Chest pain

[montebello]

hi all, yesterday was quite short if breath on exertion and last night experienced moderate chest pain. Will go to emergency room this AM, but am concerned if they have to stop the PRED. I know it can't be stopped quickly. Currently 4 weeks into GCA, on 50 mg at the time. Any advice?

[PMRpro Ambassador]

It is unlikely they will stop it - and if they do then they will give hydrocortisone. Just make sure they are aware of how long you have been on pred and cross the bridge when you get to it!

[montebello in reply to PMRpro]

okay. Thanks

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to montebello]

Shouldn't be too much of a problem after only 4 weeks, even at higher doses. It is the GCA that would pose the problem. They do have to deal with steroid-dependent patients all the time.

[montebello in reply to PMRpro]

I do see that one of the side effects of PRED is chest pain, in which we are to go to the ER. But i haven't read any pists here about folks experiencing this chest pain. It must be rare? I wonder what causes it?

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to montebello]

Depends what is causing it though doesn't it - there is an increased risk of stroke and MI in the year after GCA is diagnosed so it could be that rather than a direct effect of pred.

[SheffieldJane in reply to montebello]

Obviously I agree with PMRPro’s advice. I was blue lit to hospital with chest pain once. It turned out to be a harmless oesophageal spasm, also a possible side effect of Pred, very frightening at the time. As if you have swallowed a stone, I had jaw pain as well. The Ambulance crew were great. Best wishes.

[nallufl24]

of course you need to check it out but I have to tell you, when I was on high doses of pred there were many times that my chest hurt so bad I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Every time I got it checked, they couldn’t find anything. It was indigestion from the prednisone. It went away when i got to lower doses of prednisone

[nallufl24]

yes. You are correct!

[montebello]

Hi all, I'm not sure if everyone who contributed to this thread will see this but I just wanted to give an update. I went to the ER with shortness of breath and some mild chest pain. I probably would not have gone but my wife and I will be babysitting our 2 young grandchildren during the caesarean birth of our daughter's 3rd child in a few days -- and I didn't want to worry about my heart when I was being depended upon for such an occasion.

Bloodwork, Cat Scans (to rule out aortic dissection), xrays, echocardiograms, and stress tests revealed that my heart is actually in excellent shape -- I must have either pulled a muscle (very possible), or the high dosage of prednisone has irritated my esophagus (although I take it with PLENTY of food).

Whatever, it confirms what many of you said, i.e., that even though we cannot assume it's NOT the heart, most times it isn't (when on high doses of pred).

Thanks for all your comments, posts, and in general helping me (and others) get through all of this. You're all GREAT

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to montebello]

if you want everyone to see it -just raise a new post and entitle it “update to chest pain” - PMRpro and I are probably the only ones that follow every post …

You can copy your reply above and paste it into new post -and good news by the way - but as we said - best to get any chest pain checked out.

[montebello in reply to DorsetLady]

thank you