Unstable Angina

[leapyear]

I am 52. and have just been diagnosed with unstable angina. I also have narowing of small blood vessels. I have tried to gather information from various websites, I interpret them as saying the prognoses is not very good long term, and every time When I have spoken to my doctors they seem to cold shoulder it and dont want to discuss in any depth, telling me it'l be ok. Im not paranoid but would like someone to me tell me if they know anybodywith this condition and what there prognoses was.

[smithy]

Hi Leapyear,

I was diagnosed with unstable Angina in Nov 2010.....I was sent to a cardiologist had an angiogram and a total of 10 stents inserted.

The issue lies with the percentage of arterial blockage, and where the blockages are. In my case it was at 95% in one artery and 80% in 2 others. Hence emergency angioplasty.

As it happens i still get angina though at a much lower level and the last angiogram i had showed that the worst blockage was at 58%. At this level they will only treat with drugs, and so i take a plethora of them!! They also said i had blockages at the microvascular level which were untreatable.

The long term prognosis is normally very good, whether stents are inserted or a bypass is needed............With hindsight i personally should have taken the bypass (es) i was offered, but C'est la Vie.

You should ask your GP to send you to a local cardiologist if you haven't already seen one, where you can have the necessary tests, to find out how advanced any blockages are.

All the best

Tony