Sudden Adult Death Syndrome

[Estellenoire]

I'm sure there will be other people that worry about this on here, but I am consumed by thoughts of it. I had never ever heard of SADS until my friend's flatmate died from it in his sleep at uni. He had no known heart problems, and death was his first symptom that anything was wrong. Apparently 12 people a week die from SADS in the UK, 3 of them are under 35, 2/3 of them are males. So when you think about it the risk of it, it is incredibly tiny. Statistically I think you're more likely to die from road accidents.

I can't stop thinking about it though. I'm scared to sleep incase I don't wake up, I'm scared to be on my own incase I collapse, I'm terrified of doing any exercise incase my heart gives out. It doesn't help that I can feel my heart beating all the time, it should be soothing to hear the thump, thump, thump but it's not.

I'm on Citalopram and Propanolol for anxiety at the minute (currently on day 5 and feeling so much worse).

Anyway, my question is, how did you stop worrying about something like this? I don't worry about cancer or brain tumours or anything like that, because for the most part you would know you had it before you died and you could make an attempt to come to terms with it. This would be instantaneous. And I know I wouldn't care once I was dead, but I was enjoying my life. I don't want it to end. There's too much I need to do.

I've now been thinking that if I could kill myself then at least I would go on my own terms, instead of just waiting for it to happen. I would never act on this.

Also, do you think it would be unreasonable to ask to see the out-of-hours GP today? I don't want to go to A&E because they'll laugh me out of the building, even though sometimes it feels like my heart is about to explode.

[cassy1989]

Hi,
My aunty died of sads in april. She had been ill for a while but the post mortem found nothing wrong so they had to put it down to sads.
My dr told me that often there is nothing wrong with some one, it can just be caused by a temporary blockage but other then that some one can be perfectly healthy.

I know that won't help you but it really could happen to any one and what I suggest you do do is ask your dr for an ecg just so you can see that your heart is fine.
I had one and it literally only took a few minutes and other then my heart beat being fast because I was so scared and convinced they would find some thing wrong, the dr said mine was actually perfectly normal thankfully.

If you do feel really that scared then see the out of hours gp but there won't be any thing they can do today other then reassure you.

But honestly I do know what its like because when I found out what had killed my aunty, I was an absolute mess and convinced that I was going to drop down dead at any minute but now I have had the ecg I feel a little more relaxed and also I think its normal after losing a loved one to worry about your own health and that of others.

If you need to talk feel free to pm me xx

[hanshan]

Hi Estelle,

I think you have to understand that your problem is anxiety, and your anxiety just happens to have latched onto SADS because it happened to a friend's flatmate.

If it wasn't that, it might have been something else - you could have heard of a terrible home invasion, and become terribly anxious it might happen to you.

Concentrate on getting your anxiety in general under control. You'll find it's the tail wagging the dog, not the other way around.

Keep smiling,

Hanshan

[EricC]

Cassy1989, the doctors may not have found anything structurally wrong with your aunt, but if your aunt's death was caused by a rhythm problem and not a structural problem it wouldn't necessarily show up post-mortem.

For example, long QT syndrome can cause people who appear healthy on the outside to die without warning. It's a rare condition that's detected by EKG. It's usually genetic, but it can also temporarily manifest in people that aren't genetically prone to it when taking certain drugs.

(For more information, google 'long qt drugs'. The first few pages should have a large list of drugs to avoid like the plague.)

Estellenoire, I would second the advice of Cassy1989. If you rule out structural defects and things like long QT then your already slim chances of suddenly dying become astronomical.

When you hear of a 'healthy' person who drops dead, it is usually found that they were not healthy at all, they simply did not have the diagnostic tests done to confirm that they were not healthy. SCD in people who have been tested and determined to be normal constitutes a small percentage of the already small amount of people who die of SCD.

...and this extremely tiny group of 'healthy' people who seem to die without a cause can be explained through the limitations of autopsies.

It's a fact that drugs can induce long QT syndrome and other arrhythmia's in healthy people. If a healthy person dies of an arrhythmia caused by using some of these drugs, in many cases the drug will not be implicated in their death and their death will be recorded as SCD in a "healthy" individual.

Additionally, things like excitotoxins, which are prevalent in many foods and drinks may also play a role in sudden death.

Google 'sudden cardiac death excitotoxins' for more information. The first page listed should be very informative.

Healthy people do not just die, there is always a cause. Even if the cause isn't recorded, it doesn't mean that a cause wasn't there. If you rule out potential causes, it should alleviate your fears :)