I do not suffer from angina. Or so I thought.
I went to Gary's warehouse to help him out with listing a few items on eBay. He went after a while though, leaving me with Lorraine, one of his staff. I was happy working away on the computer next to her when in the space of about a minute and a half, my chest began to feel...awkward.
At first, I thought I just had a bit of trapped gas and just needed to burp. I kept shifting in my seat, I began feeling really uncomfortable. Lorraine had her back turned to me so she couldn't see, but I was rubbing my chest. This was getting fucking painful and once it did start really hurting, I knew I had experienced such pain twice before around four and six years ago, but each of those times I was in my room, not out and not with anyone.
It started to feel like something was squeezing my heart. Tight. I could still breath normally and nothing else was the matter with me, but my chest was in a hell of a lot of pain. I walked out of the room in pain, not letting Lorraine see that I was in a lot of discomfort and went into the toilet and held my chest. Fucking hell I've never been in so much pain. I actually thought I was having a heart attack. I know it sounds so exaggerated, but when you feel like your heart is being squeezed tight, you fucking worry.
I stayed in the toilet for about 10 minutes, standing against the door in pain. I was now sweating. I wondered if I should let Lorraine know, but I didn't want to sensationalise it. I was ready to tell her though and even consider the thought of going to hospital if it got any worse.
I left the toilet and went back into the office, still in just as much pain and sat back down. As I said, her back was turned to me so she still couldn't see.
The pain did not die down for a good 25 minutes and I have never been so relieved.
I don't know what the fuck happened but it scared the shit out of me.
As I said, this has happened twice in the past but because there's been such huge gaps in when it's happened, I've never thought to go the doctors about it.
I read up about it.
Low blood flow to the heart results in chest pain, the most common angina symptom. Chest pain is severe, and patients often describe it as "crushing," or as if a fist had clenched the heart. People who suffer from angina symptoms usually have chest pain with physical exertion or during emotional stress. Anger is a classic angina trigger.
I had exactly that. However, no emotional stress, exertion or anger.
Angina symptoms resemble those of a heart attack. However, angina symptoms usually last only one to five minutes, while chest pain from a heart attack may last for hours. Angina symptoms normally diminish after resting or taking angina medications. Heart attack symptoms do not improve with rest, and angina medication will not reduce heart attack chest pain. If your angina symptoms persist for longer than a few minutes, or are not relieved by resting, you may be having a heart attack and you should seek immediate
emergency heart attack treatment.
My attack lasted a good 20-25 minutes, not five minutes. And my symptoms persisted for longer than a few minutes, but I know that I didn't have a heart attack (otherwise I'd no doubt be in hospital right now).
So, I don't know what happened, but it scared me and it was one of the most painful things I've experienced.
I hope it's at least another couple of years before I have to endure something like that again.
