All they say is its clear

I woke one night with an awful pain in my chest neck and between my shoulders. Couldnt talk hardly ambulance came brought me into A&E took another 2 big bad pains my blood pressure dropped went pure pale and they put me on a drip and tipped the bed so as my feet was up in the air. I got to my normal self again after a few hours and then they done ct scan echo of heart ecg with treadmill everythig was fine! They have found a thing called vena cava something which one artery that leads to many vains and the rest are missing. They say its fine its abnormality i was born with and no reason why i cant carry on another 36 years! Woke this morn same pain but this time between my shoulders was real heavy pale again color, took to hospital drip was on pain relief and released. I get pain when i rest at night but its just a niggling pain still scarey enough but the big pain as i call it i think im gonna die....any suggestions anyone as i have been to my doc 3 times they say there is nothing they can do. I am seeing a specialist in july but im scared as i get pains every nite and waiting on the "big one" coming. They have me on asprin because if i get a clot im a goner. Please give me ideas as where to go next....LOST x

By Lcaldwell
Reply 3149961
June 20, 2012 at 2:15 am
Report post

Sounds like how I feel a lot of times and the doctor tells me the same thing. I have a leaking heart valve but I think I have high blood pressure too

By aaaimauto
Reply 3151053
June 20, 2012 at 1:01 pm
Report post

Hi busybody,
If your Dr. has not ordered an Angiogram you need to insist on one. I and many others I know have passed all of the tests including the stress test only later to find that they had blockages that were the problem. I insisted on skipping the stress test on the treadmill & told my Dr. I wanted the only definitive test and that is the Angiogram. They did it and as soon as they shot the dye in "BINGO" I had what they call the "WidowmakeR" blockage. It is the worst blockage you can have & is on the left side of the heart where a large artery flows into many smaller ones. You are having to many pains to ignore it. I would go to another Dr at a Cardiac Care unit. Your color is what scares me. The best way it was explained to me is "no color no blood". Forget July. You need to go right now. You are to young to let it go. I have a dear friend that is like a son to me. He is 42 & had Open heart surgery, a defibiulator, pacemaker, 2 stents & has just recently had another Bypass Surgery. Okay, enough heart stuff. Your next test should be a sonagram of your Gaul Bladder. That pain is absolutely horrible & deep. Feels like it goes clear through your body front to back in the exact areas you are describing. Please keep me informed. You can email me at aaaimauto@hotmail.com. I have six children all grown and they have honored me wuth 15 grand kids & 2 lovely Great grandkids.
Take care of yourself & God Bless you & yours.
Cheryl from Tennessee

By TamraB
Reply 3151363
June 20, 2012 at 3:34 pm
Report post

Ditto!!! Call today and demand an angiogram ...

And/Or since you are comfortable calling an ambulance, the next time you are feeling your symptoms and are pale; call the ambulance and once you are at the hospital, do not let them discharge you until you have been given an angiogram. Ask them to PLEASE take their time, if they do not find definitive blockages in the main arteries, ask them to please investigate the possibility of Micro Vascular Disease and Coronary Artery Spasms.

My new cardiologist said that if the interventionist cardiologist who performed my angiogram had taken a little more time after he discovered my main coronary arteries were NOT blocked, that with time he may have induced a coronary artery spasm and discovered something in the micro vascular areas.

GOOD LUCK and stay alive until someone can help you!

Smiles
Tamara

By Busybody
Reply 3151674
June 20, 2012 at 6:22 pm
Report post

Thankyou all ever so much i have made an appointment with my doctor to see him on friday and i will ask him for these tests. Will keep you all posted. Thanks again xx

By aaaimauto
Reply 3151872
June 20, 2012 at 8:14 pm
Report post

As TamraB said. If you have the pain again just get tot the Hospital and demand the Angiogram. There should be absolutely no problem getting the insurance company approval. Do not wait until Friday if you have the pain. You go for it. Take care, good luck and God Bless.
Cheryl from Tennessee

By Prinzy
Reply 3152667
June 21, 2012 at 7:51 am
Report post

Sounds like Prinzmetal disease. It hits at resting and in sleep a lot. There are no traces of heart problems, but it can kill. Heart goes into spasms.... you have a lot of the same feelings as a heart attack and this can kill, when it hits a real heart attack as it did in my case. I was lucky to survive a full heart attack.

Get your doctor to prescribe nitro to carry. This might well save your life until they get you diagnosed. Also chew adult aspirins when this hits, as that will quickly thin the blood. Try and breathe through the pain and relax, hard to do. Get that nitro.....it won't hurt you and it can save your life. Also continue going to the ER because one of these times it will show up in your lab work that it is your heart giving you troubles.

By Busybody
Reply 3156118 · In reply to 3152667 by Prinzy
June 22, 2012 at 3:24 pm
Report post

Hi all,
I went to the doc today he says there is nothing much he can do til i see the consultant on 4th july! I asked alot of questions and also asked if i could have Prinzmetal disease, he says "no not atall" i asked about an angiogram he said that is my next step and i will need to wait to discuss with the consultant. I had pain lastnight and phoned the doctor i told him the pain had been there all day like sitting on my shoulders neck and in my back the pain wasnt really that bad but i was aware of it and this is the pain i get always but was worse now that i was in bed and at rest. Its scarey! He told me to wait til the morning and take painkillers relax and take things easy til then! I suppose i will just have to wait til i go see this doc. He assured me i wouldnt take a heart attack that my heart was really healthy cuz it shows it is. He said its just like a spaghetti junction in there with one big motorway running thru.....Thanks again all :)xx

By TamraB
Reply 3156431
June 22, 2012 at 6:24 pm
Report post

Find a new doctor ... I have just found myself a new one who "listens"! And I am on my 3rd cardiologist for the year and am finally happy!
Keep "stomping and shouting" until you find someone who will listen. I I did not do this 12 years ago ... I would be dead now!
And recently this year possible the same.
Don't give up ... keep trying.
And if you are pale and have pain again .. call the ambulance!!! PLEASE!
Smiles
Tamara

By CardioCathy
Reply 3156487
June 22, 2012 at 6:57 pm
Report post

I agree with Tamara. Find a new doctor! I hear of this way too often where women are told to just relax and are not taken seriously.
Cathy

By shamrock7
Reply 3157580
June 23, 2012 at 9:49 am
Report post

I agree, find a new doctor. How in the hell could he have the audacity to predict that you will never have a heart attack? I don't think this doctor is a good listener either. Stay well, Shamrock

By sunnygrl
Reply 3157713
June 23, 2012 at 10:42 am
Report post

Sounds like Printzmetal Angina...I have it, get some nitro, and learn to breathe thru the pain..Mine flairs up when the weather changes drasticly.

By DonnaLO
Reply 3157727
June 23, 2012 at 10:48 am
Report post

when I had back pain at night (after cabg) it was congestive heart failure. sitting up helped but it would take awhile. it's much better now that I take lasix. do you have fluid retention and have you gained weight from fluid? chf can be shown by a b-peptide blood test.

I hope you are okay, let us know.

By Busybody
Reply 3158298
June 23, 2012 at 3:38 pm
Report post

I just feel like im annoying everyone now tbh. I been to doctors, A&E,been to see one consultant, who didnt know what to do he is sending me to another,been on the phone to doctors, talking to doctors, no one seems to help. All i would like is something to ease the heaviness for now and the stabbing dull pain in my back. Im lying down at the moment and have this pain but i know if i phone the doctor he will tell me to go to A&E! They will take blood do ECG and say everything is ok and send me home. Im starting to feel down with this i got 2 small kids to look after and im scared. Maybe my mind is working overtime also. Least he said i cant take a heart attack as my heart is healthy. I dont know where to turn to. Wish it was the 4th. I just feel that something isnt right in there. I hate saying that but you know your own body. Its nice to come on here and have the support.

Only 11 days to go:)

Thanks a mill everyone:)

Godbless :)xx

By TamraB
Reply 3158792
June 23, 2012 at 10:08 pm
Report post

Hang in there busybody ....

My back pain started approx 6 months ago; sometimes excruciating between my shoulder blades, or middle back, or over my right kidney area, or everywhere.

I have been seeing a chiropractor since I came out of my "2 week hospital holiday" last September and also having some massages. I did this, because many of the hospital docs said "....it could be muscular-skeletal chest pain?". So I thought I need to rule this out. I am not sorry I have been having extra Chiro care and massages, I have enjoyed both ... but they DID NOT fix any of my pain. I am sure they have done some good though.

Once I started to get pain down my left arm and electric jolts up my neck and jaw ... I really did some "demanding". This was early/middle of May.

22 May - I saw a cardiologist who "after I insisted on some ACTION", gave me a scrip for Amlodipine (Calcium Channel Blocker) as a trial. (My GP suggested this in case I was having CAS (Coronary Artery Spasms) which were causing my chest pains).

12 June - I saw a new female cardiologist who told me to immediately STOP the Metoprolol (Beta Blocker) as she feels this can make CAS worse if you have it. She said the Amlodipine was what she would suggest, but only with a long acting Nitrate (She prescribed an Isosorbide Mononitrate - "Duride" they call it Imdur in the US).

Since I have been on Amlodipine and Duride by upper back pain has diminished substantially, I have NOT had any pains to my left arms and NO electric bolts up my neck or jaw!!! Plus I have slept through the night for 8 NIGHTS !!!!!! (since my dose of Nitrate increased to 30mg) DID you all read the above sentence .... 8 nights in a ROW of sleep !!!!!! I got out of bed today (Sunday 9:30am)

Unfortunately I am still having back pain in my lower back and especially over my right kidney .... I am on a waiting list to have my gallbladder removed. I had a HIDA scan in May which showed my gallbladder is "stuffed". So some of my back pain is my gallbladder? And I think my heart does not like my gallbladder pains?

I try to focus my pains on fighting "The Medical System" to listen and hear me!

Doctors around the world are "uneducated" in the area of Micro-vascular Disease and Prinzmetal's Angina. Even though it was my GP who suggested that I might have CAS, when I asked her if CAS could cause a heart attack, she said "No". And as you have read from other ladies on this site and even my cardiologist told me, CAS "can cause a heart attack" !!!

I cannot tell you to "NOT WORRY", but I know from experience that STRESS and WORRY will make what you are experiencing worse. This is why 13 years ago I went to my first Tai Chi class and also a Qigong medication group. Now I teach Tai Chi & Qigong full time. 13 years ago when I first had trouble with my heart I had, had a long year of stress. And the more people told me to stop worrying only made my stress/worry and heart worse! We had two young boys and I thought they were not going to have a mother! The frustrating thing about worry and stress, is that it NEVER actually helps! So why do we do it???? Million dollar question?

Have some confidence (faith) that with the support from everyone on this site and your family ... you WILL get some answers!
Do this for your kids, family and yourself!

Start a journal, this will help you record your symptoms and express yourself.

Try to transform your worry and stress - focus this energy and your thoughts to help for yourself. The next time you feel worried, place your hand on your heart, close your eyes, and think of love, joy and happiness, visualize you and your family in a warm secure happy place, (maybe a favourite holiday spot), put a relaxed smile on your face (even if you have to force it a little at first) try to feel a relaxed breath in your lower abdomen. Think ... relax ...
Keep yourself busy if possible, otherwise you may become overly self-absorbed with the pain/anxiety/worry and you may find you will get deeply depressed, which will make matters worse? BUT don't over do it ... so gentle busy-ness to pass the time while you wait for your appointments.

Many on the ladies on this site are very experienced in what you are going through!

Keep Breathing!

Smiles
Tamara

By Busybody
Reply 3159144 · In reply to 3158792 by TamraB
June 24, 2012 at 5:54 am
Report post

Thankyou so much TamraB the last paragraph was emotional for me xx. I was wanting to take my 2 kids on holiday with my partner and scared to go as my doctor told me he is unsure of flying and anyway i wouldnt know much about the medical side in EU countries. We are going to stay in ireland and go to a nice little hotel and have as much fun i hope:) Im going to photocopy all these replies and tell my doctor if he could would he read them it might give them ideas!

Cant thank you all enough:)xx

By Prinzy
Reply 3159689
June 24, 2012 at 12:09 pm
Report post

Hi, I have been gone, but read the posts now.

Triggers in Prinzmetals Angina are wide and varied. They can be temperature and they can be food and they can be stress, and probably other things I don't even know about.....so it follows
.......that until you are diagnosed and have this beast under some kind of control, you want to eat as basically pure as you can, that means NO artificial sweeteners except stevia, as most all have sulfur in them and CAN trigger many of us to having spasms
..... and that means you will avoid any stress you can, including trips and exciting events,
........and that means too that muscle spasms in your back can move to your chest... I often start my heart spasms in my back and it comes around.
.......so that follows you should have your magnesium, sodium, potassium levels checked, and take suppliments of them if any are low.....or out of balance
.......and you get nitro on board, as a carry on....not necessarily as a pill or patch. You can use the nitro when you get the back spasms and stop the spasm. The trick is to figure out what causes the spasms.
.......Nitro relaxes the muscles, the heart is a muscle and the arteries will also relax with a squirt of nitro or a pill under the tongue
.......There are some heart conditions that can cause the heart spasms. My daughter had a faulty PLO or PFO valve, that she had to get closed....her spasms almost disappeared then.....this valve is usually closed before birth, but in some it is not and mostly doesn't bother, but in some it is dangerous.
......In getting the nitro, you will suffer less anxiety. This will help with the stress. Stress can trigger spasms. So to feel safer with the nitro has a good effect.
......food allergies cause swelling. It does NOT have to be congestive heart disease. Doctors are not so aware of the many causes of swelling.. Food allergies are often things we love the best....like for me beef. I am still reeling with that knowledge.
.......you can help yourself, buy going on elimination diets.... adding in one food every 3-4 days as some foods have a delayed reaction.
........Chemicals have greatly increased in our food supply. Finding one chemical you are sensitive to, can get this under control or figuring out your allergies or triggers. It doesn't work for everyone, but you can get allergic at any time to anything.
.......Swelling can be caused by imbalance of eletrolytes in the system.. or not enough carbs in your diet, or not enough fluids and your body goes into cramping. Many things can cause swelling. Swelling and GERD are signals from your body that something is out of sync. It is your job to listen to this body talking to you.
-----again.... get the book on line, "The Pulse Test" by Dr. Coco ..... it is pdf and free to download and read. This doctor linked allergies to heart problems decades ago. He has passed on but his friend has made his book available. This is a fountain of information.
ONE LAST THING AND THE MOST IMPORTANT ONE..........YOU are the chief of your health. YOU and YOU alone live in your body. YOU are the health care comsumer and the DOCTORS WORK FOR YOU. Do not allow any condesending practicioner make you feel anything........... KNOW that you are in charge and take control of your health care. Many do not know anything much about PMA or Prinzmetal's disease. I have had doctors ASK ME........ so just know that some will cover ignorance with arrogance. Do not be fooled.

34 replies

Things you can do

Support WomenHeart

Discussion topics

Heart health links and resources

Community leaders

Disclaimer