This cardiologist suffered a heart attack and now warns of a little-known symptom that deserves attention: 'This can't be happening to me.'

William Wilson, a cardiologist specializing in the study, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of heart disease, shared his personal experience of suffering a heart attack and revealed a little-known symptom that could be a warning sign.

In a video published by Park View Health , a healthcare system located in Indiana, United States, the doctor recounted all the details of what happened.

Wilson, who was 63 at the time of the heart attack, explained that before the event, he felt in excellent physical condition.

“My health was fantastic, or so I thought,” he said. Despite being a cardiologist and having a physically active job, he always exercised regularly.

“Cardiologists don't spend a lot of time sitting at work. We're on our feet all the time. I'm lucky to have a very active job. And I exercise constantly. I've been doing this for years,” the specialist commented.

On January 22, 2018, William Wilson was on vacation with his wife. He was enjoying his free time when, without warning, the symptoms of a heart attack began to manifest. “I was feeling great. I was going to read and run some errands. But my wife was going to work out at 9 a.m. And she said, 'Do you want to come with me?' I said, 'Sure,'” he recounted.

Although he was on the stair climber, he wasn't doing his usual exercise routine. Despite this, it was during this time that he began to experience an unexpected symptom. "I felt a discomfort in my chest. It wasn't a sharp discomfort, it wasn't like a knife or anything like that. It was more of an uncomfortable, oppressive pressure ," he explained.

Despite being a cardiologist, Wilson didn't immediately recognize what was happening to him. "You'd think I knew what it was, and I did. But not for about 30 or 60 seconds," he explained.

The specialist also recalled feeling wet with perspiration, which he found disconcerting given the little effort he had put in. It was at that moment that he thought, “I was in denial. I was trying to convince myself this wasn’t happening. This can’t be happening to me. I mean, I’m a cardiologist. And this doesn’t happen to cardiologists.”

However, there was one key symptom that alerted Wilson even more: “It's very common for someone having a heart attack to have to go to the bathroom very urgently. It's part of the entire nervous system that's activated by a heart attack.”

The cardiologist experienced precisely that urgent need to go to the bathroom while at the gym, which made him even more aware of the seriousness of the situation. "And I prayed," he commented in his video.

After the first signs of a heart attack, Wilson told his wife what was happening and they decided to call emergency services.

"Of course, I'm used to calling the emergency room to tell them I have a patient having a heart attack or that I'm having this or that. But I've never called the emergency room to say, 'I'm having a heart attack ,'" the cardiologist acknowledged.

When he arrived at the clinic, the doctors were surprised to see him. “I'm probably not the person they'd expect to have a heart attack,” Wilson said.

It's important to note that the cardiologist emphasized a crucial aspect of heart attack treatment: the speed with which care is needed. "Once you're there, the cardiology team and the hospital team take over. And they really get moving. I perform catheterizations every day on people who have exactly the same condition I had," he emphasized.

Looking back on what happened, Wilson expressed deep gratitude for having survived. “Every time I breathe, I realize how lucky I am. It could have been a totally different story. And I'm lucky to be alive,” he concluded.

The Nation (Argentina) / GDA.

*This content was rewritten with the assistance of artificial intelligence, based on information from La Nación (GDA), and reviewed by a journalist and an editor.