Short video clip from The British Heart Foundation. Could save someones life

FOR GHJ - THe British Heart Foundation did say all heart attacks are different. Here's my story.
My Dad has had two, they have said a third will kill him.

Fortunately when he had his first, after having two weeks if indigestion escalating to vomiting, he agreed to see a doctor. He'd put this down to a dodgy pasty , etc. I only really knew that some thing was really wrong when they couldn't fit him until lunchtime and he said he couldn't wait. He NEVER goes to the doctor.

I 'm not sure how I managed to drive him to the GPs but the staff were excellent. The GP kicked out his current patient, calmly put my Dad in a wheelchair, gave him morphine and other drugs and only told him that he was having a heart attack when he insisted he was fine. He calmly phoned and asked for a blue light ambulance and then I knew something was up.

He did want to have a lie down on the sofa. I hate to think if I had let him.

He was 57 when this happened. Worked in a hard physical job all his life, as despite being a smoker with not the best of diets the Cardiac team told him it was stress.

It can catch you out. For his second he didn't think it was a heart attack as it wasn't too bad but called me to come over because his GTN spray wasn't working rather than call an ambulance. Some people are damn stubborn.

PLEASE, call an ambulance first, family second, every minute you waste more of your heart muscle dies and the worse it could be. The damage can never be repaired.

Since then I have marched him to the hospital twice , yes for an angina attack but the staff really don't mind. Rather safe than sorry.

Jo

We found this very good in spite of maybe seeming well-embedded in medical terms. We feel confident it will ensure that more people are more aware than we were when my partner had his attack. He had no pain at any time before, during or afterwards but merely a mild ache around the jaw which was identical to the familiar one he'd had from a gum infection. We didn't know at the time that this can be an indicator.

Time is crucial at this stage to call an ambulance and possibly minimise the damage to the heart as well as saving a life.
What's also worth knowing is that the clot-busting drug that he was offered in the hospital works instantly and well but can cause such a shock to the heart that it stops. So if you're attending with a victim be ready to press the emergency button for the team to come and resuscitate! The sight of the body bouncing vigorously on the bed and no staff there at the time is an experience I never want to repeat.
Great initiative BHF.