But I wouldn't recommend anyone doing what I did because I was here on the farm after about three or four weeks, still wearing this spray around my neck and doing something in the yard, getting excited about doing something, I can't remember what it was even.
And I thought I better take a spray here, I'm not feeling too good and then I wasn't very used to using this spray, you have to aim it under your tongue you see.
And the first one I sprayed mostly on my teeth, I thought well that's no good. So I sprayed again and it went on my lip and it wasn't until the third one, I tried again the third time that I actually sort of satisfied myself that I've got it on, because I was panicking and thinking about angina and everything else.
Gave myself three doses of this spray and I fell over. I completely collapsed, I just couldn't believe it. It just, it lowers the blood pressure so much that it's virtually zero. And when I hit the ground, I woke myself up again and I staggered in and Lynn [my wife] was here and gave me a cup of tea and sat down and didn't do anymore for the day.
But that frightened me, I thought is this another heart attack but of course it wasn't. But that [GTN] spray is pretty powerful stuff.
Had they given you any warning that might happen?
No, no, when I left the hospital it came with my pack of pills and another [GTN] spray and the nurse had told me then that if you do feel angina or any chest pain, give yourself a spray under the tongue or she said, even two if it's bad, so I thought two would be all right. But I hadn't had any experience of using it, you see.
When I was in hospital I did have it administered for me, the nurse said hold your tongue up and just sprayed it in for me, which was easy. When you do it yourself the aim is a bit doubtful. So you get used to that. I didn't expect it to hit me like that either.
Of course it says on the packet, that's something that I learned, if you read the label, the slip that comes with the pills because a lot of these frights that I had with the sort of palpitations and feeling arteries pumping with blood. I thought gosh you know what's happening here, this is another heart attack.
Then one day I took the tablets all out and I took out the little leaflet that comes with them and saw all the contra-indications and when you read all the things that could happen with the pills and the side-effects and how you should take them and everything, yeah, that's me, that's what happened and it's not so unusual.
So I would recommend anyone who gets pills, not just to read the box but read the slip inside as well. |
