Billy Mays-- Found dead at home this AM

That sucks I loved that show.

Very sad.

I will bet a buck that is was either a PE or underlying cardiac issue and yes im guessing.
 
I'm going with subdural hematoma, slow bleed. Maybe he didn't have any S/S before he went to bed. My wife was telling me he got hit in the head by some baggage.
 
Oxy Clean is Dead!

Share you thought on Billy Mays.
 
he was way too loud!

:D
 
daedalus said:
Will this change your treatment of people who get bumped on the head but say that they are fine? Remember Natasha Richardson.
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No. It will irritate the bejeesus out of me when I'm looking at a 13 yo girl who hasn't eaten anything in 8-10 hours, syncopes in the heat at the amusement park and is helped to the ground by her friends but bumps her head very slightly on a guard rail (no DCAP-BTLS), and after getting some fluids and crackers and 45 minutes of rest in the shade and AC and evaluation by a medic is totally fine and asymptomatic besides hunger, but her parents cry Natasha Richardson and demand an ambulance against the medic's advice when all she really needs is a freaking sandwich and some supervision.
 
I said this on another forum...

Personally, I didn't like his work, but he was very good at it and I certainly respected him for that.

RIP
 
Man just as I was getting into Pitchmen, this happenes. It is another sad day to hear of some one passing. May he rest in peace.
 
LucidResq said:
No. It will irritate the bejeesus out of me when I'm looking at a 13 yo girl who hasn't eaten anything in 8-10 hours, syncopes in the heat at the amusement park and is helped to the ground by her friends but bumps her head very slightly on a guard rail (no DCAP-BTLS), and after getting some fluids and crackers and 45 minutes of rest in the shade and AC and evaluation by a medic is totally fine and asymptomatic besides hunger, but her parents cry Natasha Richardson and demand an ambulance against the medic's advice when all she really needs is a freaking sandwich and some supervision.
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If your medic is advising no transport for a 13 yo syncopal patient that has spent all day in the heat, then he needs to get a new job.
 
CAOX3 said:
If your medic is advising no transport for a 13 yo syncopal patient that has spent all day in the heat, then he needs to get a new job.
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We work for amusement park first aid. The game is a bit different than it is on a rig. 98% of my patients do not go to the hospital, simply because they don't need to (or refuse). What we can do in our clinic for mild dehydration and exposure to heat - PO fluids, rest on an exam bed, graham crackers, monitor vitals, keep the pt. in the shade and AC, encourage the pt. to go home and stay with her parents, have clear fluids and eat; and if necessary (it definitely was not for this pt) start an IV and tx out. What more would they do on an ambulance or in the ER except use up valuable resources that could be better used on other pts in our strained EMS system?

The main problem was she needed to eat ("Oh but I'm a 95 lb. 13 yo girl and I'm sooo fat") and having her sent to the ER only delayed the time until she got some food. So a problem that could have been solved almost entirely by a $5 sandwich and a ride home in mommy's minivan became a 3 hour ordeal that likely cost $2500 - $5000, wasted the time of an ambulance crew and an ED staff, and the girl still wants a damn sandwich because she's hungry.

PS - we called the hospital post tx. Her CT was clear and she was discharged immediately after they got those results.
 
rhan101277 said:
A enlarged heart should show up on a 12 lead right? Can medics tell that or does it take a cardiologist?
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I doubt this would be the direct cause of death, FYI, any kind of cardiomegaly is simply a sign of a sick heart, basically.

I'm not a medic and have little knowledge of 12 leads so correct me if I'm wrong, but cardiomegaly or hypertrophy generally cause fairly subtle ECG changes. While Mays was likely not an athlete, these changes are also often seen in ECGs of the healthy hearts of athletes, since dilated hypertrophy often results from "training" the muscle of the heart.

Often ECGs may tip a MD off to a potential problem, but the only way to truly diagnose is via echocardiogram.
 
Poor Farrah Fawcett, she picked a bad time to die. Her death has been trumped and thus was little more than a blip on the radar.

Strangely enough, I was a fan of Billy Mays. He was one of a kind and an inspirational rags to riches story.
 
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Another thing to think about with hypertrophy is that people that exercise and have it, tend to actually drop blood pressure instead of increasing it, causing heart issues. Reminds me of those commercials about ask you doctor if it is safe for sexual activity.
 
rhan101277 said:
Another thing to think about with hypertrophy is that people that exercise and have it, tend to actually drop blood pressure instead of increasing it, causing heart issues. Reminds me of those commercials about ask you doctor if it is safe for sexual activity.
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Well to my knowledge the problem with non-dilated (pathological) hypertrophy and exercise isn't a drop in BP, it's usually that the underlying disease process (often hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in athletes) puts the person at risk for cardiac arrhythmias. For example, if you look at a histological sample of myocardium from a heart affected by HCM, you will see the cells are in complete disarray as compared to a normal histological sample. This myocardial disarray can interfere with cardiac conduction, leading to arrhythmias.

A fib is the most common arrhythmia in HCM, and many older people with HCM are diagnosed when their chronic a fib is investigated. However, any number of different arrhythmias are possible secondary to HCM, including v fib.
 
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