Angiogram and next chapter of my cardiac rollercoaster to come

[spros]

Hello my fellow hearties,

I haven't posted on this forum for quite some time, since I was first diagnosed aged 48 with CAD in Oct 2017 and was terried. I drew then, and still draw on now, massive comfort from how kind eveyone here is in sharing their worries, experiences, thoughts and kindnesses - it really helped place my own (basket case level) fears into some perspective.

Since my diagnosis, I have been treated with medication and lifestyle and have tried to lead as healthy a life as possible - walk an hour a day, healthy diet and got down to normal weight etc....was never a smoker, so at least I didn't have to fight giving that up

I thought I was doing reasonably well, but have had increasing doubts about the origin of the intermittent chest and back pain I experience. It doesn't appear with exertion, and so the GPs have tried to assure me it's very likley musco-skeletal - a phrase I have come to dislike, as surely in my mind musco-skeletal pain would almost certianly have been caused by some kind of strain and would also resolve - mine has been going on for over a year. And being an anxious hearty, I've always thought (read feared) it's cardiac in origin.

So to cut a long story short, I have pushed to get more tests done and today had a stress echo which shows some abnormalities in my heart in the areas where my arteries are known to be narrow from scans in late 2017 - so referred for an angiogram to see what the next course of action will be.

From what has been explained to me - if simple to fix it'll be stents, if not simple / possible to stent, potentially other treatments like a CABG.

Not sure why I'm writing this (I'm a bit dazed to be honest) and deep down, I always thought I'd be very lucky to get away with medication & lifestlye only - but I suppose I'm saying we're the best judges for our own conditions, and if it doesn't feel right it's worth perservering for more answers.

Also. I'm sure as the time for the angiogram nears, my basket case fear level will come back with a vengeance, and then I'll be hoping one or two of my fellow hearties will be kind enough to talk me down from the metaphorical ledge

Sorry for the tortuously long and dull post ...I'll try and do better next time !

Best wishes to all

Ronan

[fergusthegreat]

Hi Spros,

You're symptoms sound very similar to mine except I was 51. I suffered with sub sternal chest pain for years that was always put down to anxiety because it disappeared with exercise.

I had a chest Ct scan for a non related cause and a random fInding was calcification in the LAD so was started on statins.

Nine months later I suffered an ACS while walking the dog and ended up with a mid LAD stent. At my follow up with the cardiologist I completed the whole 21 minutes on a exercise stress test with no ecg changes indicative of an excellent result from my stenting.

It's now 26 months since my surgery and it has taken me a long time to come to terms with having heart disease but I'm hoping that leading a healthy lifestyle with put off any more stents for a while.

Everyone is different but I feel much safer having a stent holding open my artery rather than relying on tablets so in my opinion do not worry about the angiogram and treatment, be glad you are getting it.

Any other questions let me know

Cheers Mark

[spros in reply to fergusthegreat]

Thanks for the reassuring words Mark. I know exactly what you mean about coming to terms with things. I have had wobbles in the 18 months since diagnosis that resulted in medication / lifestyle treatment......wobbling again now a bit as I moved toward the more invasive treatments

[Deanosbeano]

Angiogram is the gold standard and will give you a path .

I had all the tests at 48 but the angiogram was definitive. I had your symptoms but I had CAD and Heartburn so I never knew what was giving me the pains . Ranitidine and diet sorted the heartburn and CABG sorted the Angina thankfully.

[spros in reply to Deanosbeano]

Thanks Deano - that's great to hear that you got sorted.

[Stu888]

Hi you are in exactly the same position as I was about 6 months ago plus I have a massive fear of injections into veins. My MRI stress test had shown abnormalities in areas where a CT angiogram had shown narrowing.

All my fears were misplaced as the invasive angiogram was pretty much painless due to local anaesthetic and my stress eased by sedatives. The hospital staff were great and eased any worries (Broadgreen, Liverpool) Also those who needed stents were able to go home on the same day as the procedure and seemed without a care.

My chest discomfort was entirely due to anxiety and worry .

[spros in reply to Stu888]

Thanks for your kind words Stu...... I'm based in London, and will defintiely take full advanatge of the cath lab's sedative offerings

My consultant letter mentions regional wall motion abnormalities that revealed in the ehco stress test (none of these seen in a cardiac perfusion MRI test one month earlier) so rightly or wrongly, I'm kinda bracing myself that there is a physical problem.

I'll know more soon I guess...

Thanks again

Ronan