How does it feel to have a heart attack?

• By Bronte
• Reply 493406
• August 9, 2009 at 12:37 pm
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Kennarina,
This sounds like a wonderful idea!! You can quote me if you'd like.


1. What was your FIRST cardiac symptom?

My first symptom was an odd sensation in my chest

2. Did you have any pre-heart attack symptoms in the weeks or months prior to your cardiac event?

No

3. If you had chest pain, pls describe your initial pain - was it 'pain' or more like pressure, tightness, burning, crushing, dull, sharp, ???? What part of the chest had the pain?

I had a sensation in the middle of my chest. It was a squeezing sensation as if someone reached out and grabbed by heart and squeezed it a few times. The reason I use the word sensation instead of pain is that it really didn't hurt.

4. What other body parts had significant symptoms? What were they like?


After my chest sensations went away, my back (upper back between my shoulder blades)started to ache immensely. Later I felt on odd numbing/tingling sensation move up my arm. The arm tingling immediately made me worry and was the reason I went to the emergency room as I knew it was a classic heart attack symptom.

5. Did the symptoms come and go?
My chest sensations went away after I used my emergency inhaler(asthma)as I had mistaken the beginnings of the H.A. as an asthma attack. My back pain fluctuated and arm tingling did not go away


6. Were they related to any particular activity - eating, exertion, stress?

When I felt the chest symptoms I was on the internet, when my back hurt I was talking on the phone with my mom. I was under alot of stress the week I had the H.A.

7. Outcome in hospital upon being diagnosed? (CABG/stent - how many? or other treatments)


Cath showed I had 94-96 % lesion in by lad(I had the dreaded "widowmaker " h.a.) I was to get two stents. After the first one was inserted, an area in my artery near the stent dissected and I to have an emergency open heart surgery to fix the bleeding and was given a double bypass.

I did not recognize the chest sensations and back pain as an h.a (about 2 hours went by from the chest sensations to the arm tingling) and as a result I did not seek help. Now approx 41% of my left ventricle is damaged. I was diagnosed with CHF a few weeks after being discharged for my H.A.

Debra

• By kardia
• Reply 493453
• August 9, 2009 at 1:25 pm
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This is a terrific idea.

Since I have not had an "official" heart attack, cardiac arrest, only V-tach episodes, I don't think it falls into your category. The ICD is my rescuer when these have happened...

I am anxious to hear what others write.

kardia

• By LidiaS (Inactive)
• Reply 493507
• August 9, 2009 at 2:17 pm
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Hi Kennarina, here's mine,

1. What was your FIRST cardiac symptom?

Heartburn, the last time I'd had heartburn was 26 years before during pregnancy.

2. Did you have any pre-heart attack symptoms in the weeks or months prior to your cardiac event?

I had become aware of occasional palpitations during the previous few months but since I was in the middle of a family crises I'd put it down to too much coffee and not enough sleep.

3. If you had chest pain, pls describe your initial pain - was it 'pain' or more like pressure, tightness, burning, crushing, dull, sharp, ???? What part of the chest had the pain?

No Pain at all.

4. What other body parts had significant symptoms? What were they like?

None

5. Did the symptoms come and go?

The heartburn wouldn't go no matter what I took for it. I Googled 'heartburn' up popped 'heart attack symptom' so I took an aspirin and went to A&E, just in case.

6. Were they related to any particular activity - eating, exertion, stress?

It was on my birthday, I'd eaten and drunk too much.

7. Outcome in hospital upon being diagnosed? (CABG/stent - how many? or other treatments)

One drug eluting stent in LAD.

Lidia xx

• By laurahc
• Reply 493509
• August 9, 2009 at 2:20 pm
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Hi Kennarina,

Yes, you can quote me and use my first name, and age too, if you like (I was 40 when my event happened, now 41).

1. What was your FIRST cardiac symptom?

Everything seemed simultaneous; it's hard to separate them out and pinpoint which was first--the first one I noticed, I guess, was the chest pain.

2. Did you have any pre-heart attack symptoms in the weeks or months prior to your cardiac event?

No, none. I don't have any risk factors like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, or a family history of heart disease.

3. If you had chest pain, pls describe your initial pain - was it 'pain' or more like pressure, tightness, burning, crushing, dull, sharp, ???? What part of the chest had the pain?

The pain was in the center-left; it felt like it was under my left breast area, somewhat. I'd never felt anything like it, so sometimes it's hard to describe--it wasn't sharp or crushing or burning, more like a dull pressure.

4. What other body parts had significant symptoms? What were they like?

I had pain down the inside of my left arm that radiated up into the left side of my jaw and my left ear, I felt very overheated, and I felt like I was going to throw up.

5. Did the symptoms come and go?

The nausea and overheating faded a little, but the pain--chest, arm, jaw--stayed.

6. Were they related to any particular activity - eating, exertion, stress?

No, I'd been asleep and my symptoms woke me up.

7. Outcome in hospital upon being diagnosed? (CABG/stent - how many? or other treatments)

Diagnosed as heart attack caused by spontaneous coronary artery dissection (right coronary artery), treated with six stents.

-Laura

• By sulma
• Reply 493513
• August 9, 2009 at 2:25 pm
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Hi Kennarina,
Well your suggestions and questoins are interesting and makes us remember the( the event ) we would wished it never happenned but the sequence is so vivid in our mind that we would like to share.
My first cardiac symptoms was a discomforting epigastiic pain and a tightening chest pain that woke me up at 4 am from my sleep.Gradually radiating to the left arm,a numbing sensatoin going down the left arm,
I had no preheart attack, just having shortness of breath after an exertion like going up stairs ,
No other body part was significantly affected,only started sweating as the pain grows in intensity as time goes on and during my trip to E R ,ABOUT 25 MINUTES I was restless every second and the pain in the chest became unbearable and tightening .
The symptoms persisted till I was given TNT and injection and rushed to cardiac unit ,for angio and a stenting was done at LAD,ONLY ONE STENT, AS IT WAS PLACED ,ALL THE PAIN GONE and Iwas sent to recovery for 2 days.and left Till then ,on med and so far 3years no pain at all.

• By Kennarina
• Reply 493601
• August 9, 2009 at 4:05 pm
• Report post

Wow, these are awesome. And scary...

Laura - great idea about including your ages.

Pls let me know how old you were at the time of your cardiac event.

Also, Kardia - I AM interested in why you had your ICD implanted! Tell, tell.

Thank you to all of you who are willing to tell your stories!

XOXOXO


http://www.myheartsisters.org

• By Bronte
• Reply 493729
• August 9, 2009 at 6:26 pm
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Interesting from our experiences that we all had little to no symptoms before the H.A

I was 42 when I had my h.a.

• By mmuff
• Reply 493737
• August 9, 2009 at 6:35 pm
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Hi Kennarina
I had a SCAD which lead to HA at the age of 46(one week before 47th bday)
Symptoms I like Laura would have trouble separating everything out I remember most.......
Heartburn and pressure in the chest.
I do not remember having any symptoms prior to the morn of my scad/ha
Started with heartburn and then progressed to a pressure on my chest. The pressure got to a certain point but did not get progressively worse.

Other body parts....strange! I had an aching feeling in my elbows. It was weird, felt like arthritis(I think) that got worse as time went by. When we got to the er my sister told the nurse I had chest pains and he looked at me and asked if any thing else hurt when I told him my elbows were bothering me he took me right in quickly!
The first thing I noticed above all my symptoms was the dead tired fatigue, "tired to the bone thru and thru" as I told my son. I guess flu like. Almost went home to bed after driving the kids to school(three different schools)....would be dead now! I needed groceries first though!
My symptoms did change a bit one would subside a bit and another might get worse. The only one that got worse was the elbows!
My outcome, went to the local ER. Was life flighted from there to big place with advanced cardiac care. They did a cardoi cath found a large tear(they were not expecting that) repaired half of it with three stents and left the other half to heal itself. Went back three weeks later for a recheck to find it had healed.
Wish I could say that was the end of it but type II diabetes and anxiety followed. Alot of heart disease in the family also. Sorry if I did not go in order of questions!
Martie.... you can use age and name

• By NZGirl
• Reply 493813
• August 9, 2009 at 7:53 pm
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Hi Kennarina,

Good on you, and a great idea to collect this information.

I thought I would send you my info, because I personally had no idea that a heart attack could present with pain in the back rather than the chest. Yes, you can use my name, Sharon, and I was 43 when I had my MI.

1) The first symptom was a strong pain in my back in between my shoulder blades.
2) No, absolutely no symptoms beforehand.
3) The pain felt alot like very bad indigestion, but in my back instead of my tummy.
4) A few minutes after the pain in my back started, I got very very hot, then I felt nauseous. Then after several minutes I felt the pain also travel through into my centre chest and then down my left arm to my hand. Like many others, that's when I guessed that this might be serious.
5) No, the pain kept increasing in my back until it was unbearable, but the other symptoms pretty much stayed the same until I was treated in hospital. Thank heavens for Morphine - yay!!!
6) It wasn't related to physical activity - I was walking across a flat lawn on my way to feed our goldfish when the pain struck out of the blue. But I had been particularly busy as well as being under a lot of stress (It was a week prior to Christmas, with all of the associated social engagements/present shopping and preparations. In addition to that, at the time we were going through a really difficult patch with our youngest son, who is autistic. We're fine now, but they were tough days).
7) I was diagnosed with MI caused by SCAD of the LAD. Two DE stents were fitted.

Have a lovely day! Sharon

• By martzj
• Reply 493900
• August 9, 2009 at 10:01 pm
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Kenna,

I put out a similar poll back in 2008 that may be helpful to you...

http://www.inspire.com/groups/womenheart/discussion/informal-poll-age-of-fi rst-heart-event-etc/

My personal heart attacks were similar to yours...the 'man version', but I kept getting sent home due to being in my late 30s when they began.

Jaynie

• By Kennarina
• Reply 493944
• August 9, 2009 at 11:05 pm
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Thanks Jaynie - I have re-read all responses to that posting.

What I'm specifically looking for, however, are the actual detailed descriptions of the initial symptoms, like we see here in the responses so far. The details here are great: "...sensation as if someone reached out and grabbed my heart and squeezed it a few times..." and "pain in my left ear" and "pain waking me up from sleep at 4 a.m." and of course Martie's sore elbows! Very descriptive and SO helpful to other women!

The August poll asked more 'before and after' questions, but not about their symptoms per se.

The surprising truth for me has been that, according to my blog stats feedback, the most frequently viewed page on my website BY FAR is 'Am I Having A Heart Attack?' So I'm very keen on getting survivors to describe their initial symptoms in detail, so other women will call 911 immediately if they have similar weird symptoms.

For example, your story Debra about using your asthma inhaler for your chest pain - and now having LV damage - that is tragic!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for your input so far!

XOXOXO



http://www.myheartsisters.org

• By sternum
• Reply 493984
• August 9, 2009 at 11:37 pm
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Great idea Kennarina:

The questions are pointed and well thought out. Well, here goes --

1-- Dull pressing pain in the center of my chest, as if a walnut were being pushed into it.

2-- I would get out of breath walking, but put that down to steep hills in town.
I had put on weight and the week before the attack for some reason I gained ten pounds.

3-- Tremendous pressure in the center of my chest.

4-- Numbness in my right shoulder radiating down my arm and felt as if the arm suddenly became weighted.
Later the same synptoms were manifested in my left shoulder and arm.

5-- Chest pain stayed but the numbness in both arms gradually went away. They were replaced with blinding pain in-between my shoulder blades. Once started, back pain only got worse. I could no longer sit, stand, lie down or walk around. The pain was so intense it took my breath away. I remember thinking these were signs that you could have a heart attack if you' not careful.

6-- These symptons were not related to any activity. But the previous two months had been unbearably stressful.

7-- I lost conciousness while the ER DR. was trying to convince me it was a gallbladder attack and not a heart attack. It took three days to stablize me before I could be flown to Victoria, where I had an angeoplasty done with two stents put in. I was told it was a minor attack with minimum damage.

These events took place between 4:00pm on Christmas Eve 2007 and about 11:30am on Christmas Day, before I finally thought it was serious enough to get my son to drive me to the hospital. DUH!! They just didn't sound like the classic symptoms I had heard of and learned.

At the time I was 63. I am now 65 with a lot more issues under the bridge.

Take care and I hope this helps. Maybe someone will read this and decide not to wait as long as I did. --- Gloria ---

• By dawn
• Reply 494010
• August 10, 2009 at 12:17 am
• Report post

1. What was your FIRST cardiac symptom?
left shoulder blade ached.

2. Did you have any pre-heart attack symptoms in the weeks or months prior to your cardiac event?
extremly tired; i kept telling hubby i wasn't sick but something was wrong.

3. If you had chest pain, pls describe your initial pain - was it 'pain' or more like pressure, tightness, burning, crushing, dull, sharp, ???? What part of the chest had the pain?
I never had chest pain until 6 months after my HA.

4. What other body parts had significant symptoms? What were they like?
my throat felt full and my lips were numb

5. Did the symptoms come and go?
yes but I did not know what it was

6. Were they related to any particular activity - eating, exertion, stress?
I was sleeping , woke up not being able to breathe


7. Outcome in hospital upon being diagnosed? (CABG/stent - how many? or other treatments)
I ended up with 4 stents and bunch of meds

You can use anything you want if it helps other people


Dawn

• By dawn
• Reply 494013
• August 10, 2009 at 12:25 am
• Report post

P.S. I was 49

• By DiStacy1
• Reply 494039
• August 10, 2009 at 1:55 am
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Kennarina

My first heart attack was 23 years ago but I still remember it as though it was yesterday. I had just turned 33 the month before it happened.

1. What was your FIRST cardiac symptom?

My first symptom was a feeling like there was a fist in the center of my chest, pushing and squeezing to get out.

2. Did you have any pre-heart attack symptoms in the weeks or months prior to your cardiac event?

I had just given birth 3 months prior but during the pregnancy and after, I had been getting that feeling in my chest on and off. I had mentioned it to the ob/gyn and they did an ultrasound and told me that I had so much amniotic fluid that it was pushing my insides up into my chest and that was the cause of the feeling.

3. If you had chest pain, pls describe your initial pain - was it 'pain' or more like pressure, tightness, burning, crushing, dull, sharp, ???? What part of the chest had the pain?

My pain felt as though someone was gripping me inside right in the center of the sternum and squeezing until I could hardly breath.

4. What other body parts had significant symptoms? What were they like?

My left arm hurt like the dickens from the shoulder to the elbow, then stopped and picked up hurting at my wrist into my hand. I started getting very sick to my stomach feeling and ended up vomiting until there was nothing left but still continued retching. I then progressed to the abnormal sweating like crazy, it was just dripping off of me. I woke my husband at the time up and told him I thought I was having a heart attack, but not really believing that was happening because I really had no clue what the symptoms of a heart attack were. He went and called 911 but before they could arrive, I had gone from dying of the heat and sweating like crazy, to freezing cold and wearing a ski jacket and wrapped up in a blanket. This was in September and we still had the a/c on, it was still so warm outside.

5. Did the symptoms come and go?

In the months leading up to the heart attack, they would come and go but the night of my heart attack, it was a constant, no letting up of the pain.

6. Were they related to any particular activity - eating, exertion, stress?

I had just put my baby to sleep in her crib, checked on my older daughter and went to the living room to relax before heading to bed myself. Prior to that, I was relaxing and feeding the baby her bottle.

7. Outcome in hospital upon being diagnosed? (CABG/stent - how many? or other treatments)

I had a 98 percent blockage of the LAD, which they did angioplasty for. No stents were put in place, do not know if they were even around back then, lol. I was in the CCU for 5 days and then in their step-down unit for another 10 days before being discharged to go home.

My second heart attack happened a little over 10 years ago and details of it are still a little fuzzy for me.
I had just returned home from the hospital after having a stent put in the day before. The following day after coming home, I had gone out with my husband and when we returned, I was in a very good mood, having enjoyed the day with him, I walked into my living room and all of a sudden, I just stopped in place. I had this overwhelming feeling that something was terribly wrong. I sat down and told my husband to call 911. They came, took the ekg and told me I had to go back to the hospital. After arriving at my hospital here, they stabilized me and sent me to another hospital about 25 minutes away, where another cardiologist had attempted to open up the stent that was just put in. It had closed up and was causing me to have another heart attack. He was unable to open it up and had to stop because I went into cardiac arrest twice. I was then sent to CCU, where I was continuing to have the heart attack but under a controlled atmosphere. I was put on both a morphine IV and a Nitro IV but was alternated, when the pain was really bad, the morphine was started, once the pain went away and I started getting, umm, whoozy from it, they stopped the morphine and started the Nitro. This continued through the evening, night and into the wee morning hours when it finally subsided. The original cardiologist who placed the stent, came into my room and apologized for even putting the stent in at all because it was in a very narrow artery.
I was 46 at that time and I am now 56 and in need of bypass surgery for another blockage in the circumflex which they are unable to stent but since I am not having problems, they are holding off on it, to my relief.

You can use any information I have given, including my name, if it will help in any way.

Thanks, Diane

• By nanamo
• Reply 494124
• August 10, 2009 at 7:36 am
• Report post

seems we all are so differnet here are mine

1. What was your FIRST cardiac symptom? 1month prior to heart attack i was not feeling well chest pains lock jaw and tired

2. Did you have any pre-heart attack symptoms in the weeks or months prior to your cardiac event?i would say above items are mine

3. If you had chest pain, pls describe your initial pain - was it 'pain' or more like pressure, tightness, burning, crushing, dull, sharp, ???? What part of the chest had the pain? mine was in middle of chest radiating nto my back and into my throat as if i had lock jaw when i had my massive heart attack , come to find out prior to big one i was having little mi but when the big one happned it literally felt like 10,000 elephants sitting on my chest it was so heavy and pain is not in nay vocab i would say unless you have expiernce then you wouldnt know that pain

4. What other body parts had significant symptoms? What were they like? lock jaw big time felt like i was being strnagled going into my throat and ears

5. Did the symptoms come and go? yes depending on whta i was doing and i worked 6 days a week 10 to 12 hours days the night beofre my mi i wokred a 13 hour shift went hoem not feeling well by the grace of god he woke me up at 5am full blown heart attack

6. Were they related to any particular activity - eating, exertion, stress? mainly work stress, whose really to say

7. Outcome in hospital upon being diagnosed? (CABG/stent - how many? or other treatments) massive heart attack that kills more then survives two day stablization went for a stent to be sent straight to emegernt bypass surgery then waking up 5 days later to and exhausted husband by my side and asking what the hell just happened to me


so everyone is differnet you would think with all this and more education that the doc just once might get it right with a women and heart disease and heart attack in march of 08 i got trigger my icd i truly believ that when i went into er instead of them thinking i did hard drugs and all and that i was having a heart attack they would of been able to help save some of my heart that was severly dead damage to my left lower chamber my husband had to tell them i just had a thallium stress test done 5 days proir to this event once they got that results whish took them all but 5 secs to get i was given drugs to help stop the heart attack but becuase of my age 32 i was only 100 pounds soaking wet they thought i was a drug user WRONG people i was literally dying which i did twice because the medical profession was STUPID to what happens to woman having a heart attack


god bless
surviving heart disease one day at a time
for 10 years
nanamo

• By martzj
• Reply 494293
• August 10, 2009 at 9:50 am
• Report post

Kenna,
This is a terrific project you've embarked on. Have you noticed how many of your responders were early 40s at time of first event? That was also apparent in my polls.

• By arizona1
• Reply 494401
• August 10, 2009 at 10:59 am
• Report post

1. What was your FIRST cardiac symptom?

Pain in the middle of my chest. I awoke around 1:30 AM from sleep and felt pain down my right arm and it intensified as time went on with the pain extending to my chest area.

2. Did you have any pre-heart attack symptoms in the weeks or months prior to your cardiac event?

I am very aware of my body and what goes on with it.
The first day I felt "something" was on a Sunday. The thing I noticed most.... was the difficulty I had in getting my teeth to feel clean. All that day I fet like I needed to brush my teeth ( and did) but they wouldn't feel clean like they always did when I brushed them. I sat at dinner with my inlaws, but didn't feel quite right. I had no clue what it was. I have chronic fatigue syndrome, so I thought it may be related to that. I felt more fluish than anything with no energy. (But that isn't anything new with CFS) I came home and went to bed. I awoke around 1:00AM and felt "off " again. It didn't last long ( around 30 minutes ) and I went back to sleep. The next day I experienced nothing. Then on Tuesday evening in the middle of dealing with some severe stressful issues concerning my CFS doctor, I experienced a wave of not feeling well. I stopped working in the computer and went to bed. The pain went away. It returned 1:30 AM only to intensify and not relent.


3. If you had chest pain, pls describe your initial pain - was it 'pain' or more like pressure, tightness, burning, crushing, dull, sharp, ???? What part of the chest had the pain?

I believe it was tightness, but I am not sure. I was online with a doctor and vomiting and having bouts of diarrhea in between.



4. What other body parts had significant symptoms? What were they like?

My pain went down my right arm. I had intense nausea and rampant diarrhea.

5. Did the symptoms come and go? They stayed and only got worse. I even threw up the aspirin that I took.
The best thing was the morphine for the pain. The pain was incredibly difficult to deal with

6. Were they related to any particular activity - eating, exertion, stress?

Stress and an overdose of a variety of hormones by my CFS doctor. I believe the catacholomine levels were off the chart dealing with a supposed CFS expert that didn't have a clue about the illness. I was repoting his behavior to his superior medical director, who I had known for a year. BUT that is not what caused the symptoms. According to my new CFS doctor, who is world famous in the field and considered the cadillac of CFS doctors, the hormones he gave me caused the heart attack. When you give that many hormones you stress the heart and the body to the point the heart can't keep up. When it reaches that point, it causes the heart attack.

7. Outcome in hospital upon being diagnosed? (CABG/stent - how many? or other treatments)

The cardiologist found my LAD collapsed WITHOUT any coronary artery disease. He stated he never saw anything like it and didn't know what to do, so he stented with 2 drug eleuting stents. He made a hole ,so he had to put in a third one .


Kathi

• By Kennarina
• Reply 494441
• August 10, 2009 at 11:17 am
• Report post

Oh, my goodness. These are amazing stories. THANK YOU.

I think the women who read these will be stunned. Jaynie, you're right - so many are in their 30s and 40s. Unbelievable.

Question for DIANE: "..I had just returned home from the hospital after having a stent put in the day before..." This was about 15 years after your first HA - what symptoms brought you back into hospital this time?

THX!

XOXOXO

http://www.myheartsisters.org

• By NewAllie
• Reply 494661
• August 10, 2009 at 1:49 pm
• Report post

Hi,
Reading all these is amazing...incredibly sad, but mind boggling as well. Thanks for doing this. I'm going to include both before bypass and then before stents (both this year) as symptoms were a little different.

1. First symptom- incredible fatigue. I was sitting in bed, watching TV and could suddenly no longer hold my head up. The next day began six weeks of frequent nausea, dizziness, pain in back left shoulder blade (which eventually began to radiate through to chest), profuse night sweats and feelings of being intolerably hot. Began having panic attacks (first ever), feeling of doom, severe anxiety.

2. Presymptoms- above

3. Chest pain description- pain began in back left shoulder blade. Felt like sore muscle or knot in muscle. After a while, it seemed to hurt all the way through my body to my chest with that same soreness, knot feeling.

4. Other body parts- again, nausea (not unlike morning sickness), dizziness( close to fainting), night sweats, feeling hot, fatigue

5. Did symptoms come and go? - yes, on and off for six weeks

6. Were they related to any activity?- no

7. Outcome after diagnosis- emergent triple bypass

Now, symptoms prior to stents (for graft failure) which began almost immediately after bypass. These were ignored by cardiologist because (according to his notes, not what he told me) they were different than pre-bypass.

1. First Symptom- chest pain, throat fullness, jaw pain, chest tightness,, feelings of anxiousness

2. Pre symptoms- similar to pre bypass- occassional nausea, dizziness, feeling hot- none as severe as prebypass

3. Description of chest pain- sharp, pinching, feels as if clothes are too tight, moves up left neck, throat feels full, hard to swallow, left jaw aches (like dull toothache, like maybe have piece of popcorn stuck).

4. What other body parts? Again, nausea, dizziness, neck, jaw

5. Come and go? yes, for over two months (and even now)

6. Related to any activity? any activity brought on chest pain, neck and jaw syptoms. Other syptoms came on without activity as well as chect pain (both stable and unstable angina). Physical activity no more causitive than emotional triggers and stressors.

7. Outcome after diagnosis- stents and balloon to open failed grafts. Two new blockages remain.

I also have PAD. I had symptoms of this before cardiac symptoms began which I ignored. PAD is often ignored and usually is associated with CAD and sometimes cerebral disease as well.

I was 51 when all this started in January of this year. I'm 52 now. You may use my name.
Thank you, Allie