Chest tightness

[Spinqueen59]

Hello everyone I’m a newbie on here and I’m hoping for a little bit of advice . 5 months ago I started having chest tightness and breathlessness on exercising which progressively got worse and couldn’t even hold a conversation . I was sent to a and e by my doctor and they diagnosed angina and booked me in for a stress test and sent me home with a gtn spray and aspirin . Before the test I was admitted to the hosp and had an angiogram which found I very narrowing of the lad and had a stent put in . The first month afterwards I felt good and started to do light exercises again . But the chest tightness has returned in that’s its there all the time now and It feels like my bra is too tight and sometimes my left arm feels warm . When I excercise I can only do 15 minutes before I need to stop have a spray and rest before continuing. If out cycling this is 10 minutes but if I’m cycling into the wind or a very slight incline it’s literally 5 minutes but Luckily I live in a flat area . I know this is an improvement to what I was like pre stent but was hoping for something better .

The cardiologist says I shouldn’t be feeling like this as there was no sign of any other probs in the angiogram but has ordered a ct scan and he added a calcium blocker to my meds

I also seem to cough on exertion and bending down to tie shoes is dreadful

I’m 59 and hope there’s some help from you guys ..

Thankyou

[MichaelJH Heart Star]

Hello and welcome to the forum! I strongly suspect you have a condition called restenosis. The process of putting in a stent involves opening up the artery by inflating a balloon prior to inserting the stent. This causes a degree of trauma. Occasionally the body may react and in trying to heal itself cause narrowing within the stent - a process known as restenosis. This usually occurs within 3 - 12 months of stent insertion and I have strong suspicion this is what has occurred. The tests you are having should determine the cause of your issues. They can put stents within stents. Single vessel bypasses are rare but most common for the LAD which is probably the most important artery. Do keep us updated.

[Spinqueen59 in reply to MichaelJH]

Thankyou for your reply . It’s very interesting read . I’m going to read more on this

[Phil_London in reply to MichaelJH]

Its either that, which can be seend on an ECG or another CT scan or its the medication, The first few months for me was a little like that and some was actually anxiety and other was the meds, as I changed a couple it all settled down. And of course you will now notice every tightness and twinge in your chest which ypu would have ignored previously.

[Spinqueen59 in reply to Phil_London]

I do feel like I’m going backwards again now

[Phil_London in reply to Spinqueen59]

I think with the doubts you have the way you feel that it is time to insist on seeing the cardiologist for your own peace of mind and to find out why all is not right, can you call your GP and set up an appointment for the rapid chest pain clinic in the hospital or your cardiologist from the last procedure. Try to keep.positive as I am sure there are things that can be done to help you.

[Spinqueen59 in reply to Phil_London]

I’ve had a pretty rough day today and Called the cardiologist secretary to see if she has an idea of when the ct scan will be . Sadly she doesn’t .

If I feel like this again tomor I will phone my gp and go from there. Thankyou

[Phil_London in reply to Spinqueen59]

And if not, A&E and they will also help you

[Mikedabike]

Hello and welcome to the forum. I am really pleased to see they have booked you in for a CT scan. This is purely a personal opinion, but my own view is that the medical teams should have done more investigation at the outset. Unless they did give you a CT scan earlier, in which case I apologise. Good luck with your progress.

[Spinqueen59 in reply to Mikedabike]

No didn’t have a cat scan just went straight to the angiogram

[Zemer]

I remember feeling like that after my stents August 19. It took a while before I started to feel better. Every sensation petrified me but they had warned in cardio that we would have hyper awareness of bodily sensations, I guess like post traumatic stress after the event. 4 months in I felt i was going backwards, beginning to feel worse instead of better. Tightness and achiness going up my shoulders, round my neck, round my stomach and ribs. It seemed to be after eating evening meal mostly so I wondered was it digestion as my heart and blood pressure mostly seemed ok. Before Christmas I had to go back to A&E and there they thought it might be gallstones. They prescribed Nexium and put me down for scan after Christmas and told me not to eat any fats. I could eat hardly anything over Christmas but happy I was at home with family. The scan later showed no gallstones, only insignificant cyst on the liver. By this time I realised a lot of it was digestion issues from the meds and not anything to do with the stents (x2). I am a year past the stents now and only beginning to have a handle on balancing the digestion situation. I also had an MRI but it all showed normal function of the heart. I'd like to go off the Nexium as I'm afraid for bone health to be on it long term but I'm afraid to come off it at the moment in case I go backwards again into all that pain and discomfort. Hope any of this helps.

[Spinqueen59 in reply to Zemer]

Thank you . That’s a great help . I hate to take meds and cant wait until I’m off them so hoping this is the problem and not heart related . Glad you’re feeling a little better. I think with the COVID situation Everything is taking longer than normal. I’m also waitin for cardiac rehab to to get back to me

[Zemer in reply to Spinqueen59]

That's good if you get appointment. I think the statins wreak havoc with digestive system. I was on 80mg and they reduced it to 40mg. Everyone is different and it all takes time but do get it checked. I've balanced it out now with a small little glass of prune juice as the colon can get so congested. I think with the statins food is not moving along the colon as it would normally and they also cause trapped gas which can create so many aches and pains here and there like you never had before and of course you think every pain might be heart related. Hope you get a little more peace of mind about it all soon.

[Spinqueen59]

Just thought I’d update . Had my cat scan last night , which I was so thankful for as it’s another step closer to finding a solution. Scan went okay although I have a bad swollen sore arm As the dye leaked from the vein into the tissues . But it’s just another bruise to add an I’m sure all will be okay tomorrow

Thanks all