Queen's Brian May has revealed that he recently suffered a "small heart attack" which left him "very near death," but says he's recovering well after having three stents implanted.

"I'm good, there's no need to panic," the guitarist says in an Instagram post, which you can watch in full below. "Please don't send me sympathies and such, cause I'm good, just send me congratulations if you'd like."

Two weeks ago, it was reported that May was hospitalized after ripping his gluteus maximus while gardening. While that injury was legitimate, the guitarist and his doctors eventually realized that it was not the true cause of what continued to be overwhelming pain.

A lower back MRI revealed that May had a compressed sciatic nerve, perhaps exacerbated by years of wearing a heavy guitar over his neck. "And that's why I had this feeling that someone was putting a screwdriver in my back. So finally we started treating the thing for what it was. I'd been putting the ice pack in the wrong place for about 10 days."

Just as one health problem was solved, another emerged. "In the middle of the whole saga of the painful backside, I had a small heart attack. I say small, you know, 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."

After being driven to the hospital by his doctor and diagnosed with three congested arteries, May opted against open heart surgery and instead had three stents implanted to maintain proper blood flow to his heart.

"I'm incredibly grateful that I now have a life to lead again," he declares. "I was actually very near death because of this, but the pain that I had was from something completely different, it's funny how things work.... I'm good, I'm here and I'm ready to rock."

 

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