Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection

Total Shock

December 3, 2015

I’m sixty years old, active,working and on my own. My husband died 11 years ago of a heart attack due to blocked arteries, I had watched him deteriorat over the years and was determined this wasn’t going to happen to me. I watched my diet, I love walking my dogs and being in the fresh air, I don’t smoke and never have done and I don’t drink, normal blood pressure. I was in the low risk area of heart attack.

Two weeks ago I had been a bit under the weather but feeling better and looking forward to the weekend when I woke up in the night with a pain in my gullet and sore arms. I was not overly worried I felt better in the morning but couldn’t walk at the same pace and the pain came back walking uphill. The following week I still didn’t feel 100 percent but was alright at work. I made an appointment to see my doctor the following week. The Saturday the pains came back but as they weren’t in my chest as such I thought it must be some kind of acid reflux.

I went to my doctor and told her my symptoms, I had an ecg and was told that there some anomalies. I then had a blood test which showed I had troponium levels over1,000. I was taken into coronary care in local hospital. I was transferred to another hospital where the angiogram showed I had s.c.a.d.

I am now at home recovering and taking medication daily.