Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Heart Disease, Heart Attacks?

So far so good.
I get an annual physical.
Cardio exercise several times a week for last 35 years, I’m 68.
I eat reasonably well.
Take blood pressure meds and a low dose aspirin.

That's a fact. My wife had a large ovarian tumor and wasn't feeling right. Went to her doctor a couple of times complaining of the symptoms and they couldn't find anything.

She tried a Mayan abdominal massage, and within seconds of the woman putting her hands on, she said "there's something wrong here, you need to go see a doctor ASAP."

Same. Plus ultrasound in critical areas. So far so good.

So for, no, but I expect it to rear it's ugly head any day now.

My employ required one from 40 until I retired at 53. I now do them every 3 years per my Doc. Full blood panel every 6 months. I have taken mild hypertension meds since 2002 and, since retiring, I could likely get off them. My goal for my 2020 goat, moose and elk hunt in NE BC is to be off of the meds. Precisely why I booked the hunt. I needed a kick in the azz...

Mehhh

I get an echo yearly

Usually get an ekg 2-3 times a year

Have also gotten stress tests about one every 2 years it seems, for that last 10 years.





I wormed my way out of a cpx o2 stresser last summer. It had a bicycle and they wanted me to wear like a cpap german high altitude bomber mask

Fugg that.
That got switch to just a simple nuclear perfusion stresser.

We all need a kick from time to time, IMO. Preferrably when it will still. Be helpful.

Are you doing three hunts or Trying to combine three?

When I was 40 I just wasn't feeling right. No chest pain but was having trouble working myself up to breathing heavy if that makes sense. I went in for a stress test on a Friday and the up coming Monday was the first day of buck season here in Pa. By Monday morning I couldn't stop my coughing so at lunch time I called my GP and told them that I needed to see my Doc for something for my cough. They told me to come right in which seemed a little odd but I drove right to his office with my hunting cloths on and all. As soon as I got in there he comes in and says "we have to talk... You need to get to a hospital now and I'd like to call you an ambulance". He ended up letting me drive home and change and having my buddy, who is a nurse drive me down.

Anyway, I had an EF of 18% (CHF) and Pneumonia. Got rid of the Pneumonia in a week then had a cath done which showed no blockage at all. They think I got a virus. Since then I've been on Coreg and Lisinopril. That was over 12 years ago. I had a stress test a few months ago and supposedly I'm back up to around a 55% EF. I drink very little and try to keep myself in decent shape but I have other physical issues that are keeping me down a little. Need to start hitting the gym again if for nothing else to at least walk on the tread mill. My dad had CHF and died of a heart attack at 57, I try to keep up on my health.

Pharmaceutical rep here, I specialize in CHF (systolic heart failure, aka HFrEF, aka heart failure with reduced ejection fraction). I call almost exclusively on Cardiology. It’s some scary stuff. Heart failure is the #1 killer in the US. The 5-year survival rate post-diagnosis is 50%, meaning half the people diagnosed with heart failure die within five years. That’s worse than most cancers.

The good news is we have new options. Ask your cardiologist is he/she follows guideline directed medical therapy (GDMT). Then ask what the new guidelines recommend.






P

Many big, strong men, have dropped in their tracks from heart failure. Too often the first sign of trouble.

I was a paramedic for 14 years. I have worked many, many heart attacks. Have defibrillated way over 200 patients.

Some of them lived and some did not. Scary stuff.

I will say, my brother in law got put on statin drugs 25 years ago for the cholesterol and these prescription drugs have ruined his life.
He gradually lost control of his right hand and could not sleep at night. I saw him at Christmas and he could hardly take three steps forward he was so gimped out. Could barely make a coherent sentence. Guy is 63 years old.

I just got an email from Sister and he has just been diagnosed with Alzheimers. I would rather die of a heart attack that get so messed up by the goddam statin drugs.

I told the wife if she would retire, that I would see a doctor [I do go to an eye doctor]
At age 67 I went in 3 months ago and met the general practitioner.
They took 3 vials of blood and gave me a colonoscopy.
My heart was ok.

I spent most of the 2018 hunting season taking care of my hunting partner with a heart attack. We got his pacemaker put in.

2 weeks ago my sister in law died of a heart attack. She was 3 years younger than me.

When I was 14 in 1965 I found my grandfather's dead body. He died from a heart attack at age 84 while doing heavy lifting.

Death is always getting closer.

It is just a matter of time, be ready to meet your maker.

Take care of the pump for Gilbert’s sake! 👍

Shocker... we're gonna die. I like sharing my experience because nobody really knows what to expect. In 2010, or so, I was on vacation with my family in South Texas on the Frio river. The previous day we had floated the river, dived under the falls...lots of strenuous activity. I got up early the next day and walked down to the river to pick up. Coming back up the hill, I lost my breath and felt really weak. I gotta admit, I didn't know WTF was going on. By the time I got to my truck, it was subsiding and I said to myself "Heart attacks don't go just away...I'm good (I watch TV). We packed up and started the 8 hour trip back home. About 3 hours later, after stopping for gas, I felt it returning. The best way I could describe it the feeling was comparable to scuba diving and and running out of air at 100'. I told my family to be ready to call 911 if I needed them to. They were concerned, but didn't really take me seriously...my fault I'm sure.

When we got home, the first thing I did was (push) mow the grass. I wasn't convinced that anything was really wrong with me, but was concerned. Nothing happened. The next day I went to my camp. I was driving some T-post around a watermelon patch when it happened again, but subsided. That night, about 2am, the smothering feeling hit again. This time it scared me and when it subsided I drove home, about 75 miles. I told myself that if it happened again I would go to the ER. The next morning I was walking into my office and I felt a little of the weakness. I drove to the ER and told them I was there for a heart attack. They laughed at first, but then realized I was serious. The initial blood test showed my enzyme level was really high, so a cardiologist was summoned. He said that this was the case, but my problem was probably just reflux, but that my condition would continue to be monitored. An hour later I was admitted to ICU and told that I would have an angiogram the next day. An hour later I was rushed into surgery where I received a single stint for a 99% blockage of the large artery in the back of my heart.

I was subsequently advised that I had had numerous heart attacks. Two weeks later, upon release, I rode my bike 18 miles through the sand hills ...just to prove to myself I could. My best friend was freaked out....figuring I was gonna die on him. Lol

I suppose the point to my lengthy post is that bad stuff is gonna happen to all of us. The trick is surviving it.

For me it was congestive heart failure a few years back. They said I got it from a virus, not a clogged artery. Sure took the wind out of my sails. I've got no wind whatsoever. Simple chores I used to do around the yard are major undertakings now. I can work for about 15 minutes and then need a break. No long walks or running any more. 'Sure changed my deer hunting. I can't navigate the steep hills like I used to. The weird thing is, it's made me a much better still hunter, as I've had no choice but to slow down a lot. I take a handful of meds in the morning, and another handful before bed, never miss my visits with the doctor and hope for the best.

I get a chuckle out these threads.

Get to put a name to a random badass here or there. Find out some oracle that has threatened to cut my tongue out or whoop my ass...find out they have stage 4 cancer, or congestive heart failure with an ejection fraction of 20%. Pfffffffft!!!


hahaha

I'm going in for my first stent next week. 61 yrs old. Starting getting angina symptoms in late June. Went thru EKG, stress test, nuclear stress test and a first catheterization end of Jul/1st week Aug. Turns out I have a 100% blockage of artery that supplies lower back of heart, but no heart attack or damage. Apparently I grew some additional small blood vessels that provide enough blood when at rest and light activity, but can't keep up during exertion. The cardiologists described it as stable with no risk of heart attack as long as I paid attention to angina symptoms and didn't over exert. Docs couldn't push a stent thru the first time with a complete blockage, and have been treating with meds since then. Looks like meds alone won't get me back to "normal", so ended up scheduling an angioplasty where they'll go in with two catheters and work blockage from both sides. Oh boy. Not thru the arm this time, need larger arteries, they'll have to go up thru both sides of groin
They didn't find any other blockages during nuclear imaging or the first catheterization, just the one complete block.

Been on blood pressure and cholesterol meds for years, and my lab results are good, but didn't matter other than probably postponing the heart disease.
Cholesterol 162
Triglycerides 204
Hdl Cholesterol 38
Ldl Cholesterol 90
LDL/HDL Ratio 2.4
Chol/HDL Ratio 4.3

In November of 2011 I had 3 bypass heart surgery. Shortly after coming home, maybe 2 months I started walking and pushing myself and recovered pretty fast. However I was in good shape before the problem. I can't walk as fast now as before but I am 79 years old however. I don't take any prescription drugs and am doing fine.

If it means anything I did get an elk this past October.

Regards, Keith
Semper Fi

Chronic heart disease. One coronary stent. High BP. Still vertical though. Hopefully, I won't wake up dead tomorrow.