All the symptoms but no heart attack showed? - Heart Disorders Message Board

samwhiplash · 06-30-2008, 03:58 AM

On saturday night as we sat in the audience of a live tv show, my boyfriend took very unwell very suddenly. He began feeling a tightness in his chest and when i realised something was wrong I turned to see him unbuttoning his shirt with his eyes closed, leaning off to the right to support himself on the chair arm. Asked him was he ok and he said no, his chest.

With that he lost consciousness and I called for help. He came back around and said his left arm was numb and his chest was tight and painful, he said he couldnt stand. After a few minutes we tried to move him from his chair, and upon standing, he lost consciousness again and was caught just before he hit the ground. He came around again a minute later and was carried to a wheelchair and taken outside for the ambulance to come.

He was alert again while we waited, although he was still experiencing a tightness in his left hand side chest/neck and had a numb left arm and hand.

The hospital over a 13 hour period ran 4 ecgs/blood tests/ an xray and blood pressure and pulse monitors. They released him saying he had not had a heart attack and they did not expect that he would.

He does have a minor heart condition (arrythmia) which he takes a half a beta blocker a day for. He has never experienced anything like this before. he is 29 and otherwise very fit and health and not at all overweight and doesnt smoke etc.

Im so worried. We dont know what happened if it wasnt a heart attack.

Can anyone share any info on this?

Thanks, Sam

lvm6 · 06-30-2008, 03:53 PM

if he had a heart attack, he would have had elevated cardiac enzymes and it also would have showed up on an EKG. apparently he had neither or the hospital would have kept him. it must have been something else. hopefully he has followed up with his primary care doctor?

ps. just wanted to add, you dont have to be overweight to have a heart attack.

Chantal231 · 06-30-2008, 05:24 PM

Hi,

Please make sure he sees his personal physician.

With the kind of symptoms he had he needs a thorough check up.

I don't want to scare you but in my opinion his body was warning him that something is wrong.

Take care and let us know how things go.

Chantal

MyOMy · 07-01-2008, 04:46 AM

A heart attack goes not always show up on an ekg, especially if it is a mild one. This happened to my husband. As far as the enzymes, it can take hours for them to show up indicating a heart attack. In 99, my husband had arm pain, took him to the er, and all tests were negative,including the troponin levels, not elevated at all. Four years later, we had the same arm pain, and symptoms, this time his cardiac enzymes were elevated, and he did have a slight heart attack.