Carnoustie author, 46, recalls how drinking ice-cold smoothie nearly killed him

An Angus author says he was “‘staring into the void of his own mortality” after a freezing drink sent his heartbeat skyrocketing.

Jamie Thompson, who writes under the name of Ed James, is known for writing the hugely popular DI Rob Marshall series.

The 46-year-old, from Carnoustie, has revealed how an ice-cold homemade smoothie nearly killed him in 2020.

The author – who has sold more than 2.5million books – ironically made the drink to boost his immune system, but the freezing drink shocked his stomach and kicked his heart into atrial fibrillation.

Carnoustie author ‘feared I was going to die’

This caused his heartbeat to skyrocket to 180bpm even when performing simple tasks such as walking his dogs or watching football on the sofa.

After being prescribed beta blockers and being referred to a cardiologist he was placed on the waiting list for electrical cardioversion to put his heart back into normal sinus rhythm.

After a four-month wait due to covid backlogs, the procedure worked – although his heart did have to be restarted six times using defibrillation paddles.

However, that was not the end of the former Carnoustie High School pupil’s health ordeal, with a stroke possible at any time.

After enduring blood thinners and a drug which caused sunburn in November, he suffered arrhythmia again and was booked in for further cardioversion.

He was then referred to a cardiologist in Edinburgh for another procedure called catheter ablation, to burn away the electrical pathways to his heart.

Ed James: ‘I dread to think what might have happened’

With the procedure considered a success, he was given the all-clear in November 2023 only to suffer three further bouts of atrial fibrillation.

Ed is now on the waiting list for another catheter ablation after doctors discovered the treatment did not fully work at the first attempt.

He said: “I did fear I was going to die.

“Then there is the feeling you’ve survived something very serious. It makes you look at life differently.

“I’ve changed a lot of things in my life since then.

“Because I am an idiotic Scottish man in his forties who ignores medical issues, I could have had a stroke at any time.

“The NHS staff have been amazing.

“If my own GP hadn’t identified the problem and put me on beta blockers at the start, I dread to think what might have happened.”

Ed recounted his near-death experience as he released the sixth book in his DI Rob Marshall series.

‘His Path of Darkness’ features a serial killer on the loose in close-knit Borders towns and is described as a modern-day twist on James Hogg’s classic, ‘The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner’.

It is available to buy on Amazon Kindle, Audible and in print.