Strange feeling in my chest, could it be Angina.

[Razor1967]

Sorry for the long post, but here goes. It is now almost 6 months since my heart attack and subsequent CABG x 6. Before my heart attack I felt healthy and presented no symptoms. I am recovering well after been diagnosed with acute CHD and am feeling so much stronger apart from niggles around the sternum area. However I am suffering from a strange feeling in the centre of my chest. Of course I am panicking thinking it is my heart or possibly Angina. After walking or moderate exercise or even just sat down I get an uncomfortable (more than painful) feeling, almost like there is a bloating/trapped wind feeling around my heart area. It is too high to be my stomach and it does ease over time. Is it possible to have trapped wind this high, I never suffered from this before the surgery. I don't know what Angina feels like and I am sure it is painful for those that suffer from it. I feel it shouldn't be, as the surgeon put 6 bypasses in, so hopefully the blood should be flowing better. However this bloating feeling is occurring nearly ever day and embarrassingly I am passing wind a lot more. I know that this can be a side effects of l the pills I am on. I mentioned it to the Heart Nurse and my Surgeon on my telephone follow up weeks ago. They both dismissed it as just niggles and would settle down. However 2 months later it is still there niggling me in the background. The surgeon discharged me back to my doctor expressing on the letter " he is not suffering from angina". He hadn't seen me or examined me but concluded that from the telephone call ! Am I worrying over nothing or could this be Angina. I had a really bad reaction to the GTN spray in the ambulance going to hospital as my blood pressure dropped like a stone and the Hospital said don't take it again unless desperate. Has anybody else suffered from this strange feeling as I seem to be feeling it more every day when I feel I should be getting less pain now.

[Heather1957]

Wow this is a tricky one, I had angina prior to my bypass back in 2017 so when the pain started again a few months ago I knew exactly what it was even though the Drs in A & E insisted it was indigestion. I stuck to my guns and was kept in hospital and eventually had 2 stents fitted.It sounds as if you didn't have angina prior to your surgery so have nothing to compare the pain to.

I would also say that 6 months after your bypass you are still likely to get pain as the body will take some time to recover.

I would take notes of where these pains are and what kind of pain and make contact with your GP.

I do hope you get some answers even if its found to be healing pains from your surgery.

[Razor1967 in reply to Heather1957]

I am hoping it is just healing pains too !! It almost feels like an Air bubble around the heart area. I have looked online and it is possible to get trapped wind in the chest area. Hopefully it will settle down soon, although it does appear to be worse lately. That could well be the feeling returning to my chest area or my worrying self consciousness working overtime !! 😁

[Hidden in reply to Razor1967]

I have suffered something similar since having HA in June and having a couple of stents fitted.Ive had angina for 8 years and it's not like an angina pain....it doesn't go into my arms.

I've been admitted to hospital once since June due to these pains....the consultant took me off Omeprazole and put me on a stronger dose of Lansoprazole, it did make for a slight improvement.

Three weeks ago my GP took me off 80mg a day of Atorvastatin and put me on 40mg of Simvastatin, this has made a big difference.

Still not 100% pain/discomfort free, but it's only slight and I can get on with life normally....I could still occasionally burp for England!!

In my case I put it down to the cocktail of medication following my HA.

[Razor1967 in reply to Hidden]

Well that it interesting. I am on 80mg of Atorvastin and also take Lansoprazole too. In fact the Surgeon wrote to my doctor saying I could come off the Lansoprazole but I insisted on staying on it as I suffered really badly with nausea after my op and after been given this at the Hospital it settled down. Interestingly when I do belch it does ease slightly, hence I am hoping it is gastric related. However with my increased flatulence I am in the doghouse with the wife 🤣. I told her at least I am still alive and it is hopefully only a short term side effect. I won't tell you what her reply was.....😁😁.

[richard_jw in reply to Razor1967]

You might ask the doctor to prescribe famotidine. It's not a proton pump inhibitor and is said by my cardiologist to have less side eff.It worked for me

[Heather1957 in reply to Razor1967]

Trust me it is perfectly normal to worry about any pains in the heart area after suffering with a serious cardiac event. You never know what to do for the best, be over careful or under careful, I am sure the doctors will expect this from us. Take care.

[Hidden in reply to Heather1957]

I must admit they've never made me feel like I'm wasting their time, they've been amazing.I felt "rough" about three weeks ago, 111 sent an ambulance, the paramedics were amazing.

They did 6 or 7 ECGs on me, they had me running the length of the house several times and did ECGs on me to look at my heart under stress, the same with my SATS and heart beat, they left copies of my ECG's so they could look at "now and then" on any future call outs.

From all they could see they gave me a clean bill of health and put my condition down to my digestive systems reaction to my meds.

The big concern is the similarity of symptoms a heart attack to indigestion.

[Brixcos]

Like you, I had no angina or any other symptoms (apart from breathlessness when hill walking!) before my NSTEMI a year ago and then had a CABGx2 in January. I had a great recovery and all was going well until I had the symptoms of what felt like a "low level version" of my NSTEMI a month ago - I felt really unwell, had tingling in arms, tightness in my jaw and felt sick. I was in hospital for 3 days, at the end of which I was diagnosed with unstable angina and given a GTN spray. The consultant said we need to find out why it's happening to me and why now. Two weeks ago I had a cardiac CT scan which has shown my grafts are ok and I'm now waiting for a letter to tell me what next. If I hadn't gone to hospital, I'd still have no idea I now have this unstable angina but I'm still unsure what it means for my long term health and what I should do if I get another episode. As another poster wrote, how do you know the difference between angina and another heart attack? 🤔

[Razor1967]

I know what you mean. Before my heart attack any pain in the chest area I didn't give a second thought to, indigestion, heart burn etc. Now any pain there, you think the worst. Like I said I don't think (hope !) that it is my heart, it feels like trapped wind in the cavity and it does ease. It us more uncomfortable than anything else but I never suffered from this before the bypass so I am a bit mystified.

[fit4walks]

Hi Razor,

I recognise your story as my own. Health and fit, no heart attack, but bloating and esophagus ‘pressure’ with lot of wind from either end.

It took 2 years and a decline in fitness before an angiogram showed 5 blockages. 3 weeks later I had CABGx4. Recovery didn’t go as smooth as expected, but at my 6 month check up I was discharged to the GP, even that I was still complaining about pressure in my chest, never pain, gas, and occasional difficulty with breathing (when walking/cycling at a pace I was used to). 2 Weeks later I went to A&E feeling sick, I had ‘a baby elephant’ on my chest and an uncomfortable feeling in my shoulders, almost like muscle pain.

ECG was fine, but blood test showed troponin levels were up..... therefore heart attack. They contacted the surgeons who did my CABG and they decided on doing an angiogram, which showed total occlusion of one of the bypasses. I am now on masses of meds to keep the blood circulation going to that part of the heart and they hope that my body will create more vessels in that area to prevent another surgery.

I am not telling you this to scare you, but you know your body best, even that it has been invaded and you are still in recovery. But my recommendation is to go to A&E when you don’t feel yourself. Apparently, 15% of the bypasses block in the first 6 months. There are several different explanations, but none of them you can really prevent. I guess, just bad luck.

I truly hope that this is not the case with you and wish you all the best in your recovery. Keep us up to date, because your experience is valuable knowledge for us all.

Best of luck!

[Razor1967]

Blimey, you have got me worried now, I assumed it was just a bit of wind backing up. I am not getting breathless so hopefully it is nothing serious. Obviously if it gets worse or I get pains elsewhere or start to get breathless I will get in touch with Gp.