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As I said last week, I experienced a heart attack 3 weeks ago. My widow maker artery was 100 percent blocked.
The number one thing that people ask me is how I felt while I was having the heart attack. I imagine that they ask that question because they want to know what to look for if they experience a similar feeling.
I think there were warning signs that I ignored, and I’d like to share those feelings.
I like to go for very brisk walks. I noticed that with those brisk walks, I felt minor chest pain. My pain would be in the right pectoral and sometimes in the middle of my chest.
It would not last the entire walk. It would usually last for 10 minutes or so. That was a different feeling to me.
I can’t pinpoint when that discomfort started but it was within the last year or so.
In my head, I always justified it because I did exercise with weights the day before.
And the main thing was that the pain was very mild. I have always associated heart related pains with excruciating pain. And I did not have that.
In October of this year, I walked my dog and did experience pretty bad chest pain that began in my right pectoral and radiated all the way down my right side.
Once I stopped walking the dog the pain went away. I did find that pain to be unusual and went to the ER.
They saw me immediately and ran a multitude of heart tests that came back normal. They recommended that I following up with a cardiologist and I set up the appointment for late November.
Another sign that I thought was unusual was that I was noticing my blood pressure was higher than normal and I was experiencing headaches every day.
Now that I’m watching my blood pressure closely, my blood pressure was very high. I should have been checking it multiple times a day to get my readings.
One thing the doctors have stressed is that every person experiences chest pain in different locations.
It all depends on the location of the pain. But when I talk to different people that have had heart attacks, they’ve all said the pain would not go away. It will be a different type of intense pain.
And most definitely, the biggest thing that I missed and didn’t take more seriously was the minor chest pain when exercising. The only time I went to the ER was when it was a significant pain.
Now I know that I should have taken notice of these changes sooner. Maybe I would have started high blood pressure medication sooner.
Timing matters and prevention is important. So, my advice is to check in with your body. And talk to your doctor about changes that you notice. Even if they seem minor at first.
And if the worst happens, call 911, go to the ER and take care of yourself. You matter and there are people out there who need and love you.
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