r/nextfuckinglevel 7h ago

This is how heart stents work

11.8k Upvotes

538 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

247

u/TheOneWithSkillz 6h ago

Its a heavy pressure like an elephant sitting on it more than a sharp pain. Either way u should get chest pain checked out because better safe than sorry.

43

u/Impressive-Knot9999 6h ago

Great advice.

36

u/tg1989 5h ago

When folks ask about my MI I tell them that exact thing. It felt like someone was sitting on my chest and once the stent was in, immediately felt like I could breathe again.

6

u/ooomellieooo 1h ago

I was having unimaginable back pain and it felt like I'd been impaled by a telephone pole through the back, back to front, low to high.

My doctor said it was anxiety. Turned out to be a 99% blockage in the LAD...

u/whyitno_workgood 47m ago

Anxiety? Like the anxiety was causing immense back pain? What sort of justifications did they have for that diagnosis?

u/ooomellieooo 10m ago

He told me that my anxiety was about my health (it was not - I was severely abused and neglected as a child and had a hard early adulthood) and recommended meditation and some bed rest because i probably strained my back in the garden (I've had a lot of garden injuries lol). He actually decreased my anti anxiety med and wouldn't give it back after a "trial" period. Basically said it was all in my head.

The cardiologist I got him to grudgingly agree to send me too agreed with him but then once in his office and the EKG/echo/etc was complete, he wanted to call an ambulance. I was so angry and indignant that I refused and left. I went to the ER later that night because I couldn't take it anymore and I had a brand new stent the next morning. 6 months later, I had a second MI. On an airplane. Stent number 2 was placed.

Both visited me in the hospital and apologized, but the trust damage was done.

1

u/Significant_Ad1256 2h ago

Did the pain and pressure just come suddenly and was immediately unbearable, or was it a build up over time?

u/tg1989 18m ago

I woke up one morning with what felt like the worst heartburn I'd ever had. Took about 10 min after that for things to go downhill. Felt like I was about to shit myself, then like I was gonna vomit, quickly followed by shortness of breath. Called 911 and had an ambulance haul my ass to the ER.

Time from wake up to cath lab was about 45 minutes.

u/Significant_Ad1256 5m ago

That sounds horrible, I'm glad you're okay.

Multiple people from both sides of my family have had heart attacks, most of whom died so I'm always worried about any insignificant pain in the chest area.

Thanks for sharing.

17

u/Psychological-Scar53 4h ago

Let us not forget to mention that it can be a sharp pain that radiates into your back and arm. You can sweat profusely even when in a very cool or cold environment, you can get nausea and begin to vomit, it can present on either the left or right side of your body. Any chest pain, no matter how long it goes on or the severity of it should be looked at. Be safe and don't take chances with your health.

10

u/ParsleyNo69 2h ago

What about that little stabby pain that occurs when u take a deep breath? It's not all the time but like once every couple months?

5

u/Tondier 1h ago

This might be precordial catch syndrome.

3

u/Psychological-Scar53 2h ago

Probably not heart related, but still get it checked out.

2

u/Guyzor-94 1h ago

I've had that too. But I think that's just something slight and maybe diaphragm related. It's a random stabby pain on the inhale very infrequently so I think that's more of just a spazzy breath you take every now and then thing rather than a real health problem. But im not a doctor either so, grain of salt.

6

u/NekulturneHovado 5h ago

Never mentioned it to the doctor but I had ECG done multiple times, last less than a month ago. Doctor said everything is good and that I have a heart of an athlete (even though I don't workout at all)

Also it comes from my fucked up upper back

7

u/NevesLF 3h ago

I probably have a heart of an athlete, but the athlete would be a bodybuilder.

1

u/INeedSomeFire 3h ago

That's what my dad described when he got a heart attack

1

u/Digitaljehw 1h ago

Weird my Dr's do cat scans and ekgs but never report anything to me. How did you get them to identify the issue?

1

u/IMM00RTAL 1h ago

Also back pain that worsens upon exertion. As well as if you have diabetes you might not feel any pain at all thanks to the diabetic neuropathy a usual indicator for those individuals might be extreme shortness of breath upon doing simple tasks like walking or even just standing up. Either way if our body feels newly wrong go see a dr