When I asked James how this experience changed his life, he told me “Now, I get anxiety about it. Now, if I have a hard chest pain or feel irritated in my chest, like it scares me because I don’t know [what it could be], it changes you and your way of life. Now you need to decipher, Lord is this an emergency or not? You know what I’m saying? If you are having chest pains,” he exclaimed.
James said the doctors weren’t able to tell him what caused his heart attack and the reasons were unknown when he left the hospital.
He said had a follow-up with a cardiologist and was given a checklist of food items to avoid. The cardiologist also performed some tests on James but he too found nothing to explain what caused his heart attack.
James says now he is more cautious about the foods he puts into his body. “I’m more cautious about my food intake and I also started walking.” When I asked James what was his lifestyle or exercise routine like prior to his heart attack he stated, “ To be honest, I was eating everything I could my hands upon. And I was exercising a little but not much. Maybe one day out of the week, I was just toning up around that time. But now I walk two to three miles and I have lost about 28 pounds since then,” says Mr. Tolbert.
“I’ve learned from this experience that we live in the unknown. And you need to stay on top of your health and be more conscious of it. And it doesn’t matter your age limit because this [having a heart attack] can happen to anybody. If you have a heart, then you can have an attack,” he exclaimed.
James says “You need to pay attention to your body. I worked up until Friday in pain and pushing myself and ignoring my body and ignoring the signs my body was giving me. I was feeling tightness in my chest, but I was also having a burning sensation too. So that’s what made me say this is my acid reflux but really my body was telling me to go get it checked. But I was steady working through it, steady trying to get my clients done.”
A heart attack is a serious condition and it usually occurs when a blood clot blocks flow to your heart. If you experience signs of heart attack such as tightness in your chest, fatigue, abnormal heartbeat, pain in the chest, neck or arms seek help immediately. Research shows that within the US more than three million people experience a heart attack every year.
James “The Great” Tolbert was very fortunate that he was able to get the medical assistance he needed, and although he was unable to find out what caused his heart attack he sums up his experience by saying, “Definitely pay attention to your body because it will tell you when you need to get some help.”
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