HA, stents & pericarditis

[Outforawalk]

Hi - I am new to the forum, I had a HA 5 weeks ago out of the blue (42, fit, moderately healthy lifestyle, non smoker and no family history). I had 4 stents fitted in a lower marginal artery... pardon my ignorance on the terminology, in simple terms and from the images I was shown I had a blockage cleared and then 3 narrowings “downstream” on the same artery which were stented at the same time.

Apparently everything else looked in good order and the disease was localised.

After the stent procedure I was in a lot of pain breathing and was very uncomfortable in anything other than the sitting position. Thankfully this only lasted about 18 hours and painkillers kept it at bay, and was diagnosed as pericarditis due to the work done when putting the stents in. I have been prescribed colchicine to be reviewed in three months.

Other than odd niggles of pain I have been relatively comfortable since being home from hospital, I have now built up to walking 50 minutes structured (5 easy, 5 brisk) as advised by cardiac rehab physio. I also started doing the BHF cardiac rehab DVD workouts last week starting on level 3 again as advised. It’s fair to say I got a bit carried away on Friday because I was feeling good and have suffered intermittent sharp left sided pain on and off over the weekend, easing today.

I’m just wondering if anyone has any experience of pericarditis after stents, I don’t know whether the pains are from stents, part of normal recovery (as cardiac rehab nurse advised), due to pericarditis or a combination of all of the above. I’m not overly concerned because the pain comes and goes quickly and I am otherwise fine, but interested to hear others experiences.

Sorry for the war and peace first post!

[Kswiss]

Ii had stents fitted 9 months ago and at first hand minor pain at times after work out or walking , did get concerned about it so did ask and doctor told me 2 things (I was 49 then 50 now ) first he said people who have never had any serious health issues then out of blue have one then you loose you invincible cloak you wear where you think it wont happen to you but it can , next thing he said was you will have had pains in your cheast all your life but your mind woudnt think about it but your incident it picks it up , you know every check up since every thing has been good go gym 3 nights a week now well did but work out at home now , the thing I found the hardest to deal with was what was in my head as every thing was fine and is now hope this helps

[Outforawalk in reply to Kswiss]

Thank you, that seems to be the common consensus, that every niggle becomes a “what’s that?” thought initially.

[Sunnie2day]

I saw your question last night just after you posted it and was hoping someone with both stents and post-procedure pericarditis would check in and reply.

Hasn't happened -yet. Don't give up, there are several members here who have gone through the same thing and will be able to give you the benefit of their experience.

As for me, no stents (I had an angiogram in late November 2019) as I have clear coronaries - but I do have recurrent pericarditis.

With pericarditis, what you describe (pain after doing just that little too much) is relatively 'normal' and to be expected. However 'to be expected' it is, logging time-date-duration-severity-recovery is important as it is very helpful for the medics to use as a diagnostic tool should things go a bit more wobbly than wanted.

Pericarditis on its own is not pleasant - the ache and fatigue really takes it out of you and can last months, I'm sorry to say.

What the combination of new stents and pericarditis is, I cannot speak to and hopefully someone who can will be along soon.

[Outforawalk in reply to Sunnie2day]

Hi Sunnie2day

Thanks for taking the time to respond, it is much appreciated. Thanks for the guidance on pericarditis, I expect the symptoms and causes are the same irrespective of the cause of the condition.

Kind Regards