Don't panic!

[mdlbear]

Just got done entering my album info for CD Baby. Took a lot longer than I expected, but it's done. Would have taken less time if I'd had a suitable bio and album description ready; instead I had to cobble it together from scattered pieces. A good exercise anyway.

Let me preface this by saying that the rational part of my mind -- what little is left of it after six decades of neglect and under-use -- has a pretty good idea of what constitutes a genuine health problem. The irrational part, however, is stupid, stubborn, quick to jump to conclusions, and difficult to convince.

Yesterday afternoon I managed to work myself up into what appears to have been a genuine anxiety attack, which is quite unusual for me. What did it was a combination of the pain in my left shoulder (which is getting asymptotically better), stomach gas, and coming back from a walk after not walking for several days, and hence being a little short of breath. All of which added up to symptoms that, taken together, could have been a mild heart attack. Which was just what I didn't need at exactly that moment.

So I gobbled a couple of aspirin (good for the shoulder anyway), antacids, and an anti-gas pill, put my cell phone in my pocket, and headed off for my meeting anyway. What finally convinced me that it was just plain panic was the fact that my hands were redder than usual, not turning blue. That and the fact that the pain never got particularly bad, and didn't get worse when I carried a 20-pound box of CDs out to the car.

OK, so I'm a stupid old bear. I already knew that.

Comments

[sdorn.livejournal.com]

For future reference—and I hope you never need this information—you're supposed to rest if you think you might be having a heart attack. Get the aspirin and rest for 5 minutes. Then reassess. And did you tell flowercat about the symptoms, or did you just do stuff independently??

[sdorn.livejournal.com]

Needless to say, if it's the stone-on-chest feeling, you call 911 immediately.

[mdlbear]

Yeah, that was just about the first thing I did, and it never got anywhere near the stone-on-the-chest feeling; all of which is why I wasn't all that worried. It's often hard to get hold of the flower_cat, and by the time I got out of my 4pm meeting I was pretty certain I wouldn't have to.

[mdlbear]

"That" being aspirin and rest. There was never any chest pressure, and the pain was all fairly high in the shoulder, where I've had what feels like a muscle cramp since sometime Monday.

[sdorn.livejournal.com]

AHA quick guide to symptoms

[drewkitty.livejournal.com]

Not stupid, just human.

sdorn's advice is excellent and so is the AHA link. I'll add that many life-threatening heart attacks come with _pressure_ rather than pain. The guideline I've been taught is that if the feeling doesn't go away after 5 minutes of rest, or goes away and comes back, seek emergency medical help at once. If I'm the responder, I am to request paramedics and ambulance immediately, keep the person calm, place them on high flow oxygen, check vitals every 5 minutes and be ready to hand off quickly to the advanced providers -- and have an AED handy just in case.

Given your level of access to health care, you should make an appointment with your doctor and discuss the incident with said doctor.

No one "needs" a mild heart attack. Promptly seeking advanced medical care for a "mild" heart attack could be the difference between continuing an active lifestyle and lifetime chronic health problems.

Be well.

[callibr8]

Wow... sounds like a kinda sucky Friday. Hope you're feeling better today!

[mdlbear]

((hugs back))

Considerably better. The shoulder still hurts, but none of the other symptoms are present; I'm fine. Actually the post is referring to Thursday the 9th. Friday was pretty good, especially dinner.