GP sent me to the emergency Chest Pain Clinic at the hospital yesterday after several bouts of severe chest pain and breathlessness. Have raised Troponin levels and ECG 'not right'.......Diagnosed as Angina and Ischaemic Heart disease. Have been taking Statins for two months but Cholesterol still very high. Because I am asthmatic and allergic to aspirin the Consultant says that he can not give me beta blockers and blood thinners. Have angina spray now and to have angio gram.
He was very kind and helpful and sent me a way with reassurance that if I re assess my diet and increase activity and reduce stress all will be welll-ish.... so could do with some support really.
BHF have lots of information and have sent off for some booklets but feeling a bit lost
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GangstaGranny
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Hi GG. Sorry to hear your problems. Try and go to your local pharmacist and ask for alternatives to beta blockers and aspirin they will have a better idea of what works with asthma. Also you may want to talk to your GP about seeing if you can join a rehab class before the angiogram just to get you moving gently. I follow a strict vegan diet and lots of raw oats!!! (I know! But actually they’re quite tasty! Honest) that has brought my cholesterol down quite substantially as well as my weight. As you say sometimes you can feel lost and overwhelmed. Stay strong and take care. Zena
Ask your GP surgery if there are any support groups in your area. I also follow a vegan diet. To see why watch the film "Forks Over Knives". It is on Netflix and YouTube. It is about global medical heart research and the findings, including a massive study of 800,000 Chines people. You might find it helpful, I did. I have lost loads of weight and my cholesterol has come down from 5.3 to 3.3.
Have seen this film as daughter is vegan. I raised my three children as vegetarians, they went on to marry vegetarians and rased their children as vegetarians too...we are all avid label readers.
Unless your asthma's poorly controlled or very severe, i.e: on oral medication, beta blockers should be fine. With inhaled asthma medication, you may need to alter your asthma action plan to mitigate the effect of the beta blockers, but they can be taken together. On another thread about asthma and beta blockers I did explain why. It may however be a risk vs benefit advice the consultant has given you. In my case the diagnosis was suspected arrhythmia, which is where the heart does not beat properly and can cause arrest, therefore, a beta blocker was more strongly clinically indicated than would be for you.
I second the advice above about talking to the pharmacist. Pharmacists know more about medications than doctors do, if they have now developed a cardio selective beta blocker ( I know they were trying and this would be safe for an asthmatic) the pharmacist is the one who is going to know about it. The same goes for aspirin alternatives.
Have to go to the pharmacy to pick up my new medication...Adizem...which the Consultant put me on. Been reading the info online and it says it shouldn't be taken if you are taking statins, so am confused. Will ask the phramacist.
The same thing happened to me last month; for couple weeks I had been experiencing chest pain and breathlessness upon doing anything.
I have same diagnosis but am on beta blockers and statins and awaiting echo and angiogram..... apparently this problem is prevalent in my family.
It’s terrifying and I walked round for the first couple weeks feeling like a ticking time bomb but I’m getting used to it and realising I’ve got it, no amount of being cross about it will make it go away, so I’ve got to just get on with it.
Listening to your body is important, when it’s tired rest. I still have days where I sit and cry and think “why me” but it gets me nowhere. I’ve lost weight and changed my eating habits greatly which has helped ..... no one told me I needed to lose weight but I know I did.
I wish you all the very best and hope you get some help soon... talk to your GP. I went back to see mine and hugged her to say thank you xx
Thank you Carol...I too felt like a ticking time bomb when I sat on the bus coming home from the hospital, but talked it through with husband and daughters who all asked...did I want to sit at home all day afraid to move 'just in case' or continue with my regular walking and painting and so on even if it meant dying outside !!! Cheerful lot my family. So I opted for the outside scenario...BUT...with modifications...like always taking the mobile phone with me (am not a mobile phone person) to always take the angina spray with me and to text near by daughter and husband regularly and just be sensible...if am out of puff...sit. If some days am too tired that give myself permission to stay home.....will learn to live with it am sure, better than sitting moping.
Thank you for your encouragement...we'll do this together!!!
Hallo GG. I also have angina & ischaemic heart disease... diagnosed 6 months ago. I've just finished cardio rehab classes, but think you should wait till after your angiogram. After that you can ask the heart nurse to put you on the rehab class list. Here in Harrogate I had to wait 3 months after my angiogram before a vacancy came up for the rehab class. I also needed to lose weight & after losing 11lbs hit a plateau. Then joined Slimming World last month & losing more. One of my favourite breakfast recipes is layering up to 40 raw oats with fat free sugar free yogurt & mixed berries. Leave overnight in fridge & enjoy next morning. Instead of beta blockers I'm on an ACE inhibitor isosorbide mononitrate & rosuvastatin for cholesterol & ramipril for high blood pressure. My chest pains have stopped, BP down, cholesterol down. So I hope they can find a suitable statin for you that will bring it down. All the best. Clare
I suggest you eat an apple every day, add garlic to all main meals these measures will bring down cholesterol and your blood pressure. If you do not like garlic- just get to like it, finely chop it add olive oil and make a dressing for daily salads.
If you are overweight then this is a major area for improvement, if you are then just get your weight down so that you are in the middle of the BMI range- try to keep off medications as much as possible- but be sensible.
Thank you Harry...this is my philosophy , and need no encouragement to eat apples, as I already eat three or four a day, and numerous carrots sticks too. Am not overweight and also use garlic in cooking as I make all meals from scratch.
Hi a was 35yrs old 8stone and an athlete for years,so sometimes it’s inherent so a would ask about that,am also allergic to aspirin so a take a clopidogrel 75mgs,after being sent to the lipo clinic they realised a had familiar cholesterol disorders so the 80 mags of statins weren’t bringing it down from 9.8,so hospital started me on ezetrol (only constants can give you this)so it’s coming dwn slowly,it takes at least a year to sort medication out cause different ones work for different people and side affects vary,defo talk to your doctor about support,you also get used to different pains and learn to know when your heart is in trouble!!if you need any more advice feel free to give me a shout wishing you all the best xx
I was diagnosed with Amgina and Late Onset Asthma at the same time. I am on Aspirin, Beta Blockers, Statins and others as well as Steroid Inhaler twice daily. Perhaps it would be possible to change your Asthma regime to suit the Aspirin and Beta Blockers.
The aspirin brings me out in a terrible rash and makes it difficult to breathe! ...so not a chnace of taking beta blockers or aspirin. The Clopidogrel gave me a gastric bleed so GP stopped that.
Wow you don't believe in straightforward do you? Have you been given any "stomach protection" Lansoprazole for example. This may not be an answer for you. Have you been in touch with the cardiac specialist nurses at your hispital? I found them to be very helpful and were a good way of checking with Cardiologist Consultant without waiting for appointments.
It seems you need to get some reasdurance that things can be controlled for you. Try calling Nurse Specialist.
Unfortunately I live in a town whose hospital has been in "special measures" for the last four years and recent NHS cuts meant the loss of seven doctors from the once excellent Cardiology Unit....we don't have such things as Nurse Specialists and Cardio Rehab is available in another town an hours bus ride away!
Was prescribed the Lanzoprazole but that is not a medication for long term use...it does more harm than good....so it is up to me to "self manage"...which is the most overused word in both GP surgery and hospital clinics
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