To be surprised nobody helped me?

@BillieWiper I'm guessing you've never been in a similar situation?
I have , because of surgery on my stomach I sometimes suddenly become unwell.
For me , and I expect the OP and others, when you suddenly feel very unwell you can't think straight.
In an effort to hold myself together , like the OP,I often focus on one thing - usually it's trying to stay upright and not collapse .
You'd be amazed how your ability to be rational., to sit down , to call for help , disappears .
Find your phone , unlock it , decide to call 999 and answer all the questions?
Absolutely no chance.
I do stop and offer help but sadly have too frequently been ignored as the OP was.

Yes this. I think you do need to shout call me an ambulance as that’s a clear request and not something a scam person would say. A scammer might say, “help me!” And then…”I just need £20 to get home” (for example). But I believe “I need an ambulance” would be acted on by the vast majority of people passing you by.

Appreciate that’s hard to ask in the moment if you are having an episode as you describe - but perhaps now you have a plan it will be easier if the same thing happens again (hopefully it won’t!).

It is unfortunate that the world we live in means we can’t always trust what we see. Unless I saw with my own eyes a situation occurring you just never know if it’s a scam. Not to be too extreme but this was Ted Bundy’s M.O. I would have to weigh up the risk factors before blindly jumping in to help someone. Hopefully I would make good judgement calls.

Yes being pregnant means people are no longer so worried about you being a scammer. Ditto helping an elderly man. It’s hard being in the city, there is a man around here that has basically an eye ball that pops out that looks extremely scary and like a severe injury but even he is a scammer.

I’m very sorry that happened to you but if it’s any consolation I don’t think people were ignoring you because they didn’t want to help, they would have assumed you were a scammer. I have lived in London for a decade and when I first got here I was constantly helping out wailing women with torn clothing and learnt the hard way that it was a scam!

I don’t really know how one would get help after an attack - maybe just a really clear request - “hi can you please call the police for me?” - something that makes it clear you’re not going to ask for money once they’re engaged. Even then some people would be afraid you’re just tricking them to get their phone out to be mugged!

Don’t feel you have to defend yourself. Of course people feel they might actually be dying (heart attack, being shot or stabbed or hit by a car). Just because they luckily survived doesn’t negate the feeling, belief or process that they were dying.

It has become more difficult to offer help. more violence, drugs, mental illness, alcohol. Much more unpredictable.
I have an NHS background and will offer my help if it makes sense.

When I was pregnant, I had issues with nausea and fainting. I had several instances across my pregnancies whens strangers helped me, in Ireland and Scotland. Thankfully there were no times I needed help and did not get it.

I live rurally and often pass the same elderly man when I am doing the school run. He walks alone on a single track road. Several times he has been sitting/lying in the ditch, so I have stopped to check on him. Each time he has said he is just resting, doesn't want a lift, I don't need to stop for him. I always will though, just in case one of those times he does need help.

As a positive, I fainted on a train once and got tons of help, a seat, water, people fanning me with books. It was very wholesome and I was fine just hadn't drunk enough water for the weather! I'm sorry that happened op, I think at night people are unlikely to be staring out their windows or car windows and clocking what's going on, likewise for joggers - they're probably in their own world!

I have a condition that sometimes makes me too dizzy to stand. If I shuffle over a wall and sit quietly on the pavement, I always get people coming to ask if they can help. The time I had lie down outside a pub I only got dirty looks. I think people assume drink or drugs unless you speak to them. Perhaps you could say 'please help, I think I may be having a heart attack'. Everyone knows that is serious.

If I had seen you, I would definitely have called 999 to let them know there was someone who looked very unwell on the street.

And I might have come over and offered help, depending on where you were and what you look like. But probably not.

Which is awful, but (like many people) I am afraid of sick, and I would also assume that you were on drugs or drunk. Which means I'd assess you as a vulnerable person, and would make professionals aware that you were vulnerable, but I probably wouldn't intervene.

I would watch you though to make sure you didn't get into a proper pickle. This means I could have just stood and watched you die, I suppose. That's not a great thought.

People are generally suspicious. I was mugged in the street last year and had to ask passers by if I could use their phone to call my bank (to cancel cards). Three sets of people just said no and walked off before a nice couple let me use one of their phones - albeit they were also quite suspicious until I explained the situation. They were then v kind and walked me back to my hotel as I had no clue how to get back there without Google maps.

Exactly, the feeling of doom, but she wasn't dying.

If you're dying you die!

well clearly the op didn't die

feelings of "doom" do come over people when they are having heart issues - this is common

This sounded like me talking, mid morning early after the covid restrictions lifted. Everyone was out shopping, and the most common car breakdowns were flat batteries, including ours. The AA were swamped and I left my husband with my phone (he had a habit of not taking his if I have mine) with the car and began to walk the 3 miles home.
Your struggle was mine, on a busy road in daylight with lots of businesses. I stopped to rest at every bus stop and once a bus stopped and the driver asked if I was okay.
I thought it was the fumes from the lorries passing making me ill, so the driver carried on.

Fortunately I had to pass our surgery and decided to buzz the bell for help. I’d been trying to get home for two hours and still had a mile walk! My husband had been rescued by the AA and was already home when the surgery called him to collect me.
My doctor was totally mystified what was wrong with me, other than my heart rate was incredibly slow and getting slower. I was actually unconscious for a while in her room while they performed every test they could think of while, saying by rights there was actually nothing wrong until my heart picked up again.
I was diagnosed with pernicious anaemia shortly after.

Lived most my life in a major city, but grew up in the countryside. Many years ago, I saw an older man lying in the road at a large roundabout leading to the city centre. Drivers were manouvering round him. I was flabbergasted - stopped to help and called the police as he didn't know his name or address, and was clearly confused. It really dampened my faith in humanity to see him treated like an obstruction in the road.

TBF if I was driving I wouldn't want to stop at a roundabout and risk a traffic accident. I'd go around, park where safe and get out. Perhaps if several people blockaded it a bit that might help but you still risk people trying to drive through.

So sorry @Mintybreath Can you get a medic alert bracelet. It could help show you are not drunk/high and having a medical episode. Have you got a smartwatch where you can call for help with one touch?

If you didn't asked for help people just thought you were high or drunk at that hour I think.
I wouldn't offer my help to a random person that is bending on the street and carry on walking at that hour unless is a kid, someone with kids or an old person, because I would be thinking you were drunk.

I'm sad to say I would have assumed you were drunk, and kept clear.

Agreed.

I get pretty fucked off with my own heart conditions SVT and AFib being minimised.

Cool that your mum got a meditation app and it helped her or that you are 70 and your AF doesn't bother you too much

Im 40 with SVT AND AFib which medication doesnt control effectively... and when your heart has been doing 200 bpm at rest for 12 hours overnight you just dont feel great. You are exhausted, feel nauseous, You cant see or walk properly, some of your muscles arent working right...
Your bp is generally so low hospital staff cant even measure it...

I had one episode in the office where I was stuck in the bathroom doorway because I didnt think I could make it to my desk and cpuldnt rrally speak and people asked if i was waiting and then just walked around me.... 🫠

I dont know if they gave you adenosine but good lord.... 😱 the cure is almost worse than the disease. That actually made me feel like I was dying which wasnt helped by the fact they prep you for Resus before giving it to you... just in case your heart actually stops

I hope you are feeling better now I think the late at night and rain wont have helped.

I know exactly what it is.
But you said you knew you were dying.
But you didn't die did you?