TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

After two heart attacks, the first caused by high cholesterol and the 2nd likely by stress, I really pay attention to my heart. I keep my cholesterol around 160 (with the help of Zetia and a Statin), my blood pressure low, take an 325 mg coated aspirin daily and control my heart rate with a beta blocker (60 resting and max out at 110-120). I’m very aware of my heart rate and regularity. I have a Pulsox, but I can take my pulse and tell immediately or just feel it. The most reassuring thing is a Kardia device which clips to the back of my phone. You hold it with 2 fingers (right and left hand), and it spits out a real time EKG, which will tell you instantly if you have AFIB or are having a heart attack (instead of just muscle pain). Costs ~$80 and will record the EKG as a pdf which you can text to your doctor in real time or show him during a visit. Provides great peace of mind and early detection of issues. Since I’ve had 2 MIs (and stents), I also have a nuclear stress test yearly. I’m almost 78, and if it weren’t for modern medicine and a nearby cath lab, I’d have died at 55 with my first “widow maker” (100% LAD blockage)

cucharared Loc: Texas, Colorado

I got my first stent back in 1999. I was able to watch the monitor along with the cardiologist. Even got to ask a few questions. It was fascinating. Along comes a cabin to be built in Colorado and all went fine until 2007, when I felt a definite change in capabilities while working. Then that fall I experienced an “event” that got me a ride to ER. I lucked into a wonderful cardiologist being on duty. One day later I got two more stents, followed by a pacemaker the next day. The pacemaker was for bradycardia, as my heart rate was dropping info the 30’s at night. In 2014 that pacemaker was replaced by a new unit, which is down to a year or so of battery life left. I got a fourth stent in 2018, and a fifth this past April. None of these resulted in any feelings of incapability. But, after a light workout at the local rec center on March 1st this year my Apple Watch announced I had AFib. That was just two weeks after my 80th birthday. Significantly, this change left me feeling closer to being an invalid than any other heart problem I’d experienced. I’ve heard many others indicate they had AFib and never knew it but that couldn’t be further from how I was affected. I’m now on meds that help but I can’t shake the feeling that my warranty has expired. I don’t like this feeling.

Ron

Tdearing Loc: Rockport, TX

Absolutely, make an effort to get a good walk in daily as well.

Cragzop Loc: NYC

Be aware that some chemotherapy regiments can destroy your heart, especially Doxorubicin, a key agent in many cancer therapies.
I was cured of lymphoma at Sloan Kettering in 2009. In 2018, I was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy due to the Doxorubicin.
The drug is also used in treating breast cancer, so if a woman in your life had breast cancer, and chemo, please insist they have periodical echocardiograms.
Radiation therapy will exasperate the negative effects.

Chance Logan Loc: New England

My Dad was from a large family that all lived into their late 80s and beyond. Yet, he passed after years of painful bouts with angina at 51. His example set my path to abstain from alcohol, smoking and other vices. I have had reasonably good health into mid-seventies with my brain staying young (wife keeps telling me I must be 12) and I haven't had to slow down much. Recently, my son gave me an Apple watch. I had to feign appreciation because I never liked the thought of having to charge a watch. Fell asleep one night watching TV and awoke feeling a slight tightness in my chest which I dismissed. Then the watch alerted me that my heart rate was rapidly dancing between 70 & 170 for the next hour. Since there was no reset button, the ER was the next option - diagnosis: A-fib. Damn watch and blood thinner are now my friends. Can't look at it as a get out of jail card, but choose to think positively that I've got a couple of bodyguards walking with me to help keep things out of my way so I can enjoy the rest of my time with others.

47greyfox Loc: on the edge of the Colorado front range

I also have a short story to tell. In early 2006, I was standing at our kitchen island and felt a tingling heavy feeling in my left arm that soon also included my right arm. Within 10 seconds or so, I felt fine. Foolishly, I didn't call my doctor or even consider 911. Jump ahead 6 months or so and I start experiencing atrial fibrulation (afib). My primary care physician misdiagnosed the afib as simple palpitations. When I grumbled he refered me to a cardiologist who immediately scheduled me for a stress test. At my follow-up appt, he asked me if I'd ever had any kind of cardiac event. I said I didn't think so, but described the arm experience. He immediately scheduled an echocardiogram, which revealed a totally occluded right descending coronary artery. Fortunately, for me, I had robust collaterals from my left ventricle to the right ventricle. Had I recognized and reacted to the original event and received emergent care within 20 minutes, flow through the artery would probably have been restored. Because of the robustness of the collaterals, a bypass was not recommended. That was the good news. The result is that I'm totally dependent on the left coronary artery, aka "widow maker." The lesson is obvious. Pay attention to anything that isn't normal regardless of its duration.

nervous2 Loc: Provo, Utah

Isn't it great when our children have developed expertise that benefits us. I'm very proud of mine. They know a lot more about many things than I do.

KillroyII Loc: Middle Georgia

Thank you for the public service reminder. While I am being cared for by a cardiologist... I am sure many are not... and should be aware of the dangers of heart problems.

I have had issues with plugged arteries for quite a few years (the VA (Veterans Administration) attributes that... and several other problems to Agent Orange from my time in Viet Nam). I have accumulated 6 stents over the years... 3 in the widow maker and 3 other places around the heart.

Before my 1st "event" I had not given much thought to heart problems and SHOULD HAVE BEEN responding to some signs... again thanks for letting the Hoggers know the dangers.

I also had to thank a young nurse (in the in-law family) for minimizing my risks when she heard I was going to have a cath at the local hospital. She got word to me, thru my daughter, that it was an unnecessary risk and recommended I insist that I be transferred to a larger hospital (about 20 miles away) for the cath... saying that it was almost certain that I would need stent(s) and they could not be done in our local hospital... and they would take me out of the OR and send me by ambulance (with some of the stuff hanging out of my artery) to a hospital that was certified (?? don't know the correct term)... she said that there were multiple risks and the risk of infection alone was reason enough to change. I pushed the button at my bed and told the nurse that I wanted to be transferred for the cath... and... she said she would have done the same but had not felt it appropriate to advise me beforehand.

One Rude Dawg Loc: Athol, ID

Ran out of wind, went to see doctor, 97 percent plugged up, no heart attack, just plugged. He asked me why I wasn't dead? No heart damage, fast track for bypass ( quintuple). Piece of cake, just don't sneeze after the fact. Watch your diet after you are out. Just celebrated my 16th birthday last month. Don't cheat on your diet.

edrobinsonjr Loc: Boise, Idaho

Great advice.

In 2004 I had quad bypasses done. I had no idea there was a problem until my GP recommended I get a stress test due to family history. I failed miserably and 2 days later had surgery.

A couple of years ago I developed atrial fibrillation and had a shock treatment to "reboot" my heart and then had
a heart cath procedure where they burn the nerves that cause the problem inside the heart. No more since.

This year I have began having chest pains and in April has a stent put in my heart.

Now my pulse is running too fast and we're looking for a fix.

If the cardiology folks and my GP hadn't kept after me I wouldn't be writing this today.

Take the advice. See a cardiologist!!

Ed

Bubbee Loc: Aventura, Florida

Amen!

Nigel7 Loc: Worcestershire. UK.

Brilliant advice. Thanks.

OldCADuser Loc: Irvine, CA

When I was young, around 10-years old (I'm 75 now), my parents were told that I had a slight heart murmur but they didn't do anything. When I was about 14 I was diagnosed with hypertension (high blood pressure) but since it ran in the family (on my father's side) again nothing was done. When I started college I joined the Army ROTC (this was during the height of the Vietnam war) and I even went one step further and enlisted in the Army Reserves. Now. as I previously indicated, this was during the Vietnam era and perhaps they had relaxed their requirements, but I 'passed' the physical. However, four years later, when I was ready to graduate and when I would be commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, I failed the final physical, but since I'd been in the reserves for the last four-years they had to rule out whether or not it was related to something that had happened during my 'service'. That sent me to a military medical facility where they conducted a series of tests and finally ruled that it was essential hypertension, meaning that it was congenital, and therefore the Army wasn't to blame. However, they refused to give me a wavier so I couldn't take my commission and they had to give me an honorable discharge from the reserves, but without any sort of 'disability rating' since the condition predated my original enlistment. Note that there was no mention of the heart murmur, just the high blood pressure.

Anyway, a few years after I graduated and now that we had full medical insurance coverage, I started to see a family doctor on a regular basis and this was the first time that they put me on medication for my blood pressure. But again, no mention of a heart murmur.

Now lets jump ahead to about 2007, when I was turning 60, my family physician recommended that I start to see a cardiologist on an annual basis and after my first stress-test, he told me that I had minor leakage in my aortic heart valve, which was causing a slight murmur. This was the first mention of this in 50-years (when I told him about what the doctor has told my parents when I was 10, he said that confirmed his suspicion that it was a congenital condition). Anyway, he said that it wasn't serious and that lots of people go their entire life with a leaking heart valve with no problems, but he'd keep an eye on it, which he did, for the next nine-years. And nothing changed. No better and no worse, but he always told me is that if anything did happen, at least is was the easiest valve to replace.

In January 2016 I retired. And a few weeks after my 69th birthday that following August, I started to have problems. I could barely walk more than 50 feet or so and I'd be about to collapse. I went to my family doctor who immediately sent me back to the cardiologist who ran some more tests and determined that the aortic valve was failing and that it needed to replaced as soon as practical. I was referred to a cardiac surgeon at Ceders Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles (we live in Orange County) and after a bunch of tests they confirmed that I needed to have the valve replaced. So in January 2017, using what's called a TAVR procedure, they replaced the aortic valve (this was inserted through an artery in the groin, sort of like installing a giant stint). As a result of the procedure, they had to also install an embedded pacemaker, which has since been reprogrammed to a standby mode as my heart started to self-pace about a month or so after the procedure (this happens in about 25% of the cases like this). At my last visit, the doctor said that the pacemaker is only kicking in about 15% of the time, which he said was about what they had expected.

Anyway, it's now been over seven-years and the pacemaker is still got about 45% battery life left (when it gets down to about 5% they'll replace the unit with a more modern, up-to-date model, which is just an outpatient procedure). Note that my pacemaker is linked to a bedside monitor which a couple of times a month, sends a full data dump via a cellular network to the pacemaker manufacturer and my cardiologist. Now we did have a scare about nine-months ago when the pacemaker's programming was corrupted, probably during my nine-week radiation treatment for prostrate cancer as I had several full-body scans and MRI's related to my treatment procedures. Anyway, it only took the doctor a few minutes to reprogram the pacemaker (they do it remotely from what looks like a PC with a sensor that they place on your chest) but for a couple of weeks, it was pretty scary as it was like my heart was going on a break. What was happening was that anytime my pulse rate got up to about 100, the pacemaker would drag it back down to 60, but that's the worst thing that could happen because you'd suddenly become oxygen starved, just when you needed it the most. But five-minutes later, it was like nothing had happened, no pain, no palpitations, nothing, just a really bad one or two minutes of panic. Anyway, that's all been fixed and things are running normal ever since.

So my message, go to your doctors on a regular basis and take advantage of today's medical technology. And before anyone asks, both my heart valve replacement and the treatment for my prostrate cancer, was covered 100% by our Medicare insurance, with an optional supplement. We've not been billed a single dime for anything, except prescription medicines, which our Medicare Part 'D' covers most of.

Timmers Loc: San Antonio Texas.

Reality check. I had not one but three cardiologist that was seeing, one was my general practitioner physician. O hate to drop this little bomb on everyone but being a cardiologist is just not enough. If you want good health DO NOT rely on your doctor, learn what them docs are suppose to be doing and be pro active about your health.

My story is a simply one, I dumped three doctors because I do believe they were to busy with 'modern medicine' and apparently had no clue as to what they were doing. I ended up in the emergency room, a nurse called the hospital cardiologist and with an EKG machine and a good working knowledge of medicine, he transferred mt to the cath lab were I got a pace maker and two artier that were partly obstructed cleared that first day.

The trick was he did a simply physical exam and motion exercise whole I lay there in the ER, mostly he used the EKG to show him what was wrong. The ither three 'cardiologists' did EKGs on me over the past five months but apparently they did not know what they were doing.

The big point is that a guy my size (7 foot tall, and 280 pounds should have a heart rate above 50, say like now at 58 to 62 at rest. I was running at 47 to 51 heart rate a bit to low!

Another point was that my cardilogist who saved my bacon also told me that when I got my weight down to 245 that I was probably too low given my body mass and I should get back up to about 270 to 290, so now I'm a 'fat boy' at 315, and he told me to go back down to 290.

I keep my GP but I don't much listen to her (she thinks I'm a pre diabetic, while my cardiologist smiled and said my blood work was perfect and that was a bit of a concern to him because he says I'm a little to much like the build of a Green Bay Packer!

O like to finish always with "If your not driving, who is?"

Toby

Check with the experts indeed. Before I retired the company would provide a complete physical every year. After retirement every year or so I would sometimes let them slip. About the 3 third year out with my wife's pushing I went ahead and had a stress test and other tests. Much to my surprise my doctor said something looks a bit unusual and knowing your history I doubt if anything is wrong and stress tests can be wrong 10-20% of the time. I suggest that you visit a cardiologist. The cardiologist reviewed my health records and said I don't actually have a problem but there is a way to make sure, a heart Cath. With that we can inject a dye and view blood flow in actual time on a monitor. I told him to go ahead and schedule the test.
Just before he started the procedure I ask if he thought there was any possibility that I could need surgery. He kind of chuckled said no, the worst he could see would be if there were a problem, he should be able to fix it by inserting a stent during the cath procedure.
About 1/3 of the way into the procedure he stopped, walked around next my bedside and said "how bad was the HEART ATTACK THAT YOU HAD? I told him I did not have a heart attack! Oh yes you did he said, about 1/3 of your heart has been damaged and you need bypass surgery as soon as possible!
So I walked into the lab feeling great and left being afraid to take a breath because it might kill me.
Needless to say I had 4 bypasses (3 of the arteries were over 90% blocked). The only symptom I had before surgery was that I was beginning to slow down a bit. After surgery, no pain, dizziness or other clues. The recovery was not what I expected. I was very weak but minimal amount of pain and most of it was in my leg where they harvested the veins.
I won't want to do it again but don't be afraid, I had several much simpler procedures which were much simpler but more painful. Listen to your Doc, he may give you extra years of life. I got 20+ (I am now 80).