36 year old brother collapsed 05/19/08,Drs cannot pin point why heart stop?
My 36 year old brother collapes in gym on 05/19/19/2008. After an emotional few days, my brother only could remember what he did that morning until 1pm. According to one of the players who gave a statement to the doctor's, stated that my brother walked into the gym, checked into the game played 5 or 6 minutes and substitued out. (My brother can play from sun up to sun down). While sitting in one of the chairs court side, a time out was called by another player, and that's when my brother tried to stand, but sadly collaped into a seizure (eyes rolled back, and foaming at the mouth). Recounting my brothers steps, he does not remember going home, changing clothes, driving to the center nor walking in. Usually my brother is the comedian of any event, but his friends described him on that day as not himself. (not joking or laughing or kidding around) When rushed into the emergency room his life survival was very grime. He was put into an induced comma, and breathing with the help of a vent machine. I have two questions. One, was his body shutting down, way before he entered the game? Two. What caused him to stop breathing even though his heart became stablized? The doctors did feel that he had some type of blockage in his lungs.(blood clot) they did give him blood thinner, and ultimately his oxygen level began to rise.
From the information you’ve provided it sounds like your brother had a pulmonary thromboembolism that presented as a seizure. Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a blood clot in the lungs that puts strain on the heart and leads to low oxygen levels in the body. There are several heart conditions in which the first symptom is a neurologic one, and pulmonary embolism is included in this category as a rare cause of seizures (case reports describe patients that are your brother’s age). Physicians speculate that low oxygen supply to the brain is what actually causes the seizure.
It would be difficult to guess the condition of your brother that day, but it sounds like he wasn’t feeling well. The important question is what caused his PE (they typically arise from a clot elsewhere in the body, including the legs, arms, or pelvis) and how can he reduce the likelihood this will happen again.
Though every case is unique, there are many situations in which heart function outlasts breathing when a person is critically ill. Your brother may have stopped breathing because of the PE, or because of the medications needed to sedate him in order to place a tube for breathing. These tubes are typically placed when a person’s own breathing isn’t maintaining the oxygen levels required for the body and heart to function. The best person to answer this question, though, would be the physicians that cared for him in the hospital.
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