How long................

[pinkhairedgirl]

Hi, I'm being a bit pathetic and am just seeking some reassurance please?

I had a 35mm stent to the RCA 10 days ago, which at the time was 100% occluded (side question - why did I not have a heart attack?) They couldn't get in through my wrist so had to go in through the groin, even though they had managed to do the angio through my wrist. Long story short, my question is I have extensive bruising to my thigh and other unmentionable places and persistent pain which is affecting my mobility, how long does this normally last? Any advice gratefully accepted

[JakJenLew]

I had my first angiogram through my groin was uncomfortable for a week and a lot of bruising , but when I had my 2nd heart attack had it stent done through wrist and then 3rd heart attack wrist again it was just a lot of discomfort... it was more pain with groin but the Dr said it was because my arteries were small ... As for not having a heart attack ... Just be glad you didn't go through that too ... ♥️

[skid112 Heart Star]

Hi pinkhairedgirl,

You are not being pathetic, its all new. For your side question, no one really knows why heart attacks happen to some and not to others.

Bruising, normal after an angiogram, assume you are on blood thinners too as these exacerbate the bruising issue. Pain still after ten days seems a little unusual, do you have a follow up appointment? Can you call the hospital and speak to a cardiac nurse, or the BHF helpline 0300 330 3311, open 9 till 5 Monday to Friday to try and get some reassurance

[Prada47 in reply to skid112]

I to have an occluded RCA which the Cardiologist is going to attempt to open, he estimates a 75% chance of success. When I had bypass surgery the surgeon said he couldn't do anything with it nothing to bypass !!!

With regards not having an MI I think it could be that the occlusion takes so long to build, that the heart muscle finds other sources of supply from the other arteries. Not an expert on this but that's what was explained to me.

I have had both wrist and groin entry without a lot of problems just they keep using the right groin because most people are right handed and its easier to thread the tool with the stent, so a radiologist told me.

regards

[pinkhairedgirl]

Thanks all - was having a bad evening. Thank you for your kind responses. I have had coffee today with an friend who has had a similar experience and to some extent has put my mind at ease. Also I am seeing my GP tomorrow and will see what she says...........

[Marc68]

Hi Pinkhairedgirl.

Sorry you're still having pain. On the subject of why you didn't have a heart attack.. as well as the main arteries serving the heart there is an extensive network of smaller collateral blood vessels. These are too small to be seen during an angiogram but they are there. When plaque starts to occlude the main arteries, these collaterals compensate for the loss of blood flow. New collaterals even form to create a natural bypass. This means that your heart still receives blood even when a main artery is fully blocked.

There is a school of thought that plaque build up might not be the real cause of heart attacks, with the true cause being an imbalance of the sympathetic (fight or flight) and parasympathetic (rest & digest) sides of the autonomic nervous system. The jury is still out on that though.

It'd be good to hear the BHF's take on this new theory. Hidden

[Hidden in reply to Marc68]

Hi there - yes, you're on the right lines with collateral blood vessels but some are actually quite big and show up on angio! Quite interesting stuff really, the body never cease to amaze.

The nervous system's role is an interesting theory, and something we don't fully understand yet. There's a huge body of reliable evidence that plaque rupture is the primary cause of heart attacks, but we need to look into what other factors feed into this. For example, we're making some headway in understanding the role of inflammation and heart attacks, which you can read more about here: bhf.org.uk/news-from-the-bh...

[Marc68 in reply to Hidden]

Hi Chris. Now that I've looked a bit deeper into it, the human body is truly amazing. It's so complex it's hard to comprehend.. so many chemicals and interactions there's not much chance of understanding most of it unless trained as a professional. I can appreciate why there are so many specialisms in medicine now.

The autonomic balance theory seems to make some sense to me, as a layman, but I'm sure there's plenty of stuff that isn't mentioned and which I simply don't know about. Going by my own experience, my HA happened in the middle of the night when asleep (which I'm told isn't uncommon) so I'm not sure there would have been anything just prior that would have lowered my parasympathetic response, or provided a stressor that raised the fight or flight response. I didn't have any unusual stress going on at the time, in fact, quite the opposite.

Thanks for the link, that's very interesting. One things for sure, I'll never understand the body even remotely as much as dedicated healthcare professionals so I think I'll leave it to you lot.