In more discomfort after Cardiac CTA

[Mommy2TnL]

I had a Cardiac CTA today.  I felt pretty good this morning, which is great since a lot of the time I don't feel good.  I went to my appointment where they checked my vitals and they were right where they needed to be.  The RN started getting my IV ready and missed apparently, but then fixed it.  I started feeling really weak, dizzy and nauseous.  After a couple minutes I said that I wasn't feeling very well.  He hooked me up to the machine and my heart rate was 37 bpm and my BP was 82/45.  He told me to sit for reclined for awhile to see if it helped.  It did.  I went in for the CT and all of that seemed to go just fine.  Now I'm having weird pains under my ribs and just above my belly button, it feels like it moves, plus I don't have as much energy as I did earlier.  When he missed with the IV I felt pain in my chest, but I didn't say anything, could something be lingering?  Has anyone had an experience like this?  The pain is mild, and not constant, still scary since I generally don't have pain.  

[Mommy2TnL]

Thanks for that information!!!  The terminology and the information is really helpful to me.  

[ed34]

What they did was put the cannula into your vein and flush it with a saline solution. This tests the cannula function and also cleans it. You normally feel a cool sensation in the area as it goes in. If the cannula wasn't in the vein properly, then it will hurt, a lot. The saline would have been forced into your body tissue, but this wouldn't cause chest pain. Sometimes a vein pops or moves when a cannula is inserted, causing them to find a different location. I would be very surprised if the cannula caused chest pains.

[Mommy2TnL]

I think the IV may have triggered it because when he had it in and it wasn't placed correctly, he pushed on the syringe thing and it hurt.  Not like getting poked by a needle, but actual pain.  I said, ouch and very shortly after that I started feeling nauseous, dizzy, and weak.  Then he took the IV out and placed it again, and everything worked out fine.  I've been having chest pain off and on since.  It has been consistently about an inch to the right of my sternum.  I can't wait to ask my doctor questions on Thursday, and hopefully he can tell me what is going on.  This was definitely well before I was placed on the CT machine.  Is the isotope the stuff that changes the color of the blood when scanned?  If so, that was definitely not what triggered it.  They added it later, when I was on the table and my body took it just fine.  

[ed34]

I don't think that there was a problem with the IV because it would be obvious if there was. There would be no images of your vessels because the isotope wouldn't be in your blood stream. I don't know what you experienced with your symptoms, maybe some kind of reaction to the isotope but this would have only been injected once the scanner was ready and you was in position to be scanned. The isotope they inject has a short half life and so will soon be gone from your body and you can speed this up by drinking plenty of water.