Hi all. I'm going to take the plunge and finally seek medical attention about whether I have angina. I'm so scared because I have always been active and I have been looking after my husband who will not live for long. I have been getting my healthy lifestyle back but I'm experiencing something in my chest which doesn't seem right. It's like an indigestion. At first, I thought it was acid reflux, or menopausal. I have been scared to go to the doctors because I'm worried about my employment prospects when I'm on my own again (after my husband passes) but my logical brain has kicked in. First, I'm not going to be able to look after him if I'm unwell and second, I'm hoping that I can live with this condition if I have it. Any perspectives appreciated.
please help about how your angina got... - British Heart Fou...
please help about how your angina got diagnosed and how yo live with it.
I suggest you try and get a diagnosis soon for what may be wrong with you.It could well be something simple and easy to deal with.Even if it is something more serious it is your decision whether you get treatment for it now .It sounds to me you need to take smal steps and face your health problems bit by bit rather than be overwhelmed by them.
Thank you. I agree.
Please don't be afraid to seek help.
I have lived with a less common type of angina for 9 years.
With the correct treatment it is possible to live well with angina.
I suggest you give the Cardiac nurses on the BHF helpline a call , they are usually very supportive and knowledgeable.
Hi ShunnyM. Sorry to hear about your Husband. I used to get so many Attacks of Angina, eventually diagnosed through my GP and Blood Tests when caring for my Sister for 4 years, he prescribed the GTN Spray. It worked for me. He put it down to Stress. It does give you a bit of a Headache but I would rather that than have pain in the Chest!! Don't be afraid though, that is what your Doctor is there for! I'm not saying that this is the case with you, but could well be! Take Care 💘
Hi ShunnyM. I am so sorry to hear of your situation. As you have already realised, the problems with your health can't be ignored any longer. If you can achieve a diagnosis you will hopefully be able to find a solution. This will be important for both the care of your husband and your own future. Contact your GP asap and don't be fobbed off with any excuses. As a carer you do a fantastic job and in turn deserve the best care also.
I had a heart attack and 2 stents 2 years ago and in many ways I am still in denial - don't make the same mistake as me. It slows down your recovery and affects your mental health as well. Wishing you all the very best. X
I was in denial for about 18 months about my angina - consulted Dr Google (a really bad idea - don't do it!) and convinced myself it was asthma, even though I only had a few symptoms of asthma, but all the symptoms of angina! I echo the advice to see your doctor - it may be angina, it may be something else, but once you've had a diagnosis, you'll at least know where you stand and it may be something that's quite easy to treat. I ended up having 3 stents, a straightforward procedure which has given me a new lease of life - I hadn't realised how much a blocked artery was sapping my energy. With the current demands on you, please take some time out to look after your own health, because it will help sustain you during the tough times ahead. Very best wishes to you. xx
I was scared, too, when I first had symptoms last year in August. I thought I was having a heart attack. Anyway, after several tests, I've been diagnosed with a type of angina. I'm on medication to help control the angina. I'm working......so don''t be afraid. Go see your GP for help.
I would say go to your doctor now and get it checked.
I has very mild symptoms, that I put down to either indigestion or damaged lungs due to covid, even though I didn't think I'd had covid, ( hadn't.)
My doctor sent me to hospital to get checked properly. It turned out I had multiple blockages and needed a bypass. Now 10 months after the op I am absolutely fine, feeling better than I have in years.
Bear in mind, they may have found nothing, or had the blockages been less severe they would have been able to fix it with a stent or 2, which would have been a much smaller op. As it was, I could literally have dropped dead at any time and I am massively lucky to still be here, and that it was caught before it did any real damage.
So sorry about your husband, but your health and future is what matters.
I see. Yes, like me, mild symptoms can be even more risky than explicit ones as there is a tendency to talk it away. I will go and get it checked out. Can you tell me what your mild symptoms involved, if yo didn't mind. Thank you.
Hi. No problem.
I live in Spain and cycle quite a lot. I was pretty overweight, but r, "Pretty fit for a fat bloke." We weren't allowed to cycle for over a 2 months during the first lockdown.
After we were able to cycle again, whenever I went out on the bike, for the first five minutes, I would get a burning sensation in what felt like the tops of my lungs. This would pass after about 5 minutes and not return no matter how far I rode or how high a mountain I rode up.
At first I thought this was just my lungs as I was exercising for the first time for a while and it was still a bit chilly. Then as it got warmer I thought maybe I had had covid and this had damaged my lungs. I then got the sensation once while I was just walking, and thought it was maybe indigestion. I do wonder how many people drop dead with a packet of Gaviscon in their pocket!
That was the full extent of my symptoms, but I went to the docs and he sent me to the hospital.
You are absolutely right about talking it away. There are a few videos of Bob Mortimer talking about his Bypass on YouTube, and he told his doctor he was sure it was a chest infection. 
Welcome to the forum, ShunnyM I'm sorry to hear about your husband's health - palliative care at home is very stressful for even the most organised and compassionate and you're wise to be proactive in making sure your heart health is up to the challenges you're facing.
Here's my angina story (put the kettle on, it's a long one): I'd had angina symptoms for years, kept telling myself it was one of my multiple mild-ish heart conditions and I used the chest pain as a signal one of the other conditions were acting up...also didn't relish the idea of medication for angina so I, er, well, failed to mention what I suspected was angina to the medics when in for an 'MOT' or when one of the other conditions were trying to play up.
Then I had a somewhat major heart wobble in spring 2019, one thing led to another and part of the diagnosis was angina. I was put on a low-dose beta blocker+300mg aspirin (I have a very high tolerance for aspirin, not everyone does) and responded to the new medications very nicely - I do have the occasional angina attack now but only when I try to do something strenuous without a warm-up (and or a prophylactic spritz with GTN spray - quite helpful when I know I'm going to be doing a 'Big Shop' or walking through an attraction, or, lol, about to have a contentious discussion with my husband).
Further investigations included resting and stress ECG, chest x-rays, echocardiograms, and a 'standard' angiogram which showed clear coronaries. In addition to my other little heart annoyances I now have a tentative diagnosis of microvascular angina.
I live in Scotland and the queue here for the definitive diagnostic test (angiogram with acetylcholine provocation) is so long and I'm responding so well to the beta blocker+aspirin regime that my cardiologist is happy for me to continue on under 'presumed microvascular angina' as my diagnosis for the angina. It is relatively easily managed in my case, the meds and a few lifestyle adjustments keep me on the go without symptoms unless one of my other conditions are being bolshi.
Everyone is different including how they experience 'angina-like symptoms' and how well they respond to medication and lifestyle adjustments to manage the condition. It can be debilitating for some but for others it can be managed to a point it's almost easy to forget it exists.
Investigations must be carried out to determine the best course of treatment for each individual, and medications frequently need adjusting until the right combinations and dosages are discovered. And the only way for those investigations to be ordered is to tell your GP you're having some worrying symptoms that you think might be angina. Even during this pandemic, most GPs will respond quickly to reports of chest symptoms and you really owe it to yourself and your husband to be seen as soon as possible.
Please keep us updated on your progress and again, welcome to the group
Thank you so much for your encouragement. Best.
Bear in mind that symptoms of heart conditions can be different for women and risk being overlooked. I put mine down to indigestion before having a HA so don't ignore yours.
Hi I went to docs they booked me into rapid chest pain clinic where I was wired up and on treadmill for nine minutes walking diagnosed with possible angina.they booked me in for angiogram where I had four stents, now on four pills a day, now I walk about four miles most days I have not had any chest pain since and my life is back to normal except for the pills.so it's worth getting checked out.
In my experience if you tell your GP surgery you have chest pain they will see you very quickly. Once I started to get chest pain I had loads of tests but all came back negative. Like one of the posters above I have presumed microvascular angina and am on medication for it. I still get pain on exertion (walking uphill, etc) so there is no real evidence that the medication has any effect at all! I suppose I take it trust that I need the pills I'm on.
It's best to get things sorted as soon as you can. You never know what might happen.
Thank you for letting me know. Best wishes.
If it helps any at all, although I am responding well to the beta blocker+aspirin, I still need to avoid inclines, hills, and even stairs unless I've taken a hit of the GTN before tackling the challenge.
Do you have a spray (mine is NitroLingual400, little red bottle and I have one handy at all times)? If you know you're going to have to cope with something that may bring on an angina attack, a prophylactic spritz beforehand is very beneficial.
Unfortunately it doesn't seem to work for me, but thanks for the suggestion.
Hi sorry to butt in on the post but I wondered if I could ask the people who have been diagnosed with angina or microvascular angina what where the symptoms you were getting? People say chest pain but what does it actually feel like why sort of pain is it, where is it located and what does it do? Do you get breathless, do you start to feel hot, or cold, do you start to sweet, feel dizzy or weak etc.
I’m asking because I’ve felt myself I may have angina, I notice when I go for walks sometimes going up an incline I get the same symptoms sometimes my chest with feel slightly tight I don’t really get a pain as such but a slight tightness and I get a pain in my left shoulder blade like a hot/tingling burning sensation, I don’t get breathless or feel dozzy, or start to sweat but I’ve been wondering if this is angina or possibly related to something musculoskeletal.
I also seem to get the same burning tingling sensation when I’m doing things such as stood upright folding clean, washing, doing the pots, preparing meals etc I’m not sure if it’s a spinal thing or a heart/angina thing from the stress of being stood upright it’s very weird and I feel like when I’ve mentioned in the past to my GP it’s just been brushed off.
You need to start a new discussion - it is such a complicated topic you'll find better and more information if you start a dedicated discussion on it.
Hi Liam-James,
Microvascular dysfunction which is a common cause of microvascular angina tends to effect women more than men.
It's is a type of angina without any blockages in the coronary arteries. The other cause is vasospastic angina caused by temporary constrictions vasospasms in the coronary arteries. This effects both women and men.
The BHF has this information about microvascular and vasospastic angina. The symptoms are very similar except vasospastic angina tends to cause chest pain at rest in the night.
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