Pericarditis pain killers stopped

[Askthebees]

Just seen the GP due to continuing pain after over 3 months. Actually worse in the last few weeks. Prescribed naproxen instead of ibuprofen. Had a stent fitted this time last year so she called my cardiologist. As a result all NSAID painkillers other than my low dose asprin have been cancelled. Now seriously worried about coping. Paracetamol has not worked well.

[MichaelJH Heart Star]

Mid-range pain killers can be an issue with some ACE and ARB inhibitors for blood pressure. Post bypass I had to go on Tramadol as Paracetamol was as effective as Smarties when I came off the morphine. Could co-codamol be suitable? I am uncertain as I cannot take it for other reasons. Might be worth running past your GP as pain is draining!

[Thatwoman]

I had pericarditis 3 years ago and still have ongoing pain. After none of the standard painkillers worked I was referred to the Refractory Angina Clinic, which is essentially a pain clinic for ongoing chest pain. They tried me on lots of different combinations of drugs until we found something that worked. For me it was Tapentadol, a synthetic opioid. It was life changing! Sadly it doesn’t work for me anymore, so we’re back to trying different things. I had a spinal nerve block, but it hasn’t been very successful, so I’m having more tests and then we’re going to try something else.

I would definitely recommend a pain clinic because they have the expertise and there are a lot of options that are only open to them. They have also had me doing mindfulness and chair yoga, which doesn’t stop the pain but does help to cope with it. (I wasn’t very impressed at the suggestion, but it did actually help!)

Good luck!