Lingering discomfort without pain meds

[WanderingWycombe]

hello all,

I had a non-stemi back in December followed by an emergency angioplasty with three stents fitted into three furred up arteries. The final artery was the back one and had been blocked for years by all accounts.

I’ve been off work since and have made a real effort to do what I can - have lost 2 stone, given up coffee, changed my diet and walked daily.

I do still have days where I’m sore and I’ve been on pain meds all the while. When I’ve tried to reduce it is more noticeable. Is such a confusing time as I’m feeling much better than I was but concerned about discomfort 3 months on.

Has anyone got any advice or been through something similar?

[DWizza]

Interested to know why you gave up coffee? I had nstemi and quadruple bypass , love my morning coffee .

What pain are you getting, where are you sore ?

[WanderingWycombe in reply to DWizza]

So the coffee is purely as I have history of heart disease and my mum developed heart palpitations after 50 with it. Easy enough to switch out as was drinking ridiculous amounts coupled with silly work stress.

[DWizza in reply to WanderingWycombe]

Never been told to cut coffee but ridiculous amounts of anything will be bad 🤣👊🏻..

[Richie34]

Yup,same, although I had balloon angioplasty in two arteries (first week on January this year) but yes a lingering left sided chest discomfort I can't fathom,is it something to worry about,settling in time,anxiety,something wrong with procedure or something else,I'm just hoping time will out and the cardiac rehab (are you being offered this) that starts in March will give me some reassurance.

[WanderingWycombe in reply to Richie34]

‘Luckily’ my mum was a cardiac nurse for 40 years and she’s been super useful. There’s a lot of misleading information on health websites that can be disheartening about if you have pain longer than a few weeks and seriously reduces your expected life spend (8 years?!?!). She said that’s not quite right as it’s more about how you manage your factors, change diet, lose weight and have a healthy lifestyle.

So good to hear of other hearties that have similar physical responses after stent work. The other point she said is keep using pain meds, paracetamol will help and it could take longer than the ‘poster stories’ that you’ll read in the BHF brochures

[Richie34]

It's odd and very disheartening to have gone from an asymptomatic 'patient' with no chest pain prior to my PCI to a person post PCI who has daily chest discomfort and anxiety about it,the conclusion I draw that either the procedure has been unsuccessful or there have been complications and created a new issue (angina) . I have asked to speak to cardiology (no named cardiologist though) again to discuss but no response yet. It's got worse actually since,I think partly driven by my worry/concern that nearly 6 weeks on the discomfort is not receding indeed the frequency is increasing along with my anxiety about it all. I even think I could finally come to some peace with it all if I have a new diagnosis and know is causing the ache/squeezing in my left pectoral muscle. I have thought (being left handed) it might be some sort of muscle strain but I'm losing faith it's something that benign and simple. This afternoon I've been doing some gentle tidying in the garden for a few hours and now after and resting it's 'kicking off' yet I've done 50 up and down my stairs at home and it's ok or no worse-I'm just confused and possessing of a personality that seems to jump to the worst scenario exacerbating the whole vicious cycle

[WanderingWycombe in reply to Richie34]

So as long as your bloods are OK and your BP is in the normal range that seems to be the positive. Going through a huge life event like this will take longer than your brain feels. One good tip to keep in your mind. If pain killers stop, reduce the discomfort then it’s not as bad as your anxiety thinks it is. Reading through forums and webpages I’ll gravitate to the negatives but every one is different.

It will get better.

It’s very hard to have conversations with people that haven’t been through an event and although you may boot have had any real symptoms prior it’s better than having a massive heart attack at a time in the future. Rest when you can and don’t overdo it.

It’s that marathon analogy again.

[Richie34]

Thank you for your reassuring message. I think I'm being inpatient (and getting increasingly anxious as a result) because after 6 weeks and still feeling chest discomfort of unknown aetiology and 6 weeks of reading many posts along the lines "I was singing and dancing the day after my procedure " (or at least those are the posts my mind focuses on for some reason) It's almost like grief,grieving at the loss of my former fit and blissfully ignorant self. My BP is ok (when I'm not stressing) and I haven't had any bloods done since my PCI in January (GP says it's too soon to see the real benefits of the newly started cocktail of meds) which I know is a textbook answer but I did try and convince him to organise it but alas... I haven't really turned to painkillers, masochistically I seem to want to monitor myself/the pain unhindered or masked by them. I put myself under stupid pressure for example my wife who has been endlessly supportive and says I will be out of pain soon (I so what to believe her and time has proven she's rarely wrong about things),I've promised her a trip to Oxford and a stay at the Randolph when the discomfort starts to ease/become less frequent. Now however I have a new pressure to try and get to that 'place' by the Summer when the various colleges will be more open to visitors. My heart needs to heal and my head needs to clear. Thanks again.

[WanderingWycombe in reply to Richie34]

Definitely have targets and just remember to keep talking with people and if it needs to switch out a little further back so be it. Your wife sounds super supportive, as mine has been, but I do now let her know that it’s a ‘difficult day’ as often I’ll go into ‘protection mode’ and slow down.

The impatience of wanting to recover is a problem for a lot of people. Never having a serious ailment before I really now understand the position that puts you in. The tasks that I would do without thinking (garden tidy up, cleaning out shed, cleaning cars etc) are just beyond me at the moment. I tried to do some mowing the other day and after 10 minutes or so I felt this isn’t right so I stopped. Before would have ploughed on regardless but it will improve but just not at the rate you are used to when recovering from an illness,

I try to avoid the PR positive stories as that can also not help if having a bad day - the same as looking at the negative ones.

The most important point to always remember is that you’ve been through a life changing event BUT you are still here. This is ‘bonus time’ and I was never good at ‘taking care of myself physically, mentally’ but now it just is.

Forget the machismo - put yourself first - friends and family have been through this experience with you from a different perspective but believe me they will be 100% happy that you are still here!

Look back in 6 months from now and it WILL be better.

Take care.

[Richie34 in reply to WanderingWycombe]

Thanks again for your support, yes, apart from minor keyhole surgery on my knee (after a tumble on my first skiing holiday in 1991 aged 23) which went totally fine, a totally linear recovery (IE each day, slightly stronger) with excellent physio input from the hospital and crucially my innocent 23 year old brain had unquestioning faith in the 'system' including the recovery process and time frame, it has never bothered me a day since; would seem then our own 'psychological weight' we put into recovery our 'trauma' is far more important than perhaps people reason (the body keeps score). The confidence as well as my physical health needs 'rebuilding'. I took the rake into the garden yesterday with the aim to try and rake last years' leaves up, a task I could of powered through this time last year now feels like a game of Russian roulette. I gingerly tried it for 5 minutes, my body/chest monitoring on red alert by now predictably I decided to abandon the project, which in itself only served to ' feed the troll' of sabotaging my confidence. I need to turn my mind around and look forward to 6 months time and crucially have patience and faith,I wish the same for you.Thanks again, 🙌

[4cokecansBHF]

Be patient. Listen to your body. You have been through the most tremendous trauma. Your heart needs time to heal. At 78 yrs I had an almost painless heart attack with only very mild symptoms. Next thing an emergency ambulance ride to another hospital in middle of night to be told I had 3 blocked arteries! 3 stents later inserted. I was informed it would be 3-6 mths before I would feel normal again. It took a year! I don’t know how old you are. I’m still here 2 yrs later enjoying a NEW NORMAL. Best wishes and good luck.

[4cokecansBHF]

Also it takes quite a while for stents to settle down and that could be the pain you are getting. This is normal and will eventually go away.

[WanderingWycombe]

that’s great to hear! I’m 49 but was VERY unhealthy, very overweight with a job full of stress and too much coffee (average 4/5 lattes a day).

It’s just hard to get a handle on recovery time. Has only been 3 months since the event and I suffer from the expectations of ‘when will I be back to fully functioning’.

I’ve lost 2st since my event, completely changed diet and am super lucky in that I have a really good health policy at work - 6 months full pay to ‘recover’ and if not right at that point 2/3 pay. That removes the financial stress which I know some people don’t have..

It sounds weird but when I have an OK day this ‘imposter feeling’ comes over and I end up doing too much.

For me, work played a huge part of ‘who I am/was’ but I suppose it’s also getting the head around it shouldn’t be now.

Congratulations on 2 years! Brilliant 👍

[4cokecansBHF]

Fantastic to lose so much weight in so short a time! It’s very frustrating when you can’t do things you could do easily before. Don’t try to overdo it - just rest as much as you can at this early stage. You are young and will recover sooner than an older person. Then there will be days when you don’t even think about what happened!! Look forward to that. Believe me that happens!

[WanderingWycombe]

thank you. Today has been better, awful weekend but was able to do 5K walk (over 2 sessions), visit the garden centre and generally OK. Less pain today 👍