I had a ct scan3 weeks ago and 2 weeks ago a consultant phoned me out of the blue (I was in work) to say I had narrowing of 2 arteries and my options were medication or stents. I opted for medication but now wonder if that was right choice! I don't really know anything about the condition and havnt heard from my GP since so don't even know what medication I will have. I am not sure what I should or shouldn't do, I get tired really easy (very unusual for me) other symptoms too but not sure if they are connected or not.
Trying not to be over panicky but would like more informatio. This is all new to me.
Written by
sailby
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
Welcome to the forum a place you never thought you would be joining. I think first things first you need a conversation with your cardiologist again now you have had chance to think being faced with that telephone call while you were at work your mind must have been all over the place. A conversation with your GP as well, you need as much information as possible. You don’t say how blocked they are or how old you are. I had Aortic valve replaced and bypass so no stents.
The thing to hold onto is that there is they have found you have a problem before anything happens and can put it right.
Remember you are part of the Hearties family, and if you need to speak about what is going on someone will be here to listen, or if you need a shoulder to lean on we are here for that too.
Thank you for your reply and reassurance. It is good to be able to voice my concerns.
Nice to know there is a caring group willing to discuss concerns. I am 50 and hardly had a days illness untill the last year, always been known for my stamina now I am tired after hoovering the living room.!
I know all about that, was like that before heart mended, it’s 4 years since my op and my life is back on track. I am nearly 73 so a lot older than you, so you can see get your heart issue sorted and you will be back on track too.
Hi. I'm not an expert, but was watching a programme on tv the other night.
The guy on there had stents fitted and he said he felt marvellous.
I believe they put the stents in through an artery either in your groin or wrist and are ok again in no time.
I do agree you should talk to the Cardiac people to see what they think, but from experience, a lot of drugs, although helping with your condition, can affect other organs in your body.
I am sorry you feel confused about what is the best treatment options for you.
Have you been diagnosed with angina or coronary artery disease?
A rushed phone call at work perhaps was not the best way to make an informed choice about your ongoing treatment or to understand your CT angiogram results more fully.
The results of a study comparing medication and invasive treatments such as stents to treat narrowing of coronary arteries was published last year. It showed that stents were not necessarily anymore effective.
Here is a link to an article about the ISCHEMIA study.
Hi. Maybe I can tell you about my mum. She had 2 blocked arteries she was quite tired and got out of breath
The stents gold ones were fitted in hours and she was like a new women. They actually lasted 20 years and sadly died of Mnd completely not related at 84.
They changed her life. They are much better now also. Try not to worry to much.
I’m sorry to hear this news and can imagine how you’re feeling as I went through a similar situation - coronary heart disease diagnosed in 2016, initially managed it with meds and lifestyle changes (which worked for awhile) but then had a heart attack/2 stents fitted earlier this year.
In my personal experience they will only insert stents if they feel they have to. When diagnosed, my arteries were only blocked by 30% and they told me that would not insert stents until they were at least 80% blocked. So would take quite some comfort from the fact that they think medication alone (for the moment) is all you need to do.
Without knowing what meds you are taking, the tiredness you are experiencing could be caused by the meds themselves.
So you need to talk to your heart team - cardiologist, local community cardiac nurses and your GP - to get the full set of facts on how this could effect you. Once you have those facts, you will be able to make a more informed decision as to how to proceed.
I'm sorry to hear about your condition. I had pains and breathlessness; I knew nothing about heart disease; I was diagnosed with angina by my GP and given atorvastatin.
Perhaps I was expecting too much too quickly, but the angina pains continued and I wore a groove in the pavement to the doctor. Then I saw the cardiologist at the hospital who thought I was on the right treatment. Little changed apart from a new groove being created, now to the local hospital. An angiogram was offered (I had by that time learned the word). One artery 98% blocked; a second - 60-70% blocked over a longer length. Stent inserted in the first, the second blockage to be attacked with statins.
For me, this didn't remove the pain as I had been expecting, based on what the cardiologist said. 48mm stent then inserted, well, there was an improvement but it took time. Pains went and rehab exercises started. Pains large gone, just occasional twinges.
Then I seemed to react against statins. To tell all the ins and outs would take a long time for a retiree who never learned to type with more than 2 fingers. Anyway, I was off statins for a while, pains returned; an alternative to statins given, pains lessened only.
The symptoms that caused me to query my use of statins returned during that statin free period whilst on the alternative drug. Ooops, so the statins weren't the cause. I am now back on statins and recently realised the pains have virtually gone! I'm apparently back to where I was.
So, why go through all this?
I don't think for me it was a real choice between statins or stents; I needed both.
I had to learn to listen to my body and react to what it was telling me. Looking back, my body's messages were so clear, it was shouting at me, but I was perhaps a bit deaf and certainly ignorant.
Sometimes, I have had to be persistent to really understand what is happening and what might be available to help me; that is not necessarily the same as what is being offered.
I also learned the dangers of Google and books about heart disease (another chapter to tell this). Be careful before going against the advice of doctors - very careful.
We are all different - heart disease is insidious, the lucky ones, like you and I, find out in time; many don't.
Take advantage of the head start you now have to beat back this disease.
I had angina diagnosed as had SOBE. I never had any chest pain. Because I said I was a runner the cardiologist was very keen to get me back running and then they found RCA 100% blocked. So I had a CTO PCI. 3 months later I’m running further than I’ve done in years. Took a while to build back up. After the initial diagnosis aspirin seemed to help but not enough. I think the stents have given me the opportunity to exercise in a way that’ll help my general health going forward. I felt like an old lady before. I have other health issues including lp(a) which can’t be treated but I can mitigate its effects by staying physically fit and eating well
I started suffering with Angina a year ago and wasn't sure what it was. GP treated me for reflux for 2 months after which time when my heart rate was up I had severe chest pains, gasping for breath, lungs burning... then another GP diagnosed it immediately. Anyway, clinic said I needed angiogram to see what was going on then it was wait, covid, wait, angiogram - oh dear thats bad! One of my main arteries was blocked and I was informed I would die if it blocked properly. Doc thought bypass surgery would be best but because of covid they did a couple of stents. They made a huge difference and I stopped getting the worst symptoms of angina. However, you have to take a bunch of pills after stents for a year, blood thinners and Monomil (artery relaxant) plus a beta blocker and a couple of others. I still have mild symptoms when my heart rate goes up during exercise so pop a GNT. Suspect I will be on monomil, betablockers and GTN for ever due to the current symptoms.
Monomil was my main medication before the procedure and it works very well but you can only take it once a day or it starts to loose effectiveness. Betablockers just make me tired as I have a low heart rate already. My experience tells me to go for the intervention if its bad otherwise monomil works very well.
Monomil tends to give you bad head aches for the first few weeks and then its ok.
I had a mild heart attack (no loss of consciousness and just a weird uncomfortable pressure feeling on my chest which I could have ignored, didn't know it was a heart attack) on new year's day this year (I'm only 40). I was taken to hospital where they diagnosed the heart attack from makers in my blood. The next day they sent me for an angiogram. This revealed one of my artery being significantly narrowed. They fitted a stent there and then. I was awake during the whole thing no pain just kind of uncomfortable feelings. They wheeled me out and said I was fixed. I was sent home the next day. It took a little while to recover but I'm not sure if that was due to the heart attack or the sent or both. On quite a few tables to make sure no clots form around the sent and pre covid started going to cardiac rehab ( a gym with trained staff and nurses) where they prescribe exercises to suit your individual circumstances. I've been within 2 months I felt fitter and better than I had in a long while ( although fitness and exercise have never been my strong side). I have continued the exercises all year and it would be easy to forget that the 2 day start to the year in hospital. I did have a delayed extreme reaction to the statin in August but that's another story and very rare.
That's just my experience don't know if it helps, having the stent fitted was interesting and was less uncomfortable than having a nasal endoscopy which I had years ago.
Everyone's situation is different, main thing is catching things early which gives you more options.
Thank you for sharing, everyone has been very helpful and caring .
Hearing other peoples story has helped me understand a bit better about what is happening. I have a better idea of which questions to ask my GP or consultant. I think because of how I was told (Over the phone at work) I didnt take it in so wasn't sure if I had made the right decision.
Sounds like if I want to get back to being active, I like canoeing and hillwalking, I may be better considering having stents.
You made the right decision for you in that moment based on the time and circumstances. Your answer then doesn't have to be your answer now. Write all your questions down. Even the one's you think might be silly and speak to your dr or consultant (some questions might only be answerable by your consultant) then take your time weighing up the pros and cons (because there are both). I would guess your a borderline case otherwise the consultant would have reccomended one or the other. Mine wasn't a either or choice, it was what I needed.
Welcome. Firstly, this does seem a very poor way of giving you important information.
If I were you I’d contact the cardiologist’s secretary and chase up the CT report and ask for a copy.
My CT report contained useful information including on the size of the heart and the amount of calcium in my arteries (the Agaston score). It will obviously also tell you where your arteries might be narrowed and by how much. Mine stated the blockages as minimal (0 - 24%) and mild (25 - 49%). It takes an angiogram (where a small camera is passed through the arteries) to give precise detail.
Normally, if the CT shows significant blockage, the next step is to have an angiogram. The fact that this hasn’t happened in your case is reassuring - but you do need to know the numbers.
In my case, the cardiologist advised me to take medication as there were no significant blockages and I had no symptoms. He also said in passing that, in his experience, CT’s tend to over estimate blockages (but I’m sure you’ll hear from others with the opposite experience). He referrred me to the study Milkfairy quoted.
One thing I did when I had my report was to see a cardiologist privately and go through the report line by line. I also had a stress echocardiogram that gave me further reassurance.
A final point. I’ve seen three different cardiologists in the last year. All have emphasised the importance of statins in treating heart disease. If not for the cholesterol lowering, then for its ability to stabilise plaque and reduce inflammation.
Always feel free to ask if you have any questions. This forum contains a lot of knowledge and experience.
Hi 🙋♀️ I would go for stents I got one 2 years ago an easy painless procedure, I was getting out of breath before the stent was fitted, I had a heart attack that’s why I got a stent, I have CAD same as you have
Hi Everyone Thank you for all of your help, advice and general reassurance.
The decision ended up being taken out of my hands in the end.
I was taken to A&E with chest neck and arm pain and breathlessness (symptoms had been getting worse over last couple of weeks) ECG was clear so A&E discharged me with painkillers. Before my lift arrived I was called me back in for second opinion. an oncall cardiologist went through my notes and put me as priority case. I was admitted immediately started on treatment (I still hadnt received anything from GP!) and 48 hours later had 2 stents inserted.
The procedure was extremely painful as there was a lot of resistance.
2 of my arteries were severely blocked and others had minor blockages.
Cardiologist said I was like a ticking time bomb- Thankfully it has now been diffused with 2 stents and a ton of meds.
Hi, sorry to hear of your condition, best to take stent as medication won't get rid of your problem, they will only give blood thinners and statins with betablockers that takes strain of the heart. But this isn't the cure.
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
Stents
Stents
stents
Stent
