Cardiac arrest, another two but still here to have a moan
Discussion
Morning Gents,
It does help to do the rounds, tell your story and fish for some sympathetic words and even some brutal pee taking. It all helps when you are recovering and feeling a bit fragile.
Me;
I have a somewhat dodgy electrical system in my heart caused by a viral infection many years ago. In 2013 I suffered my first sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) which I was very lucky to have survived, only about 5% do. I came home with an ICD (Implanted Cardioverter Defibrillator) embedded in my chest and just cracked on with life.
At that point I'd had two very lucky escapes, first with the viral infection which did its best to kill me and then with the SCA. I cracked on with life with only the minor inconvenience of having a medical driving ban.
A few months later in late 2013, I dropped dead again but ten seconds later I was alive and feeling well for about five seconds until total and sheer panic set in. The ICD did its work and saved me. Back to hospital for a few days, some drugs to take, was on none at that time, and home again, driving ban extended.
June 2014, dropped dead again, zapped back to life again, different drugs some unsuccessful surgery, home but only for about six weeks, when you've guessed it I drop dead again, zap off to hospital and home on different drugs yet again and a massive daily dose of them.
A minor blip in October 2014 which thankfully instead of me dropping dead the ICD was able to pace me out of it before the worse happened. After careful and frequent monitoring and in conjunction with the DVLA I got my licence back.
Up until Tuesday life was almost normal, driving, working doing the usual stuff. Still on a hefty dose of drugs supposidly to keep my heart behaving. A week or so ago I was on here asking for advice about a sore foot and that really had been the only ailment I'd in a long time.
And now, joining the dots...
Complacency, over time putting on a few stone and last week embarking on some quite extreme home building work thinking I was still in my 20's instead mid 40's and with a heart condition. What a knob. My theory is that the extra weight I'd put on coupled with overdoing it led to bad things.
Before I go on, despite saying things were normal and had been normal, I had, as a result of what had gone before, suffered quite extreme anxiety. Sometimes the anxiety was hardly there, but other times it flared up. For those that have never suffered it, like I was at one point being skeptical about it, I can say that it can be all consuming.
Anyway, complacency, being a slightly fatter c-unit and overdoing it, the inevitable happened.
In the early hours of Tuesday morning I did actually drop dead as I was in bed, simply died again for about ten seconds until I was zapped back to life. I was in a half sleep state and upon waking up after was in a bit of a state.
Denial. Having been through so much, I didn't want to admit that it was happening again. I spent the rest of the night in utter turmoil, obviously not sleeping and as it turned out later suffering almost constant runs of VT (Ventricula Tachycardia) but didn't get shocked again that night.
In the morning I carried out an upload on the remote monitoring device instead of going to the hospital, still in denial. The normal form had been that if I were feeling squiffy or thought I'd had a funny turn that I'd do an upload then phone in to discuss things. On the few times I'd done this it was normally a false alarm. The problem was on this day I couldn't get through on the phone.
More denial, instead of going to the hospital I convinced myself that the event in the early hours was nothing. Sat on the sofa at about 7pm'ish, I felt suddenly very ill, lunged forward onto the floor, dead, and woke up about 20 seconds later.
No more messing about, 999, ambulance, which is the protocol and off to hospital. A&E was manic as usual but if you have a heart problem you are treated like a VIP but despite that and my condition being quite rare it does take them time to work out what to do despite me, from experience, giving them clear and concise instructions on what needs to be done. That is call the on-call Electrophysiologist so he wirelessly grab the recorded telemetry off the ICD to establish what had happened.
Arriving in A&E at about 8pm'ish via our wonderful Paramedics in the rattly bumpy ambulance the EP truned up at about 11pm, quickly pulled the data and proclaimed that I'd indeed suffered two full power 41 joule defib shocks that brought me back from certain death, which was nice. Some of you may be thinking that 41 joules is naff all and on the telly they whack people with 200, 250 joules etc, but remember the electrodes for the ICD are bored (via self tapping screws, yes really) directly into my heart muscle!
Along with the shocks I'd been suffering countless and almost constant runs of self terminating VT. That explained the jitters then but strangely the anxiety was a lot lower than that I'd experienced in previous visits. Probably something to do with being an old hat?
It was announced, as expected that I'd be off to the Cardiac Care Unit, which is a lovely calm place where you really are very well looked after and somewhere where I feel safe. But what I wasn't expecting was them announcing that I'd first need a "central line" putting in so they could get drugs straight into my heart if needs be.
A central line is not a nice thing to have installed when you are awake, The stick a massive canula in your neck, then feed a tube through you towards your heart but the best bit due to the blood pressure in your neck is that it needs to be stitched in. It 'kin hurts.
Found myself on CCU at about 2.30am'ish, bliss. But of course they had to satisfy themselves I was ok so had to do a load of tests which continued throughout my stay.
It was decided to swap me out onto a really rather powerful drug which can have some quite severe side effects, but that will be another story, and send me home.
For those that have read all the way through, I thank you and to those who are also at times complacent and shrug things off in typical blokey style, don't. Get it checked out and in particular, any kind of chest pain (which strangely I don't get at all) phone 999 straight away. I'm am extremely lucky to have the ICD and know how quickly death can occur.
And just to clarify, a heart attack is lack of blood to the heart which hurts like hell but normally will not kill you. What a heart attack can do and do quickly is go on to cause a cardiac arrest which will kill you in minutes ! With chest pains phone 999, they will assess you over the phone and won't mind at all.
It does help to do the rounds, tell your story and fish for some sympathetic words and even some brutal pee taking. It all helps when you are recovering and feeling a bit fragile.
Me;
I have a somewhat dodgy electrical system in my heart caused by a viral infection many years ago. In 2013 I suffered my first sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) which I was very lucky to have survived, only about 5% do. I came home with an ICD (Implanted Cardioverter Defibrillator) embedded in my chest and just cracked on with life.
At that point I'd had two very lucky escapes, first with the viral infection which did its best to kill me and then with the SCA. I cracked on with life with only the minor inconvenience of having a medical driving ban.
A few months later in late 2013, I dropped dead again but ten seconds later I was alive and feeling well for about five seconds until total and sheer panic set in. The ICD did its work and saved me. Back to hospital for a few days, some drugs to take, was on none at that time, and home again, driving ban extended.
June 2014, dropped dead again, zapped back to life again, different drugs some unsuccessful surgery, home but only for about six weeks, when you've guessed it I drop dead again, zap off to hospital and home on different drugs yet again and a massive daily dose of them.
A minor blip in October 2014 which thankfully instead of me dropping dead the ICD was able to pace me out of it before the worse happened. After careful and frequent monitoring and in conjunction with the DVLA I got my licence back.
Up until Tuesday life was almost normal, driving, working doing the usual stuff. Still on a hefty dose of drugs supposidly to keep my heart behaving. A week or so ago I was on here asking for advice about a sore foot and that really had been the only ailment I'd in a long time.
And now, joining the dots...
Complacency, over time putting on a few stone and last week embarking on some quite extreme home building work thinking I was still in my 20's instead mid 40's and with a heart condition. What a knob. My theory is that the extra weight I'd put on coupled with overdoing it led to bad things.
Before I go on, despite saying things were normal and had been normal, I had, as a result of what had gone before, suffered quite extreme anxiety. Sometimes the anxiety was hardly there, but other times it flared up. For those that have never suffered it, like I was at one point being skeptical about it, I can say that it can be all consuming.
Anyway, complacency, being a slightly fatter c-unit and overdoing it, the inevitable happened.
In the early hours of Tuesday morning I did actually drop dead as I was in bed, simply died again for about ten seconds until I was zapped back to life. I was in a half sleep state and upon waking up after was in a bit of a state.
Denial. Having been through so much, I didn't want to admit that it was happening again. I spent the rest of the night in utter turmoil, obviously not sleeping and as it turned out later suffering almost constant runs of VT (Ventricula Tachycardia) but didn't get shocked again that night.
In the morning I carried out an upload on the remote monitoring device instead of going to the hospital, still in denial. The normal form had been that if I were feeling squiffy or thought I'd had a funny turn that I'd do an upload then phone in to discuss things. On the few times I'd done this it was normally a false alarm. The problem was on this day I couldn't get through on the phone.
More denial, instead of going to the hospital I convinced myself that the event in the early hours was nothing. Sat on the sofa at about 7pm'ish, I felt suddenly very ill, lunged forward onto the floor, dead, and woke up about 20 seconds later.
No more messing about, 999, ambulance, which is the protocol and off to hospital. A&E was manic as usual but if you have a heart problem you are treated like a VIP but despite that and my condition being quite rare it does take them time to work out what to do despite me, from experience, giving them clear and concise instructions on what needs to be done. That is call the on-call Electrophysiologist so he wirelessly grab the recorded telemetry off the ICD to establish what had happened.
Arriving in A&E at about 8pm'ish via our wonderful Paramedics in the rattly bumpy ambulance the EP truned up at about 11pm, quickly pulled the data and proclaimed that I'd indeed suffered two full power 41 joule defib shocks that brought me back from certain death, which was nice. Some of you may be thinking that 41 joules is naff all and on the telly they whack people with 200, 250 joules etc, but remember the electrodes for the ICD are bored (via self tapping screws, yes really) directly into my heart muscle!
Along with the shocks I'd been suffering countless and almost constant runs of self terminating VT. That explained the jitters then but strangely the anxiety was a lot lower than that I'd experienced in previous visits. Probably something to do with being an old hat?
It was announced, as expected that I'd be off to the Cardiac Care Unit, which is a lovely calm place where you really are very well looked after and somewhere where I feel safe. But what I wasn't expecting was them announcing that I'd first need a "central line" putting in so they could get drugs straight into my heart if needs be.
A central line is not a nice thing to have installed when you are awake, The stick a massive canula in your neck, then feed a tube through you towards your heart but the best bit due to the blood pressure in your neck is that it needs to be stitched in. It 'kin hurts.
Found myself on CCU at about 2.30am'ish, bliss. But of course they had to satisfy themselves I was ok so had to do a load of tests which continued throughout my stay.
It was decided to swap me out onto a really rather powerful drug which can have some quite severe side effects, but that will be another story, and send me home.
For those that have read all the way through, I thank you and to those who are also at times complacent and shrug things off in typical blokey style, don't. Get it checked out and in particular, any kind of chest pain (which strangely I don't get at all) phone 999 straight away. I'm am extremely lucky to have the ICD and know how quickly death can occur.
And just to clarify, a heart attack is lack of blood to the heart which hurts like hell but normally will not kill you. What a heart attack can do and do quickly is go on to cause a cardiac arrest which will kill you in minutes ! With chest pains phone 999, they will assess you over the phone and won't mind at all.
Moominho said:
You have more lives than a cat! All the best, sounds very scary indeed, no matter how much you're used to it. Maybe it would be worth thinking about some gentle exercise and weight loss when you get out of hospital (if the doctor approves).
You are spot on with that !Despite putting on a few stone recently I have always been active, mainly cycling.
I don't break any speed or distance records on strava and never will due to the beta blockers but;
2014 did 700'ish miles since joining strava in the August
2015 did 2,100'ish miles in the full year
2016 did 1,600'ish miles in the full year
2017 so far a tad under 500 miles.
I'll ease back on the bike as soon as I possible can but my entire focus on recovery after a rest period will be sensible weight loss.
Currently about 120kg at 188cm tall or about 19 stone at 6'2". I'm aiming to be 90kg or 14 stone within the next year.
colin_p said:
55palfers said:
Fellow ICD'er here
Not the best club to be in on the face of it but when you think about it, it actually is.Has yours whacked you? Hopefully not, for most people it just sits there on guard, listening and waiting to act.
I look upon my gizmo as something akin to a fire extinguisher. Nice to know it's handy if something bad happens.
55palfers said:
colin_p said:
55palfers said:
Fellow ICD'er here
Not the best club to be in on the face of it but when you think about it, it actually is.Has yours whacked you? Hopefully not, for most people it just sits there on guard, listening and waiting to act.
I look upon my gizmo as something akin to a fire extinguisher. Nice to know it's handy if something bad happens.
That stats are that if you are not whacked in the first year, it is unlikely you ever will and that most people never get whacked by them at all.
I was within four months and now have five under my belt.
To assure you though if the worse does happen, it doesn't really hurt, what is worse it what it signifies.
Very scary reading OP, though thanks for sharing.
As someone who has experienced anxiety recently, heart-related issues do seem to strike a chord with me. Especially when they concern fairly normal people with no weight issues, no family history, young, non-smoker, etc. It really can happen to anyone.
As someone who has experienced anxiety recently, heart-related issues do seem to strike a chord with me. Especially when they concern fairly normal people with no weight issues, no family history, young, non-smoker, etc. It really can happen to anyone.
kurt535 said:
Hey,
Thanks for sharing your experiences. Be curious to know if they advised you to keep a daily diet of 2 asprin on the go or crunch up and swallow 2 if any more heart pain comes along?
This is where there is always confusion or misunderstanding of the terms. Quite often the term heart attack is used to describe everything heart related but;Thanks for sharing your experiences. Be curious to know if they advised you to keep a daily diet of 2 asprin on the go or crunch up and swallow 2 if any more heart pain comes along?
Heart attack = dodgy / clogged heart plumbing, hurts like hell, so I'm told, never had one.These are usually survivable. These are what you take the aspirin / warfarin for.
Cardiac arrest = dodgy heart electrics, fast and painless death.
A heart attack can deteriorate to a cardiac arrest as the heart muscle dies and the electrical signals within the heart are disrupted.
In my case the plumbing is good but the electrics sometimes go wrong due to some scarring within my heart muscle which was caused by a viral infection. I don't suffer any pain but simply pass out with just a few seconds warning. Without the ICD those few seconds would be my last.
ReallyReallyGood said:
Very scary reading OP, though thanks for sharing.
As someone who has experienced anxiety recently, heart-related issues do seem to strike a chord with me. Especially when they concern fairly normal people with no weight issues, no family history, young, non-smoker, etc. It really can happen to anyone.
It can but is extremely rare, extremely rare. As someone who has experienced anxiety recently, heart-related issues do seem to strike a chord with me. Especially when they concern fairly normal people with no weight issues, no family history, young, non-smoker, etc. It really can happen to anyone.
What has your doc said, have you been to the doc and discussed your concerns?
It is almost 99.999% that you have just anxiety which can play all sorts of tricks on you. I would try not to worry but go to the doc and have a chat.
t. Cheers Gents,
It helps.
Just a little update;
Not been in touch with the hospital as yet but have performed an upload from the ICD and waiting for a call back to see if the telemetry is showing my heart is behaving itself. I already know the answer as there is a massive reduction of the thumps and bumps I had been feeling when the heart misfires. (If only it were as simple as a new rotor arm and dizzy cap LOL).
I've also been out on the bike (a pedal cycle, no engines for me for at least six months) and have done two very gentle four mile bike rides. They didn't say I couldn't and I don't want to overdo it as with the new drug I'm still in the 'loading' phase where the dose builds up in your system. It'll be another week until it reaches that point.
Overall not doing too bad overall, it was a week ago today it kicked off. The anxiety is the worse thing but that is fading.
It helps.
Just a little update;
Not been in touch with the hospital as yet but have performed an upload from the ICD and waiting for a call back to see if the telemetry is showing my heart is behaving itself. I already know the answer as there is a massive reduction of the thumps and bumps I had been feeling when the heart misfires. (If only it were as simple as a new rotor arm and dizzy cap LOL).
I've also been out on the bike (a pedal cycle, no engines for me for at least six months) and have done two very gentle four mile bike rides. They didn't say I couldn't and I don't want to overdo it as with the new drug I'm still in the 'loading' phase where the dose builds up in your system. It'll be another week until it reaches that point.
Overall not doing too bad overall, it was a week ago today it kicked off. The anxiety is the worse thing but that is fading.
Pete102 said:
Holy moly! that is both frighting and fascinating at the same time!
Have you had any strange experiences when you go through these 'dead' phases?
No, it is lights out, blackness, no memory of it and it happens very quickly.Have you had any strange experiences when you go through these 'dead' phases?
It is most cetainly a good way to go..............when the times comes.
colin_p said:
Cheers Gents,
It helps.
Just a little update;
Not been in touch with the hospital as yet but have performed an upload from the ICD and waiting for a call back to see if the telemetry is showing my heart is behaving itself. I already know the answer as there is a massive reduction of the thumps and bumps I had been feeling when the heart misfires. (If only it were as simple as a new rotor arm and dizzy cap LOL).
I've also been out on the bike (a pedal cycle, no engines for me for at least six months) and have done two very gentle four mile bike rides. They didn't say I couldn't and I don't want to overdo it as with the new drug I'm still in the 'loading' phase where the dose builds up in your system. It'll be another week until it reaches that point.
Overall not doing too bad overall, it was a week ago today it kicked off. The anxiety is the worse thing but that is fading.
Telemetry on your heart. Love it! Power Commander any time soon? It helps.
Just a little update;
Not been in touch with the hospital as yet but have performed an upload from the ICD and waiting for a call back to see if the telemetry is showing my heart is behaving itself. I already know the answer as there is a massive reduction of the thumps and bumps I had been feeling when the heart misfires. (If only it were as simple as a new rotor arm and dizzy cap LOL).
I've also been out on the bike (a pedal cycle, no engines for me for at least six months) and have done two very gentle four mile bike rides. They didn't say I couldn't and I don't want to overdo it as with the new drug I'm still in the 'loading' phase where the dose builds up in your system. It'll be another week until it reaches that point.
Overall not doing too bad overall, it was a week ago today it kicked off. The anxiety is the worse thing but that is fading.
I was born with congenetive heart disease but cycling has kept its effect very much as bay for decades. It will catch up with me in the end but as the consultant said, till then, don't get off the bike! Just make sure you do only little bits at a time.
another one here with icd fitted 
model Saint Jude, patron saint of lost causes
or as we now call her Elvira.
two years in no shocks as yet.
my scar does look more like bullet/stab wound and gets odd looks on holiday.
fingers legs and anything else crossed for you bud.
model Saint Jude, patron saint of lost causes
or as we now call her Elvira.two years in no shocks as yet.
my scar does look more like bullet/stab wound and gets odd looks on holiday.
fingers legs and anything else crossed for you bud.
Edited by dillenger on Thursday 4th May 15:11
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