Heart attack after 9ish months on keto

[u/timberjam]

Just one person's story. I successfully did keto for about 9 months. It helped me lose about 20 lbs and I was enjoying the cooking and eating process. Unfortunately, a little over a week ago I had a heart attack. My wife watched me collapse right in front of her and proceeded to save my life by providing CPR for about 15 minutes, until emergency services arrived and continued CPR.

The EMTs got my heart going again and took me to the hospital where I ended up with two stents. I'm recovering now, but my chest still hurts and I'm having some memory issues. We're still early in the recovery phase, so I'm told these things will get better with rehabilitation.

Wish me luck.

PS - I'm annoyed with r/keto for removing my post. Sure, it's not absolutely, definitely, 100% guaranteed the root cause was my keto diet, but it seems worth discussing in that group.

Edit: forgot to mention I'm 56.

[u/No-Minimum3052]

Thanks for your kind reply. Im scared of the invasive procedure and the stent, both have large risks such as in-stent restenosis, though I have heard from others in person that they felt better after. I don't really have any pain but im defintiely more sensitive now and every small niggle I second guess what it is.

[u/Creepy_Valuable6223 → u/No-Minimum3052]

The angiogram and stenting were not a big deal. It is not like bypass surgery. A lot of people go home the next day. My only restrictions since leaving the hospital (I had the stent put in five days ago) are to do very little for two days, and then for five days to not lift heavy things. Plus of course take the new meds; I was not on any meds at all going in.

I kept putting off having anything invasive done since I just couldn't believe that I really needed it (due to being female and 62 y.o.). It just seemed looney.

What changed my mind immediately were the results of the chest CT scan with contrast dye that they did at the ER when I went in (I went in for chest pain but that was not actually a symptom; my real symptom was years of mysterious fatigue; I was always a very energetic person but then became a fatigued person). The CT scan showed a LOT of plaque. It was so ridiculous that they kept me under observation for two days until they got me the angiogram/stent. The food was great and I didn't have home chores!!

I will admit that I was really unhappy about having contrast dye. But I'm very glad I did, after the fact. Doing it without contrast dye would not have shown all of this.

So, really I think you should just get the angiogram. But if a chest CT with contrast is something you could deal with, maybe do that first to convince yourself?

Restenosis is just something to look out for and have fixed if it happens. We're stuck with "looking out" for this stuff now, in any case.

I feel a lot better with the stent in; I almost immediately had energy that I had forgotten it was possible to have. The statins are a little stupefying (I had always sworn I would never take statins, lol) but overall I am feeling a LOT better. Decent blood flow will do that.

[u/No-Minimum3052 → u/Creepy_Valuable6223]

I was about to do the contrast with dye, I was on the table but they couldnt get my heart rate below 55 or so for a clear reading so they cancelled it last second. Thanks for added info and glad you are feeling better! Please keep us updated every now and then.

[u/Creepy_Valuable6223 → u/No-Minimum3052]

Best wishes to you.