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Old 27th April 2022, 14:21   #46
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Re: BHPians, take care of your heart! Cardiovascular disease & heart attacks are the no.1 killer

Chanced upon this thread and read some of the posts. Very interesting and informative. I have my own story to share. Long post alert...

I had a massive heart attack in Aug 2016, at the age of 39. It was post mid-night, and very similar to how they show in movies. I was lying on bed, just about to sleep when suddenly I woke up wide awake with feeling of Anxiety. Next 10-15 minutes were a mix of symptoms ranging from discomfort in chest (feeling like when we have gas), sweating, feeling of nausea, anxiety and fear. Alerted my wife and she asked if I wanted to go to a hospital to which I said a big yes. The next 10-15 mins were like a motion blur, where I did not have energy in my legs, was slumping down, feeling very cold and very heavy eye lids. My brother-in-law was there at home, and in real life, family members were running around calling the building guards, hospitals, friends, asking for wheel chair and assistance, getting the car out. etc. I have very faint memory of being lifted into a wheel chair, into lift and to the ground floor and main gate, where my BIL was ready with the car. I was rushed to Sakra hospital emergency (Bangalore) where they immediately attended with medicines, IVs, tests, ECG, ECHO, consent forms, etc. and rushed me to cathlab for angioplasty preparation. I have very faint memory of being pushed around in the hospital bed, through various corridors, feeling very cold, almost shivering and weak.

Later, it was found that I suffered an AWMI (anterior wall myocardial infraction) with 100% blockage in LAD (left anterior descending) artery. It was almost close to 2 hours when the angioplasty was performed where they placed a stent to clear the blockage. During surgery, my BP had gone critically low (life threatening). There were some other complications as well following the next day and so on.

Anyhow, I managed to pull along, but the incident resulted in a fairly large scar (heart muscle damage) and ejection fraction (pumping capacity of heart) of 35%. For a normal person its around 65%.

Took many months to slowly come out of this. I was weak, fatigued, tired all the time, and mentally traumatized. I was leading a moderately healthy life, playing active shuttle every morning, eating decently well, no major stress, spending weekends with family or friends, driving or riding bikes. There was no history of any BP or sugar, or any major illness as such. This heart attack just came and surprised us. The two main caused were pointed to smoking (I used to smoke about 10-12 cigarettes a day, my last smoke was 30 mins before the attack) and also genetics. Maternal lineage has cases of coronary artery diseases in the past.

Post this incident in 2016, I slowly gained back strength and got back to life. Started playing shuttle again and got busy with motorcycling, and new found interest in off-road trail explorations. I have been on medications all along and regularly visit my cardiologist every 3 months for checkups.

I was almost feeling and living normal life, until last month, when a routine visit to cardiologist and routine holter monitor test revealed some episodes of NSVT (non sustaining ventricular tachycardia). This is basically heart rhythm related complications and if sustained can lead to SCA (sudden cardiac arrest) leading to SCD (sudden cardiac death).

Due to my underlying weak heart conditions (as a result of 2016 attack) and this new discovery of NSVT, I am at great risk of rhythm related complications for which my cardiologist advised me to get an ICD (implantable cardioverter defibrillator) implant done. ICD is a device which is somewhat like a pacemaker, but bigger in size with bigger battery, implanted under the collar bone, with a lead which is sent to heart through a vein. IDC senses heart rhythm and delivers an electric shock incase the rhythm goes out of control knows as (VT - ventricular tachycardia, or VF - Ventricular fibrillation). I must add I have tested positive for covid twice (delta in 2021 and omicron in 2022), not sure if they have any role in play with my heart condition.

Just got the ICD implant done couple of weeks back at Sakra. Still recovering from the surgery. The doctor said that post 6 weeks, can slowly get back to life but in a controlled way. Healthy diet, less oil, less sugar and salt, less processes food, red meat, add fruits and veggies to diet. Cant play shuttle like before or any contact sport for that matter. Advised not to swim. Driving is ok post some time. Riding bikes depends on how the device behaves over time. If the device shocks me, means there are rhythm related complications inside and driving/riding may be risky. So-far, all seems under control. Hope stays that way in future.

Wanted to ask the community here if anyone knows of anyone having an ICD or Pacemaker implanted and how are they coping up with life, esp with respect to driving and riding. TIA.

Last edited by Axe77 : 30th April 2022 at 13:19. Reason: Corrected typos and capitalising.
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Old 29th April 2022, 09:02   #47
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Re: BHPians, take care of your heart! Cardiovascular disease & heart attacks are the no.1 killer

Quote:
Originally Posted by nasirkaka View Post

I had a massive heart attack in Aug 2016, at the age of 39.
Really sorry to hear and hope for the best of health for you in future.

Did you have any leading indications for the heart attack? Like enhanced fatigue, giddiness etc in days leading up to the attack?

Did some indications come out in any of your regular health check ups ?

I don’t smoke , but otherwise have an unhealthy lifestyle (4 hrs of sleep on most days, unregulated eating etc) . Have started a few minutes of walk but am over weight (BMI ~ 33). Hence trying to understand what to do proactively. My dad had passed away due to Heart problems so I know genetics is not on my side..
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Old 29th April 2022, 10:15   #48
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Re: BHPians, take care of your heart! Cardiovascular disease & heart attacks are the no.1 killer

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Originally Posted by charanreddy View Post
I don’t smoke , but otherwise have an unhealthy lifestyle (4 hrs of sleep on most days, unregulated eating etc) . Have started a few minutes of walk but am over weight (BMI ~ 33). Hence trying to understand what to do proactively. My dad had passed away due to Heart problems so I know genetics is not on my side..
Sleep is one of the, if not the most important factor which can offset or regularize your health. I need my ~8 hours, come what may. Please do not compromise on sleep and health.

Unregulated eating won't do much / any harm, but you need to eat clean, for a start, get off sugar & packaged foods.

And whatever work you do, nothing is more important than your health & wellness. Please do remember, a healthy person has many wishes, a sick person has just one.
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Old 29th April 2022, 11:30   #49
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Re: BHPians, take care of your heart! Cardiovascular disease & heart attacks are the no.1 killer

Quote:
Did you have any leading indications for the heart attack? Like enhanced fatigue, giddiness etc in days leading up to the attack?

Did some indications come out in any of your regular health check ups ?
I guess we do get some indications in most cases, but ignore it. In my-case, the last "complete general health checkup" was done about 4 years previous to the the attack at Manipal hospital, and everything was more or less normal. No indications of any BP, Sugar, cholesterol etc.
Like i said, i was living an active life with regular exercise from shuttle, no major stress, decent sleep, not-so-bad food habits, except for the fact that i use to smoke. At not-so-old age, even if we get some indications/symptoms, we will not be able to relate it to a cardiac issue and will tend to ignore. That awareness is generally missing.

A day before i had my attack, while playing shuttle in the morning, i did get extra fatigued and tired during a match, where i had to take a break mid match. Even during the break, heavy breathing was not settling down, and took some extra time to come to normal. In hindsight, that entire spisode was something different for sure, a SIGN which i could not register and ignored. Had it been caught at that stage, i would not have ended up with damaged heart muscle. We are not just aware or tuned to connect such dots to a major thing like heart attack. Infact even while i was having the attack the following night, i was thinking its something else. It all sank-in only the next morning in ICU.

At the same time, i know people who eat anything, no exercise, chain smoking, drinking, etc and still are living fine. I guess all we can do it just be aware of any changes we experience with our body, do not ignore signs and symptoms even if they appear silly or mild. Try and live healthy by making small lifestyle related changes (like better sleep in your case) esp post 40, and hope for the best.

Quote:
Please do remember, a healthy person has many wishes, a sick person has just one.
This is so apt. All i wish for is to just get on my bike and go for a ride.
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Old 29th April 2022, 12:25   #50
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Re: BHPians, take care of your heart! Cardiovascular disease & heart attacks are the no.1 killer

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Originally Posted by nasirkaka View Post
Wanted to ask the community here if anyone knows of anyone having an ICD or Pacemaker implanted and how are they coping up with life, esp with respect to driving and riding. TIA.
Hi,
More often than not the cause of hear attack is multifactorial. Wishing you a speedy recovery. Regarding your doubts about lifestyle changes after AICD implantation refer to this site. https://www.escardio.org/Journals/E-...ontraindicated.

If you still have concerns or queries feel free to PM me and will get the information which will be evidence based. From what I have seen and dealt with patients after AICD can regain most of their functional status and you will too. You may have to relearn certain things which you have taken for granted and circumvent certain others with limitations. Good luck and speedy recovery.

Last edited by drrajasaravanan : 29th April 2022 at 12:28.
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Old 29th April 2022, 13:09   #51
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Re: BHPians, take care of your heart! Cardiovascular disease & heart attacks are the no.1 killer

My Dad suffered massive attack in 1995 at the age of 47, he was given 72 hours timeline, he was totally unconscious and local doc said dad cannot even be shifted to a specialty hospital in these 72 hours. God saved him for his good deeds. Angioplasty was done with 3 stents at Bombay. Unfortunately he suffered another massive attack in 1999, again angioplasty at Bombay. He never touched alcohol or tobacco in any form ever in his life.

Since 1999 he has maintained weight of 72 to 74 kilos with a flat tummy, eats everything very well in limit. Before the attack he was 90+ kilos.

My dad is turning 75 very soon. He drives faster than me, is more active than me and can defeat me easily in arm wrestling He was a regular gym guy till he got married with seasoned muscles and strong built. I am in early 40s. I too was 90+ kilos in 2018, in span of one year I reduced to 72 kilos and maintaining it since past two and half years. My waist reduced from 38 to 31.

I manage a team of 150+ people including office staff and workers. Biggest lesson I have learnt post Covid is that we need to slow down. Literally "SLOW DOWN" in every aspect. Our lives have became Extremely fast which is sort of unnecessary. My wife is a Parsi and I am a Lohar, I have adopted the parsi way of living post COVID and man I literally am enjoying it. Remember the old Bajaj Avenger ad. I now feel that way



Above link to the ad. Take care friends.
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Old 29th April 2022, 13:14   #52
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Re: BHPians, take care of your heart! Cardiovascular disease & heart attacks are the no.1 killer

Happy to hear about your recovery. My experience is that it pays to pay attention to your Resting Heart Rate (RHR) and Heart Rate Variability (HRV) and Heart rate recovery along with the Blood markers.

Typically, the lower the RHR and higher the HRV, the better. Not in absolute terms but in relative terms. For example, if your RHR is 72, using exercise and diet and sleep, the goal should be to bring it down gradually over time. Likewise, if your HRV is in the 30s, the goal should be to bring it up over time.

Most smart watches and fitness trackers will be able to measure RHR. You can also take your own RHR first thing in the morning, after you wake up and still in bed. Apple watch does measure HRV. Note that a heart strap is best for very accurate HRV but for most of us, the version that fitness trackers give out (if they do) is good enough.

The logic is that the lower the RHR, the less the heart is under pressure to pump blood. The higher the HRV, the better in tune the Parasympathetic nervous system. There are exceptions to this but what I have mentioned is applicable to most.

Last but not least is to pay attention to the heart rate recovery. Which is nothing but how quickly your hear rate comes down to near normal after strenuous exercise. Like a very good car, deceleration is as important as acceleration (to keep it to the Team BHP spirit).

Good physicians will be able to provide customised guidance around these topics and I recommend you talk to your doctor about this. I am also linking a couple of articles for those who are inclined to a more casual reading. Caution: these may be a tad dry for those unaccustomed to scientific literature

https://heart.bmj.com/content/99/12/882

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...0144154v1.full

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/...althier%20life.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10536127/

All the best!
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Old 29th April 2022, 20:28   #53
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Sorry to hear about your MI and glad that you are doing well. I had an MI the day after the first lockdown March 25th night / early hours of March 26, 2020. I was 60 years old at that time. Had severe acidity and severe diarrhea the night of March 25th. Went to the emergency for what I thought was a stomach problem but turns out my RCA was badly blocked. I consider myself an active person and play golf and tennis a couple times a week + bike riding in the neighborhood etc. Am diabetic, hypertensive (no cholesterol issue) and doctors had told me I was at risk for stroke (father had a stroke when he was 55).

Enough about myself. The reason for my post is to give you the following advice:
YOU ABSOLUTELY MUST UNDERGO A CARDIAC REHAB PROGRAM. It is not very common in India and cardiologists don't push it enough I feel. I consulted multiple cardiologists after my angioplasty and they all said "brisk walking good enough sir" etc. But I wanted to see if I could get back on the tennis court. You are much younger, athletic, have a full life ahead of you and you need a calibrated environment where you can slowly build yourself back to normalcy - I am sure you want to get back on the badminton court. I did a 2 month cardiac rehab at Sakra Hospital and am back to playing tennis and golf regularly for quite some time now. Initially I wore a chest heart rate monitor while playing tennis and gradually weaned myself off the monitor once I could read/understand my body. Why Sakra - because they have the best rehab center in my opinion - at least in the vicinity of where I live (Whitefield). I checked with CA Whitefield, NH Bommasandra (main hospital) before settling on Sakra. To be sure, I am not affiliated with Sakra in any way.

The initial months after the procedure are testy as the body goes through adjustment so be careful and don't hesitate to consult your cardiologist as and when necessary. I went to emergency several times whenever I had acidity as it was difficult to tell if it was only acidity or a heart problem again. It will all be all right and you will get back to being your old self, wish you all the very best.

EDIT:

Apologies - I realize that the information in my earlier post is largely irrelevant for nasirkaka. Missed the fact that he had the MI in 2016 and has already made a full recovery.

Last edited by Axe77 : 30th April 2022 at 13:10. Reason: Merging back to back posts.
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Old 30th April 2022, 11:58   #54
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Re: BHPians, take care of your heart! Cardiovascular disease & heart attacks are the no.1 killer

A big thank you to nasirkaka for sharing his experience. The “Shifting Gears” section is the actual gold mine in this forum. Cars come and go; and most cars in India aren’t worth even five minutes of thought. Indeed, the last time I took any interest in the cars sections of the forum was maybe 5 or 6 years ago. I know myself better now. Thank God. But sharing our collective experiences in other, more important, areas of life and allowing others to learn from the same is what adds real and tangible value for members.

Coming back to this thread, I have one thought to add and some of what I say may be contrarian.

Do what you want to do. If you really WANT to quit smoking or alcohol, then quit. If you WANT to get fit, then don’t waste a single minute more thinking about it; get to it stat.

But if you are one of those people who truly enjoys a life of excess - smoking and/or drinking and/or eating whatever you want whenever you want, then by all means live the life you enjoy.

If there is one thing that this thread (and the pandemic) has demonstrated, it’s that no one knows anything about anything. The smartest, most intelligent and thoughtful people don’t have a clue. The leaders who run our world know as much about what’s going to happen as our sanitation workers do, really. Every single person (including Presidents, Prime Ministers and “all-knowing” Gurus) stumbles from one crisis to another to stich together a life. This is the truth.

So get healthy if that’s what you want. But don’t carry any expectations that your change will mean that you will not have an MI. Conversely, don’t look at people who are partying hard into their 40s and think that they have it coming. The evidence hardly supports such conclusions.

Both my FIL and father had and have no vices. In fact, they have spent enormous amounts of time trying to reform the smokers and the drinkers around them. As it turned out, both had long and painful battles with cancer. In the meanwhile the cigarette and alcohol fans around them are hale and hearty; puffing and tipping by away well into their 60s and 70s. Not a thing wrong with them. Indeed, some of them haven’t seen a doctor ever.

The only way is to lead a guilt free life. Do what you want to do and forgive yourself. Have zero expectations and stay thankful for everything everyday.

I started smoking in college to look cool and to fit in with a set of friends who I now wish I had never met. I hated the habit from my very first cigarette. Tried to quit a zillion times. After I got married, I asked my wife if she would like me to quit, she said, “it’s your choice. But just realise what that your lungs belong a little bit to me also.” I stopped that evening and have stayed quit for almost a decade.

Just 8 months ago, I faced an uphill battle for getting a health insurance policy. They asked if I drink and my agent advised that I should answer in the negative if wanted the policy. I hate lying. So, I haven’t touched alcohol from the day I filled that form. I said I don’t drink and I don’t. End of story.

Last edited by GTO : 2nd May 2022 at 07:51. Reason: Removing inappropriate word (frigging)
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Old 30th April 2022, 14:38   #55
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Re: BHPians, take care of your heart! Cardiovascular disease & heart attacks are the no.1 killer

Taking a cue from watching our symptoms, sharing a COVID, post COVID and heart event incident my father witnessed.

My father has been on blood thinners from 1992. He had a minor angina then and cardiologists prescribed light thinners. In 2015, he was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis, the symptom of which is dual vision when the object is moving. He had to stop drawing.

28 Aug 2020: His COVID test came positive. 28 Aug-2 Sep 2020: His Oxy levels were 90-91, with 100 fever and cough. Please note that all these criterions did not require hospitalisation as per his Govt. prescribed physicians, but we knew he did. He was far from comfortable. On 2 Sep, he said I can't breathe properly. We took him to the hospital, where he was taken directly to step-down ICU.

19 Sep 2020: His result came negative, he was shifted to another Govt. facility but just an ordinary ward.

2 Oct 2020: He had an atrial fibrillation event. He called us himself saying his pulse is high, he can feel it too. His Trop-T came positive.

10 Oct 2020: Discharged from Hospital.

10 Oct 2020-till date: His life has been far from normal. His medicines for BP, blood thinners, lungs have doubled. Inhalers, syrups and what not.

He blames all on COVID but deep down he knows it is more. He was 100Kgs during covid treatment. All my childhood I remember him eating at 10-10:30 PM, with minimum 2 sweets and heavy dinner. No exercises after his 30s. Never bothered about weight.

I learnt a lot from the episode but most life changing lesson was that in the event of your hospitalisation on account of any illness, all of your eating, drinking and, misc. illnesses will play a significant role in your treatment. Please watch out.
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Old 30th April 2022, 17:01   #56
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Re: BHPians, take care of your heart! Cardiovascular disease & heart attacks are the no.1 killer

So my wife's cousin is a cardiologist and went to him to get my blood test done for cholesterol and the likes.

To my dismay, he was rather free that evening and said let's do a full battery of tests! I was not prepared to do a treadmill test!

Thankfully after the echo cardiogram and treadmill tests and ecgs and what not, heart apparently is in good condition. So yay

Being on the wrong side of 40 is scary i guess.
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Old 30th April 2022, 17:59   #57
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Re: BHPians, take care of your heart! Cardiovascular disease & heart attacks are the no.1 killer

We keep hearing of many cases of people having fatal/very serious heart attacks, with most often the diagnosis being a severely blocked artery.

I understand that at times these blocks can exist even in people who clear a TMT test, have low cholesterol readings etc. So what are the test(s) that one needs to get done to get a clean bill of heart health?

I was told that an Angiogram is to be done to check and make sure there are no significant blocks but I understand that an Angiogram is not to be done often or without need. So I have always been confused about how does one get an as close to perfect answer as possible about heart health.

Thank you very much for the advice.
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Old 30th April 2022, 20:04   #58
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Re: BHPians, take care of your heart! Cardiovascular disease & heart attacks are the no.1 killer

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So I have always been confused about how does one get an as close to perfect answer as possible about heart health.

Thank you very much for the advice.
Short answer; you can’t. So stop worrying.

Long answer; get a regular cardiac work-up once every 2 years. Costs about 3k to 4K. That’s typically sufficient. If you maintain an active lifestyle, then hopefully you will have good baselines to gauge whether things are starting going south.

The rest is on your horoscope.

The best way to detect blocks is to inject a dye into the veins and then conduct a CT. But the dye itself can be dangerous for kidney health; and each CT is equivalent in radiation to roughly a hundred XRays.

So there is a cost to everything. Beyond a point, there isn’t much value in thinking about the 1000 ways by which one can die.

Cheers
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Old 1st May 2022, 17:51   #59
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Re: BHPians, take care of your heart! Cardiovascular disease & heart attacks are the no.1 killer

Unfortunately, Siddharth Shukla who is featured in Bajaj Avenger ad also died of a heart attack at the age of 40

Last edited by Turbanator : 1st May 2022 at 20:19. Reason: Removed quoted post which has no reference here.
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Old 1st May 2022, 23:17   #60
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Re: BHPians, take care of your heart! Cardiovascular disease & heart attacks are the no.1 killer

Quote:
I was told that an Angiogram is to be done to check and make sure there are no significant blocks but I understand that an Angiogram is not to be done often or without need. So I have always been confused about how does one get an as close to perfect answer as possible about heart health.
Cardiologists consider Angiogram the gospel for detecting blockage related coronary artery health, but as mentioned, the contrast /dye injected in the body for the same is considered harmful in many ways. infact it is believed that the dye takes almost 6 months to completely clear out from our body.

However there are cardiac CT scans and much improvement is made in that area. We have 256 and 320 and even 640 slides Cardiac CT scan machines available which give fairly good idea of our heart health. But somehow, most cardiologists do not support this technique. I have also heard that there are many lobbies when it comes to cardiac health industry, where diagnostic techniques, equipment used, parts such as stents, pace makers / ICDs / valves etc cost a lot with much variations from hospital to hospital and country to country, and is biased at many levels with cuts / commissions, etc. And heart is such a sensitive organ, in most cases, we just go ahead with the best possible suggested treatment we can afford without questioning much.
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