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What does it feel like to have a fatal heart attack?
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! :-)
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! :-)
Tickertock, Ireneo and Joanincarolina, thanks for your replies.
Tickertock i'm so sorry about what happened to your relative. You must really feel what i am going through right now. i did actually type out a long post to you the other night but i had difficulty logging on for some reason.
Ireneo, i thought dad had an upset stomach and had passed out. Not that this was like him at all. I ran outside to get neighbours to help because i don't feel my mother is very capable by herself and i was in a state. i also took the phone with me and called for the ambulance. A neighbour rushed into the house and i waited outside - still not aware it was a heart attack because the day before the person on the medical helpline had reassured us that it didn't sound like a heart problem, but a stomach bug (i have a bit of a phobia of anything to do with stomach's or being sick or anything so i was waiting outside.....now i cannot forgive myself).......the neighbour then came out and said 'it's ok he's coming round a bit now...'........that wasted even more precious time.
I must have wasted about 8 minutes with my panicking and calling neighbours before i went into the house. By then a neighbour was helping my mother do cardiac compressions. I saw what was happening and saw that he was blue and ran over and started mouth to mouth - i thought they were neglecting that part of it. Now i realise they'd been instructed not to do mouth to mouth - apparently the rules are different now....by not doing mouth to mouth for a certain period and just doing chest compressions you can raise the blood pressure and encourage a spontaneous heartbeat. ( i would encourage anyone to check this out thoroughly though before ever acting on it - as i think you have to start mouth to mouth after a certain period of time & i've read that these new rules are only for cardiac arrest)
I remember a little bit before then though when dad was still sat at the desk where it happened and he was making such an awful noise with his throat, like the death rattle......his face looked red and tense. I'm so worried that he was partly concious then and knew what was going on and was terrified.
I'm usually so in control of everything and usually the knowledgeable one about everything in the family........but i didn't do things right when it mattered and i got the resuscitation wrong - how could i ever know that the breathing aspect would not be important - it's not something you could ever predict could change....
I just keep replaying everything over and over in my head. One minute dad is alive.....and if i had acted differently he might still be alive.....those minutes were so crucial. Now i'll never see him again......but worse than that, he lost his life and there was so much he wanted to do.
I feel like if i hadn't been overly reassured the night before by the medical helpline i might have twigged earlier that is was a heart attack. I might have even got him to a doctor the night before - i would have insisted.
joanincarolina......do any of your family or the people that were with you tell you what you looked like when it happened? Sorry to ask, it's just that dad looked so tense and red for a while and the 'death rattle' was going on but i am terrified that he was feeling like he was suffocating, or in so much pain that he couldn't respond to anything even though he was concious. My doctor doesn't think he was concioius but i'll never know. I don't know if i can live with the idea that my father might have had a terrfiying and painful death. Iknow when he was fully concious and talking on the phone before it happened he looked like he had discomfort in the chest......but it didn't look like a terrifying pain....but then he put the phone down and just stared at the wall. He wouldn't answer when i asked him if he was ok. Just kept staring at the wall......i don't know if he was losing concioiusness then but he was still sat upright. he just looked like he was staring at the wall and wouldn't answer......but he would have done. So i don't know if it was terror that made him do that or if he was already losing conciousness. Then there was like a sudden intake of breath and he did look fearful for a brief second then he just fell forward............up to this point i can take because i still didn't get the impression he was in terrifying pain - although it's possible........it's afterward, when i ran back into the house and his face was red and looked tense and i could hear the gurgling in his throat.
Sorry guys, as i said i just keep playing it over and over. My father is still a person to me, he is still alive in my mind, he did not want this to happen.......and he would have wanted me to save him. :-(
Tickertock i'm so sorry about what happened to your relative. You must really feel what i am going through right now. i did actually type out a long post to you the other night but i had difficulty logging on for some reason.
Ireneo, i thought dad had an upset stomach and had passed out. Not that this was like him at all. I ran outside to get neighbours to help because i don't feel my mother is very capable by herself and i was in a state. i also took the phone with me and called for the ambulance. A neighbour rushed into the house and i waited outside - still not aware it was a heart attack because the day before the person on the medical helpline had reassured us that it didn't sound like a heart problem, but a stomach bug (i have a bit of a phobia of anything to do with stomach's or being sick or anything so i was waiting outside.....now i cannot forgive myself).......the neighbour then came out and said 'it's ok he's coming round a bit now...'........that wasted even more precious time.
I must have wasted about 8 minutes with my panicking and calling neighbours before i went into the house. By then a neighbour was helping my mother do cardiac compressions. I saw what was happening and saw that he was blue and ran over and started mouth to mouth - i thought they were neglecting that part of it. Now i realise they'd been instructed not to do mouth to mouth - apparently the rules are different now....by not doing mouth to mouth for a certain period and just doing chest compressions you can raise the blood pressure and encourage a spontaneous heartbeat. ( i would encourage anyone to check this out thoroughly though before ever acting on it - as i think you have to start mouth to mouth after a certain period of time & i've read that these new rules are only for cardiac arrest)
I remember a little bit before then though when dad was still sat at the desk where it happened and he was making such an awful noise with his throat, like the death rattle......his face looked red and tense. I'm so worried that he was partly concious then and knew what was going on and was terrified.
I'm usually so in control of everything and usually the knowledgeable one about everything in the family........but i didn't do things right when it mattered and i got the resuscitation wrong - how could i ever know that the breathing aspect would not be important - it's not something you could ever predict could change....
I just keep replaying everything over and over in my head. One minute dad is alive.....and if i had acted differently he might still be alive.....those minutes were so crucial. Now i'll never see him again......but worse than that, he lost his life and there was so much he wanted to do.
I feel like if i hadn't been overly reassured the night before by the medical helpline i might have twigged earlier that is was a heart attack. I might have even got him to a doctor the night before - i would have insisted.
joanincarolina......do any of your family or the people that were with you tell you what you looked like when it happened? Sorry to ask, it's just that dad looked so tense and red for a while and the 'death rattle' was going on but i am terrified that he was feeling like he was suffocating, or in so much pain that he couldn't respond to anything even though he was concious. My doctor doesn't think he was concioius but i'll never know. I don't know if i can live with the idea that my father might have had a terrfiying and painful death. Iknow when he was fully concious and talking on the phone before it happened he looked like he had discomfort in the chest......but it didn't look like a terrifying pain....but then he put the phone down and just stared at the wall. He wouldn't answer when i asked him if he was ok. Just kept staring at the wall......i don't know if he was losing concioiusness then but he was still sat upright. he just looked like he was staring at the wall and wouldn't answer......but he would have done. So i don't know if it was terror that made him do that or if he was already losing conciousness. Then there was like a sudden intake of breath and he did look fearful for a brief second then he just fell forward............up to this point i can take because i still didn't get the impression he was in terrifying pain - although it's possible........it's afterward, when i ran back into the house and his face was red and looked tense and i could hear the gurgling in his throat.
Sorry guys, as i said i just keep playing it over and over. My father is still a person to me, he is still alive in my mind, he did not want this to happen.......and he would have wanted me to save him. :-(
My condolences to you and your family. May I first highly suggest that you get a check up to ease your mind. Many of our body "twinges" are benign, others "twinges" may be our body telling us that things may not be quite right...especially in a woman's heart. May I state that sudden heart stopping may have VERY short seconds of intense pain but it causes lack of blood flow to brain and you pass out. That was my experience with cardiac arrest; caused by a sudden bad heart beat. I was in the right place at the time and was resuscitated after a few minutes with the 'paddle'. I came out of it only with the feeling of a bad burn to my chest and heart and without any knowledge of what went on in those prior minutes when doctors and nurses worked on me. I just know that when I went to the 'light', I no longer had pain. I hope this brings you some peace. Joan.
If you paid for the question, then it should be on the expert forum. I do believe there's a standard fee for asking the experts.
As for a sudden bleed out like that, the person usually becomes unconscious right away due to low blood flow to the brain. Normal people will faint if their blood pressure drops a bit too low. Your Dad's BP crashed and I'm sure he was not aware of anything during the resuscitation efforts.
As for a sudden bleed out like that, the person usually becomes unconscious right away due to low blood flow to the brain. Normal people will faint if their blood pressure drops a bit too low. Your Dad's BP crashed and I'm sure he was not aware of anything during the resuscitation efforts.
I could have swore this was posted on the "Expert Forum", now its on the Community Forum, what went wrong, why was this question transferred?
My condolences to you and yours on the lost of your father. My first cousin 56 year male died of a ruptured MI just a little over 3 weeks ago, I was speaking on the phone with him probably just about 30 minutes before he was found collapsed dead on the floor at his home, needless to say we are still in shock over his death.
He called me exactly one week before he died complaining of numbness in his left arm and his face along with tingling and pain, I advised him to go the ER immediately, he did not take my advice. This was Sunday 6 of Sept, Wednesday night he had to go to ER, they kept him in for 2 days , advised him his heart was swollen with fluid around it and released him on Friday, He died Sunday evening Sept 13.
I got a copy of his death certificate & autopsy report, the immediate cause of death was Cardiac tamponade due to a ruptured myocardial infarction, also advanced cardivascular atherosclerosis was noted.
Usually when one dies of a ruptured MI, the actual MI occurs 3-7 days earlier and instead of scarring a small % of persons will actually get necrosis of the heart muscle "decay" and basically the heart just explodes after a few days at least this is my understanding, my cousin was probably dead before he hit the floor.Once again you have my deepest sympathy, my cousin & I lived like brothers and I missed him terribly.
He called me exactly one week before he died complaining of numbness in his left arm and his face along with tingling and pain, I advised him to go the ER immediately, he did not take my advice. This was Sunday 6 of Sept, Wednesday night he had to go to ER, they kept him in for 2 days , advised him his heart was swollen with fluid around it and released him on Friday, He died Sunday evening Sept 13.
I got a copy of his death certificate & autopsy report, the immediate cause of death was Cardiac tamponade due to a ruptured myocardial infarction, also advanced cardivascular atherosclerosis was noted.
Usually when one dies of a ruptured MI, the actual MI occurs 3-7 days earlier and instead of scarring a small % of persons will actually get necrosis of the heart muscle "decay" and basically the heart just explodes after a few days at least this is my understanding, my cousin was probably dead before he hit the floor.Once again you have my deepest sympathy, my cousin & I lived like brothers and I missed him terribly.
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