A heart attack at 39 was my wake-up call

Too young? Think again. Learn to spot the signs and seek care early

I thought I had it all planned out — my job, my house, my health and my loves. Until one day in 2013, when life started throwing me curveballs to see if I would catch them or let them drop. And then at age 39, I had a heart attack.

Talk about a slap in the face. I just didn’t believe it was happening to me. I was too young and too in control of my life (or so I thought). It just didn’t fit into my busy schedule. Who has time for a heart attack?

Besides, I was a seemingly healthy person — not overweight, physically fit, nonsmoker, with no immediate family known to have heart disease — so it was a huge shock. My body was telling me to slow down and I wasn’t even 40. The night that changed my life I was putting my kids to bed and felt a crushing pain in the middle of my right shoulder that shot all the way down my arm, and I became light-headed. Then I got the cold sweats and my vision started to blur.

I ran downstairs to my husband as an overwhelming feeling of exhaustion crept over me. I could have fallen asleep right there on the kitchen floor. He reached for the phone to call 911 but I said no and insisted I just needed to get a good night’s rest. The next morning I went to work.

A week later — a WEEK! — I finally went to the doctor after the nagging pressure in my chest, arm and back had not subsided. At first I thought it might just be indigestion or perhaps a harsher period that month. However my GP confirmed it was a heart attack and I was lucky to have walked into her office. Stress, I was told, most likely played a major role, but it is extremely difficult to say for sure.

According to a recent study from Brock University, women are more likely than men to experience early warning signs of a heart attack — chest pain, sleep disturbances, anxiety and headaches — and knowing how to identify these signs could save lives. Why did I ignore the signs? A few months before my diagnosis, while eating breakfast on Christmas morning, I felt shooting pains in my chest and I actually experienced that “elephant on my chest” feeling for the first time. It came and went for about 24 hours. I remember my breathing became heavy and I had to sit down to catch my breath several times, but I chalked it up to normal holiday stress. After all, we were hosting that year.

An unusual tightening in my upper and lower back followed in January.

I was getting severe migraines and panic attacks (which were completely foreign to me). I was also having a hard time walking up and down the stairs. I even missed my train at Union Station once because I was so out of breath and couldn’t make it up to the platform.

I truly believe I was in denial at the time so I pushed through. I kept telling myself I would be fine and this would pass. I knew I didn’t feel like myself, but a heart issue was the furthest thing from my mind.

I didn’t recognize the severity of these warning signs, and then when I thought something might be wrong, I still ignored them.

A month and a half after I felt that initial pressure on my chest, my heart attack occurred. It was the beginning of February. The pain down my right arm was not the typical left-arm heart attack warning. And even though the fatigue and escalating anxiety I experienced during the month of January was unusual — it was not enough to convince me to go to the hospital. Or, God forbid, take a sick day.

Looking back now, perhaps it was also my pride that got in the way. My GP sent me directly to a cardiologist who recommended I have a cardiac ablation, also known as a radiofrequency ablation (RFA) to test the heart’s electrical system. Once he figured out the areas that weren’t working, the “dead spots” were destroyed and my heart’s short circuit was fixed.

Much to my surprise, during the two-and-a-half-hour procedure at Trillium Cardiac Health Centre in Mississauga, I found out that I had a congenital heart condition called paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (PSVT) — which explained the sudden rapid heartbeats that were causing my heart to jump from 70 bpm to 230 bpm in a matter of seconds. When told the news, I recalled periodic heartracing episodes as a teen. I always thought it was hormones or nerves. My heart would shift into overdrive without warning as though I was running a marathon, even at rest. Every time this happened I would sit down to catch my breath and it seemed to be getting worse with age.

What my heart attack has taught me

After working my entire career as a magazine editor and communications executive in Toronto, and making the four-hour commute to and from Campbellville to Toronto each week day, I finally realized it’s not what you do for a living that makes a difference — it’s how you apply what you’ve learned along the way. (My family has since moved to Denver, Colo.)

Today, I am thankful for the opportunity to share my hearthealth story to encourage others to be mindful of their daily stressors and to listen to their bodies. My wake-up call has allowed me to help spread awareness about the importance of self-care and how self-pressure to be everything to everyone, at work and at home, can do a number on our health. We need to take care of ourselves in order to take care of our family and loved ones.

It’s OK to say no once in a while and it’s OK to take some time to slow down.

I had a heart attack at 39! I am sharing my story as a cautionary tale to impress on everyone to be heart-aware no matter what your age.

COURTESY KERRIE LEE BROWN Kerrie Lee Brown was putting her children to bed when she felt a crushing pain in the middle of her shoulder. She waited a week before going to see her doctor, who confirmed what she had was a heart attack.