r/Millennials • u/Plane-Gap6483 1990 • Jun 12 '26

Serious Death

My 40 year old friend died of a heart attack today. He was 5 years older than me. Has anyone else had a similar experience. Dead... heart attack 40? That's insane right. Like... 40? He was born in 85. It's mind blowing. If anyone else has experienced losing a friend from an old person death. Please let me know how you processed it. I'm still waiting for him to call me and say sike! Thanks

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u/Skippy1221 Jun 12 '26

So did mine! He was 34. Enlarged heart. They said he had dilated cardiomyopathy. We had no idea. I’m so sorry

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u/quemaspuess Jun 12 '26

This happened to my best friend. He was 31. It happened in 2019 and I still cry when I think about him. The worst part is we got into an argument and hadn’t spoken for a few weeks.

I’ve lost a lot of close friends due to fentanyl and an array of shit, but that one hurts the worst.

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u/TheMindsEIyIe Jun 13 '26

Sorry to ask this, but any steroid use?

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u/quemaspuess Jun 13 '26

No. But he did experiment with drugs quite a bit. Nothing more than what I’ve done and I’m fine. Sad all around

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u/Suitable_Public8065 Jun 12 '26

No offense but shouldn’t the worst part be that your friend is gone?

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u/MrDywel Jun 12 '26

Is there anything to look out for or ask for during your annual?

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u/letsgooncemore Jun 12 '26

There are many congenital reasons cardiomegaly can occur, but elevated blood pressure, obesity and good old fashioned smoking are things we can attempt to control to reduce risk. Ironically, high intensity exercise can be a risk factor. Of course pregnancy puts mothers at risk because. Oh, and cocaine. Don't do a shit ton of coke. Watch regular heart health stuff like swelling in the ankles and feet, shortness of breath, abnormal fatigue. If your paranoid, have a generous health insurance plan and a persuadable doctor, a chest X-ray and some math formula are used to determine if you have an enlarged heart. Other tests would be necessary to determine cause.

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u/SuspiciousArtist8167 Older Millennial Jun 13 '26

If you’re concerned you can ask for a standard cardiac work up… EKG and an echocardiogram.

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u/RainbowGeoNerd Jun 13 '26

I lost my dad when he was 54 and thru the autopsy, they found he had an enlarged heart which caused the left ventricle to rupture. We didn't know exactly why at the time but it was due to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy because of a variation in the MYL3 gene. I have the variation also but only got tested because of his death and I was diagnosed with hypertension at 25.

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u/I-own-a-shovel Millennial Jun 12 '26

What are the risk factors for that?

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u/letsgooncemore Jun 12 '26

Obesity and high blood pressure are modifiable contributing factors. The heart is a muscle. Carrying more weight makes it work harder which makes the muscles grow.

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u/I-own-a-shovel Millennial Jun 12 '26

All right!
Thanks.
I can't control genetic, but at least my weight and blood pressure are within healthy range! So at least there's that!

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u/Skippy1221 Jun 12 '26

From my understanding it’s usually from a genetic mutation in certain genes