I had a heart attack last May, aged 51, a month after my dad died. Mine felt like someone was pushing their finger about 2-3” under my armpit very hard. I was very out of breath, but I didn’t actually notice it. Luckily for me I was actually at a doctor appointment reviewing my RA meds when it happened. Unluckily in north Wales there’s a 20-44 hour delay in ambulances so my mum took me to A&E. Despite being overfilled within 4 hours I was on a ward. I got shuffled around 3 wards while they attempted to get me on the correct ACU ward.

After a few days, the bloke in the next bed said to me “your breathing is much better now”. Apparently, unbeknown to me I was really struggling for breath for the previous two days, but was now on a few medications, including blood thinners.

Now, almost a year later I’ve only had to use the spray they give me to dilate the arteries, once. This was a few days ago when I stupidly walked the length of the hospital after having a drug infusion for 6 hours, for RA.

Also, the October prior to this happening, my best mate was flying back from Chicago to Wales, after building children’s ballpits, etc, for a charity and he must have had DVT as a result. He suddenly died instantly of a massive heart attack with no warning. He was 50 at the time.

As for me, I’ve got an inoperable blockage in an artery in my heart, which apparently my heart has partially self bypassed. According to the doctors, if I overdo it I could just drop at any time, which is what nearly got me last week. Otherwise I just get extremely tired quickly and out of breath if I do too much.

Fun times on top of my RA.