Something I'm trying to improve on is getting in short bursts of more intensive exercise - I think just getting your heart rate up for a few minutes a day is something people vastly underestimate the value of - I walk several miles each day but it is no substitute for real exercise and others concentrate too much on an intensive fitness regime which can actually also be harmful.
Had an heart attack.
- Thread starter itchy
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Something I'm trying to improve on is getting in short bursts of more intensive exercise - I think just getting your heart rate up for a few minutes a day is something people vastly underestimate the value of - I walk several miles each day but it is no substitute for real exercise and others concentrate too much on an intensive fitness regime which can actually also be harmful.
Soldato
11yrs ago had heart attack aged 39, it felt like bad pain between shoulder blades, aching lower jaw, and found out i had two veins blocked of which one was in what they call the widowmaker because normally if you get a blockage in that one you die. Anyways i had 3 stents in two different hospitals over a 3 month period. Nine years later aged 48 after being sent to hospital by my diabetic team they found i had what they thought was a heart mummer, one chemical heart stress test (horrible test) followed by angiogram they discovered i needed a double heart bypass!. Well that was fixed and was released from jail (sorry hospital) 4 days later only to be rushed back next day with infection!. I was blue lighted and crashed in corridor on way to A&E, apparently i was reacting to the morphine badly and it had slowed my breathing and heart to a standstill. I remember seeing my mum and sister looking dead (bad pun) scared down corridor as i was passing out. I woke up next day to the surgeon who did my heart op that they had all come running down from heart unit to A&E to bring me back and my infection was pneumonia with a MRSA infection which had caused a small hole in my chest. I was in hospital 8 weeks after that and need plastic reconstructive surgery to fix it which consisted of another 6 operations and muscle from my abdominal wall being used.
that was two years ago, since then i am now in more everyday chest pain than before due to the MRSA infection than any heart attack, but hey i'm still alive!.
that was two years ago, since then i am now in more everyday chest pain than before due to the MRSA infection than any heart attack, but hey i'm still alive!.
Soldato
Well, that's me absolutely terrified I'm going to die in my sleep now! Gonna have extra greens tonight I think.
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Bloody hell mate mine was minor compared to yours 
I didn't take too kindly to that stuff they spray under your tongue or the morphine made me feel worse.
I didn't take too kindly to that stuff they spray under your tongue or the morphine made me feel worse.your a hero going through all that, but like you said you still breathing which is what counts.
Soldato
I have a half mile pull, on my bike, up a steady hill coming back from the shops or library, which I do each day. Initially after a long time in a sedentary job, I was stopping at least once if not twice. After a year retired, I can now do it non stop with a couple of kilos on my back. I think that this at least once a day has improved my heart and general fitness a great deal.
Is it the myocardial perfusion you are referring to?
I had the pleasure of this a couple of years ago. Due to my anxiety I couldn't quite manage the chemically induced stress and opted for the treadmill instead.
The test itself wasn't too bad in hindsight but it's not something I want to go through again in a hurry.
My results came back ok but I'm not sure how healthy it actually was. All it said was that it was >60% so I was given the all clear.
Soldato
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Thanks for sharing all that. You make it sound like a breeze to go through and I'm pretty sure it was quite the opposite. Hope the chest pain starts to ease as living in pain is still no joke.
Soldato
Can you tell us honestly what your physical and / or mental health was like? Diet / body shape etc when you were 38/39
An update results are in I had the heart attack due to pleurisy which caused my heart to enlarge, I have to go the doctors again tomorrow. I know they will want to bang me up in hospital again but cannot be doing with it.
Just a bee sting I will live.
Just a bee sting I will live.
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A guy at work had a heart attack when he opened an email saying he was made redundant! Click, read boom...
Totally unskilled, unqualified person getting paid 40 or 50k a year to do next to nothing realising he will likley now be unemployed or have to work in tescos stacking shelves
Totally unskilled, unqualified person getting paid 40 or 50k a year to do next to nothing realising he will likley now be unemployed or have to work in tescos stacking shelves
Soldato
At 39 I had been working nights at Tesco for a year doing the fresh food/drink sections. it was actually very stressfull and hard work due to time constraints and bossy managers but I got on well with them and enjoyed the work. I was a smoker, didn’t sleep that well during daytime and diet wasn't great to be honest and was losing weight (was overweight anyways). When it happened I had lost 3 stone and down to 13. that day was the last day I had smoked and was told when having angiogram that that was my body giving me final warning so I instantly quit.
What’s even worse though is that I have a t7/t8 exploded disc in my spine behind my heart which has calcified and is pushing into my spinal cord and they won’t operate due to all my other problems as I’m considered to high risk and this I’ve also had 10years. I cannot walk without constant pain in my back, cannot work, cannot get anywhere with friends or taxi’s and all I get in disability is £22 a week!
Soldato
@itchy Mind if I ask how old you are squire?
Caporegime
Absolutely this, I found cardiac rehabilitation was fantastic (nothing like as draconian as you may imagine) basically for me it was supervised (free) gym visits, never felt fitter afterwards although I do admit I need to get back in the gym again
Soldato
Damn dude. Wishing you all the best.
I really need to get my lifestyle in order, but it's so easy to put it off untill another day.
I really need to get my lifestyle in order, but it's so easy to put it off untill another day.
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Bare in mind not to overdo this. This is exactly what led Andrew Marr to have 2 strokes. You're also not building aerobic capacity doing this, you're recruiting more muscles and building anaerobic capacity.
Soldato
I heard small amounts of intense exercise does a lot of good. Not sure running up stairs two at a time counts but I've always done that , I mean if done regularly the intense exercise works not just doing it out of the blue and stressing yourself
holy moly, what a fight. I would be paranoid with the wipes if I or anyone I knew was in for major stuff, not sure it helps absolutely perfectly but MRSA owch
holy moly, what a fight. I would be paranoid with the wipes if I or anyone I knew was in for major stuff, not sure it helps absolutely perfectly but MRSA owch