My partner is 24 and following a suspected stroke a year ago has been experiencing excruciating chest pains. He awoke one morning no more than a month ago unable to breath properly or lift himself up due to overwhelming chest pains and a heavy weight crushing his chest which travelled down through his left arm resulting in a pins and needles type of sensation in his fingers increasing it to an unusually heavy weight, he described them as scarily painful and unlike anything he had ever felt. He has been suffering with tightness of his chest which restricts his breathing ever since which has resulted in him barely being able to leave the bed for loss of breathing, light headedness and sharp chest pains but although they are nowhere near as painful as the episode a month ago they are still unbearable. When he was taken via ambulance to the hospital with his stroke the doctors performed an ECG test which gave irregular results thus they check his bloods from his arm and his wrist which came up showing a lack of oxygen. They advised he stay in for 7 days under observation and to perform further tests, however, due to a dislike in hospitals he chose to discharge himself. Within the same week he received a letter concerning a test that had been booked which involved injecting dye into him to check for blockages but sadly he did not attend. This leads me on to my problem, he is experiencing the same symptoms as his 75 year old grandmother who has just been discharged from hospital after suffering from a heart attack herself, yet he wont willingly go to hospital. I have been fighting to get him to the doctors for the past month and succeeded yesterday but the practitioner didn't seem to fully understand our problem and dismissed it to muscular pain after not being able to navigate through the system correctly thus being unable to find his hospital records. I have read up on the symptoms of a heart attack and he is ticking the boxes on a daily basis with things only ever deteriorating further. His symptoms are: chest pain starting in the centre of his chest but spreading throughout with tightness and squeezing, the pain is travelling to his arms and abdomen, shortness of breath, feeling sick, anxiety, light headed, extremely painful headaches, fever-like temperatures with sweating. Please could you advise me on whether my speculations are correct or if I am being paranoid?
Can anyone offer advice about heart at... - Cholesterol Support
Can anyone offer advice about heart attacks?
Ask your GP to refer him to the Cardio Dept at your local hospital. He really needs to have an angiogram to determine where the blockage is and the hospital can arrange for him to have an angioplasty which would clear the blockage and insert stents to get the blood supply flowing properly again.
Hi Kyn4n,
The symptoms your partner has are typical of those before a heart attack. It sounds like he has got some blocked arteries which can restrict the flow blood through the body.As Mike 262 says, the most likely thing your Dr will do is send him for an angiogram to show where the blockage is. This sounds scarey I know but it's nothing to worry about. I've had it done myself and it takes about 15 mins. You can usually go in and have it done straight away and then go home. There is no pain and you feel much better afterwards. I had a heart attack and was taken in for an Angiogram in 2010. They found that all my arteries were blocked and so needed a by pass op. I have always been terrified of hospitals but after my operation I would go in without any worries at all now. I'm 55. Your partner is much younger than me and so is unlikely to need a by pass. Most people go in for the angiogram and if they need any stents they put them in at the same time. It's all over in about 15 mins and you don't feel a thing.
Tell your partner to get it sorted as soon as he can. It's really nothing to worry about.
I hope this helps a bit. Hugs x-Charles.
Agreed. I've had angiogram(groin) and angioplasty(wrist), you get a local which just stings a little but after that you feel nothing. Be brave it's surely better than all those pains in your chest & arm etc together with the fatigue. I promise you, you will be a new man after its done. Your in good hands.
He is literally playing with his life and yours. Even if he needs an operation they are done by keyhole surgery and immediately feel different people. The pains in his chest could however be much more serious and lack of treatment early could prove fatal. If he is worried about the pain it will be worse as tension increases inability to breathe easily. I can't believe he signed himelf out usually they are pushing you to go when you don't want to.
There is nothing I can do with regards to getting him to hospital because he has categorically said he wont go and obviously I cant make him go against his will, if I could believe me I would. His grandmother did a blood pressure test on him yesterday and it came out at 95/51 with a pulse of 57 which is lower than her reading, she gave him one of her pills she takes for her angina which are Glyceryl Trinitrate and after half an hour his reading went up to124/72 with a pulse of 61 but it was not a long lasting effect. The pain is getting worse and unlike before it is now constant and the fatigue is also constant, the reading yesterday scared him a little bit and he is now thinking of the hospital being a possibility but at a last resort when he can no longer hold out the pain. I have relayed the information you have given me to him and I am very grateful for all of your answers
For what reason is he not going.? He is 24 and knows that it is inportant to get himself checked out, This is not going to go away. He in a way is lucky, he has got warnings, some people dont, have have a heart attack and die. my friends daughter died of one 2 years ago, and she didnt have any warning signs early. so if he wants to live, then he has to go. sorry for the harsh words, but i have a 24 year old son, if i knew he was going throu this then i would drag him to a&e
If your partner has this attack again, preempt him by calling an ambulance. He cannot refuse to get on it if you are there insisting, and the ambulance staff are advising him to do so. Once in A and E he will be assessed and with you with him will be more compliant to follow up his tests etc. If he is still stubborn is there anyone in his family he listens to, Mum, Dad, brother, sister, anyone? If there is already family history of heart disease they too must be, at least, concerned about their and his health especially if they know of his recent troubles and his stroke.
85% of strokes are the result of atherosclerosis (15% are from haemorrhage). Fatty plaques in the arteries build up and break off or clots build up and break away and that is what causes the stroke. If your partner has atherosclerosis in his carotid arteries that may have caused a stroke, then it's more than likely he will have it in his coronary arteries,which can cause heart attacks. He's needs to get checked out!
I was a 51 years old when i had neck and jaw pains and slight discomfort in my right shoulder, within minutes i had died! The manager at our hotel in turkey bought me back via cpr and rushed me to a hospital, i was in Turkey for 6 weeks and died a further 2 times (very scarry), when i returned to the UK i was given 6 hours to live, happily i'm still here, i went into congestive heart failure and ended up with a heart transplant 4 years ago, for which me and my famiuly will be forever grateful. please please DO NOT ignore any pains in your upper chest especially women who apparently do get neck and jaw pains (ididn'y know this at the time) Please get your partner to get an angiogram it takes less than 15 mins and could save his life. 
Tina
The dr wants to see my husband about going on statins! Wonder what others here think?
Can anyone help please, I'm scared and confused?
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Chest Pain
