Heart attack mistaken for indigestion
‘If in doubt - check it out’ are words Tony Nesbit now lives by, after what he thought was indigestion turned out to be multiple heart attacks.
He is now an advocate for heart health and February is the Heart Foundation’s annual awareness month.
In December 2016 Tony suffered tightness across his chest and thought he had indigestion.
He didn’t suspect a heart attack because he didn’t have tingling or pain down his arms - signs he thought were associated with heart attacks.
A doctor told him he possibly had a hiatus hernia in his chest - part of the stomach pushing into the diaphragm muscle.
A week later he told his wife Paula he felt sick and had chest pain.
‘‘It was like a knot chest,’’ he said.
He felt exhausted and sweaty but eventually started to improve.
His doctor suspected angina, prescribed a spray and booked a treadmill test.
By May, Nesbit was using the spray sporadically.
He went into hospital for surgery on an infected finger, and an ECG during surgery prep revealed the infection wasn’t Nesbit’s only health concern.
‘‘The nurse said ‘you have had in my two heart attacks’ - I said ‘no I have not’.
‘‘In hindsight, we thought that must have been what happened at Christmas and in January.’’
Two days after leaving the hospital following his finger surgery, he returned for the treadmill test.
He was on the treadmill for three minutes, sat on the bed to rest and had another angina attack.
‘‘They used the spray on me and called the doctor,’’ he said.
‘‘He (the doctor) looked at Paula and said, ‘Tony won’t be going home’.’’
Nesbit was admitted straight away and had an angiogram.
Immediately he was booked in for quadruple bypass.
It was a stressful time for Paula, who was travelling to hospital everyday in the Matamata Health Shuttle.
‘‘There were downs,’’ she said. a few melt By the numbers
172,000 people live with heart disease.
33 per cent of annual deaths are caused by cardiovascular disease.
Every 90 minutes a NewZealander dies from heart disease.
The Heart Foundation has donated $57million to research since 1957.
‘‘My stomach was in knots and I was taking rescue remedy all the time.’’
During that time Paula received comfort from family and support from their friends and neighbours in the Parkside Lifestyle Village.
After nearly a month in hospital, Nesbit returned home and seven months later is well into recovery.
He is grateful to be alive and is sharing his story to encourage others to seek medical advice if they don’t feel well.
‘‘If in doubt, check it out,’’ he said.