Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Bad heart day (long post)

Good to hear your OK.

Buddy of mine just called all full of adrenalin, after watching a guy he knew die on the floor during a pool tournament. Bud thinks he was 55.

NOt Vfib...thats what happens just before asystole...or flat line. Ventricular tachacardia, however, sounds like the culprit. Those rythems MUST be shocked, and typically the patient does not remain conscious. Sometimes a vagal manuver can do the trick to stop it. In upper chamber arrythmias, Like Afib (atrial fibrillation)some patients never have symptoms. But as another poster mentioned, afib can cause blood clots and stroke. Diagnoses of afib ALWAYS should include a blood thinner of some kind. Coumadin, plavix combos ect...In ventricular arrythmias (the lethal arrythmias) there is a drug called Adenosine...given IV...which literally stops the heart for a split second or two and reboots the ventricles rythem pattern. I use to tell patients that they would feel light headed. Some would lose consciousness while others would feel dizzy or faint. Wired to a defibrillator, its not too terribly risky. In 18 years of trauma/ICU nursing, I never saw a heart stopped with Adenosine that didnt restart. The half life is mere seconds so it can literally lose potency in the IV line if not flushed rapidly with saline. SVT (supraventricular tachacardia) is treated with Adenosine...among other things. Upper chamber (atrial) dysrythmias can cause fatal problems if left untreated. Lower chamber (ventricular) dysrythmias ARE FATAL IF NOT IMMEDIATLY SHOCKED OR DO NOT RESUME NORMAL FUNCTION SPONTANEOUSLY.
Im very glad it resolved for you but am suprised they let you go home without a heart cath at minimum and further testing like a Persantine Thallium stress test and serial cardiac enzymes over a few days.If you feel that return, get to an ER ASAP!!

november 09, while at work that pain you described started in my chest. that wasnt the first time it showed up. 2 or 3 times before that day it showed up but would go away after a few drinks of water and sitting down. i was doing my job when it hit so i got me some water an took a seat. but the pain did not go away,it got worse and then the pain started moving down my left arm as well. i went to the office and asked the lady to call for me a ride to the hospital. the EMT'S did the same routine on me, and the gave me a spray of glycerine under my tongue,but nothing was stopping the pain.i hit the hospital and went straight into an operating room. there must have been 6 people around my table and in the room. i had wires stuck all over my chest my back and my sides.unfortunately they didnt shave me. ( future pain a comming) the gave me moraphene, didnt help, finally they knocked me out. i too woke up while the doctor had the roto rooter entered through my groin, in my body and i could see the screen he was looking at watching my heart and guideing his rooter. the pain was still there. he was placeing a stent into my right coronary artery. as soon as it showed blood flow on the screen the pain went away. blessed relief finally from that pain. ive BTDT and now every day i wake is a beautiful day. im glad you were able to get the help you needed its good to have you around with us for a good long time. oh yea, welcome to the SURVIVERS CLUB.

Wow! Thanks so much guys. I just noticed this thread a few minutes ago while eating my breakfast. I have an apointment with the cardiologist February 9. I am taking a de-coagulant to prevent cloting.

battue, they took blood.

To repeat what NurseKat said. As I mentioned, I also have A fib, and a pacemaker.

I take Coumadin, not for my heart, but to prevent a stroke when and if I go into A Fib. What happens, when you go into A Fib, your heart is not pumping blood out of the Aterial chamber, so your blood is not circulating and will clot quickly. If it clots in your brain, or a clot gets loose and lodges in your brain, you can have a stroke.

If they did not recommend that you follow up with a heart doctor, I am very surprised. If they did not prescribe Coumadin, I am even more surprised.

A co-worker went to the ER with chest pains. The ER doctor said indigestion and told him to take Maalox. He left the ER and died on the way to the drug store, where he was planning on purchasing the Maalox.

There are things that will probably be better in the morning, and there are things that will not. Since most things are better by morning, that is what we expect to happen routinely.

We learned with a family member to not ignore the signs of stroke (slurred speech, dizziness, lopsided smile, weakness on one side or in one limb). If you quickly get to the hospital, there is a lot they can do in most cases. After a few hours, you'll never recover from the damage.

Same goes for heart issues. If you're having peculiar rhythm, chest pain, chest tightness, etc., get to an ER.

A trip to the hospital is a lot cheaper than a casket. I know. I've bought a casket recently.

My prescription is metroprolol succinate. I have no idea what it is for except to help the drug company.

I believe its to regulate your heart rate; I take it too. Heart rhythm is a different drug.

It does work, by the way, its not just a placebo.

Ringman,
Just read this post last night. Wanted to wish you well. The good thing is you caught it before it caught you!

Some hints for everyone... Indigestion (what I thought was indigestion), pain in the left arm radiating up into the jaw, like an electric shock... shortness of breath, pressure on chest, cold sweat, nauseous, vomiting, diarrhea..

These are the symptoms I had before my heart attack that turned one third of my heart into scar tissue at 43 years of age... The way it is now... you've heard "My get up and go has got up and gone" is exactly how I live now. Like I have an anchor tied to my backside and dragging it everywhere I go.

Do heed the warning signs! A daily baby aspirin won't hurt at all and may save your life. Research fish oil as a preventative supplement too.

George

GeoW,

Your post reminds me I am "presribed" two baby asprins every day, also. It's so easy to take them with the other pill.

Glad you're OK. Sounds like quite an ordeal.

Glad you're ok. I had chest pains seven years ago and went all the way through a heart cath. to be told I was ok. I think the ferin heart doc needed a Mercedes payment!

Generic metoprolol is about $4/mo. Sometimes works for SVT.
If was atrial fib and not SVT, then coumadin is frequently prescribed also, but not always on the first episode. Coumadin can kill you too. Especially if you have ulcers or untreated hypertension. For that matter, too much anti-hypertension meds can give you a stroke.

Metoprolol (Toprol XL) is a Beta blocker. Beta blockers decrease blood pressure but also slow the heart rate. Its also used for angina/chest pain and heart failure. The reasons NOT to give it would be things like bradycardia (slow heart rate), sick sinus (cardiac)syndrome (minus a pacemaker) or a heart block. Its cheap and a first line drug that can have other meds added to it easily. Some people have swelling in feet and legs related to Beta usage and require a diuretic like Lasix or Bumex with it, which will also lower the blood pressure.

SO TRUE!

Nursekat just laid it all out 100%. I'm betting v-tach as well due to the fact that svt is not typically intermittent. I too have seen adenosine used too many times to count and the pause lasts mere seconds. Due to the fact the doc wanted to go straight to electrical cardioversion versus chemical also points to v-tach.

P.s. v-fib is not a Rythm that typically self converts and almost always leads to asystole if not treated fast! One of the most lethal heart rhythms.

When I would have nursing students in the ICU they would always ask what the difference was between fine and course V-fib, as described in the cardiac nursing manuals.....I'd always tell them..."the length of time it's gonna take you to roll em' to the morgue, give or take a second or two."
ANY abnormal ventricular rythem..be it Vtac, vfib...ect is LETHAL. The ventricles are the pumping chambers of the heart. If it cant pump, there is no perfusion to the brain, no oxygen transported. I LOVE cardiac nursing. It was and remains my favorite subject to teach on in the hospital.

I had my first episode of atrial tachycardia 30 years ago. My symptoms have always been "self limiting". Over time I've discovered ways that work for me to halt the episodes. First of all, when I feel the 1st or second beats starting I give myself a sharp cough. That seems to stop it in it's tracks for me. Before I discovered the cough routine I would massage the carotid artery in my neck and they would end.

A friend also deals with it by laying down on her side and curling up in a fetal position and "squeeze" her body by pulling her knees into her chest very tightly.

I'm medicated and have very few break thrus, but just know that sometimes you can stop the activity without an external shock.

I'm away so much I missed this.

Glad you are OK Rich. Do what it takes to see you stay that way!