the ER. I was determined that I had perforated my colon. Despite its name, a widowmaker can occur in both men and women.
Without oxygen, the cells in your heart muscles start to die in minutes. Many people that experience a heart attack either have no symptoms or have symptoms they associate with other problems. The best way to avoid a heart attack is to understand and limit your risk factors and that starts by having a good relationship with your primary care doctor. Your doctor is familiar with your health, wellness, family history, and risks, and can help you develop a plan accordingly.
A heart attack is a medical emergency that can be deadly without treatment. The key to surviving a heart attack is to get help as quickly as possible because time is muscle. If you think you or someone else is having a heart attack, call right away. Emergency responders can provide the fastest, safest route to the hospital and are trained to treat you on the way.
Close X. Back to Living Better Living Better newsletter. Zip Code. Why a widowmaker heart attack is so dangerous. The team went to the waiting room, where they informed Nikki they were able to save her husband.
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