Heart attack

Techman

My best friend/pal/buddy/confidant/mi amigo is in hospital in very critical condition. he was seeing a Doc. Get yourself checked out, its painless. I knew all 5 of his kids before they were born. Damn .

Henry

Get checked

I am going to a friends funeral today. Heart attack ! I am feeling lucky as an ECG did not show anything before leaving for Portugal in July. My doc had me make an appointment with a cardiologist. Two weeks ago, I did ultrasound and a stress ECG. I have at least one partially blocked artery. The slightly higher blood pressure is caused by a higher heart rate. I take a half pill every morning to reduce the heart rate plus ibuprofen for a hip pain. After we get back from Europe on September 12th, I go in on the Sunday September 15th to get the sewer rooter through the arteries.



If you start to get sweaty or your hands feel numb at times, get a stress ECG.

ChrisJ

Sorry

I'm sorry to hear that techman. I hope all goes well.

SWEI

Gas exchange analysis

is a good idea (assuming your doctor is equipped for that.) 

Techman

Heart

Thanks,guys! What is that SWEI?

SWEI

Gas Exchange Analysis

is kind of an enhanced treadmill test, where they measure your O2 uptake and CO2 output -- from which they can determine your basal metabolic rate, max O2, and a few other tidbits about how well your entire heart/lung system is doing its job.  Fairly popular in sports medicine and gaining traction for detection of heart disease http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11570115



This is even slicker than the machine I was tested on a few years back http://mgcdiagnostics.com/products/view/ultima-cardio2

Jean-David Beyer

I had a heart attack a few years ago...

I was lucky. I get a nuclear stress test every few years, and came out just fine each time. Ultrasounds of the carotid arteries too.



But one Sunday I was going to a play at the local theater at 3PM, but at 2PM I did not feel right. Sort of like gas, but a little too high for that. Then my arms started to ache a little. So I went to the ER instead of the theater and described my symptoms. They immediately admitted me without all the usual waiting, did an EKG and X-ray (they always do a chest x-ray when going into a hospital, blood tests, and rushed me to the cardiac catheterization lab to examine my heart from the inside. Put a stent into one of coronary arteries that was 90% or 95% blocked. I am supposedly as good as new. They said if I had gone to the play first, I would not be typing this today.



My dad did not do as well. One day he had a nuclear stress test and passed just fine. A couple of days later he told my mother he was dying, which he then did. Better than dragging it out, I guess.



You never really know when your number is up. It is best to prepare as well as you can, especially if you have dependents.

Harvey Ramer

Sorry to hear.

I certainly hope he pulls through, Terry. It sucks loosing someone close.



Harvey