Cardiac cough

[Anginalady]

I have suspected microvascular disease, on my daily walk today I started coughing, this got worse as I walked and brought on my chest pain, so much so that I had to use my spray to alleviate it. Never had this before, is this common?

[Alfie33]

I cough mainly when I lay down in bed its very frustrating. I can't walk very far so its the only time that i get the cough

[Anginalady in reply to Alfie33]

that sounds awful, have you tried sleeping propped up slightly, would that help?

[fishonabike]

if this cough only comes on when you are active (e.g. walking) that could be a clue - your body needs more oxygen when you are active, so you have to take more breaths and your heart hast to work harder to keep the oxygen supply going out to the rest of your body - the microvascular disease is impairing your heart function so it struggles to work harder, this causes the chest pain

some people find it helps to use the spray before starting an activity, but slowing your walking speed might help too

you might also find it helpful to try some breathing exercises and techniques to improve your ventilation - there are plenty suggested online

[Anginalady in reply to fishonabike]

I think it was just the shock, as since starting my medication , my chest pain has been totally controlled. Walking at pace has been absolutely fine so far, so I've not considered taking the spray ahead of a walk, but I might have to. This is also the first time I've had to use my spray.

I'll definitely look up those breathing exercises- thank you

[Milkfairy Heart Star]

Hello,

Angina is the symptom you feel when there is not enough blood supplied to your heart, myocardial ischaemia.

Chest pain, breathlessness, feeling light headed are common symptoms of angina.

Microvascular angina is thought to be caused by the inability of the small blood vessels of the heart being able to dilate or stay dilated in response to extra demands such as exercise.

The effort of coughing could be possibly causing your chest pain or coughing is how you feel your symptoms of angina.

I can feel chest pain after a coughing fit even though I don't usually have issues with exertional angina.

Fishonabike has given some good asvice about using your GTN spray before you exercise, however there is growing evidence that nitrates don't always relieve the symptoms of microvascular angina in some people.

Having lived with vasospastic angina for many years, I have learned that microvascular and vasospastic angina can be very unpredictable.

[Anginalady in reply to Milkfairy]

Hello,

I think this has been building up, I've felt like there was 'something' at the back of my throat for a few days but it was nothing major and a light cough didn't seem to shift it. The GTN spray did stop the pain and quite quickly. I'm following Fishonabike's good advice and trying some breathing exercises, managed today's walk with no issues. I'll see if it happens more often and might have to try the spray pre-walk as suggested if it does.

thank you