I go back to work next Wednesday. My 1st heart attack didn’t hurt. I was running the control board on a bad day and felt chest pressure. It was diagnosed as an anxiety attack. My O2 saturation was only 88 but the EKG showed normal so they sent me back to work.
Two weeks before that I had climbed an 80 foot tall column twice in 6 minutes with no problems. I’m 65.
My 2nd didn’t hurt either. It was mid December, 4:20 am. I had been on nights for 2 months and this was my 12th 12.5 hr outside shift in a row. I just couldn’t make it up the hill to the control house for shift change. I made an excuse that I had to check on the stray cats I feed. 15 minutes later I was ok and made turnover at 5am. I just knew from that moment that something was wrong.
Dec 21, after 2 restful days off, I was cleaning litter boxes before going in on the 1st of 3 night shifts when I just couldn’t catch my breath. I took a shower and told my wife we should go to the new mini hospital down the road. My EKG was perfect but my Troponin level was slightly elevated. No pain just pressure and short of breath. The little hospital got the wheels turning.
3 hospitals, 2 EKGs, Cardiac Ultrasound, Cardiac Cath. A breathing test of some sort that broke the catheter seal on my Femoral Artery and finally a Quadruple Bypass on Christmas Eve. 5 days in the ICU and then home. My wife’s a nurse.
I was a walking time bomb but my heart suffered very little damage.
Since then I’ve been in some form of upper body pain every day. I got off the opiates at 25 days out. 6 days to detox. I had pneumonia 3 weeks ago and the blood thinners keep my nose on the edge of terrifying.
I’ve been in Cardiac Rehab for 20 sessions and it’s the most satisfying medical experience I’ve ever had.
Del Sol Cardiac Rehab ROCKS !!
Today I went back to the clinic at work and had my pre return to work checkup and did ok. Back to work 4/17. A week off each month and retire at Thanksgiving.
I need to add something here. On 10/15/2015 at 2:00 a.m. on an elk hunting trip in the BigHorn mountains, a big wind blew in and devastated our tent camp. I injured my back picking up the mess. A few days later I went to the ER about my back. I explained in complete detail how I injured my back and the doctor, in his devine wisdom, ignored everything I said and determined that I must go in the hospital immediately because I was having a heart attack. He based his decision on a very slightly elevated troponin level. He didn't hear anything I said so I left the ER AMA. I went home and googled troponin and what I learned was that when the medical people first made the troponin connection, it's presence alone was sufficient to determine a heart attack. After a bit they learned that slightly elevated levels could be caused by PAIN. I went to my regular doctor of 15 years & he sent me to get an MRI. Guess what? The MRI showed a crushed disk around L-5 and a crack in the L-4 vertebrae. If the ER doctor would have opened his ears instead of his mouth, I may have gotten an accurate diagnosis.
My reason for writing this is that the doctors are not always right and if you disagree with your doctor, talk with him or see a different physician.
since my heart attack ive been getting very severe joint pain !! I had tests for arthritis and they come back with early onset arthritis, but the Dr said it shouldn't hurt so bad ?? my cardiac rehab nurse thinks it could be the high dose of statins making it worse ??? is anybody else who's on statins having the same problem ? it is a known side effect.
I had problems with a statin as it was increased years ago, and the doc switched me to a different one. Problems ended. My LDL was 115 when I had my HA; now about 65 on the LDL.
I was having pretty severe joint pain and a month off the statins didn't help. Diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. Now am on meds to control it and mostly pain free. Before that, when I was having a flair up it was extremely painful, so much so I couldn't walk!
had been having joint pain for years because clogged arteries weren't letting enough oxygen enriched blood get to the joint tissues.
Get well soon. When i was in the cardiac unit, there was no phone, no TV, no visitors, nothing. They didn't want any outside stresses. I guess things have changed.