There is a lot of hysteria in the right wing anti vax blogs about covid vaccine causing sudden cardiac death. Crazy, no?
Alas, this is one time the conspiracy theorists are correct: Repeated covid boosters result in an increase in cardiac pathology, probably related to an immunity problem since it also can happen with the actual disease. And although rare, it is probably frequent enough for many European countries to forbid giving boosters to the young who are at little risk from the latest omicron version of covid.
But not all sudden cardiac deaths are from Covid Vaccine.
We have had several friends and relatives who were young men die of sudden death.
No, not from the vaccine, but from Bangungot. All these cases happened before the covid epidemic so it wasn't a vaccine complication.
Bangungot is when a young man who is apparently in good health groans in the middle of the night as if he is having a nightmare, and is found dead in the morning. Folk belief attributes this to an fat evil spirit aka Batibat who suffocates them out of revenge.
But medically it is believed to be a cardiac irregularity because the electrical system of heart has a problem, and stress (including alcohol, drugs, a nightmare, exercize etc.) can cause an irregular heartbeat and death.
If someone sees this happening, CPR and a quick use of a cardiac defibillator can save a life. But when it happens in the middle of the night, usually it is too late to stop the person from dying.
But in two cases of our friends who died of it here, the cardiac arrest was seen and CPR was done. One, a teacher who had survived after CPR from an earlier episode, but died from his second attack. Another son of a friend was resusitated, but delay in restarting the heart resulted in significant brain damage.
Sigh.
The first time I remember reading about this problem was after American doctors saw young Cambodian refugees dying suddenly. They speculated it might be from yellow rain or other chemicals used during the war, but then some Asian doctors pointed out that sudden death in young apparently healthy men was something that is seen in East and Southeast Asia.
Noliso;i Article about this syndrome, which is called Banbungot in the Philippines.
Medically speaking, what is bangungot? While “bangungot” isn’t a medical term, the medical community has taken note of (and further studied) this phenomenon. The scientific community has dubbed it sudden unexplained nocturnal death syndrome or SUNDS. Another interesting thing to note is that bangungot isn’t a universally occurring phenomenon. SUNDS mostly occurs in parts of the world like the Philippines, Thailand, and Japan. In Thailand, the phenomenon is called lai tai, and in Japan, it’s referred to as pokkuri.
One of the theories is that it is from acute hemorrhagic pancreatitis.
I've treated quite a few people with acute hemorrhagic pancreatitis, usually from alcoholic abuse, but also from gall stones or taking the seizure medicine Depakote.
They are sick, but usually don't die of sudden death: it takes a few hours or days and it is quite painful so they do end up in the Emergency room. But not always: I did have one case of a mentally retarded girl with seizures who took Depakote and was found dead in bed, and the autopsy showed this.
Pancreatitis causes acute dehydration and electrolyte imbalance, so yes you can find them dead in bed if they get an irregular heartbeat from this.
and that might explain why a Filipino Japanese neighbor, known to be an alcoholic, died last year of a heart attack.
But many of these deaths are probably genetic and there is a family history of sudden death.
So the other theory is that it is Brugada syndrome,
Brugada syndrome is most commonly caused by an inherited cardiac sodium-channel gene mutation. It manifests as an abnormal electrocardiogram pattern, of which three repolarisation patterns are recognised.
PhilInquirer discusses the syndrome of sudden cardiac death, from Braguda syndrome, and notes that many have abnormal EKGs, and can be treated with medicine, but the best treatment is an implanted cardiac defibrillator.
So families (including our family) where there is a history of sudden death need to have a routine EKG to check for the subtle changes that suggest this potentially fatal problem.
Alas, Defribrillators are too expensive for most Filipinos, and alas most people die after their first episode because no one is there to do CPR.
Medline plus has another article on this syndrome if you are interested in learning about it.
Heart attacks are common in out town, and not just from Bangungot.
yes, we also have young people such as our neighbor's daughter, a known drug abuser, dying of sudden cardiac deaths from shabu (metheamphetamine),
But more commonly, heart attack detahs are older people who have a history of diabetes, high blood pressure, or high choleseterol (ASCVD).
But when it is a young man who dies in his sleep, it is assumed to be Bangungot.
So the 15 year old in the neighborhood who just got his second Covid booster so he could attend in class high school was found dead in bed last week, there is a question: Bangungot or covid?
No comments:
Post a Comment