My chest is home to my apocalypse
 

Over two years ago I started getting pains. Just mild ones, but that time of my life was particularly stressful. They’d suck the life out of me. I’d have to stop and take time out, waiting for that sensation to pass, for something to pass. Even if it was me.
The most heart-breaking moment was having to stop and watch my children walk away, unaware of what was going on… because I didn’t tell them.
I was 30 years old at the time. That sort of thing isn’t SUPPOSED to happen when you’re 30, for fuck’s sake!
But life changed, it got better, and all that went away. I didn’t think anything more of it. After all, it was just some anxiety, something that was a symptom of other things happening. Nothing meaningful.
Until about two months ago. It came back. It’s back and it’s here. And I’m terribly, terribly frightened of it. This time it isn’t pain; it’s pressure. Tightness in the chest. An ache in my left arm and tingling in my fingers.
I’m 32 years old now. This sort of thing isn’t SUPPOSED to be happening.


And I'm too scared to see a doctor in case I'm told what I don't want to hear. How dumb is that?

don't smoke any big joints

you'll be paranoid for a year.


seriously....go get tested. they can tell if you're about to pop. poeple DO die at 32 of heart attacks..people also get panic attacks from stress and THINK it's all over. science is your friend. take the time. do it tomorrow.

ElBandito ...
Get your arse to a doctor NOW! I mean, either today or tomorrow. SOON. Seriously!
Pain and tightness in the chest and tingling in the left arm ... I did a first aid course a while back and those symptoms say "urgent attention required" very clearly to me.
Make an appointment today. It might be nothing serious, and wouldn't it be nice to hear that? If it is something serious, there are things that can be done.
Best of luck, and let us know what the doc says. If you browse the archives here, you'll find quite a few people getting a lot of support through various health crises.
Take care of yourself.

I knew someone who died of a heart attack at age 34.

I should go. God knows that I know I should.

But I feel like I'm standing in the shadow of a huge 'what if' sign. :/ It's the same on the other side too; what if I don't.

I've not even told my partner about it. She's blissfully unaware. It seems easier to put it all here. Heh, talk about a cop out, eh?

would you rather drive to the doctor or ride to the ER? make sure you always have clean underwear on. srsly....don't find yourself sitting up all night waiting next to the phone just in case you don't make it through till morning...cuz that sux.

You can either sit on an exam table, or you can lay on a morgue slab.

Your choice.

Heart attacks know no age limit.

Graveyards are full of people who said "It'll never happen to me."

And they're surrounded by the people who said "It might be happening to me but I don't want to know for sure".
GO. TO. A. DOCTOR.

NOW.

Doctor.....now!

Seriously mate. Chances are it's stress related panic attacks....but just in case, get your arse to a doctors because if it's something more serious you want it dealing with before it becomes critical. It could be hypertension. It could be something and nothing. It could be something that suddenly robs your children of their father.

Please. Get a check up. The scariest things are the things you can come up with in your own head. Even if it's something genuinely serious, that doesn't mean it won't be treatable. Get to a doctor.

My brother had a heart attack at 19. He died from heart problems at 40.

The bad news is that despite your fears, you will be examined soon.

The good news is you get to choose your examiner; will it be by a doctor or a coroner?

As a father, you owe it to your children to make an appointment right now. Not in five minutes. Right NOW. Do it. I'm serious. They deserve to have their dad around as they grow up. Make the damn appointment. Now.

I agree with glatt. As a parent it is your responsibilty to take care of yourself, so that you can take care of those you brought into this world. (I'm assuming here) What kind of message are you sending to them by ignoring this? Not to mention the deceit against your partner. Would you want her to do the same to you?

See a doctor now. There is no other option.

Okay guys I think we've been pretty unanimous and insistent about this. Belligerent, even, and I think rightly so.
Maybe we should give Bandito a chance to make his appointment and report back to us.

Bandito, from one n00b to another ... people ARE going to follow this up and you'd do well to have something to tell ... start with telling us when your appointment is, and then after that, tell us the results.

I will add my support to those saying you need to see the doctor.
Whatever the problem is, there will be something you can do about it.

My Dad was rushed into hospital earlier this year - yes he is significantly older than you - and it turned out he'd been having pains for quite a while and hadn't wanted to make a fuss. Even that day he had had severe pains and tried to walk it off - eventually his lips turned blue and Mum realised there was something he wasn't telling her.

It all ended happily - he had a shunt put in - but more to the point it was something that he suffered with and worried about needlessly, and Mum was furious when she found out.

Don't suffer alone - please get checked out.

I hate to tell you this and you are going to hate to hear it, I see people drop dead from MI's (myocardial infarctions, aka heart attacks) on a regular basis, and there is a percentage that are in their 30's and 40's. The longer you wait the more the potential damage to the muscle in the heart. Every episode of chest pain you describe is most likely angina, referred pain from a portion of your heart experiencing a lack of oxygen which could be due to any number of things. If you continue to wait the damage may be irreversible. The pain is a warning sign for you to stop slow down and seek medical attention. Your failure to seek help is a death wish at the worst and a life of disability and pain at the least. SEEK HELP NOW!

You may have a better directory than I can find, But here's a short directory of Cardiologists in Wellington.

The Wakefield Heart Centre looks promising.
Their phone number is (04) 381 8115

Please call them now.

Holy crap; thanks for the support and the peer pressure. I'm making an appointment to see my GP for a referral today.
I told my partner last night. She looked... shocked. Stunned. A little frightened.
Neither of us have slept much. :/

are you taking aspirin?

goooooood.

Keep us posted. we're watching :eyeball:

No, no asprin at the moment.

And the peer pressure in this case is good peer pressure... rather than the 'hey there, take this awesome crack', it's the good stuff instead.

And I will.

thanks!

GOOD. Also, take the aspirin. It cannot hurt you, and it may help in the meantime.

Not as shocked as she'd be if you keeled over dead one day. Many heart problems are very treatable, putting your head in the sand is the last thing she'd want you to do. I'm very glad you told her, and I'm sure she's grateful to know as well.

*Thumbs up* ElBandidto.

The biggest hurdle I find is getting over the Kiwi attitude of 'she'll be right, mate' (I think the Aussies have something similar). It's something of a National Identity and part of a measure of 'manliness' here. Akin to Kiwi ingenuity (No. 8 wire and all that).
And it leads to kiwi guys like me just 'putting up and shutting up' with ills and ailments.

I've called. Got an appointment in two hours. :thumb

Stay strong, Bandito. It's amazing what the combination of a statin, aspirin and a beta blocker can do to reduce your risks. I've been on the first two drugs for about seven years -- my maternal uncle died of a MI at age 32 (exactly my age now!)

Just want to add...if you take aspirin, don't take too much. It can be very bad for your stomach.

I have recently started taking one enteric coated ASA q other day. Most recommend a single baby ASA daily.

*grins*


Hey, ElBandito, well done mate. Let us know how you get on :)

good decision ELB, now you can get on the road to recovery from whatever ails you:)

*drops over dead of a heart attack*

sorry, i just heven't broken your bal....box over the asterisks in a while.

So, he must be at the docs right about now then. I'll have to keep an eye on this thread today.

Had heart problems in my mid 30's, I'm fine now in the heart dept. Turned out to be a reaction to a med.
Get thee to a Dr.
Be thinking of ya'.

*points at Lj and laughs*

:p

Well, I explained everything to my GP; right down to the numbness in the fingers. I've a script for some spray that I'll get filled tomorrow.

But in the morning I have an appointment for the whole enchelada... all the tests under the sun. All hail the mighty referral.

I feel better... just having had told someone. And now that my Doctor knows then... well, I just feel better.

And I love my boss. I told her this morning and she told me to piss off and go to the doctor.

Big <3's for everyone. Will report back on the morrow.

Well it's good to see you feeling better about your decision mate. Best of luck with everything tomorrow. I hope it turns out to be something easily fixed.

So far so good news. Looking forward to the next chapter ...

:thumbsup: Very good news. Thank you for taking the initiative. :thumbsup:

Good news, keep us posted please.

LJ, that was in very poor taste. As is the fact that I am laughing about it.

See you in hell.

I'm always late to threads anymore...

EB - I had some of the weirdest, most nonstandard cardiac symptoms anyone had ever seen, but I ended up having all of my cardiac arteries replaced, and I'm pretty sure they redid some of the wiring in my car just to be sure. All this to say that you should immediately see a cardiac specialist, get a things checked out. My EKG was perfectly normal, ultrasound showed nothing, but when they cathed me and shot me up with the dye, my surgeon immediately got on the phone, called three other surgeons, and then returned to tell me that not only was he not going to let me go home, he wasn't going to let me walk to the room they were preparing for me for the overnight before my bypass the next morning.

Summary: If you *think* you have a problem, you might.

Bloods taken today. It's going to take two days for cholesterol, oil, water and antifreeze to be measured.

Next week (earliest they could squeeze me in) is the EKG.

Make sure the brake fluid gets topped off....

Anyway, it's good to see that you are taking care off this.

In the meanwhile, take it easy ... avoid stress, vigourous exercise and other triggers... caffeine, watching rugby, whatever.
I don't know if you like it, but avoid cannabis too. It can cause increased heart rate.
All the best.

& power steering fluid - need to be able to steer that baby

I kinda wonder if I’m ‘that guy’. The hypo-chondriac who cries ‘wolf’ every time he feels a twinge. Kinda.

The truth is I haven’t. I’ve not cried ‘wolf’ about these chest pains before, and this is the first time I’ve been to the doctor, for me, in about 12 years… regarding this. Blood was taken, as I’ve mentioned. Tests were done.

Everything in my blood is normal. Except the lipids. Indicating a high-ish cholesteral. Not dangerous, but on the low end of high. So I would surmise that if I ran my blood through a strainer I should be able to remove the lipids and everything would be okay.

Over the last week I’ve had that pressure in my chest perhaps a dozen times. Sometimes it’s like a dull presence. Other times it can be quite sharp. And everytime I think “ooh, crap, this is it. I’m about to keel over rather embarassingly in front of all these people, probably piss my pants and vomit a thin stream of half-digested risotto.”

Although it hasn’t gotten as bad as that one moment last week when my left arm stung. Seriously stung. And my fingers went numb… but that’s so far in the past that it’s starting to feel like it didn’t happen. And now a little niggle in the back of my head is saying “pfft, get over it you twat.”

Life goes on.

Until it doesn’t.

That's a tough one. I've been there, I won't go to a doc because I've been to a doc sure I had double pneumonia and of course it turned out I didn't...which just meant a wasted co-pay and antibiotics I don't need and could be harmful.

Then again, if your body is telling you something is wrong you want to listen. Docs have been wrong.

If you're just now seeing a doc after 12 years I think you're safe from the hypochondriac label, though. :)

That '12 years' is due to the Kiwi 'Don't worry mate, she'll be right' attitude.

There have been times during that 12 years when I've known I SHOULD have gone to the doc (I gashed my leg open rather bad... got an awesome scar to show for my 'no doctor' visit).

Interesting really, considering New Zealand health care is free. Based on what I've just said, we're all dumb-arses.

Tomorrow is 'EKG' day. That'll tell me if my heart is working properly and not misfiring.

I'll be thinking of you matey. Hope it all goes well.

Thanks!

I'll report back on the morrow with the EKG results.

Is it always in public, these twinges?

No. They're anytime. Except I don't notice them IF they happen when I'm asleep.

At home, at work. In the shower the other day... anytime.

indigestion? carpal tunnel?

Your age?

Caffeine consumption? Coffee, tea, coke?

How long has this been going on? Has it been pretty much at the same rate as when it started, or has it been getting more often per day?

Do you notice any sweating? Same time or different times?

Any shortness of breath?

Any nausea? Change in stool? Pain in other areas of your body?

Problems with your esophagus, like spasms, gerd, or others can cause it.

Mmm... risotto...

Okay, here we go;

Well, I don't spaz (much), I've never 'gerd'ed (whatever that is), and I suspect my esophagus is in fine form. I could be wildly wrong, though.

It's not indigestion. And carpal tunnel of the chest? I'm not sure how THAT could happen.

I'm 32.
Coffee, roughly two-three cups a day. No coke or fizzy drinks of any kind.

It went on for a couple of months two years ago, then 'went away'. A couple of months ago it came back, only less painful.

No sweating.

Breathing's fine.

No nausea. And my poo-poo is just fine (although I'd rather not get close enough to ask). ;)

Other pain; just a little right-shoulder pain from using mouse-keyboard too much in the course of my work.

Turn your head and cough.

Been there, done that (although my pain was carpal tunnel).

Mice are evil.

I learned to alternate the mouse from left to right of the keyboard each day. This helped.

You're not being a wus by getting this checked. Cuts and bruises are one thing, but this is in another league. Keep us posted, there're plenty of us following this.

Oh yeah, NZers are traditionally tough about injuries. One NZ mate of mine asked my advice about an injury he'd picked up crashing his bike in traffic, sliding sideways and planting his lower leg onto the tip of a car's exhaust pipe. "Should I leave it uncovered, or put some band-aids over it?". It was a carved out gash 3 or 4 cm long, and 5-6mm wide and the same depth. He had ridden home. We got him to go to the hospital and they were able to stitch it, although for a while they were considering skin grafts. Bloody band-aids, :lol: .

New Zealanders: like Australians, only more so.

I was hiking the Milford Track in NZ a few years ago, and there was one Kiwi on the trail who had to do it in flip flops because one of his big toes was all mangled from some accident a few days before. He achieved legendary status amongst the other hikers on this trip who were finding it a challenge in sturdy hiking boots. He had strangers coming up to him for days to inquire on the toe. He was genuinely surprised at everyone's concern. You should have seen that toe! :greenface He put a little ointment on it but no bandage because they kept falling off as he hiked. Just a mangled toe, open to the air, on a 4 day hike.

My (ex) sis-in-law is an American living in NZ. She'll be home with her partner for Christmas. I'll have to ask Bruce about the New Zealander's imperviousness to pain. He is pretty laid back, so I wouldn't be surprised.