Aa
Coronary Artery Spasms (Vasospasm)
I just got a note from someone in here regarding these, (thank you so much Joan. We need to talk more) just at the moment I wanted to post a question regarding this. So here it is. Anyone else suffer with these? These are awful and do strange things to the monitors. Is it possible to have these and still be able to know the difference between one of these and the chest pains of a heart attack? I understand these can also bring on a heart attack if severe enough. In the ER I had one that was unbelievable and had everyone jumping. But then came the cardiac enzymes and they were normal....so, how do I differentiate the 2?
Thanks for your response. Yes, I have as many as 15 a day. They wake me up out of a dead sleep, come on just walking across the room or while I am sitting and typing like now. As I type this I am having one. All I did was walk to the bathroom and walk back here. These are awful and are alot like the chest pains I had with my heart attacks, so it's scary. I went to the ER with them and my rhythm was good and cardiac enzymes were normal so this surprised everyone until they took a closer look at the data from the cardiac monitors. They could see then that I was having vasospasms. To all in this forum, these can take your breath away and make you stop what you are doing. I am always telling those around me "It will go away in a minute or two"? But am I sure of this? I see my doctors Wednesday and will talk to them about these and the fact that 1 Norvasc isn't working anymore. Thanks, Ally
I have been in communication with Joan for about 8 months. I am 60 years old and my spasms started out of the blue last July. No lead up event just started having painful spasms that almost knocked me to the floor. Every test imaginable has been done by cardiologist, every test appropriate, ent (I also have ear pressure at the same time), neurologist (mris) gastro guy (endoscopy). Started me on Norvasc last september 5 mg in the am. Then added a pm same dose because I was having alot of episodes at night. I have fewer now, they dont last as long as they did then but are still there morning and night. But I did go from around 20 episodes a day to 4 or 5 now. That is the only medication that I am taking other than cholesterol meds (started taking these long before the spasms started) and now that I am 60 take a baby aspirin. Have not had a day when I had no episodes, so here I am 10 months later with no answers. I go for a 6 month cardiology check up next week.
I've never had a heart attack but as a cardiac nurse I've been around a few patients with an evolving MI. I can comment on the spasms. They start quick, sharp, directional and can occur with or without chest tightness, with and without exertion or cardiac demand but most frequently I have them with some degree of chest tightness and shortness of breath. By directional I mean that I can tell the direction of where it starts and where the sharp electric prod goes to...I have two types: one that tracks the LAD from bottom to top of vessel and the other is from right to left more at the base of the heart. They will take your breath away and it makes you stop...which is a good thing. The sharpness and intense pain disappears rather quickly and I'm left with an ache, burn etc. in the heart region. I use nitro spray immediately as another can follow.
A heart attack is typically a very crushing chest pain and accelerates to shortness of breath, squeezing chest or right sided chest pain and the pain may go to left axilla, left arm, up the left jaw and through to the back, under shoulder blade. There are exceptions to this description and there are many cases of 'silent' MI with different degress of muscle damage yet not all the typical presenting signs. Cardiac spasm does not shut down blood to the heart muscle long enough to cause damage as in positive cardiac enyzmes, but it is ischemia, lack of blood to that muscle therefore the pain. I hope this helps. There are others on the forum who experience spasms. I hope they describe their signs. Joan
A heart attack is typically a very crushing chest pain and accelerates to shortness of breath, squeezing chest or right sided chest pain and the pain may go to left axilla, left arm, up the left jaw and through to the back, under shoulder blade. There are exceptions to this description and there are many cases of 'silent' MI with different degress of muscle damage yet not all the typical presenting signs. Cardiac spasm does not shut down blood to the heart muscle long enough to cause damage as in positive cardiac enyzmes, but it is ischemia, lack of blood to that muscle therefore the pain. I hope this helps. There are others on the forum who experience spasms. I hope they describe their signs. Joan
Have an Answer?
You are reading content posted in the Heart Disease Community
Is a low-fat diet really that heart healthy after all? James D. Nicolantonio, PharmD, urges us to reconsider decades-long dietary guidelines.
Can depression and anxiety cause heart disease? Get the facts in this Missouri Medicine report.
Fish oil, folic acid, vitamin C. Find out if these supplements are heart-healthy or overhyped.
Learn what happens before, during and after a heart attack occurs.
What are the pros and cons of taking fish oil for heart health? Find out in this article from Missouri Medicine.
How to lower your heart attack risk.
