Does anybody with heart failure experience actual heart pains on left side of chest? These occur randomly and can be at rest mostly. They vary but can be explained as an electric zap/shock. Very brief. Last a split second or two. No other symptoms with it.
I also experience dull aches and palpitations with my moderate/severe heart failure diagnosis. I also have a large scar along my heart from a suspected heart attack. Arteries all clear and don't get pains when carrying out mild exercise such as a brisk walk.
Just curious to see if others with heart failure experience pains as such? My cardiologist has put in the report that the chest pains are not cardiac. Which I find bonkers as its literally always where my heart is on my left side of chest
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theonethatgotaway1
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Hi, I had 3 zaps a month ago that scared me but Cardiologist told me it was one of the pacemaker leads nudging my diaphragm that caused it. If I have more then they can adjust it next time I go for a pacemaker reading check up at the clinic. Don’t know whether it’s the same as you experienced but this definitely felt like little sharp electric shocks. X
Hi I get these sharp pains now and again I tell my husband its like and electric shock sometimes and other times like I've been stabbed. I don't have a pacemaker so no idea what's causing it. If you find out I would be interested. I try and avoid doctors and hospitals nowadays as to be fair there isn't much more than they can do for my prinzmental angina.
There has certainly been alot of research into vasospastic angina, since I was diagnosed over 12 years ago. My care has improved as result.Have you ever seen a specialist who understands microvascular and vasospastic angina or been offered futher testing to confirm your diagnosis?
I have a very good support from my
Cardiologist and local hospital. I have an agreed admission protocol.
Yip I know what you mean, I get these short sharp pains , and not an everyday occurrence, but I let out a wee involuntary shout or kind of scream usually frightened whoever I'm with along with myself ,but I have been through a lot and I have a monitor that I suspect picks these up as my cardiologists have made a couple of alterations to my medication since .Saying that I as far as I know any changes that I am aware of are for my bpm or BP or ? And I kind of get how you're cardiologist has said this as it is maybe when we hear the word cardiac we always think of a heart attack, when it is not always the case , just to maybe put you're mind af ease , I'm sure if it was serious I would have been told , and I'm sure this is the same pain as you described .
I have been getting chest pain for many years. Every time I get to the hospital I get the results that i have six inverted t-wave abnormalities. Essentially it means somewhat ischaemia
People with and without heart conditions get all sorts of pains in their chests and elsewhere, but we tend to pay more attention when we know we have a heart condition
Short, sharp pains are rarely heart-related according to most doctors and sources of info about heart conditions. But if the keep happening or a affecting what you do:
1) keep a note of when they happen, where in your body, how long they last, what helps or makes them worse
Nerve pain can be referred from another area like your spine. I have a collapsed disc at the same level as my heart and almost always get the pain from my spine in my chest. Makes it difficult to know which it is.
Yes sounds very similar. Fast pin prick felling. Very sharp.
Are they to be worried about and is there treatment needed for it? It's been 5 years since i have been having all sorts of sensations like this so still here and they come and go. I may have them random for several days at a time then nothing for a week. Very strange.
Your experience of chest pain is very similar to mine.
I started getting chest pain back in my teenage years - the mid 1960s (who else remembers them?).
But it was not until 2012 that a doctor told me I had a heart problem - I did not actually say "Look - I have been telling you that for 50 years." - but that is how I felt.
I was diagnosed with HF and Dilated Cardiomyopathy.
But they continued to tell me that my chest pains were not related to my DCM. The said they were probably Musculoskeletal - but they did not specify which muscle or which bit of my skeleton might be involved.
And when I told them that I could normally exercise through the pain they sort of said...
"Good it is not angina then - nothing to worry about." But, like a lot of us, I was still convinced that the pain was somehow related to my heart problems.
And then - whilst I was sitting in a hospital waiting room in one of the countries leading heart hospitals I picked up a BHF booklet on angina. If you look at the attached picture you will find Other Causes Of Angina.
I realised that when most doctors use the word Angina they are referring to pain caused by "coronary heart disease".
From my reading around the subject I would estimate that this normal kind of angina accounts for about 95% of cases.
And I realised that in 90% of the 5% (are you all still with me! I am a retired maths teacher - if I forgot to mention that then I apologise) of cases the pain really is nothing to worry about.
For the moment I will leave my comments there - if you want to learn more then download the booklet and see what it tells you.
I will be interested to hear what any of you think.
I think that is all from me on this Monday morning - apart from asking if there are any other retired maths (or physics) teachers out there.
Hope you all have a good week - and feel able to start 2025 with positive thoughts.
The link you posted from the BHF has been updated. The information about angina / ischaemia non obstructive coronary arteries ANOCA/INOCA, which includes microvascular and vasospastic has been updated.
The latest BHF ' Understanding Angina ' booklet was published in June 2024. The link to the booklet can be found at the bottom of the article, linked below.
The BHF booklet lists the different types of angina as:
Stable angina
Unstable angina
Vasospastic angina
Microvascular angina
Refractory Angina.
I have lived with vasospastic angina for over 12 years, a type of ischaemic heart disease. My coronary arteries go into transient constrictions reducing the blood supply to my heart.
Angina is the symptom of a lack of blood supply to the heart regardless of the cause, be that obstructive coronary artery disease or non obstructive coronary artery disease.
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