So that was a bit of a surprise! Just over two weeks ago, on a Sunday morning I was doing something rather stupid – lifting and turning a large bag of garden cushions above my head, up the stairs into the loft room – and I felt something “go” in my chest. It wasn’t a sharp pain as such, just a sudden ache – a bit like you get when you’ve twisted suddenly, or stretched too far. But unlike that sort of pain, it didn’t seem to want to go away. So I rested for a while, but it persisted, so with my history, I asked Jenny to take me to A&E at UHW.
I only seem to have had one of these symptoms …
… and the pain was very mild, but the troponin test suggested that I’d indeed had a mild (or minor) heart attack. So I stayed in the Heath for a couple of days whilst they monitored me and persuaded me to go back on blood pressure medication – candesartan, and to take clopidogrel for a year. That I’ve done, and will do, but more important (for me) is that I need to face-up to the reality that I’ve been too sedentary this year – I’ve not had enough exercise so I’ve put on weight slowly, my diet has been a bit too laissez-faire – I’ve eaten more carbs than I should and I’ve probably drunk too much alcohol, and I’ve done precious little to try and reduce my levels of anxiety/stress. These, I’m now committed to tackle and how I go about this I’ll detail in my next, and ensuing posts.