VTAC During Heart Cath

I am a 36yr old western European male. A year and a half ago, I was diagnosed with a PDA. I went in Monday morning for an investigative heart cath and went into cardiac arrest when the dye was injected the third time. question 1. what was the dye, and why did it cause me to vtac.

Question 2. since I had one cardiac arrest which took 3 shocks to get me back, how likely is a second one, or should I not worry because it was caused by the dye...

also, why did the doctors all tell me to cough after i regained consciousness...

thank you.

[gmachris518]

I can't answer the first two questions, except for to say that the dye they use in these tests can cause all kinds of problems.  I know for a fact that it can cause kidney failure, as I was force fed some medication to keep my kidney's from failing when I had a heart cath about 6 months ago.  It was some NASTY stuff call mucomist, that smelled and tasted like rotten eggs.  I had to take 5 doses prior to the heart cath, and then 2 more afterwards.  I haven't been able to stomach eggs every since.

As far as why the doctors told you to cough.  A lot of the time, if a person is in the middle of a heart attack, strong coughing can sometimes relieve it.  They tell you that if you're alone when you feel an attack coming on, take 1 adult size aspirin and then cough as strong as you can many times, or until the pain stops or the EMTs show up.  The idea is that the coughing will help put your heart back into rhythm.