A woman who had a heart attack in her forties despite having 'no previous medical conditions' has opened up about the latest 'update' five weeks later.
In February this year, a TikToker named Nikki had a heart attack shortly after beginning to notice various signs around a week prior, but believing she was simply 'experiencing indigestion'.
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In her first video about the incident, Nikki - who goes by @martyandnikki on the platform - revealed she had 'no previous medical conditions' but began experiencing some weird 'signs' a week before.
She recalled waking up with some left shoulder pain but how she thought she'd just been 'sleeping on it wrong' or it was caused by being perimenopausal.
The 46-year-old also experienced nausea and chest tightness but the symptoms soon went away. Alas, shortly after visiting a restaurant, Nikki began 'experiencing a full heart attack' with 'pain radiating' down her arm and her 'chest felt like it was being squeezed as tight as you could squeeze it' alongside feeling sick.
In an update posted on March 8, Nikki explained when she went to the hospital her electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG) results - checking the heartbeat - were 'a showstopper' and her 'troponin was through the roof'.
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And while there was 'no blockage, no plaque and no clots', a 'spasm' was treated with a medicine called nitroglycerin - 'nitro' - which widens your arteries to improve blood flow and relieve chest pain, Cleveland Clinic notes.
"All labs - cholesterol, lipoprotein, homocysteine, calcium score - they were all normal," she continued. "Echo[cardiogram] (ultrasound of heart) minorly abnormal - possible broken heart syndrome. Two angio[gram]s (analyzing blood vessels) both good - 'no damage'."
Five weeks after her heart attack, Nikki has opened up about how she's been feeling and a big update on what could've led to it.
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The TikToker said she 'stayed pretty symptomatic for the first few weeks home with some chest pain and some tachycardia (increased heart rate)'.
Nikki has also had 'several trips back' to the emergency room and notes 'all' of her EKGs have still been 'abnormal' since her heart attack.
"But my troponin (protein found in heart cells) has come back down to normal," she added.
However, with a cardiologist still not sure as to what caused her heart attack given she had no prior medical conditions, Nikki did some deep diving herself into the comments on her page.
She revealed she came across a link to a Ted Talk of a doctor talking about certain conditions which can lead to heart attacks - and the doctor happened to be in Texas.
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Nikki visited the 'excellent' doctor who resolved she has Prinzmetal - 'so coronary vasospasms'.
Cleveland Clinic notes: "Prinzmetal angina is also called variant angina or vasospastic angina. Prinzmetal variant angina symptoms include chest pain episodes that happen during the night when you’re at rest. Testing may not show coronary artery disease."
Nikki continued: "[The doctor] explained that I'm still having symptoms because I am not being treated properly for it. She took me off two meds that I never even needed in the first place. Added in one that's gonna be necessary for prevention and gave me a really solid plan with Nitro which I will now have to keep on me every minute for the rest of my life."
The doctor believes what 'jump started' Nikki's heart attack was 'a perfect storm of a recent traumatic event, perimenopause and a recent illness and it was kind of all at once'.
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She does not believe that there is a strong genetic link at this time, however, given the spasm has gotten 'out of control' the doctor does think Nikki could be 'more susceptible to future events or future heart attacks' but the nitro will act as a 'rescue med'.
Since Nikki saw the doctor, she reports having 'zero chest pain' in the 'last two days' and feels 'better than [she's] felt in the last month,' resolving there's still a lot to do but this is a 'giant step in a really good direction'.
Poppy Bilderbeck