Couple of things. First, at age 54 I had a posterior MI (heart attack) -April 17, 2015.- I was sitting at my home office desk. Had a sudden twinge of pain up the middle of my chin. Then an onset of dizziness. Laid down for about 30 minutes. Felt better but over the course of about the next 6 hours I had an increasing “fullness”’ in my chest.
My wife (nurse) came home from work and noticed I didn’t “look right”. I brushed off as being tired after a long work week.
My wife and I went to The Club for a reception that evening. While there it hit me: diaphoretic, clammy, extreme chest tightness. I walked over to my wife and before I could say a word she said “you’re having an MI”. We were only a short distance from Brookwood Hospital. She threw me into the car. Within 2 hours I was in the cath lab having a stent placed.
I had a complete blockage of the circumflex artery that supplies the posterior portion of the heart. Luckily no long term heart muscle damage.
Here is the irony. I was in the best physical shape of my life. Worked out a minimum of three times a week. The week before I ran 10 K with an average of sub ten minute miles. The night before i went to the Y and did 4 miles on treadmill with no shortness of breath or dizziness. The only thing as a possible symptom was simply being a little “fatigued” the weeks prior.Completely normal lipids, labs, etc.
For years we have worked on the notion that cholesterol (especially LDL) was the greatest predictor of a vascular event. Yet every year, almost half of the heart attacks/stokes occur in people with NORMAL LDL cholesterol…..just like me. The Cleveland Clinic now recognizes that it is INFLAMMATORY responses in combination with cholesterol that present the greatest risk. Additionally, the composition of the LDL particles (LDL-P) and the size and number of those particles with particular attention to cardiac inflammation markers like myleoperoxidase (cardiac enzyme) that give healthcare professionals a better option at stratifying vascular risk .
Just because “my cholesterol is fine” do not lull yourself into a false sense of security. If you have a strong family history of vascular disease, diabetes, inflammation issues, etc, I strongly urge you to discuss your risk with your PCP.
I was lucky. About 15% people the first heart attack is the last heart attack because the first one is fatal.
My wife (nurse) came home from work and noticed I didn’t “look right”. I brushed off as being tired after a long work week.
My wife and I went to The Club for a reception that evening. While there it hit me: diaphoretic, clammy, extreme chest tightness. I walked over to my wife and before I could say a word she said “you’re having an MI”. We were only a short distance from Brookwood Hospital. She threw me into the car. Within 2 hours I was in the cath lab having a stent placed.
I had a complete blockage of the circumflex artery that supplies the posterior portion of the heart. Luckily no long term heart muscle damage.
Here is the irony. I was in the best physical shape of my life. Worked out a minimum of three times a week. The week before I ran 10 K with an average of sub ten minute miles. The night before i went to the Y and did 4 miles on treadmill with no shortness of breath or dizziness. The only thing as a possible symptom was simply being a little “fatigued” the weeks prior.Completely normal lipids, labs, etc.
For years we have worked on the notion that cholesterol (especially LDL) was the greatest predictor of a vascular event. Yet every year, almost half of the heart attacks/stokes occur in people with NORMAL LDL cholesterol…..just like me. The Cleveland Clinic now recognizes that it is INFLAMMATORY responses in combination with cholesterol that present the greatest risk. Additionally, the composition of the LDL particles (LDL-P) and the size and number of those particles with particular attention to cardiac inflammation markers like myleoperoxidase (cardiac enzyme) that give healthcare professionals a better option at stratifying vascular risk .
Just because “my cholesterol is fine” do not lull yourself into a false sense of security. If you have a strong family history of vascular disease, diabetes, inflammation issues, etc, I strongly urge you to discuss your risk with your PCP.
I was lucky. About 15% people the first heart attack is the last heart attack because the first one is fatal.
