40岁时的半夜心脏病发作如何成为她的警钟

剧烈的胸痛使娜塔莉·莱瑟姆从沉睡中惊醒. Surely, she figured, it was from the spicy soup she'd eaten the night before.

Natalie had worked a full day in her role as marketing director for a bank in Brandon, 密西西比州, 然后带她的一个儿子去练棒球. Afterward, they picked up dinner from one of their favorite restaurants.

She expected her spicy meal and the late dinner hour to activate the acid reflux she'd battled for years. Knowing she had to be up early the next morning, Natalie took her nightly antacid and went to bed.

当疼痛把她惊醒时, 她又吃了一些抗酸药，开始在卧室地板上踱来踱去, 希望不适感会消退. 但这和她平常的胃酸反流发作不一样. 伴随着极度的胸压, Natalie felt as if someone was kicking her between the shoulder blades with the heel of a boot.

“杰森，有点不对劲，”她对丈夫说.

他考虑了她的症状.

“娜塔莉，我觉得你心脏病发作了，”他告诉她.

这不可能，莱瑟姆心想. She was just 40, and she'd gotten a clean bill of health at her annual checkup days earlier.

在医院，心电图显示没有问题. But a blood test revealed elevated levels of troponin, a strong indicator of a heart attack.

“我们需要马上送你去导管室，”一位医生告诉她.

在那里, cardiologists found a 99% blockage in her left anterior descending artery that was restricting blood flow to a large portion of her heart.

娜塔莉在导尿过程中昏昏沉沉的，但醒着. 她可以在屏幕上看到医生在做什么.

"It was the most surreal moment of my life, watching someone work inside my heart,她说.

医生在动脉内放置了一个支架以打开堵塞的血管.

她在医院住了一晚. 虽然感觉好些了，她还是对未来感到焦虑. 她决心过一种更健康的生活方式.

Doctors told Natalie that her family history along with her diet likely contributed to her heart attack. (It wasn't until after her heart attack that she learned her maternal grandfather also had one at age 40.)

Between work and family commitments, Latham often ate on the go and exercised sporadically. 她知道这种情况必须改变.

“一开始我很害怕吃东西，”娜塔莉说. “我不能只吃医生建议的植物性饮食. 那种严格的饮食习惯对我们家来说是不切实际的."

Over the next 10 weeks, Natalie went through cardiac rehab and worked with a nutritionist. The program included exercise and nutrition education that was geared toward heart health.

"The nutritionist brought so much awareness to what I'd been eating and what great, 心脏健康的替代品是可用的,娜塔莉说. "We even went to the grocery store together – she taught things like shop the perimeter to find the healthiest options,比如新鲜水果和蔬菜.

娜塔莉学会了少吃红肉. 这家四口人现在主要吃烤鸡. 他们还减少了碳水化合物. 当娜塔莉出去吃午饭的时候, 她买了一卷而不是三明治，放弃了一袋薯片, 哪个曾经是标准的. She's also made substitutions such as using yogurt-based salad dressings.

You don't realize what's in the foods you eat until you're tracking it, she said. “快一年半了，我还在摸索."

Natalie, now 42, is exercising more, mostly walking and using a stationary bike. 她瘦了大约10磅.

"I'm just trying to make a lot of little changes, both at home and while on the go,她说. “以前，我从来没有真正想过这个问题. 作为一个有事业有家庭的女人, it's really hard to prioritize the time to make healthy choices within our active family lifestyle, 但我正在学着弄明白.

"在那里's some fear in the back of my mind that I'll have another heart attack, 但我必须平息这些恐惧，做出改变,娜塔莉说.

Her experience, she said, demonstrates the prevalence of heart disease – the country's 主要死亡原因 男女皆宜.

“我意识到我的故事并不是那么独特, 但我认为这正是它与许多人相关的原因,她说. “这无疑让我的朋友和家人意识到了这一点."

莫利·马丁就是其中之一，她为娜塔莉工作.

马丁, 30, has a family history of heart disease and was already on a mission to exercise more, 吃得好，减肥. Natalie's experience helped 马丁 better understand the importance of a healthy lifestyle.

就像娜塔莉的心脏病发作改变了她的生活一样, 这真的影响了我们每个人,马丁说. “我认为我们都以自己的方式做出了改变. It was definitely a wake-up call to be more aware of our heart health."

发自内心的故事 chronicles the inspiring journeys of heart disease and stroke survivors, caregivers and advocates.

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