- A TikToker has explained what it felt like when he had a heart attack at the age of 22
- Tom Birchy’s video has already been seen by more than 1.6 million people
- He experienced an ‘enormous impending fear of doom’ as if he was ‘going to die’
A TikToker has shared a video in which he explained what it felt like when he had a heart attack at the age of 22 and thought he was “going to die.”
Tom Birchy’s clip has already been viewed by more than 1.6 million people since he posted it last week.
The video was shot in Thailand, where the influencer is now.
Referring to recreational drug use, Tom tells viewers: ‘I had a heart attack when I was 22 years old, and since it’s Friday night in the UK and I know what you’re all doing, this is what a heart attack felt like and how I knew that I had one and what happened to me afterwards.
“I used to make a lot of tote bags, and I also worked in a stressful job in the music industry, so when I was 22 years old in the morning, I had a heart attack.”
A TikToker has shared a video explaining what it felt like when he had a heart attack at the age of 22
He went on to explain how he knew he had one: “The first thing I felt was a tingling sensation in the back of my wrist, which extended down my arm until my entire arm was a little numb on the left side.
‘Then it spread to my right side, and I remember feeling so uncomfortable. It was like both my arms were super tight.
‘Then my chest got tight too. It wasn’t painful, but I had a tremendous, oppressive fear, which in medicine is called “the impending fear of doom.”
Adding: ‘It’s a fear like knowing you’re going to die. That got to me. I couldn’t lie down, couldn’t get up, I was thrashing around everywhere.’
The TikToker called an ambulance, who came and did an ECG, concluding that it was not a heart attack, but that they wanted to take him to the hospital for blood tests just to be sure.
He told viewers: “So I went by ambulance to Leeds General Infirmary and immediately had a blood test in A&E.
“I remember just sitting there by myself in a normal waiting room and someone came running up to me and said, ‘Okay, come here.’
‘They took me into a room and put something in my stomach and at that moment I thought, ‘Jesus Christ, why am I being injected into my stomach?’
Tom Birchy posted the clip last week and it has already been viewed by more than 1.6 million people
‘I am admitted to the ward and later that evening I hear that I have indeed had a heart attack at the age of 22.’
Reflecting on how he felt at the time, he added: “It was scary, it was also during Covid, so that one week I was in hospital recovering no one was allowed to see me.
‘People from Leeds Uni were putting things in their windows because my hospital bed was opposite the uni accommodation, some people were standing outside in the street waving.’
The video caused panic among some viewers, with one writing: ‘I have the worst health anxiety when someone talks about a heart attack and I get all the symptoms.’
Another said: ‘Worth noting that this could also be a panic attack. Same symptoms, never had a PA in my life, had it 3 times after that. Definitely not a heart attack.’
Someone else added: ‘Had the same thing when I was 18 and moved on ten years later.’