my wife thinks i had a minor heart attack

[fatherofthree987]

i am a 40 yr old male who has been under alot of stress lately, earlier today i had a very scary situation. i was just about to get into my car along with my wife as i felt  very uncomfortable, i had a hard time catching my breath along with dizzyness and tightness of my chest at the same time my left arm got very numb up to my fingertips. i also had pain in my left armpit and chest my wife gave me a bear asperin and after 15 minutes of these simptoms going and me being stubbern not listening to go to the hospital it finaly went away but i still feel my left arm hurting  like if it was brused. do you think i could have actually had a minor heart attack as my wife was trying to tell me. please advise if you think i should go to the hospital now or just see my family doctor tomorrow.

thank you  

[Ihatepalps2]

Let me tell you MY story, about my husband. He was 50 at the time. NO risk factors except about 20 lbs overweight and hadnt been to the Dr in 30 years. ( he said he was healthy..why go!?!?...grrr!) No family history except a mom with Afib. So..we are heading to a casino an hour and a half away from home. Hes driving. On  the highway. About 4 minutes into the trip, hes rubbing his upper left chest..that little area near the shoulder thats kind of soft,just to the right of the armpit on the chest. He rubs his shoulder. He flexes his left arm. I ask whats wrong. He said, he feels "funny"...and it hurts in that left chest area. Me, being a heart problem fanatic...suspects the worst. I say, lets go back home. Nope. He wants to go to the casino..eat at the buffet and gamble. He keeps driving.
rubbing his chest and arm. I am about sick with worry.
We get there. He sits in truck breathing hard. I say lets go to the nearest hospital and get checked out. He said, no, im fine. (hes not normally a dumb person.)
He actually goes to the buffet, gets his food. I am not even eating. I am worried sick.
He tries to eat, and does..a bit. We go downstairs. He said he thinks he feels a bit better.
Still, unconsciously hes rubbing his left arm and chest area. the night is ruined, I dont eat, dont gamble. He didnt either---very long.Thats how I knew something was wrong..he was ready to go within a half hour.
He refused to let me drive!!! Down the interstate we go--75 mph!!!!
He was breathing harder....and his left arm felt weird, and that area upper left chest was really hurting. I begged to drive. I cried. I got mad, I did everything. Nope. He was going to drive.
It was an hour and a half to our house. I kept planning how if he passed out, that I would get unbuckled, and move him, to get my foot on the brake and steer at 75 mph!
This was a trip from hell, and very cruel for him to do to me.

I just kept my eyes on him, and my cell phone handy, and I prayed.
We got home--I thought he would go directly to the hospital. NOPE.
He went home, and went to BED!!!!
HE was irritable,  and said to leave him alone. Looking back, I shouldve called his brother..or best friend, or an AMBULANCE...but...because his pain wasnt right in the center of his chest like Ive read that it usually is...iwasnt 100% sure...
Well, he went to work the next day---he felt sort of "hung over"....but the pain was gone.
Hes a plumber!!! He does very physical work.
I MADE him call the Dr. I called the nurse ahead of time because I knew he would downplay what happened. She was ready for him, but ...he said he was "too busy" and couldnt go on that day--he could go the next day. She really lit into him but there was no making him go. So..thats Monday. The pain stuff and the wild ride was SATURDAY evening.
Tuesday morning he finally went to the Dr. The dr. made some mistakes. He judged him by first look. My husband not heavy by any means...no risk factors ( at that time) ...he said maybe ANXIETY ...and actually wrote him a prescription for XANAX for anxiety related chest pain!!!!
He did send him to the lab for blood work....saved his life doing that.
But... meanwhile, all looked good, so he let him go back to work, BEFORE THE DR CHECKED THE BLOODWORK RESULTS!

He gets a call at work about an hour after he got back, they tell him to go immediatly to the ER..that he is either having, or has had a heart attack.

I said NO KIDDING!!!!!!!

He spent the night in intensive care...but had no symptoms, nothing happened.
THey took him by ambulance to the bigger city to the better hospital the next day, and he had catheterization, and they found he DID have a heart attack and they put in a stent.

So...they said it happened on Saturday night, probably on the drive up or back---and they really really let him have it for all the risky stupid things he did.

Because he hadnt been to the Dr in 30 years, he was found to have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, the whole bit.

he should have died. He did everything WRONG.

So...people, listen to your bodies ( or your WIFE!) they might be right!!!

[Ihatepalps2]

Just curious---what did you end up doing??? ( I certainly hope you will be back on here to post...or we will KNOW what it was!)

[kenkeith]

It has been said "no one on this forum can tell you you had a heart attack", but many of us on this forum have had personnal experience and can identify with your symptoms.  When the heart cells do not get sufficient supply of blood there can be angina pectoris, pain at almost any location on the upper torso and if the heart cells do not get a suffcient supply of blood going forward there can be heart wall hypokineis (impariment of heart wall movement) and that condition can cause the heart the inability to pump an adequate supply of blood and lead to heart failure.

I didn't have any symptoms prior to heart failure, and my first symptom was congested heart failure. I agree with twopack, and I will add that further damage may not provide any symptoms but the damage will continue until there is heart failure if there is a heart related problem....sometimes a person wants to wait and see if the pain develops again and if so then see a doctor!  Not a good idea, so you need to have consultation with your doctor and possibly heart related tests.  Take care,

Ken

[twopack]

Besides, severity of pain is NOT a good indicator of the degree of heart damage occurring.  Minimal pain can be causing maximum damage.

[ChatterAlly]

This needs to be followed up on for sure. Heart attack symptoms vary.  Time is of the essence though. With my heart attacks the chest pain would come and go. I described it as a burning ache and I had sweating, nausea and shakes with the chest pain.  No sense in wondering. You know what they say about wondering. Fools wonder and the wise ask.  See your doctor and have this evaluated.  Take care, Ally

[is_something_wrong]

Hi, see your doctor/emergency room ASAP. To me it seems like it could be an anxiety attack but the symptoms are very similar to something heart related, so why take a chance. The fact that the pain did reduce in 15 minutes reduces likelyness of a heart attack, but ALL chest pain should be taken seriously and the risk is NOT acceptable.

See a doctor now. Next time you have chest pain, don't stay at home, don't write on forums, but see a doctor.

[caregiver222]

You need to go to the emergency room IMMEDIATELY. A blood test of cardiac enzymes will definitively determine if your heart is damaged. Seeing the family doctor tomorrow is unacceptable. There is a window of opportunity to prevent further damage and you owe it to your family not to become an invalid. You have classical symptoms of a developing myocardial infrarct. You require an immediate diagnosis.

[Roster17]

I would go to the hospital immediately. It could be your heart or maybe just stress. Better be safe than sorry.

[erijon]

No one here can tell you if you had a heart attack, I do know that your body is trying to tell you something and you need to listen. These are classic signs of a heart attack. As your screen name indicates, you have at least 3 good reasons to get checked out. Get to your doctor ASAP or maybe even drop in on the ER, why take the chance?