You can't touch this

[GoldfishPond]

Hi Everyone.

First of all I wish to apologise to you if you now have MC Hammer running through your head but you will see why I have chosen that title in a second.

The backstory to this is that I was diagnosed with a moderate block/restriction in my LDA and have put on medication to manage it (including GTN Spray - fairly standard stuff I believe). So I have spent a lot of time trying to understand chest pain/angina and heart attack symptom and got to a fairly comfortable place where my understanding was that 'if you can touch your chest pain, then it isn't a heart attack'. That was until I visited my nurse practitioner this week who asked me 'if I was getting any chest pain'? to which I replied 'Yep but nothing to worry about as I can touch it'. (The pain is immediately underneath my left breast and is sharp) to which she then informed me that the 'if you can touch it logic' doesn't work as the heart can radiate pain down the Arteries. So now I'm back to square one not knowing if the pain it heart related or not. If it is heart related then I'm getting many more 'incidents' than I thought I was. The other bit of info she gave me was that if you take your GTN spray and the pain goes away then it is heart related.

Anyone any thoughts on this?

Thanks

Terry

[Happyrosie]

the second bit, yes. The first bit, that’s new to me.

[Blearyeyed]

Yes pain can be radiating so the touch tip is only an inaccurate guideline.Your symptoms and getting proper readings of your BP and HR are key,

If the GTN spray aids the pain it is more than likely to have been caused because of cardiac output.

[Milkfairy Heart Star]

GTN spray can also relieve the pain of oesophageal spasms. As the oesophagus runs from your throat to your stomach to the left of your chest, oesophageal spasms can feel very much like angina.

Not everyone with angina responds to sublingual short acting GTN.

[GoldfishPond in reply to Milkfairy]

Thanks for the reply. My consultant thought it might be related to oesophageal spasms (even though I have a block) as the majority of my pain was happening at meal times. However I'm now getting the pain pretty much all day (not so much in the mornings which is odd)

[TasteLessFood4Life]

Hi,

I think it is an interesting take. The problem is that HA can manifest itself in many different forms and give very different symptoms, varying from person to person. I guess a 'light' HA will probably feel very different to a more severe one.

I remember my cardiologist saying that if you had a HA you would feel as if a big rock would be put on your chest, typically middle of chest.

But then again, some experience indigestion/bad stomach/radiating pain neck/arms - so it varies. Also, if it is heart related it should get worse if you make your heart work harder. I have had on/off pain in my left chest for over a year now. Luckily, it is not heart related as it doesnt come up during exertion. The problem is that once you have the CAD tag, it is a mental game to convince yourself that all is well- because most of the time it is.

If ever in doubt or you feel something is off - just go to a&e. Also, checking BP/HR/ECG at home are good starting points as mentioned above.

Best of luck

[Ilovedogs12]

I have nothing significant to add to the responses, but yes I have had M C Hammer in my head since I read your post this morning 😂.

[GoldfishPond in reply to Ilovedogs12]

Tee hee hee 🤣

[Ilovedogs12 in reply to GoldfishPond]

😂😂😂

[Silvertail]

GTN will also take away pain from reflux disease. That's what I find difficult to decide. My 'indigestion' pain is much worse than my cardiac pain has been.