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spontaneous coronary artery dissection - a research

Odia
1 Recommendation

Hi everybody
I had a heart attack 8 months ago, as a result of spontaneous coronary artery dissection. The ability to share feelings and professional information with others in this site really helped me in the recovery period. I felt that there are so many women who would like to study and to know more about this rare phenomenon.
I asked my cardiologist, who also teaches Medicine students, if one of his students might want to take the SCAD as a subject for his Doctorate work. He asked me to check first how many women would really like to participate (sharing information, medical documentation, questionnaires etc.).
I want to ask all the SCAD friends:
1. Would you like to take part in a study about SCAD?
2. If you have any idea, direction, thoughts etc. about it, please let me know.
My email is: browns@013.net (please write a subject, so I'll know it's not a spam). You can also send me a reply by this site.
Thank you!
Odia

Explore topics in this discussion:

Exercise Surgery Bypass surgery Ulcerative colitis Verapamil Plavix Anxiety Menopause Stent Rheumatic fever Stress Asthma Heart disease GERD Aspirin Allergies Fever Synthroid Artery dissection Pain Heart attack Depression Dysautonomia Ehlers-Danlos syndrome

51 replies

Tori2T

Hi Odia,

Did anything ever come of the effort to get someone to study SCAD? I would also love to participate: tori.walsh@sbcglobal.net

There are quite a few people here... maybe we can interest a few researchers to look at us.

I am certainly beginning to doubt some of the studies which claim SCAD is incredibly rare.

Best wishes,
Tori

emma71

I am thirty eight years old and had an MI last March as a result of Spontaneous dissection of one of my smaller coronary arteries near the apex of the heart. Before this time I was healthy with only a low thyroid issue that has been resolved for eight years with Synthroid. I did have post partum depression after the birth of my third child. This was two years ago and lasted about one year. I have a lower than normal cholesterol level, always had low blood pressure (still do but I am also on verapamil), exercised regularly, ate healthy, etc. I was exercising when I developed a heaviness in my chest. I went to the ER and all my bloodwork came back fine. I went home for two days after that and was feeling fine and back to vaccuuming, etc even with my daughter in my arms. The next day I left for work and I got that heaviness again when I got out into the cold weather. I went to work (I am an OR nurse) and figured that I was at the hospital anyway if anything more was going to happen. I ended up in emerg by the afternoon because the pain came back. It took my third troponin level to show an increase. (enzymes which show there has been damage to the heart) Four days later I had an angiogram but the artery was too small so I am being treated medically. My last ECG showed a normal rhythm but I still develop a shortness of breath and pain across my back and in my right chest right before my period. I am almost totally sure that this pain is hormonal. My cardiologist feels that my Spontaneous dissection occurred due to a hormone shift because I was weaning my daughter from breastfeeding. Does anyone have a similar story? I am from Canada and my cardiac rehab is covered. The most helpful treatment has been exercise and drugs (plavix, aspirin, and verapamil) I work part time and for the most part, I have been feeling pretty good. Last week, however, I was scrubbed in on orthopaedic surgery all day and by late afternoon I had to scrub out because my chest was acting up. This hasn't happened with such severity since my MI. ECG showed nothing new. Frustrating. It has been six days since the episode and I am starting to feel a bit better. I still have symptoms though.

Dee81

The term spontatneous dissection was used by the doctors, but it didn't seem as though I was diagnosed. The doctors have said that they aren't able to determine what is wrong with me (weak arteries). My cardiologist stated that he's seen this in pregnant women, but never in a 26 (1st time) or 27 (2nd time) year old woman, with no family history of HD, with normal bp, cholesterol. I really want to learn as much about this as possible. They told me there were only maybe 30 cases in the world. Seems like there is more than that. Unless you all are pregnant or going through menopause, then...ooops :P Looks like I am alone. I have people researching my case here. Maybe I am not a mystery!!

mmuff

I had scad 12 years after the birth of my fourth child and while in menopause nearly post men.(early menopause). I would be interested in the study also

laurahc

If it's not too late, I'd also like to participate in the study. My email is laurahcory@yahoo.com -- I had a heart attack and SCAD on March 30, 2009, and now have six stents in my right coronary artery. I was 40 years old at the time.

Laura

Sparks

Odia,
I tried to e-mail you, but it bounced back (I think it was full). Anyway, I also experienced a SCAD when I was 34 in 2005. I would love to help you out with your study. My e-mail address is Sandraatwork@hotmail.com. Feel free to ask me any questions.

Sandra

Farouk

Hi Odia
I hope you are well. I have posted the SCAD case of my wife on this site in another discussion thread (Stephanie2) . I copy here the same and wish to contribute in your ressearch. Thank you for your efforts.
Best Regards
Farouk

"I would like to mention that my wife had a similar experience.
In November 2002, when she was 49 years old, she had a heart attack, and fortunately the hospital was not far from the house and we reached there in 20 minutes.
The doctor found out she had Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection and two stents were placed.
She was very healthy and she had no risk factors for a heart disease.
The dissection did not even happen after pregnancy/delivery. Our three children were already above 18
As you said this condition is very rare with no medical history and we tried to grasp any information from anywhere.
For the first six months, she had to be careful, not getting tired. She had to walk daily for half an hour then gradually increased to one hour. She took Plavix for one year and then only Aspirin 100 (For lifetime)
She is now feeling well and having her regular exercises like walking for around one hour daily or walking (Not running) on the treadmill.
No special diet and no special medicines.
God thanks; after six and a half years she is having a normal life; but we are always anxious from the unknown. What is next??? Does it reoccur?
One positive interpretation from her Gynecologist is that, with the age, the blood vessels will get more rigid with less risk of returning of the Dissection.
I wish you all the health and hope that your pains are in the past"

nancygrace

I wanted to add to the discussion that my MI caused by spasm, which ocurred two days after my MI caused by dissection, was not in the same artery as the dissection. They were separate arteries, so it was not a matter of scar tissue or a dissected artery being sensitive and then going into spasm, although I can't say that could not happen, or that a severe spasm could not dissect an artery.

My arteries were otherwise all normal, as checked out during the cath and stents for my dissection, so apparently there was no abnormality in the other artery that ended up severely spasming two days later. Also my spasm could not be stopped by nitro, oral or intracoronary. My cardio said they ballooned the spasm open but each time they withdrew it closed again, so they placed stents to hold it open it-kind of trial and error on the spot, I guess. Since then (a year and a half) I have been fine, but with more than usual flutters skipped beats off and on, maybe due to heart muscle damage. I also experience my heart racing upon lying down, and after I have been lying down sometimes my heart rate becomes very slow and then misses a beat or two and wakes me. My cardio thinks this is a type of dysautonomia (that I havealways had even prior to MI's). I don't know if that is somehow also related to spasm and dissection, maybe the racing could aggravate an artery that is compromised by perinatal or perimenopausal hormones, viral (inflammation?) connective tissue, or autoimmune factors (in my case I was also diagnosed with rheumatic fever when young, but that usually affects valves). Maybe an artery can be prone to dissecting, but several conditions come together to turn a potential into an actuality, kind of like how many conditions (viral, allergies, stress, weather, fatigue) come together to cause a bad asthma episode in my son, when he can be without symptoms for months to over a year or more.

Kim84

After I had the heart attack caused by SCAD in the LAD, I had spasms while in the ICU. The doctors at the time weren't aware that's what was happening. When they ballooned the artery (RCA) that appeared to be blocked it dissected. My current cardiologist said they should have injected the heart with nitroglycerin to stop the spasms.

Alloriea

I didn't have SCAD but I did have a type a aortic dissection that tore at 29, if I could be of help my email is ADSurvivor@aol.com

wendylee

Hi Amy6,

I too have had a disection (Nov 2008) and have recently (October 2008) been diagnosed with spasms. Now that you ask whether there could be a connection it makes me wonder.... I guess some things we may never know.

wendylee

Mine happened at age 49...

Queen_E

When I saw my cardiologist last week, I asked him if SCAD was the possible cause for my blockage. He said that it is usually seen only in young, healthy women. OUCH - I am 43!
However, since I did have elevated cholesterol for some years, that risk factor is considered my cause.

KAKLeon

A quick hello and welcome to CP, Kim, Amy and PawPaw. You're a gem to help your daughter with this struggle, and I hope she considers the research study Odia is organizing.

I'm excited to see all the posts and new theories coming up -- especially the connective tissue link. Still haven't heard on my son's results.

More later ... off to celebrate the big 44 with a pair of bifocals! What a hoot. Wonder which body part will go out of warranty this year?

Odia

Hi Ami
I think there's a very logical connection between a SCAD and spasms, when comparing it to the musculo-skeletal system: Our muscles get to constrict when/after having a trauma - as a reaction to cold, fear, pain etc. Maybe we can assume that the same mechanism works in the arteries - after having such a trauma of dissecting, the artery reacts in spasming. The question is how to "teach" our artery that the trauma is gone. It might also be a reaction to the scar left by the dissection or the stents being there. The artery "lost his confidence" and the result is spasm.
I personally, one year after my SCAD, still have spasm pains from time to time. I learned how to live with them and thank God i feel very good.
All the best!
Odia

amy6

one more thing--

Does anyone know whether there is a connection between SCAD and spasms? Can spasms cause the dissections? Thanks so much.

Amy

amy6

hey, gang! Thanks to each of you for posting so I know I'm not alone. I had MI in Nov 2006 (at age 48) due to SCAD with 2 emergency stents to save my life. Just had another episode last week of more dissection. All of this has happened during perimenopause for me.

If any of you has felt like you've gotten good medical treatment and advice from your cardiologist, I'd like to email with you and chat. Here's my address: aoden@wesleyseminary.edu.

Does anyone have leads on drs in the Washington DC area to help with this condition? My current cardiologists sing the same tune I've seen in these posts: SCAD is so rare that there is no good science or protocols for it. But our many posts belie this.

Who in the country is the current leading expert? I say we all pool our research skills and identify that person. Or have one of you already done that?

Thanks, Odia for starting this thread. And include me in any research study that gets going. Maybe we can at least help other women in the future.

blessings,
Amy

Kim84

I had an MI in Sept. 2006 due to SCAD. I had a stent placed in my LAD. I wasn't getting any better and the cardiologists couldn't figure out why. When they went in again they thought my RCA was also blocked. They tried to balloon it and caused a dissection which resulted in 3 more stents. I've only had one episode since about 9 months after the initial MI. I had chest pain for several days but the cause was never determined. A cardiac cath. showed no abnormalities. I was 44 at the time, extremely healthy, no risk factors and excercised regularly. The cause has been determined to be a connective tissue disorder. I have been tested for both Marfan's and Ehler Danlos type IV but the results are pending. It is possible that I have neither but instead a genetic defect that presents as an "overlap" of symptoms. I do not take a beta blocker but instead am taking Losaratan at a very low dose since my bp is already low. This is a blood pressure medicine that is currently being clinically tested in Marfan's patients since it appears to reduce the growth of the aorta. The thought is that it may aid in other connective tissue disorders as well.

Kim

Pawpaw

May I humbly seek permission to join in this discussion as I am the proudest pawpaw to three wonderful grandaughters; 28, 16 and <1 mths old.
Their mother our daughter is 38 yrs young and was diagnosed with Spontaneous Dissection like most of you. We have survived much in our forty years of marriage as a loving family dedicated and glued to each other because of this fantastic woman our daughter and we need to get through this with our eyes and ears opened. Especially with people who know and share. Mainly we will listen and attempt to get Kimberly involved. Thank you and His grace upon you.

cpcrisman

I have read all the postings and finally feel that I have someone that understands what I have been through. I searched for perinatal coronary artery dissection and only found case files on people that had died. Not very uplifting when you are trying to figure out how to survive. I was 38 when my SCAD happened on 2/3/2008 when my daughter was 4 1/2 months old. I was told by my cardiologist that he had never seen a case as long after birth as mine. It seems he did rounds/research on this condition when he was interning. They were able to put in a pump and buy me enough time to be transported to a hospital that was able to facilitate by-pass surgery. I would love to assist in any way possible with a research study. I want to know how this could affect my daughter and son. I am also very interested in the connection to a connective tissue issue as I have had GERD for years and just tolerate it. Please contact me if I can be of any assistance crismanc00@yahoo.com.

Thanks to all who are survivors! Your survival stories give me hope!

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