u/Rekeaki

TLDR: Women in perimenopause are the main victims of heart attacks caused by SCAD (spontaneous coronary artery dissection) which make up 5% of all heart attacks. You can have no heart disease risk factors and still get SCAD. Tell us if you had one! We need to talk about it more! I had one last year and you can read below if you want to hear what my experience was like.

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I had a Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection (SCAD) last year in August, which then triggered a heart attack (technically two, one day apart, but hey, who’s counting? Lol). It was traumatic to say the least.

I was shocked to discover that 90% SCAD patients are women and most of those are in perimenopause (the rest are pregnant women). SCAD is believed to be at least partly caused by significant hormone fluctuations. NOT poor diet, high cholesterol or a lack of exercise, these have nothing to do with SCAD. Most SCAD victims are otherwise healthy.

I genuinely expected to discover a ton of posts about SCAD in this group but when I tried the search function, I found just ONE post. There isn’t even a SCAD subreddit even though around 5% of all heart attacks are SCAD caused heart attacks.

Why are we not talking about SCAD more?!??!

Have you had SCAD? Are you recovering from a heart attack like I am? What were your symptoms and how did you know? How are you coping and how has it affected how you are dealing with perimenopause (or just your future in general)?

For what its worth, and to raise awareness, here is a brief version of my story:

Age 45, healthy weight, non smoking, non drinking, regular exercise.

What was I doing at the time:
Sitting on my sofa eating breakfast (cereal) and watching TV after having just dropped my 7yo at school

Symptoms:
tingling, electric arms (both), severe dizziness, sweating and a feeling like someone had shoved a tennis ball under my ribs (it hurt, but actually not that much, maybe a 6 out of 10)

Tests done in the ER:
EKG was normal, all tests came back normal, except one, troponin, which was elevated and indicated damage. Blood pressure was elevated compared to normal but still very modest, topping out at 145/83

END RESULT:
Had a full 100% SCAD blockage of the LAD coronary artery, resulting in heart attack and a heart ejection fraction of 40%

We are traveling to Australia for 2 months in the summer (we live in the USA, whole family is dual for what it’s worth).

We have an Autistic kiddo that needs his melatonin and he will only take one specific brand of melatonin gummy. We have had no luck getting him to take anything else (it’s a sensory autism thing).

Has anyone had any luck getting a doctor’s prescription for a specific brand of melatonin gummy?

Our doctor would be happy to provide the prescription, but I am worried that we will end up with whatever brand the pharmacy stocks behind the counter (or worse, not even a gummy)

We just want to be able to use the specific gummy our son tolerates, without having to stress over getting caught by customs and having them confiscated. We all need our son to sleep well lol

Any tips?