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Quitters can win

Heart attack provides wake-up call,
forces 37-year-old to give up smoking
Raquel Richter never expected to hear she was suffering a heart attack at 37.

“I couldn’t breathe, and my arms went numb,” she said. “I had pain in my chest, but I didn’t associate any of it with a heart attack because I was so young.”

Fortunately, the Bismarck woman took her symptoms seriously and went immediately to the Medcenter One Emergency and Trauma Center. From there, she was taken to the cardiac catheterization lab, and a stent was inserted to open a coronary artery that had 99 percent blockage.

While Richter was young, she had major risk factors for heart disease. She was overweight, had uncontrolled diabetes and had smoked a pack of cigarettes daily for 19 years.

“I wasn’t doing anything I should have to prevent a heart attack,”
she said.

In addition to smoking, Richter led a sedentary lifestyle combined with a daily diet of fast food and a six pack of sugared soft drinks.

“Common risk factors for heart attack include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, family history, smoking history, previous heart attack and obesity,” said Dr. Stephen Bernard, a Medcenter One
board-certified cardiologist. “While it’s rare for a young woman to have a heart attack, we do see it more often now because of poor lifestyle choices.”

The heart attack in December 2010 was a wake-up call Richter could
not ignore. 		  Raquel Richter quit smoking
To reduce her risk of suffering another heart attack, Raquel Richter quit smoking, started eating better and now exercises on a regular basis. She also now avoids places where she would be subjected to secondhand smoke.

“The doctors told me if I continued smoking, it would kill me,” she said. “I had no doubt in my mind I would quit. I wanted to watch my sons grow up.”

Dr. Stephen Bernard
Dr. Stephen Bernard
Cardiology		   “There may be a thousand chemicals in cigarette smoke that may be potentially toxic,” Dr. Bernard said. “Smoking damages the lining of the arteries in the heart and throughout the body, causes constriction of blood vessels and can increase the thickness of the blood, which contributes to clot formation. It’s also associated with lung cancer and bladder cancer.”

Dr. Bernard prescribed medication to help Richter quit smoking and reduce her risk of having another heart attack in the near future. She also did not have the option of smoking while hospitalized.

“It helped to be in the hospital during that first week, when it was hardest to not smoke,” she said. “My husband, Lyle, also stopped smoking, which made it easier for me to quit.”

It also meant she was not exposed to secondhand smoke.
“Patients who have had heart attacks or other smoking-related problems must avoid secondhand smoke because it causes as much harm as if they were smoking themselves,” Dr. Bernard said.

Richter has taken that advice to heart and does not put herself in situations where others are smoking.

“I never realized the dangers of secondhand smoke until I had my heart attack,” she said. “I encourage everyone to find a reason to stop smoking and do whatever is necessary to quit.”

Dietitians provided education to help her manage her diabetes and make heart-healthy choices. She also exercises three times a week with fellow cardiac rehab patients, walks with her husband and spends more time playing outside with her sons, Reese, 1, and Ramsey, 11.

“There are only positives in my life because of what the doctors, dietitians and cardiac rehab staff have helped me to do,” she said. “I can’t say thank you enough to let these people know how much it meant to me and my family that they saved my life.”

Click here for more information on Medcenter One cardiology department or call 701.323.5202 to make an appointment.

 
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