Any info or help please.: I had a stemi... - British Heart Fou...

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Any info or help please.

Crepello1957 profile image
17 Replies

I had a stemi heart attack on the 3rd june this year, with 2 stents.I can walk which i do most days about 2 miles sometimes i feel tired.

This last 2 weeks i was told by my gp and consultant that i had cancer,results of testing my facees and i had a colonoscopy last friday.

Told on the day all clear yippee.

My meds are as follows

Aspirin 75mg daily

Ramipril 5mg am 2.5 pm

Ticagrelol 90mg am and pm

Bisoprolol 1.25 am.

Atorvastatin 40 mg that i break up to use as 20mg daily as the full does gives me cramps in arms,legs,shoulders and a rotten headaches.

I was taking lanzoprazole think it gave me cronic diarrhoea,i now take pantoprazole seem to be ok at present.

I have an appointment at the lipid clinic in november.

I also suffer with this prickly sensation all over my body every day,is it one of the tablets?

Its like a small electric shock.

My question really is how long before the medication settles down or do we keep going with trial and error?

Ps me thinks this getting old is not all i thought it was going to be.🤣

Thank you Allan

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Crepello1957
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17 Replies
Zed1063 profile image
Zed1063

Good morning,

I had my stents in April and the medication which is simular to what you are on is still effecting me. I am so tired all of the time and feel drained, I am told it is the meds. I also have constant ectopic beats and these make me feel sick but again told there is nothing they can do to help me with these I just have to live with them. It is so hard to try to get back to normal! I have been told at least a year before the meds settle down! and fantastic news about being all clear.

Crepello1957 profile image
Crepello1957 in reply to Zed1063

As they say onwards and upwards.

Blackcatsooty profile image
Blackcatsooty

Good morning Crepello

Had to say hello due to my liking for hornby dublo locos.

I think one year is about right for medications to settle. My GPs have a person who discusses medications. Also, local chemist will by appointment, talk through medications.

I try to accept that I need ten million tablets because my body is not well e.g. blame the illness first and only blame the medication if you know better. I feel sure I get relief if I believe the meds are on my side.

Sooty

Crepello1957 profile image
Crepello1957 in reply to Blackcatsooty

Yes it is plesant to see the pharmacist at the surgery and gp is more than helpful.It great hearing other peoples stories i find them very helpful.

Thank you Allan

Survivor1952 profile image
Survivor1952

The main difference on meds that I have compared to yourself is Losartan rather than Ramipril and Rosuvastatin rather than Atorvastatin. I very occasionally get the same as you but 99% of the time I have no issues at all. I cannot tolerate Atorvastatin or Ramipril very well.

Crepello1957 profile image
Crepello1957

Me thinks a chat with the gp in 2 weeks time.Take care Allan

EU95PTM profile image
EU95PTM

I’m sorry to hear you’ve had a rough year. I’m 17 months post stemi with 1 stent and subsequent heart failure. I’m on similar meds to you with a few extras as well. Fatigue is my biggest challenge. Some days I feel full of energy and others I can struggle to get out of bed, it’s unpredictable and frustrating. I’ve learnt to manage it as best as I can by doing some sort of activity every day, rather than having really busy days and really quiet days.

Crepello1957 profile image
Crepello1957 in reply to EU95PTM

I understand.More bad days than good at the present.

I try to walk twice a day.

If i could get rid of this ruddy headache every day i would be laughing.

Start my hospital cardio rehab tomorrow,im looking forward to it.

Chin up it gets easier as we get older or so my son and daughter.

Thank you for the chat,i hope things improve for you.

Take care Allan

devonian186 profile image
devonian186 in reply to Crepello1957

The headache isn't something simple like lack of water?

Hello Allen

Seven weeks ago I had a heart attack and a stent fitted. Only two nights hospital.

After two days at home I presented with a nasty case of covid.

So had no idea which was causing the dreadful fatigue.

It is improving slowly.

As a very long term migraine sufferer I know a bit about headaches.

However the ones I suffer now are different. So I’m interested to read about the meds and artovastatin of which I have 80mg. I’ve been wondering how to find out which if any of the raft of meds I now take might be the bad boys.

It’s a bit depressing for some to be told it could take a year to sort out!!

So Allen thank you for your post which has shed some light on my headache issues.

Great news re cancer. I’ve had it twice but for me doesn’t involve loads of meds like hearts 😂

Good luck other tests

NannyPat1 profile image
NannyPat1

The meds they give you are just standard when you leave hospital. I had to ditch bp med and beta blocker straightaway as my bp is naturally low and went through the floor with the med and I have a low resting heart rate too. I quickly swapped Atorvastatin for Rosuvastatin which doesn’t give me any side effects. It’s also stronger so if you’re on 40 Atorvastatin you only need 20 mg Rosuvastatin. You’ll probably lose or reduce the Ticegralor after a year but I’d say change what you can change cos a year is a long time to feel crap! Oh and huge wahey for the colonoscopy, they must have been so frightening! I had my ha 2 years ago now but since then I’ve had appendicitis twice and obviously had it out the second time and just had to have another op for a compressed nerve in my spine. Pretty fed up with my body!

Silvertail profile image
Silvertail

Re your prickly feelings. I suppose it could be your meds. I have a burning feeling in my body, especially where my body is against a chair, bed etc. This is neuropathy according to a neurologist - no cause known for me. I felt at the time I was diagnosed that it could be one of my meds, possibly the antimalarial tabs I took when I went to PNG.

Crepello1957 profile image
Crepello1957 in reply to Silvertail

Thank you for the help.

lizzieloo2 profile image
lizzieloo2

Is your BP OK on your current medication? I assume you are getting bruising from the Ticagrelor on your arms and have been told to take it for 12 months. My husband who is 72 had an nstemi in April last year with one stent and they put him on the following: 75mg aspirin daily, ticagralor 90mg x 2 daily, ramipril 2.5mg x 2 daily (since then changed to Losartan 50mg once daily as ramipril made him cough) and Bisoprolol 2.5mg x 2 daily. Then he started getting breathless and tightness in his chest when walking and after several trips to A&E, he was diagnosed with angina and given 5mg Amlodipine daily and this sorted this problem out. However, he has since developed breakthrough angina and his dose of Amlodipine has been increased to 7.5mg which seems to be working but he takes this first thing in the morning before we take the dog out for a 3 mile walk. He too has high cholesterol and is on fortnightly injections of Evolocumab which reduced his cholesterol from 7 to 3 after only 2 injections. He is being investigated for familial hypercholesterolaemia. He doesn't get any prickly sensations like you but he gets all sorts of aches and pains and scabby nasal passages from the Evolocumab. He's resolved this problem by using Sterimar nasal spray and beconase. He was recently getting odd rushes of heat occasionally round his side but this has stopped. GP said nerve pain/spasms connected to thoracic spine and he does have degenerative arthritis of the spine. He stopped taking Ticagrelor after the 12 months was up but is still getting bruising which he's told is due to the aspirin. It is all a bit trial and error with the medication. To begin with, he was taking his morning meds after breakfast about 10.00am and then he began to take the amlodipine separately before our walk at about 07.00am because he found it worked better if he took it before exertion. We do wonder if he needed to have the increase from 5mg to 7.5mg now that he is taking it earlier. The hospital prescribed an extra 2.5mg which we couldn't get so the GP prescribed an extra 5mg making 10mg which she said would be fine but in reality was dire and after only 1 day, he had to stop and reduce to the 7.5mg by cutting one of the 5mg in two. He has found that Amlodipine at the higher dose does give him stomach pain and diarrhoea on occasions. He also takes Lansoprazole but has been on this for years, long before the HA. Hope you find everything settles down

Crepello1957 profile image
Crepello1957

Lizzie.Bp fine at present .

About 120/75.

Resting about 47 thats the bisoprolol,but comfortable with it.

Was using lansoprazole but giving me cronic diarrhoea.

Best thing that has happened is i have given up smoking and i dont drink.

No salt anymore, i sleep great at night.

Still have the fright nights when i dont wont to sleep.

I talk with my wife about how i feel,medication and anything else that bothers me,so im very lucky.

Hope things improve for you.

Take care.

Allan

Smitty1956 profile image
Smitty1956

Hi, Crepello1957,

I can relate to much of what you said in your post. I had a Non-STEMI HA in March 2022, but no stents. I think that it was in May 2022, I did a Cologuard fecal test, and the results came back as cancer. I made an appointment for a colonoscopy, but the earliest appointment was a nine months wait. I tried my best to put all of this at the back of my mind and not worry about it, but I was scared.

My colonoscopy was scheduled for March 15, 2023. Two days before the procedure, I got a cold and had to cancel. I had a terrible cough so it seemed the best thing to do. Fortunately, I only had to wait one more month to get the colonoscopy. Yeah! 😃

I had four pre-cancerous polyps removed, and I am now okay with that issue.

I looked at your meds, and I think that I take some of the same, or similar.

I take low-dose aspirin (81 mg), Metropolol (75 mg daily)—a beta-blocker, which is similar to your Bisoprolol,

Atorvastatin (40 mg daily), Lisinopril (40 mg daily) for blood pressure, HCTZ (25 mg—every other day) a diuretic, Omeprazole—used for gastrointestinal issues, and vitamin D. Those are basically what I take daily.

I have not experienced the little tingly, electric shocks that you describe. Thus, I can’t speak to that being caused by any of your medications. Perhaps you could speak with your doctor and/or your pharmacist about this symptom being related to one of your medications?

As the late Gilda Radner said, “It’s always something.” I think that it would be helpful to speak with your doctor about this symptom. It might be something important, or it might be nothing, but it is worth checking out.

Best wishes to you in sorting this out. ❤️

Crepello1957 profile image
Crepello1957

Thanks Smitty in process of having appointment with the pharmacist and i have one in november with the lipid clinic as i have tried nearly all the statins and they make feel ill.Take care.

Allan

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