Hi. I have been diagnosed with angina. On the whole, it hasn't been an issue - until the end of last week. Since then, I have had attacks which seem to start late morning, peak around 13:00 and taper off by late afternoon.
I don't smoke or drink, and my diet is pretty healthy. At 11st 6 lbs I'm a bit overweight for my 5 ft 4 ins height, my cholesterol sits around 5, and I'm on meds for hypertension.
I'm kind of new to all this, so I don't know what to do to help myself. G.P. referred me for an ECG (showed nothing untoward) and I'm due to get a monitor fitted but not till Jan 7th next year. I did speak to a G.P. again on Tuesday last but basically got told 'Keep taking the tablets'.
What can I do in the meantime to help cope?
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Ryohei56
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Are you doing anything at that time which is bringing the attacks on?Is there anything stressful happening at that time?
Have you tried your GTN spray, it used to work miracles for me.....I'd take it before doing anything too strenuous in my early days of having angina, it kept the pains at bay.
Have you been given a GTN spray? If not you need to get your GP to prescibe you with one.
I have one luckily have never had to use it but it will open your arteries and allow the blood to flow through any clogged up arteries.
It sounds as if you have unstable angina and hopefully it won't be too long before it is sorted.
Personally the only thing that showed my issue was a stress test the Echo, ECG or monitor didn't show anything. I waited a few months back in 2017 to get the tests done before they realised I needed a bypass.
Well I didn't know that about being able to buy a spray over the counter, as I said I have never found the need to use mine but I like to spread them around just in case.
As I don't use mine it is likely to pass its expiration date and rather than cost the NHS money I would be happy to purchase one when that happens.
Hello Ryohei56,
The GTN spray was like a miracle in a can for my early start on this journey.
Yes I had not trouble buying it over the counter, which is what I did to have one in my pocket at all times, one at work, one at home etc etc I’m sure you get the picture.
Please make sure you use it as needed, I suffered a bit before I could get my head around using the spray at anytime and in any place.
Do not open them all at once as the self life is quite short once opened and started.
Hi Ryohei,Please understand that I'm not a healthcare professional but just telling you of my experiences.
I was told after having a heart attack that I had angina and was given GTN amongst a load of other medication.
I was told ONLY to use the GTN if I started to have angina symptoms.
The symptoms I experienced was shortness of breath, a burning in or around my windpipe in my chest, tightening of my throat (like a pinching around my Adams apple) amongst other things.
This was happening after I was active like walking uphill etc.
A few moments after taking GTN the symptoms eased. This indicated that it was indeed angina.
This was "stable" or active angina and is more controllable than "unstable" or passive angina.
I eventually had five stents and felt on top of the world, I could run uphills.
Eight to ten months later I started having angina symptoms again. Further investigation showed that my my arteries were once again blocking (even though my cholesterol was 2.7).
I was given a date for a bypass operation.
The angina progressively got worse and I was experiencing the symptoms whilst being at rest. So the angina was moving from the more controllable "stable" angina to the more unpredictable "unstable" angina.
One night whilst watching TV I felt the symptoms come on and I took GTN. This time the symptoms didn't really leave me. My wife wanted to call 999 but I said I'll be fine "it is easing just not going".
The next day I still didn't feel 100% so my wife gave me earache and insisted I go to the doctors. I saw the nurse practitioner, who promptly gave me earache for not calling 999. She called the doctor, who also gave me earache for not calling 999 (even I could see a pattern developing here 😂).
He sent me straight up the hospital. They kept me in for a few weeks as they felt it was safer than going home.
The plan was to keep me in until I could make the surgery date for my bypass that was previously made.
I didn't make that date. I gave the hospital staff a few scares and it was decided to ship me down to theatre earlier.
The last two days before my op I spent in intensive care on a drip of GTN to keep me going until they could operate. I had a quintuple bypass (CABG x5).
That was two years and nine months ago.
I hope this has given you an insight into my personal experiences with GTN and hope it helps in some way to understand my particular journey.
Your symptoms sound exactly like mine. They started 12 months ago when waking and occasionally early afternoon. They never occurred following exertion or activity - always at rest. I was given Diltiazem hydrochloride and a GTN spray which kept it at bay. I now have 2 weeks of respite and then 2 or 3 days of a few angina attacks which I manage with the spray (I buy mine online). I’ve had 2 angiograms which showed a 70% blockage at the osteomyelitis of the first diagonal and a moderate 40% narrowing of the LAD - neither of which warranted a stent according to the cardiologist. I’ve had several “second opinions” with private doctors who cannot explain why I get these intermittent chest pains at rest which are relieved by a nitrate spray. I even had a gastroenterologist rule out oesophagal spasms. Unstable angina seems to be a catch-all for chest pains which respond to a GTN spray but no other obvious physiological reason. Your condition seems similar. An angiogram would help see if there are blockages in the coronary arteries. Othwise keep taking the medication till you find the right cocktail of drugs to keep the attacks at bay. You may find they become far less frequent. I agree with the comments about getting a glyceryl trinitrate spray (google the Independent Pharmacy). Don’t worry - it is manageable.
Hi. First off, thanks to all who replied. I do have a GTN spray, and yes, it does help. Never thought of taking it pre-emptively, as it were, but that's a tip I shall certainly try. However, it was still odd that the symptoms were bad over roughly the same time period daily. In most cases, I hadn't been doing anything particularly strenuous at the outset - going up or down stairs mostly, otherwise just pottering.
One thing, though - I was prescribed 5 mg Bisoprolol some time back, and had been taking this at night (usually around 22:00). As an experiment, I shifted this to the morning, around 9:00, and this - for whatever reason - has had a positive effect. I still get some discomfort, but it's not anything like as bad.
Anyway roll on 7th January and the 48 hr monitor. Not that I want pain particularly, but it would be useful if I had an attack while wearing the monitor. Knowing my luck, though, I will be angina-free for those 48 hours......
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