Got a 100% and didn't even study.

Beer drinking, breath stinking sniffing glue lifestyle plus family inherited markers from mother and father plus a love for bad food did me in. 

If any of that sounds like you please talk to your doctor. 

tremm said:

Glad to hear you went immediately and were cared for.

Are heart problems something you can test for? Like, can you get an XYZ checkup every 18 months or something, before the stage where you start noticing symptoms yourself?

The quick and dirty test is a stress test.   They wire you up and put you on a treadmill for as long as you can stand it while watching for changes in the electrical signals coming from the ticker.   It's the least invasive and therefore cheapest.   Insurance isn't gonna pay for "I turned 50 and am curious" cardiac cathing.

I had one a few years ago due to my mother being anxious.  I made them laugh during the test because I went WAY over and above what is normal  for people getting stress tests.    Then a few months later when I was having tachycardia and palpitations at 2 am I didn't got to the ER because I knew my heart was fine (it was a caffeine overdose).

Things to be aware of: caffeine can be much harder to deal with as we age (dammit). And an inflammation of the sternum-to-rib joint can feel amazingly like a cardiac event.    Good times there.

QuasiMofo, good that you're still here to create this tread. If not for your wife you might have waited, too long. Now think of every day as a bonus.

I had heart attack at 58, strong family history of most relatives dying from them in their 50's, my dad was the oldest of his generation at 62.  My older cousins have started dying off (< 70) and the only male in my generation that hasn't had heart operations and/or stents is my younger brother. Brother lives way out in the woods on a little dirt road and probably won't make it to a hospital if he has a heart attack.

Got my first EKG at 35 as a baseline knowing I'd be likely to have heart issues. I was always active even as an adult BMX racing, ramp riding, street riding, rock climbing, ice skating, rollerblading, basketball, etc.  I was that ripped 40+ guy crawling across the ceiling of the caves in climbing gyms. A top amateur world BMX racer, MTBer, and would ride centuries on road bikes. Never weighed over 140 lbs, didn't drink or do recreational drugs after college, however I started smoking about 11-12 so over 50 years now. When I moved to FL I made sure to buy a home with hospital nearby that had a good cardiac unit.

I was home alone in bed during the day having a Lyme relapse and 5-6 hours into it felt a weird sensation in my chest, but not pain, and thought "Oh NO! It's heart attack day!" So I rolled out of bed and crawled out the front door (Lyme events are brutal). Neighbor walking by saw me and gave me a ride to the ER. In less than 15 minutes I was on the table getting stents. I've had two lights & sirens rides to the ER since and they fix me up and send me home. I'm 64 now, every day's a bonus.

The last two trips to the ER were both late at night and I had a friend I rented a room to call 911 (he had no license because DUI's). He lived here about 10 years but died recently of cancer. Living alone and working at home really isn't a good idea and so now I have a friend text daily to check on me ever since the police arrived one day for a welfare check when my relatives couldn't get me by phone.  I've known a few people who died and weren't found till complaints of smell to police. I need to find a new tenant.

In reply to NOT A TA :

You might be a candidate for Life Alert or similar.

Got my personal doctors appointment on Thursday, the next appointment for cardiologist and two more stents next Tuesday and physical therapy all set starting the Monday following that.

Busy beaver thus morning. 

Tuesday update. 

After a week of feeling at least as good as I had been for the last year I went to my next appointment with my cardiologist at the cath lab. 3 hours and 3 more stents later I walked my perky self out. 

Prior to the initial stents my "not heart attacking" BP was 145/90. After 2 stents it was 135/80. After yesterday's experience it was a consistent 115/75. My pulse rate has leveled out and is more consistent. 

3 to 4 weeks of improvement and relaxation on the way.

In reply to QuasiMofo (John Brown) :

Back to your 20 year old self?

Stampie said:

In reply to QuasiMofo (John Brown) :

Back to your 20 year old self?

Imma go with 17, I did some shady $hit by 20.