Pericarditis - Am I getting better or is this developing into something worse

[Stanadams20]

I’m 24 years old. I am in good physical health. I have got diagnosed with pericarditis just under 3 months ago. I went into A&E with chest pain and back pain, felt like I’d pulled a muscle in my back and turned out to be pericarditis. I was initially given colchicine for 2 weeks and told after to take ibuprofen 600mg 3 times a day. It seemed to help at first but now I’m in a position where the chest pain isn’t that bad, it’s there one day and not there another but it’s not too painful anymore. My blood pressure is 120/75, my resting heart rate is 60-65 bpm but changes and sometimes goes to 70-75bpm. Oxygen levels are normal.

I’ve had an echo about 6 weeks ago and they said it was looking good. I’ve been feeling good then I went for a check up the other day and my ECG still shows a massive abnormality and is still showing pericarditis. I’m thinking this is just getting worse but I’m also thinking it’s getting better too. I don’t really know what to do next.

I don’t mind if it’s good news or bad I just want to know what people’s experiences are with this sort of thing and if I need to learn to adapt with this pericarditis for a long period of time. Any help is much appreciated

[Sunnie2day]

I've had recurrent pericarditis since the late 1990s (mine is owing to having Dengue Fever Stage2 in the mid-90s).

Your pain is lessening and your vitals indicate you are stable - that's a very good thing. Your ECG, however, indicates you are still in an acute phase but that is to be expected as you must have had a whopping initial case for it to show up on an ECG at all. You may want to ask for a more involved echo to see if there is scarring and thickening on your pericardial wall, and possibly leaking from the pericardial sac out to the heart and valves (may explain why it's still showing on the ECG - but I am not medically trained and this is only for you and your medics to discuss).

We've talked about this before so I'll simply remind you:

There is no guide book for pericarditis even in countries where the condition is endemic - and especially not in countries like the UK where pericarditis is a very rare condition.

Recovery period is different from 'acute phase' (or in recurrent, 'acute flare' which I am in the now, blast it).

Clearing an acute flare can take months with recovery (once the acute phase is fully cleared) can take as long or longer.

[Hidden]

Hi there same as you but I had pericarditus last april same meds I still have chest pain and jaw / back even now as I write this but trying to get on with things as i have been assured by the medical gods at hosp I'm not about to keel over also pulse rate fluctuates but I am 56 my resting heart rate is 55/ 60 sleeping is low 40s but reacts ok when i exercise and pain gets no worse if I exercise or not so give it time rest as much as you can but keep healthy and try not to get anxious as this only makes you worse but do keep an eye on it if you do feel like its getting worse go to a and e