Upper back pain AFTER heart attack?

[RedTigress]

My Mum is in her second week following a heart attack treated by angioplasty (stent). The past couple days she has complained of a general ache/pain in her upper back. Is this normal? It's got me on high alert and very anxious but she's claiming it as a general part of recovery. I'm finding it difficult to get her to properly rest (classic do-it-all and do-it-all-right-now type) and think she's pushing herself too soon. I try to look on the NHS website for advice but confused. Should I get her to call the GP urgently to discuss it or am I being paranoid? Otherwise she is okay with blood pressure, taking her medication, eager to go about her day in the house (laundry, cups of teas, cooking, stairs etc).

[Hidden]

Hi and welcome. Right first thing, have you proof read your post? Joking aside "My Mum is in her second week following a heart attack". Why is she doing laundry and so on?? She needs to REST. How old is she BTW? The back pain is not normal, however there can be some residual pain from the procedure. Did she have Angina before the HA and if so does this pain feel the same as the Angina pain? If it does she may still be having it, has she tried using the GTN spray? Is the pain constant or does it come and go? If it comes and goes it could be Angina, which does not always present in a classic way especially in women.

[RedTigress in reply to Hidden]

The joke's gone way over my head, sorry. The whole thing has happened so quickly I have no idea how to cope / do the right thing and am somewhat out of my depth. The heat attack happened on a Monday and she was discharged a day and a half later. I can only go by what she has told me the consultant told her. I was restricted visiting her in hospital. As I implied, she doesn't have any patience and adamant she can do things, despite my constant nagging not to and my trying to do everything before she does. She's just turned 60. She didn't have Angina or the symptoms of it beforehand or leading up to the attack. It was a straight up sudden heart attack with tight chest etc. She doesn't have the spray and the pain has been easing this evening. Thank you for your post, I will urge her to see someone about it ASAP.

[Hidden in reply to RedTigress]

Have they said what caused the HA? What does it say on her discharge notes? If they inserted a stent it is probably atherosclerosis (narrowing of the arteries), in which case they absolutely would have given her a GTN spray, has she tried using it? It must be very hard acting as a third party here, you have to try and get the message over to her that things have got to change she is only 60, this disease will progress unless she takes stock of her life.

[Hidden]

Hi red , I’d say your mum is definitely taking things a bit to quickly right now , in the notes you are given from cardiac rehab in hospital it states that general recovery should start 10 days after the event and not straight away . After my ha i also did laundry at two weeks and got a row for that as I ended up knackered, reason being once you have hanged out a load , brought in a load folded it all took it up the stairs , put it all away in closets wardrobes drawers etc , went for a pee , made a cuppa ,,, see what I mean ?? It’s a lot ! So your mum should really be resting up still and not doing that .

[RedTigress in reply to Hidden]

Thank you so much! I get what you mean, she is being a bit troublesome but I will keep on at her in the nicest/firmest way possible. I'm going to try to get everything done before she has the chance to get out of bed!

[Hidden in reply to RedTigress]

Good luck !

[Hidden]

Hi, it's just over two weeks since I had stents fitted, I have pain/ache in my upper back in the shoulder blades and lower neck, they come and go, it's like a trapped wind pain, it comes and goes.Just over a week ago I spoke to my Dr about it, he doubled my Omeprazole.

The GTN spray makes no difference.

The good news for me is that the pain/ache is getting less every day.

In the hospital they told me it'd be a long recovery process, I thought they were talking a load of tosh!!

Now I know they aren't, you're Mum needs to take it easy and help her heart to repair itself.

Best wishes

[RedTigress in reply to Hidden]

Thank you for your reply, this is how she describes it and she is on lanzoprozole. Will deffo get her in touch with GP now. Take care of yourself and I wish you a great recovery.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Middle back pain after heart attack going on since 2018 never had this pain before going into hospital,l was rushed in almost unconscious and spent two weeks in ICU l remember hearing the surgeon saying the sent is to far in and he couldn't get to it, this was said to his colleagues but was never discussed with me, could it be the cause of all this pain

[STUBAX]

It's 5 1/2 years now since my heart attack and I still get the pain in my upper back when I do too much, spray helps but main thing is to take things steady and know your limits, especially so following the heart attack, she should have been told to slowly build up to normal activities.

[Joliv61]

Hi there, I had a heart attack and stents fitted 18 months ago. Rehab starts a couple of weeks after and at first I was limited to just a 5 minute potter around, not even allowed to walk the dogs. But walking helps and I gradually over the following months built this up to a good hours fast walking.I also got a pain between my shoulder blades and using the GTN spray had no effect. I’ve never got that pain from doing an equally hard session on the exercise bike though. Gradually that pain has gone and I can’t recall when it last happened.

But do impress on her the need to relax and recover. Doing what she used to do led her to the heart attack in the first place, so she does need to make lifestyle changes.

Good luck with this as you could not be with her to ask questions at the time, but can you be present when she talks with the cardiac teams for rehab and ask the questions she might forget.

Best wishes John.

[Hidden]

I get upper back pain and it's often angina. A quick squirt of my Gtn spray usually fixes it.