Heart Attack - A Personal Story From A Friend's Experience

I got the following story from a friend who forwarded it to me. I think it is a good read especially for all of us as you never know... a heart attack could happen to anyone. I hope that this sharing can benefit you and your loved ones. Please pass it on.

Zul’s story from himself..

 

 

Hi,

I thought of sharing my recent experience with all of you with the hope that you could gain something from it. Note the symptoms and warning signs that i will be relating. Suspecting that your are getting heart attack and making your way as fast as possible to the hospital, I think, is the key to surviving it.

So here is my story…

It was late Saturday night and I was watching a documentary on Nat. Geo. Everyone had gone to bed hours earlier. My wife had been preparing to leave for her one week trip to Institute Aminuddin Baki at Genting Highland the next morning.

It started with pain around the shoulder region spreading to the arms. My neck felt very uncomfortable.  It’s something I always get whenever I sit in a weird position for an extended time (in this case I am sitting where the TV is on my right side so I have to turn my head when watching) or I also gets it after hours in front of the computer. So I though, it’s because of the way I was sitting that causes it but I had only sat there for about 10 minutes. Earlier, I was sitting comfortable with the TV straight. So I decided I should just go to bed. After all its already about 1:30 in the morning. Normally, lying flat on the bed helps as I have done so many times after sitting for hours in front of a computer.

Just as I was going up the stairs, I started to feel a little dizzy and my stomach feels weird and warm. When I got in the bedroom, the a/c was on and it was quite cool. I lie down on the bed. Minutes later I started to sweat- cold sweat. The sweating was so bad that it started dripping from my head and the back of my ears. My stomach feels like I have eaten too much (I did not really ate a lot that night…it just felt that way).  It feels as if it I am having a bad case of indigestion and heartburn. Minutes later  I started to feel like I am going to puke.. It’s the same feeling when you get a severe headache, sweat and feels like you are going to vomit (but this time no headache).

I got up, went downstairs and grab myself minyak cap limau. I always keep this handy for stomach discomfort or “angin”. The sweating is getting worst and as I sat on the sofa, sweat started to drip on to the floor. There was so much of it that my shirt is all wet so I took it off and put my shirt on the floor where the sweat was dripping.

I drank a glass of warm water and decided to go back to the bedroom. The dizziness is still there. My arms felt numb all the way to my fingers. I thought if I could get some sleep then all of these would go away. So I lie down on the bed. I was so sleepy that in between awake and sleep I could tune to my heart beat. It sounded weird, irregular. At this point my breathing was very heavy. The warm in my stomach feels like its moving up to the chest area.

I keep thinking and trying to figure out what was going on. Is it just “angin” or indigestion or is it due to food poisoning.

I got up, went to the toilet and tried to make myself puke but couldn’t. So I came back into the bedroom and sits at the edge of the bed.. My face was already very pale, I feel very tired and the sweating was still very bad, dripping on the floor . Still sitting on the edge of the bed and feeling very tired and sleepy, I remember asking my sister in law a year earlier about the symptoms she had when she had a heart attack and it seems all the symptoms are there. I still could not believe that I am having a heart attack.

About half an hour had passed and I am still about 50-50 whether to wake up and inform my wife. Then I thought…if this is really a heart attack, then I could die tonight.  I thought of my lovely wife and my kids and finally decided to wake my wife up and inform her what is going on.. She was surprised to see my shirt was all wet and my face very pale and sweat dripping. I told her that the symptom I am having is very much like the one her sister had told me and that we should go to hospital.

It only took us about 15 minutes to make it to the hospital. When we arrived at the emergency ward, I could barely walk. I was so tired and was having difficulty breathing. I was immediately asked to lie down and an ECG was performed. An oxygen tube was placed in my nostril and I can see nurses and hospital assistants running towards me. At this point the pain had spread to the jaw and teeth.

The nurses started to poke my wrist and the back of my hands with needles. A drip was connected to my right arm while at the same time a machine that controls a small bottle of medicine was injected on my left hand. I was asked to  place a small tablet of medicine under my tongue.

Half an hour later the sweating stops and it feels a little better. In the meantime, my wife who was still waiting outside was still not informed of what had happened to me. It was 2 hours later that she started to inquire what is happening and she was told that I had suffered a major heart attack.

After completing two bottles of drips, I was then pushed into the ICU. ECG/EKG was performed every half an hour for the rest of the night as well as throughout the next day. When the doctor came in the morning, I was informed that I had suffered a major heart attack.

On  the scale of 0 to 10, where 0 means alive and 10 means dead, the doctor asked me where I think I stood. I thought for awhile and said 6.5. He said no and said that it was actually about a 9.5. I was so shocked. The doctor then started to give me a cardio 101 lesson and explained that they had injected me with the strongest clot busting drug in the world when I arrived. Clot buster thins the blood and helped to ensure blood continue to flow but does not really solve the blockage problem.

I suppose the clot buster is almost similar to the chemical we use in our kitchen sink when it gets clogged.

After 4 days in ICU I was confirmed stable and plans were being made to move me for further observation in the general ward. An appointment was made with the heart specialist in Penang GH but I had to queue for about a month before I could even see the doctor and performing an angiogram/angioplasty would then take another couple of months.

I decided I do not want to wait and asked the doctor whether I could be transferred to a private hospital. The doctor was very helpful and recommended a specialist for me at the KPJ hospital in Bandar Perda. He called up the doctor (Dr Safari) and make arrangements to send me there.

When I arrived at about 7pm, Doctor Safari greeted me. He said I was very lucky and that the fast action of going to the hospital saved me. He then scheduled for an angiogram and also an angioplasty immediately the next morning. An angiogram is to see how bad the clot was and where it is. It is also to determine the condition of the other coronary arteries (there are 3 main ones). A balloon angioplasty is to clear the blockage in the artery thus allowing blood to flow again.

The procedure took several hours with only little pain and discomfort. Although the procedure is safer than an open heart surgery, it is still dangerous and could be life threatening.  A flexible catheter is injected into the groin artery and then guided  all the way up to the heart.. Then a dye was injected and on the x-ray screen you could determine where the blockage was. I still have an 80% blockage (the clot buster I guess managed to clear about 20% which helped to allow blood to flow back into my heart. It did not resolve the problem in whole).  Was told that when a blood flow to the heart is blocked, any portion of the heart that did not get enough blood and oxygen would then die off, permanently. This then causes the heart to be weak and disrupt its efficiency. Mine was considered a major because the clog happens in the main artery which could damage a huge portion of the heart below it.

Once the blockage is determined, a small balloon is inflated to push the clogs against the artery walls and a drug coated stent (a sort of wire mesh tube) is placed to ensure the arteries do not collapse again. When the balloon is deflated and removed, the stent stays and overtime would become part of the coronary artery. The stent is treated with some types of drugs to prevent a recurrence of abnormal narrowing due to further clotting of the blood since it is made of metal and it attracts blood platelet to stick to it. I was not able to walk or even move my right leg the first 6 hours after the procedure. I spent another day in the hospital and was released the next day with a month long MC.

So what were the symptoms again?

1.       Pain around neck and shoulder region and spreading to the arms(in my case it was the left arm).

2.       Feeling of indigestion and/or heartburn. Feel warm in the stomach that slowly moves up to the chest.

3.       Pressure, fullness or pain in the center of the chest

4.       Sudden weakness, dizziness, fainting, sweating, nausea or shortness of breath

Some people (men) have the classic symptoms of severe pain in the chest (feels like someone is squeezing your heart) but I only felt a little pain when I was already in hospital. The above 4 symptoms however, should be generally true to heart attacks in both men and women.

If you suspect you are getting a heart attack.  Go quickly to the hospital. Every second counts.

PS - One of the best way to reduce the risk of heart attack is to ensure that you are always maintaining your correct BMI. Make sure you are at the correct weight based on your height. Here is a link that could help you with your weight. I highly recommend it. It is one of the best online. Check it out at The Diet Solution Program 

Five Good Things for your Life!

Got this from a good friend. I thought that it is worth sharing...

This is translated directly from Chinese using a translator so it might be a bit off here and there.

Using the Food Law: Five things like good

Chance encounter, the lecturer to see a
 name Wu Baofen reported health talks, she won acclaim under full
house is a careful look to break the deep-rooted mistakes most people eating.

For a change before the non-, will organize some good notes!


Five good things like:

1. Bedtime drink soy milk, (soya bean milk before sleep)
Drink milk before going to bed: 100% high quality milk is rich in
amino acids, can produce enough growth hormone, and promote the body's
metabolism, the body of excess consumption of sugar and fat, so drink
milk before going to bed, have the effect of weight loss, which is the
"amino acid diet", also known as "lazy weight loss."

In addition, the soy isoflavone-rich (natural estrogen), can reduce
blood cholesterol, protect the heart, prevention of myocardial
infarction, so the chances of cardiovascular disease in women was only
boys? Lure sink to sit @, isoflavone and calcium can inhibit the body
the loss of quality, but also prevention of
 breast cancer and genetic-related cancer, so drink 250cc of milk
before going to bed, hot and cold light sweet free, allowing you to
have a good sleep, good physique.

But now the market is 80% of soybeans genetically modified,
genetically modified foods currently on the human body? Trip Kuang Wu
unknown string together to purchase non-GM soy, the proposed purchase
without preservatives Oh, before going to bed drink a drink than in
the morning greater efficiency.

2. Eat the fruit better than eating vegetables, (fruits are better
than vegetables)

Better than eating fruits and vegetables to eat: When a "womanizer"
it, to choose fragrant fruit, colorful, and contains a lot of resin,
eat for health. Than eating vegetables and fruit is good, resin
composition can be compression, such as to choose the mango mango,
grapes eat purple grapes, red seedless watermelon election watermelon,
honeydew choose green, melon flesh should be
 selected, the fruit garnet Lian, home to the first resin. Do not eat
grapefruit because then the future will inhibit the liver's
detoxification!

3. Green tea effective than water (green tea is better than plain water)

Recommended to drink green tea and black tea instead of water, because
water can not take away the bad material body, black tea is fermented
tea cooked, so green tea is better than black tea, drink green tea can
reduce Parkinson, and green tea contains catechins, can protect the
articular cartilage pain relief. In addition, the bubble after the
tasteless green tea bag can be used to rub the skin with eczema,
allergic yo!

4. Every day, a cup of coffee (a daily coffee is good for you)

Select Arabic coffee beans: a cup of coffee a day, the benefits of
drinking coffee is coffee can inhibit dopamine L-Dopa, prevent aging,
Parkinson's disease, cancer, coffee will be activated when the brain
commands the limbs need
 to transfer material, old age After the skill is more coordination,
the downside is the loss of calcium and coffee will be a number of
vitamins.

Forbidden to drink the first three months of pregnancy due to risk of
miscarriage. In addition, Arab coffee beans to choose, not the Java
beans, beans should be fresh, put a long time will produce aflatoxin.

5. The cancer repented of the Potato (sweet potato can get away the
cancel cells)

Potato correcting diseased cells: sweet potatoes containing ganglion
liver ester, is diseased cells can lead; and sweet potatoes can lose
weight, because the starch is water-soluble fiber, not hoarding the
body.

The sweet potatoes are polysaccharides, beneficial to humans, eating
more satiety than the recommended one meal a week can eat sweet
potatoes instead of rice. The more red the better the more sweet
potatoes, boiled and steamed than baked good, and the cured skins eat
better.

Physicians specifically for radiation that would use radio 』『
microwave oven is one less valence electron, using the vibration of
water molecules to make the food hot, so food is easy to become
radical, they are carcinogenic. So easy to use occasionally look
better to use less 』『 best microwave oven!

Worth considering the following article

The body of toxic substances from the two main ways: First, the
pollutants in the air and water, through breathing and eating and
invade the human body, lead, aluminum, mercury and other heavy metals
is its representative; the other is metabolized in the body of food
waste, such as free radicals, hydrogen sulfide and so on. Nowadays,
spam has become clear the body healthy fashion.

3 ways to remove toxins from the body to help you in a timely manner.

1. Take the initiative to cough method: (proactive cough)
Nature of the dust, metal particles and emissions of toxic
 substances into the lungs through breathing, not only harms the
lungs, but also through blood circulation while! Implicated 'em. With
active cough can 'clean' lungs. Outdoor fresh air every day to do deep
breathing exercise, deep breathing slowly raised his arms, and then
take the initiative to cough, so that air from the mouth, nasal spray,
cough up sputum.

2. Water irrigation: (have a cup of plain water after getting up in
the morning)
Regular bowel movements, stool in the intestines to shorten the
residence time of feces in a timely manner toxins. Every morning drink
a cup of warm water fasting is conducive to smooth stool and toxins
from the urine.

3. Sports sweating method: (do exercises)
Excretion of toxins in the skin is also a way, mainly through
sweating, which allows the toxins excreted with sweat.


● Changyin fresh fruit, fresh juice (not fried cooked), fresh fruit,
fresh juice is a body of 'cleaner', they
 can rid the body of accumulated toxins and waste. (Fruit and
vegetable juices are good)
● eat kelp, kelp has a special affinity for radioactive material,
seaweed gum can make with the large body of radioactive material
excreted, thereby reducing the radioactive material accumulated in the
human body, but also reduces the incidence of radiation sickness. (Sea
weeds are good)
● often Helvdoutang, green bean soup could help the body excrete
toxins, promote the body's normal metabolism. (Green bean soup helps
metabolism)