First Aid Kit for your Heart

[catbirdseat]

I saw this on the TV last night. The kit basically consists of aspirin, nitroglycerine, clopidogrel and metoprolol. Sounds good, except that I can't even think of an instance in which a climber has had a heart attack. I have some vague recollection of someone telling me about something they read in ANAM. A fellow I once knew who was about 65 years old died of a heart attack while hiking alone, but that's about it.

[Dru]

[catbirdseat]

I think climbers are more likely to die a la John Belushi, or Jimmy Hendrix.

[Figger_Eight]

It happens more often than you'd guess. I think there were two fatalities on Rainier last year from cardiac arrest.

[iain]

pulled someone off Three-Fingered Jack in oregon who died of MI

[catbirdseat]

I guess what I am saying is that if you carried such a kit it would most likely be for saving the life in someone else's party. Since medicines expire, this represents a significant expense, and potential libility.

[Alpine_Tom]

Didn't Jim Fixx die of a heart attack while out running? So it's possible that strenuous effort could bring on a heart attack, though probably not very likely. I'd be more worried about my climbing partner trying to push nitroglycerine tablets on me because I'm feeling less than 100%.

[Off_White]

And to think I was sure this would be an answer to Mike Layton's "Lost: girlfriend" thread.

[catbirdseat]

Jim Fixx knew he was going to die sooner or later from heart disease. As I recall, he had some sort of hypercholesterolemia similar to what Arthur Ashe had. At the time they didn't have drugs like the statins.

[Alasdair]

Last night the guy I had in doing drywall work tells me that earlier that day he went to the dentist to have some sort of tooth issue resolved and the dentist sent him home because his blood pressue was too low. I did not think too much of it and went back to playing video games.

An hour later he tells me that he has been on some sort of perscription drug to lower his cholesterol for the last 4 years. Again I did not think too much of it.

About another hour later I go up to see how he is doing, and he is drenched in sweat, and telling me he is going to stop for the night because he is not feeling too good. Then he left. What are the chances he made it home after leaving my house?

[Norman_Clyde]

Low blood pressure, sweating-- could just be the flu. Hard to say.

Regarding heart attacks in the mountains: it happens, just as it does at sea level. I doubt it's worth carrying meds unless you yourself are the person with elevated risk.

When my dad climbed Kilimanjaro in 1993, before Tanzania would even let him into the country, he had to buy an insurance policy to cover the cost of shipping his body back to the states. (Fortunately, he was able to ship himself back, still breathing.) I suspect big prominent peaks like Kilimanjaro, or Rainier, get more than their share of this. The day my dad summitted, a German in his 60's dropped of an MI on ascent.

[catbirdseat]

Last night the guy I had in doing drywall work tells me that earlier that day he went to the dentist to have some sort of tooth issue resolved and the dentist sent him home because his blood pressue was too low. I did not think too much of it and went back to playing video games.

An hour later he tells me that he has been on some sort of perscription drug to lower his cholesterol for the last 4 years. Again I did not think too much of it.

About another hour later I go up to see how he is doing, and he is drenched in sweat, and telling me he is going to stop for the night because he is not feeling too good. Then he left. What are the chances he made it home after leaving my house?

That doesn't sound good at all.

[arlen]

I saw this on the TV last night. The kit basically consists of aspirin, nitroglycerine, clopidogrel and metoprolol.

 

Taking nitro when it's not indicated is a really bad idea. I wouldn't dream of using such a kit unless I was accompanied by someone trained in handling emergency heart trouble. And even then, the variable mix of being winded, pumped, tired, gripped and focused would make it hard to sort out until it's full on.

[catbirdseat]

My dad had a heart attack ten years ago. He awoke early one morning, feeling lousy, so he took an aspirin, but he felt worse so my mom called an ambulance. The doc said that aspirin may well have saved his life, although it would have been better had he taken two. He had a small obstruction in one coronary artery. They did an angioplasty and he has been fine ever since.

[lummox]

my old man kicked it with the massive coronary. lights out in seconds. just like his own old man. i prolly go out that same way. yee haw! talk about living in suspense.