Cardiologist Opens Up About His Own Heart Attack: 'I Went Through Denial'

[appalachiablue]

Today, Feb. 4, 2022. - He was enjoying a vacation day when the chest pain suddenly began. -

- VIDEO at Link. As a cardiologist, Dr. William Wilson talks to patients about heart attack symptoms every day, but when his own chest pain began, his first reaction was disbelief. “Deep down, I knew what it was, although I went through the usual denial for probably about 10 minutes because I was thinking that this can’t be happening to me,” Wilson, who practices at Parkview Health in Fort Wayne, Indiana, told TODAY.

“I was trying to talk myself out of it... but the pain didn’t let up. It just kept getting worse and worse.”

Wilson’s heart attack, which happened in January 2018, caught him totally off guard, he said. He was 63 at the time, did not smoke, and did not have high blood pressure or high cholesterol. He had a normal body weight and exercised “like crazy.” His only risk factor was a family history of heart disease — his father had a heart attack and a stroke. Four years after Wilson’s ordeal, he is sharing his story to help others stay vigilant for symptoms and be aware that heart attacks can happen even if a person is doing everything right to prevent them.

- VIDEO: Heart attack warning signs you should not ignore. FEB. 1, 2021.

‘I was thinking, I’m going to die’ Wilson had a vacation day when his heart problems began. His wife was scheduled to meet her trainer at the gym that morning, so he came along and was just casually walking around when the chest pain began. “I don’t want people thinking that I was at the gym and really hitting it hard and just going crazy, working out too hard — that wasn’t it at all,” Wilson said. “This exact same thing could have happened at the grocery store or at home because I wasn’t doing anything strenuous.”

Besides the chest pain, Wilson noticed he was dripping wet — sweating like he had never perspired before, he recalled. When he looked at himself in the mirror, he noticed “this horrible gray color.” This does not happen to cardiologists, he thought. But it was happening: Wilson became one of the 805,000 Americans each year to have a heart attack.

Other symptoms can include shortness of breath; pain in the jaw, neck or back; and lightheadedness...

- Read More, https://www.today.com/health/health/cardiologist-heart-attack-rcna14727



- Dr. Wilson in the hospital.

[mitch96]

1. MD. Massive Denial. Nope can't happen to me, naw.. I'm the smartest guy in the room...nt

[appalachiablue]

3. But he was doing so many things right. I know sons

of a father who died of a sudden heart attack in his 60s while shoveling snow. Both followed good habits- diet, moderate exercise, medical checkups and never got heart disease. Another person we knew in his 40s drank and smoked himself into a major heart attack. His father and brothers had no cardio issues.
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He was 63 at the time, did not smoke, and did not have high blood pressure or high cholesterol. He had a normal body weight and exercised “like crazy.” His only risk factor was a family history of heart disease — his father had a heart attack and a stroke. Four years after Wilson’s ordeal, he is sharing his story to help others stay vigilant for symptoms and be aware that heart attacks can happen even if a person is doing everything right to prevent them.

[multigraincracker]

2. I was 21 at the time.

I had just given up on experimenting with illegal drugs and moved on to full scale research.
I was in bed one morning when the chest pain started. With in a few minutes it got worse and I thought about calling EM. I was in too much pain to get up, so I was waiting for it to get a little better, then it happened. I let out the largest burp in my life. The pain went away right then and I never called.
Then a year ago, about 50 years later, I was feeling very tired and told my partner. She is an RN. She took my arm and put two fingers on my wrist, looked at me and said get in the car, we are going to the ER. I hadn't given that any thought, but listened to her. Two days later I came home with a pacemaker. When I got to the ER, my pulse was 28 beats per minute. I was just going to go the bed and go to sleep. A day or two earlier I had ran 3 miles and two days after getting my pacemaker I was back on my track running. Doctor told me to keep running.
Hearts are tricky.

[appalachiablue]

4. #3. Glad you listened to partner/RN. Hearts are tricky. Stay well!