"I said aloud to myself and the cat “Dear God, I think I’m having a heart attack!”  I had been sitting one evening, all snug and warm, no exertion, no emotional trauma, with the cat purring on my lap, when I got a sensation liked I’d eaten some food too quickly and it had got stuck between a swallow and my stomach.  But it was some hours since I had eaten tea.  The feeling passed, then I became aware of a squeezing sensation coming up my spine, under my breast bone, into my throat then branching out along both jaws.  That’s when I remembered jaw pain and heart attacks being linked and it can be different in women to men.

Lowering my feet and dumping the cat from my lap, I started to rise, only to find myself falling to the floor instead.  I thought “If I don’t try to ring for help now it might be never!”  So pulling myself up, I slowly walked to the next room for the phone and dialled 000.  The lady who answered said she had an ambulance on the way to me but could I open the front door then lie on the floor near the door.

I must have managed to do that, because that’s where they found me, unconscious.  The next thing I knew, was waking up in Emergency with leads and lines everywhere as they were working to resuscitate me.

I was lucky."

Be prepared for anything and it is better to be safe than sorry.  We have had quite a few of our polios report being rushed off to hospital by ambulance with chest pain - only to be told - “No it isn’t a heart attack.  Don’t know why you have the chest pain but you’re OK, go home.”  We have found that carnitine seems to fix that unexplained chest pain - it is muscular.  It is still better to be sure than not here at all.  One of our polio members relates his experience here in WA a few weeks ago.

“I was at home on Sunday afternoon just sitting in my wheelchair, when I started to get a bit short of breath for no apparent reason.  My chest was a bit tight too, not really much pain but all this was enough for me to be a bit concerned.  I wondered “Am I having a silent heart attack?”  I did the right thing and dialled 000.  The ambulance was here in only a few minutes.

I didn’t even have enough time to pack a bag!

In Emergency, they confirmed I was having a mild heart attack, put me on a monitor, took lots of blood tests and kept me in for 5 days.  I’m okay now thank goodness. But I think in future I’ll keep a bag packed by the door!"