Hey folks,
Just happened across this place and thought I'd share, maybe someone out there will avoid the same problems or find them earlier...
I'm a 36yo male, family history of heart disease, smoked for 20years, personal history of high cholesterol since teenage years, high blood pressure since early 20's.
In 2003 after a day at the lake putting around in the boat while cooking steaks on the grill I suddenly got dizzy, a few minutes later I found myself on the floor unable to get up. Brother called the ambulance and at the hospital they found I was having a heart attack. Cath came back with blockages in three arteries of up to 75% but no angioplasty or stents were placed. Was put on the usual meds, lipitor, BP meds, plavix, aspirin...the usual cocktail.
Cholesterol has refused to come down even with dietary change and numerous other drugs(crestor, zetia, niacin...) but BP was more or less stabilized.
Fastforward to the end March of this year, while on a business trip to upper Michigan, once again found myself dizzy, ache in the shoulder and chest and then on the floor, another heart attack! This time stents were placed in 3 arteries for a total of 5 stents. I was released. Felt better than ever! Couldn't help but wish they'd done the stents the first time!
Two months pass, and over 4th of July weekend I'm at the lake with the family, not feeling real great, but not bad either. Leaving the lake i lose consciousness and wake up in an ambulance on the way to the hospital in againy yet again with heart attack number three! Restenosis and two more stents to fix it. After getting out of the hospital this time I realized I did not feel like a million bucks like after the first procedure, no energy, the slightest exertion brought on angina, not good. Cardiologist gives me a stress test after 6 weeks and pronounces me good to go! I let work know and begin scheduling a trip to visit one of my dealers in northern Canada.
Two weeks after the stress test(Sept 11th to be exact) I leave to go to Canada, arrive and have dinner with friends. Next morning attend a meeting and afterwards get into the truck with a friend to head back towards town, next thing I know, I'm in an ambulance, in agony yet again with heart attack number 4! The little hospital there manages to stabilize me and I get a flight on a medical jet to Quebec to the heart institute.
At the hospital they do a cath and find 2 stents with 65-70% restenosis, and while working on that I suffer a dissection of the artery, 5 more stents to fix this. They also asked me some questions about whether I had pain in my calves when I walked much, which of course I do...
Now I'm back home and after talking to my doc it's decided that not only do I have CAD with a whopping 12 stents I also got the bonus PAD and probably either more stents in the legs or bypass yippee!
So the moral of this story is...don't smoke, or quit if you do, eat right(though in my case it didn't help much) and stay on top of your health! Ask questions when you go to the doc, and mention any odd symptoms, who knows you may avoid a lot of trouble later.
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