Heart disease and you
We all attended the funeral at Fettes Park. Ping Kun was just thirty eight years old. He played squash every week and was a successful businessman.
We all talked to each other, made small talk but as in every occasion like this every one felt uneasy. Watching the widow grieve was more than most of us could stomach. We all thought we could live, like almost forever. His son was fifteen years old while his daughter was nine years old.
Four days before, on Friday, he went to a private medical facility. The specialist there made an appointment for him the following Monday. After all he was only thirty eight. The chances of something happening to him in the meantime was statistically very low.
He told the doctor he hadn’t been himself. But upon examination, the result was nothing conclusive. He wasn’t too worried himself as he had just come back from Ikea in Kuala Lumpur where he had bought lots of new furniture for his home.
On Sunday night, he went out for supper at a mamak stall. He had roti canai and a beer. After that he didn’t feel well and drove himself to the hospital. He asked his friend to park his car while he went straight to the emergency department. Before it was his turn to see the doctor, he had a massive heart-attack and died.
Many of us went for a medical check-up after that. We were all afraid it would also happen to us. Then we learned that heart-attacks could happen to people even as young as twenty-nine.
What are the chances of you getting a heart attack? A doctor friend told me it is like a bus. If your bus comes early, then it is time for you. Some people are prone to heart-attacks but their bus hasn’t come.
Basically it all has to do with genetics, the food we eat , the life-styles we lead and the stress we face in our daily lives.
A few years ago I was one hundred and seventy pounds. Now my weight is one hundred and fifty pounds. That didn’t stop me from being rushed to the emergency department in the middle of the night. I was lucky. I was given a warning. My body had the courtesy of giving me notice before things got out of hand.
Another friend of mine told his wife he wasn’t feeling too good and went to bed immediately after dinner. His wife washed the dishes and then went to check on him. He was no more. Another guy was parking his car after lunch and while looking for an empty parking lot, his life expired. Another guy rested after a friendly badminton match and expired. Too many examples to mention.
Some of us take the trouble of taking good care of their cars. But few actually take good care of themselves.
The good news is that you can minimize your chances of getting a heart-attack.
A heart attack occurs when the arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle, become blocked. Blood carries oxygen to the heart muscle. When the blood flow is stopped or slowed down, the muscle does not receive the oxygen it needs, and pain, called angina, occurs. If the flow of blood and oxygen are stopped long enough, some of the heart muscle will die. This is a heart attack.
Damage to the heart may be slight, with little impact in the ability of the heart to function. A “massive” heart attack significantly reduces the ability of the heart muscle to pump. It may also effect the functioning of the valves in the heart.
Typical symptoms include chest tightness, burning or pressure. Often this discomfort is also felt in the left shoulder, left arm and hand, and sometimes in the neck and/or jaw. Other symptoms include nausea, vomiting, sweating, dizziness, and skin that is cold to the touch. Sometimes symptoms are not typical, and include shortness of breath and fatigue.
Will you die unexpectedly? I have prepared some links for you to find out something about heart disease. Learn to love yourself.
Thanks for highlighting, Bengbeng. My blog is not that new lah.. but I haven’t posted as much as you. Hehe.
working in the medical line, I can tell you that heart attacks hit you just like THAT.
you can be the healthiest person in your eyes but when it happens, it happens.
RyeUrn …it is always best to take preventive measures.
Dr. Bernard : Nice to meet u online like this
hi, I have a question for ryeurn. Why heart attacks can hit you just like that? these are youngish people, in their early 30s. if it is not anything to do with chronic hypertension, high cholesterol,etc and their long term effects so that heart attacks occur around 50s or 60s, how can prevention,(what are the prevention procedures?) help prevent heart attacks? In other words, if proneness to heart attacks is genetic, what are the arguements for prevention? Just curious. fr anthony
hi anthony. i just wrote to your email on your website to answer you directly.
its those things that hit certain people albeit a small percentage.
but then beng beng is right. its always important to take preventive measures.
hi bengbeng, tx for taking the trouble to write in a comment in ryeurn blog alerting him to my questions here. also tx ryeurn for replying so quickly to me in a email. i think posting ur awnswer here would be good, as others will like the read it too. also bengbeng, the links u gave all require registration to read. i guess they want to get new readers rather than anonymous readers. what do bloggers feel about registering for these pages just to find some tiny information and how sure are we that the information in these websites are accurate and not just opinions and prejudices of some doctors who own that site or want to sell u pills?
Thank you. You got a point there. Thanks for pointing it out to me. I will be more careful in selecting links from now on.
hi bengbeng, actually I was only asking. haha. I dont mind registering with some website, if I really want to know. I just wanted to find out how others feel about it. Maybe in the end, everything is opinion, and it is up to us to verify it independantly by looking at more than one source and use our judgement of their relative veracity.