I Just Had A Heart Attack And I Don't Have Health Insurance (Long)

[Jgents]

At least I think it was. This wasn't a run-of-the-mil acid reflux ordeal. I've had heart burn before like almost everyone else but this was different. I thought I was going to die while going through it and everything I've read about heart attacks and their symptoms seem to confirm that's what happened: My arms, under pits, shoulders and legs were tingling: my heart was beating so rapidly that I felt it was going to burst through my chest; I had a feeling of impending doom, thought I was gonna die; had slight nausea; felt like I was losing control of my body parts, as if my soul/spirit/consciousness was leaving my body and I couldn't control my body anymore; was damn cold. This episode went on and off, and especially when I would sit, for about 5-10 mins total. I did nothing except walk around and drink fluids.

Before this, I'd been experiencing shortness of breath for a while now, along with sharp heart palpitations at random points of the day. I always thought it was because of failing to work out my cardiovascular. I don't work out in anyway shape or form and when I have I haven't done so consistently--this has been going on in the past 10 years.

One of my nostrils is always clogged--if I'm breathing via my left nostril, the right is closed shut and vice versa at all points of the day everyday whether I'm involved in rigorous exercise/labor or not. I always thought this was a direct cause of allergies and not an underlying serious problem.

This is stupid, I know, but I smoke and drink, which are pretty bad habits for people out of shape whether weight or cardio wise. I'm not a heavy cig smoker or beer drinker though--I smoke about 3-4 cigs maybe 4 times/week if I buy a pack and have no immediate complications during/after smoking other than some very slight additional shortness of breath. I've been smoking at this rate since 2003. The drinks are consumed at about the same frequency as the smokes except since 2002; I would say I average 3-4 beer drinks (I love beer, not hard liquor) per week this year alone. But just this year I started to notice that whenever I drunk even one beer -I'd start blowing out excess phlegmy/phlegm fluid through the nose, making it difficult to enjoy the moment. I also smoke marijuana, but very very rarely. I've smoked blunts and out of bongs/pipe less than 20 times this year. The year before, about 10; however, especially this year, I started to notice that whenever I smoked marijuana and inhaled all of the smoke drag, I would get stabbing chest pains that I always thought were heart burns and I would feel my heart pumping in a way that I thought it was going to explode. Before this year, I never experienced such when smoking marijuana.

Fast forward to last night. I decide to hit 4 beers then smoke some "Crippy" after finishing my poker sessions for the day. "Crippy" is simply an especially potent variety of marijuana. 3 drags out of crippy will get you as high and perhaps even more so that, say, smoking a whole blunt for some people. I'm one of those people. Moving on, I'm there enjoying my high when the chest pains start (I do not want to give the impression that these chest pains are outright painful like when you sprain an ankle or dislocate a shoulder or break a bone, but I definitely feel my middle chest pressured immensely as if my chest plate is is getting hammered out and you definitely feel something is out of whack) then my heart starts trembling and pulsating rapidly and I go on to experience what I already said above--heart attack symptoms. I seriously thought I was going to die and I was very close to calling 911 except the only thing I could think off was the money it would have cost me to get on an ambulance, get some tests, find out I have heart disease and get sent to a cardiologist for some emergency surgery and end up effectively killing my poker bankroll and financial state with a $500,000 bill. Yes, I could have heart disease, but I could also easily have serious asthma that has gone grossly undetected, or a weak immune system due to bad dietary habits that prevents my body from properly recuperating from pot and beer, or this is something simpler like just chronic pain associated with staying put for prolong periods of times or working too hard or strenuously. Maybe I was being paranoid because of the weed as weed has been shown to creep in paranoia in people. Maybe I was having some hallucinations and was having some sort of traumatic emotional experience. Maybe it was just underlying asthma or diabetes (I have an uncle who has diabetes) )Who knows what all this is, but for once in my life I'm taking my life and health very seriously and I'm gonna proceed with the mind frame that I have something really bad like heart disease and will plan accordingly. Is this a good approach?

Of course, the one huge problem I have as I said in the title is that I have no health insurance and, obviously, I never had the smarts to go out and get myself some health insurance. I quit my job in July of last year to pursue a poker career. I play online and mutitable. My pay is decent but I only play 10/20 limit and below. I don't have 100k in bank, or 50k for that matter (i.e. I don't have enough to pay medical bills out of pocket). I do want to find out what's wrong with me but I'm preparing for the worse. Let's say I have an illness that requires surgery and 10, 20, 30 days approx. of hospital stay plus preventive medicine after surgery, etc. I'm looking at spending a lot of money that's gonna bankrupt me and possibly ruin my life financially. I have some options though of taking care of this without a large immediate financial impact on me and would like people's opinions and thoughts on them:

- Going to an USA hospital get myself check out, do whatever it takes to healed myself (e.g open heart surgery, asthma treatment, finding out I have diabetes etc) then file bankruptcy and go from there. Pros: healed Cons: broke.
-Get health insurance, like short-term medical insurance with preferably a low deductible and then go to the hospital Pros: healed without being financially ruined Cons: a lot of insurers require that the to-be insured have no pre-existing medical conditions and will not cover you if you currently do. Basically, I'm fuxxor here
-Move to a country with National health care Pros: will get the necessary treatment I need without excessive costs Cons: time to pack and move; living expenses and tax costs; will probably have to first get citizenship before using medical facilities paid for; possibly new language barriers


Brief facts about me:
Age: 26 and neither underweight, overweight or otherwise obese.
Marital Status: single w/ no kids
Location: Florida, USA citizen
Last Medical Physical: About 14 years ago. I fuxxor in this regard.
Last Known Medical Problem: Heart murmur at birth that consequently went away; 2 episodes of asthmatic attacks when I was young (like 7 and 10) that forced overnight hospital visits (they had me breath thru an oxygem mask at the hospital exuding a Vicks like fragrance and it solved the problem both times)


Any opnions, thoughts, any experiences you all wish to share would be very appreciated.

[pokerdirty]

you're screwed.

[samjjones]

Was going to type "YSSCKY", but it looks like your body has already beat me to it.

[xadrez]

Dude, relax, YOURE FREAKING OUT.

No way you had a heart attack. Youre 26. Most likely, it was a drug induced panic/anxiety attack. These can be VERY convincing. Go see a doctor to be safe but seriously, I think youll be fine.

Weed can do this to people, I know. I had to stop because out of the blue, it started making me think I was dying everytime I did it (this was after years of regular use). Weird problem, and it runs in my family. Every person in the fam who indulged stopped in their early 20's for the same reason. Weirdest part was I could still do other psychedelics and be totally fine. Anyway I digress.

tl;dr

get insurance

[vexvelour]

Well, you probably should have gone to the ER when this was happening. Even though you don't have health insurance, if you require medical attention, they have to give it to you. What will happen afterwards is someone from the welfare office will visit you and if you qualify, they will pay all of your hospital expenses for you.

A few years ago my mom was suffereing from congestive heart failure, with no insurance and barely any money to her name. She ended up seeing the best heart doctor that the hospital had, stayed in a sweet ass private room with a view and didn't pay a damn cent for any of it. (This was in FL).

If anything, pay a little out of pocket to go to a clinic and get a check-up. At least you'll know where you stand.

[DrSavage]

Whatever it was it was sure as hell not a heart attack.

[Cancer Merchant]

The cold clutches of death score a near miss. Darwin almost chalks up another victory.

[Georgia Avenue]

You may have had a panic attack. A good friend of mine is often convinced he is dying and finally saw a doctor who proscribed paxil and cleared the s**t right up. I have had a similar problem called: "smoking laced joints and getting weirdly high".

Go to a free clinic now. They do exist, look in the phone book.

[HopeydaFish]

Sounds like you had a panic/anxiety attack. It's not unheard of to have a heart attack at 26, but it's highly unlikely. The pot triggered something in your nervous system and your body freaked out.

Go get yourself some health insurance and then go to a doctor and get a full physical.