Post Angioplasty pain

[Xauras]

Hello everyone, I have just joined as I have had a triple stent procedure to correct a long diffuse segment of proximal disease of the LAD. And the circumflex artery which had the appearance of a thrombus and so was treated as the acute lesion with a drug-eluting 3.5x50mm stent.

I first noticed I was having difficulty obtaining oxygen when completing rowing my usual 2000 mtrs in 8min 30Seconds. I also noticed I was getting breathless when climbing stairs, which surprised me as I have always been physically active, work wise and had practised martial arts & was exercising regularly by running cycling and of course rowing, and weight training. I put it down to my age Nearly 60 & high blood pressure. Until I had a shock to the heart one day, which was something I had never experienced before. It felt like there was something living & writhing within my chest, and I was waiting for a big bolt to hit. But it calmed down after what I recall as about 8-seconds.

It turned out I had Significant arterial disease and needed angioplasty. Where I had the stents fitted, following the procedure I was in considerable pain from my chest up through my neck and my left arm. I was kept in overnight and went home the following day. But the pain remained, and had difficulty sleeping especially on my left side. The following night (3rd night) the pain became excruciating and travelled down to my left wrist and my fingers were tingling like pins and needles. I rested as best I could although was very concerned, and tried to relax. I lasted the night out but had to call my Cardiologist upon which he re-admitted me. My Blood pressure had risen to over 160/100 and I had another angiogram which showed everything was satisfactory. Everything seemed to settle down and as I opted not to have the sedation for the procedure I could return home the same day.

However - I still have constant pain in my chest and it increases if I sleep on the left side and as I have slowly and very steadily returned to very light exercising the pain seems to intensify after, and lasts for about 24 hours before easing off, I also get a spike in BP. I am wondering if this is normal 6 weeks after the procedure and if so how long will it take to get to settle down?

Thank you. I have read many posts already but not had this query addressed. If I have missed any that are relevant I would appreciate the link.