A few friends have mentioned that I should talk about my heart attack, so that more people, especially other women can be aware. This description below is very clear, but it differs from what I experienced...some of this is from hind sight...which I am very grateful to be having :) In the weeks before I had had a stiff jaw for a few days, where its a bit painful to open up for a big bite...this I passed off as slept awkward. In the week before I was exhausted, I felt like I never really woke up and fought the urge to go back to bed, I also had some numbness and cold sensations down the back of my arms...this I filed under have a virus. On the night before the heart attack I had pain in my left bicep, much as you would if youd been rollering paint on a wall all day and paying for it the next day...it was 2am and Id been in bed, it suddenly started so I was concerned and called our out of hours doctors service, where I was told by a doctor it was muscular and I should take a painkiller and go to bed...which is exactly what I did. On the night of the heart attack (MI =Myocardial Ifarction) I was laying in bed reading (no not even 50 shades of grey it was a calm book!), again around 2am. The ache in my bicep returned and quickly increased to be as painful as cramp, such as you might get in a calf muscle...this same pain then spread across my chest and into my other arm. I phoned 999, and the first response guys were here within minutes. I did not loose conciousness, and the pain was the worst Ive ever felt. With nausea from the pain and waves of cold washing over me. I had morphine in the ambulance, but it really didnt help. Im not a delicate flower when it comes to pain either...Ive given birth and more recently had gastroenteritis and a gall bladder infection...these are no comparison. And having had leg cramp after the heart attack...its not in the ball park. I do not have any other narrowed arteries or high blood pressure or cholesterol. Im not diabetic and until I did my knee in 4 years ago I was active if overweight. This could happen to anyone at any time, so if you have any of these symptoms please dont brush them off. Or as many women do soldier on thinking of all the things you need to do for everyone else. As the lady says below, s much better a false alarm than a fatality
Posted on: Mon, 18 Aug 2014 19:07:30 +0000