Heart attack often disguised

Symptoms can be sudden, or last hours, days, weeks

NWA Media/JASON IVESTER 
Exercise specialist Chelsey Humble talks to Gary Burney as he works out on one of the machines Wednesday inside the Cardiac Rehab Clinic at Mercy Hospital in Rogers. Symptoms of heart problems can include chest or upper body discomfort, shortness of breath, cold sweats, nausea and back or jaw pain.

NWA Media/JASON IVESTER Exercise specialist Chelsey Humble talks to Gary Burney as he works out on one of the machines Wednesday inside the Cardiac Rehab Clinic at Mercy Hospital in Rogers. Symptoms of heart problems can include chest or upper body discomfort, shortness of breath, cold sweats, nausea and back or jaw pain.

Monday, February 24, 2014

Ellen McClure, 57, had what she thought was acid reflux for three to four months before visiting the emergency room at Mercy Hospital in Rogers.

“The doctor came in and told me that I had a heart attack,” McClure said. “I argued because I knew so much more than the doctor. I knew it was painful, and I knew there was a point when it hurt so bad that I couldn’t talk but I would still not let myself believe that it was something.”

More than 1.3 million people have heart attacks every year in the U.S., according to the American Heart Association. There were 847 people in Arkansas who died of heart attacks in 2011, the most recent Arkansas Department of Health data available.

McClure is determined to help people understand the symptoms of heart disease and heart attacks by telling her story.

“It is something that is private, and it is personal,” McClure said. “I barely told co-workers at work what wasgoing on. The reason why I am now talking about it is that it might help someone else.”

According to the American Heart Association, symptoms can include discomfort in the chest or other area of the upper body, shortness of breath, cold sweats, nausea, or back and jaw pain. Symptoms may also be immediate or can last for hours, days or weeks before a heart attack.

Edgar Chauvin, a thoracic and cardiac surgeon for Mercy Northwest, said a lot of people, especially women, will delay seeking treatment for the symptoms.

“The classic symptom of chest pain radiating is really only seen in 20 percent of people,” Chauvin said. “Half the people I see come in with indigestion, their indigestion is their chest pain. Sometimes they will take an antacid, and it will feel a little better. A lot of people will have back pain and a vast majority of people won’t notice but they are getting more and more short of breath and less exercise-tolerant. You can’t write those things off. Those are the things people needto watch for - any type of change in pain or shortness of breath.”

Chauvin said people can have heart attacks and not know it. It could happen while a person is sleeping.

“If you block a blood vessel, you had a heart attack whether you knew it or not,” Chauvin said. “They could have shortness of breath because essentially little pieces of their heart is dying off. Their heart is not working as well as it did before. We need to be more aware of our body and what our body is telling us.”

McClure said she started having chest pain - that she thought was acid reflux - in December 2012.

“It was burning,” McClure said. “I didn’t have any tingling in my arms. I was probably tired from it, but I just thought that I was tired and that it was no big deal.”

The pain became too much to bear in March 2013, McClure said. She visited the emergency room without telling anyone.

“I had blockage in my heart,” McClure said. “It had already started repairing itself, so it had been going on for a while. I guess the concern I have is that you could have all of this going on inside your body and have no clue. You have to listen to your body and if you do not feel right, don’t think that you are a hypochondriac or that you are lazy. If it continues, then you need toget checked.”

McClure said she had open-heart surgery in November 2013.

“When they rolled me into that operating room, I saw that it was a big daddy operating room,” McClure said. “When I got in there, I knew that it could go either way and it was really scary. It was so frightening to be in that room.”

McClure was in intensive care for three days, had to have a blood transfusion and was unable to have pain medication because her blood pressure would not stabilize. She was unable to drive for a month after the procedure and only recently returned to work.

McClure said she never thought she would have a heart attack because she felt like she was healthy despite having a family history of heart disease.

A majority of patients Chauvin sees are between ages 40-70, he said. Many have been smokers or had unhealthy diets. However, he said, family history canplay a role regardless of how healthy someone is.

“There are certain things we don’t have much control over,” Chauvin said. “There are people who are obese, but they have no coronary disease. On the other hand, there are a lot of skinny people who I operate on. A lot of times people assume they are not going to get coronary disease because they are skinny.”

Screenings such as stress tests are one way people can detect coronary artery disease early, before a heart attack, Chauvin said.

On Tuesday, McClure was working out on a bicycle exercise machine at Cardio Rehabilitation Clinic at Mercy Hospital. She said the clinic is helping her regain her health.

After surgery, patients are advised to take classes at the clinic three days a week and exercise on their own another two days a week, said Dawn Stauber, the clinic’s manager. She said patients start taking the classes two or three weeks after having open-heart surgery. The classes are recommended for three months.

Patients often are afraid to exercise after a heart attack, McClure said. She said the rehabilitation center uses monitors to watch her vital signs, which eased her angst.

“The first time I went, I didn’t really know anything about it and I really didn’t want to be around any other people,” McClure said. “They make you understand that this is for you. Once you go in and do it, it makes you feel different.”

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 02/24/2014