Queen's Brian May says he was 'very near death' after suffering heart attack

Brian May has revealed that he was rushed to hospital after suffering a heart attack.

The Queen guitarist, 72, wrote on Instagram : "My medical adventures!

"Hmm ... Sheer Heart Attack eh ? Well, I think I always worried a little bit about that album title. I wondered if it might upset some people who had actually had heart attacks.

"I'm actually quite relieved now that I'm in that club - and I don't find it upsetting at all ! Take. care folks."

He added: "And ... why did those discs in my spine get so squished? Well I think 50 years of running around with a guitar strap over my left shoulder holding a heavy guitar might have something to do with it ! But it probably WAS all worth it!"

Brian revealed what had happened in an Instagram video, revealing that he was "very near death".

He told his fans he wanted to share the news that way because it was more "intimate".

He said he wanted to tell the truth about what happened.

Brian said: "I told you that I had a ripped muscle, as that's what I was diagnosed, and we thought it was like a bizarre gardening accident.

"I didn't realise that was amusing really and I kind of forgot that anything to do with the bum people find amusing, so I got a bit p****d off with all the 'Brian May gets a pain in the bum' kind of stuff.

"But anyway, it turned out to be not really the case. I did an MRI and yes I did have a rip in my gluteus maximus, and it's so easy to make a connection, rip there that must be the cause of the pain."

He added: "No other tests were done. Now a week later I'm still in agony, real agony, I could not believe the pain, and people were saying 'That's not like a ripped muscle, you wouldn't have that amount of pain'.

"So I had another MRI, this time in the lower spine and sure enough, it was discovered that I had a compressed sciatic nerve, quite severely compressed, and that's why I had this feeling like someone was putting a screwdriver in my back all the time, it was excruciating.

"So finally we started treating the thing for what it was, I'd been putting the ice packs in the wrong place for about 10 days or whatever."

He said that was "one side of the story" and that he was feeling a lot better now.

He continued: "But in the middle of it, the rest of the story is a little more bizarre, a bit more shocking, well I was shocked because I thought I was a pretty healthy guy and everyone says 'You've got great blood pressure, you've got a great heart rate'.

"I keep fit with biking, I've got a good diet and everything, but anyway, in the middle of the whole saga of the painful backside, I had a small heart attack.

"I say small, it's not something that did me any harm, it was about 40 minutes of pain in the chest and tightness and that feeling in the arms and sweating.

"To cut a long story short, my wonderful doctor drove me to the hospital himself and I went straight into what they call the 'CAT room' I think and I had an angiogram, and that's when they stick something in your wrist and it goes all the way up to your heart and into arteries in your heart, and it can find out in a way that nothing else can."

Brian said he was conscious when this was happening and that doctors told him it was "more complicated" than they had first thought and that they should talk before moving forward.

"I was very lucky to be treated as an emergency case," he said. "But I think it kind of was an emergency.

"It was a lot of pressure, because I actually turned out to have three arteries that were congested and in danger of blocking the supply of blood to my heart."

Brian said there was pressure for him to have open heart surgery, and that a lot of people told him if he didn't do it, and have a triple bypass, he was "throwing away" his only opportunity and that he'd regret it for the rest of his life.

But other people told him he could have three stents put into his heart and walk away the same day.

After thinking about it, he went for the stents.

He said: "It wasn't that easy, but the only reason it wasn't easy for me was because of the pain, the excruciating pain I had in my leg, if it wasn't for that it would have been a doddle.

"They had to put me out in the end because I was writhing about and pulling the tubes out because the pain was so bad in my leg.

"But when I came round it was like nothing happened, I couldn't feel that they'd been in here, and I still can't, it's been amazing, it's an incredible operation done by the right skilled person, and I thank them from the bottom of my heart because I walked away with a heart that's very strong now so I think I'm in good shape for some time to come."

Brian says he feels that everyone 60 and over should have an angiogram whether they have problems or not, because that's the only thing that can tell you.

He said: "Nothing told me that I could have been in real, real trouble."

His leg is also a lot better after physiotherapy and painkillers.

He said he's been taking painkillers even though he hates them because he had no choice.

Brian added: "I was very near death because of this, but the pain that I was in was because of something else, it's funny how things work.

"But I'm good, I'm here, I'm ready to rock."