Officium

[Officium]

I saw the cardiac nurse, she recommended I carry on with the GTN spray but they have not officially diagnosed micro vascular angina. I feel a bit abandoned now. I quite often get chest pain, breathlessness and palpitations, should I ask my GP for further advice and/ortrearment?

[happyrosie1]

as part of your bio you say you are seeing someone next week, so that’s the time to go through things I’d have thought.

Can I suggest you take someone with you? They can make sure you’ve asked the doc everything you need to ask. And to make notes of the replies - sometimes it’s difficult to take it all in and everyone is so busy.

[Officium in reply to happyrosie1]

I actually did see the nurse and had my son with me. She sent me a letter and suggested I use the GTN spray but according to her everything looks normal. However, my breathlessness is getting worse and it seems I get the symptoms more often. I have a pacemaker as well but I don’t know if that has anything to do with my problem.

[Wingnutty in reply to Officium]

In addition to happyrosie1's suggestion of taking a family member, I always take a small recording device to record the conversation, so if I forget anything, I can replay it later. That has helped me a few times. Don't try to record covertly and always ask the permission of the doctor first. In my experience, they never say no. You will probably find that you have a recording app on your phone if you don't want to purchase a dedicated device, but I prefer the proper recorder which can be purchased from on-line retailers for 20 quid or less.

[Officium in reply to Wingnutty]

Thank you Wingnutty. My daughter made me note everything down and I am taking these to my appointment tomorrow. I am better with paper than with my phone. The cardiac nurse wrote in her report that I had an angiogram in 2022 and one a month ago. I have gone through my diaries from 2022 and I did not have one then, I think I would have remembered something like that. She wrote a few other things I won’t go into here but I am not happy.

[Milkfairy Heart Star]

Hello,

Welcome to the forum.

Microvascular angina along with vasospastic angina are types of angina/ischaemia non obstructive coronary arteries ANOCA/INOCA.

These conditions are not straightforward to diagnose. They are unfortunately not well recognised or understood.

My vasospastic angina, which is due to transient constrictions of my coronary arteries was confirmed by a specialised angiogram.

Why has it been suggested you may have microvascular angina ?

Microvascular angina is thought to be due to the inability of the small blood vessels of the heart, to dilate or stay dilated in response to exercise.

A common sympton is breathlessness.

Microvascular angina tends to affect women around the menopause.

I had symptoms of my coronary vasospasms from my late 20's

You can also experience breathlessness and other symptoms if your pacemaker isn't working properly.

I suggest you ask your GP to consider whether you need a pacemaker check.

Perhaps give the BHF helpline a call and speak with one of the cardiac nurses too.

bhf.org.uk/informationsuppo...

[Officium in reply to Milkfairy]

Thank you that is most helpful, I will do what you suggest.

[Oldgimmer66]

I’m in exactly the same boat, feeling abandoned. I recently made a fuss and was given Isosorbide Nitrate. This has halted the pain but I still feel nauseous and have chest tightness. I have been asking ChatGPT for advice on what tests are available and have received some very good questions to ask my GP. I highly recommend it. I also have RA and ChatGPT has confirmed that the two conditions together can cause extreme pain. Before this nobody believed me but with this knowledge I’m going to ask my rheumatologist for better control of my condition too.