What does it feel like to have a fatal heart attack?

[Rosemary349]

Hi there

I need to know for two reasons.  My father died of an acute ruptured MI last week, despite having no health problems and never having seen the doctor much in the last 20 years.  He seemed to go out like a light but unfortunately we resuscitated and then the ambulance people did for about 1 hour 15 mins.  I say unfortunately because i am so frightened that my dad might have been concious through some of it and that he was terrified.

He went blue really quick.  Does it feel like suffocating?  That's what i'm worried about.

Secondly i'm worried for me.  I'm female and 39 years old.  I get 'twinges' in my chest and i've had an irregular heartbeat issue recently.  I am on treatment for hypothyroidism and when they increased my thyroxine the symptoms seemed to abate - but since dad's death i feel and am aware of my heart a lot.  I feel twinges, not pain and i'm aware of my heartbeat a lot.

My doctor is willing to give me a stress test but i have to wait for it to be arranged.  My last cholesterol check was very good, he said he'd wished a lot of people's were as good as that.  He's tried to reassure me but i'm frightened.  I'm not so much frightened of dying, but of suffocating.....that's why i need to know what it feels like?

I know that sounds crazy.

They tell you to call an ambulance the minute you feel a chest pain, well with those tiwnges i'd be doing it all the time......so what do i do?

thanks for your time!  :-)

[ed34]

"What does it feel like to have a fatal heart attack?"

Maybe I'm thinking along the wrong tracks here? Can anyone who has a 'fatal' heart attack describe how it felt?

[ireneo]

Obviously the patient won't be able to describe it but medically speaking we can point out what the body is doing and what each of those steps "feels" like when they occur. It only becomes fatal when there are too many steps and the person becomes biologically overwhelmed.

[erijon]

I have to agree with ireneo, I don't think the poster expected anyone who survived a fatal MI to describe it, I would have thought that was obvious. I'm sure they were just looking for some information to help put them at ease.

[Rosemary349]

I realised the error in my question after i posted but i figured people would understand what i mean't, if they were sensitive enough that is.

Many people have had near death experiences so i think it's possible to describe to a certain degree what a 'fatal' heart attack could be like, even if the person describing it didn't actually die in the end - the steps their body went through may have been identical up to a point.

[Rosemary349]

Thanks Ireneo and Erijon

Thanks for your words.  Ireneo i'm sorry that you lost your father a year ago.  This is my first major lossand my father was the most important person in my life.  I'm not married and not in a relationship, so my mother thinks i'm probably more close to my dad than i would have been otherwise.  Obviously it's a different closeness, i just felt like he was my best friend.  We used to 'put the world to rights' and we were going to travel together the next day.  

I just thought i knew so much about heart attacks, i was trained in first aid - although not up to date obviously.......and this has shattered my illusions that i am in control.

I guess keep replaying the event in my mind is a way of coming to terms with it.

Dad bought a new mobile phone recently.  My mum wants me to have it.  now i loved that phone when he bought it but i also knew that he worked so hard and had very few things for himself and i can't bring myself to take the phone.  It's still in the charger at his house.  When we went on our trip he wanted to learn how to do video messaging.....

I suppose it's normal to feel like that.  We haven't done anything with his clothes or anything.  Mum still wants his slippers by his chair in the living room.

Thanks for listening

[Rosemary349]

Yes on the issue of my post being moved, I just had an email telling me it had been moved.  When i originally posted i don't remember being asked for payment - i would have paid.  I will look into it further tomorrow