Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection

My Scad story at Age 42

March 28, 2015

I am 42 year old mother of 3 and last year after working all day in the office I went home and decided to do a workout DVD. About an hour into working out I had the worst pain in my throat and my esophagus which was also in my back too. I thought I had pulled a muscle but the pain was so bad that I knew I had to go to ER.

Once there they hooked me up and said everything was normal and I wasn’t having a heart attack. No sooner than the Dr said this, I told them my heart was fluttering and I was going to pass out. I didn’t pass out my heart stopped and they had to shock me. I stayed in ICU for 3 days with them telling me my potassium was just to low and I didn’t have a heart attack my heart just stopped because of my potassium level.

I went back to work and worked for a month and I did not feel well at all my heart kept fluttering and I knew something wasn’t right. I went to my family doctor who refered me to a doctor about an hour away at a larger hospital. First thing he did was a heart cath and found out I had a dissected artery and had a stent put in. After my surgery I went to cardiac rehab. I was the youngest one there which was fine everyone there was great. Rehab was wonderful. I had already told myself I was never working out again. They helped me and encourgaed me to get over my fear.