Non-specific T-wave abnormailty and spondylitis

[Agoofer]

Dear Sir,
My age is 54 years. Normally I have a stressful day at office. But I take regular excercises in the morning. One day in the office for about 25-30 seconds (or less) I had severe pain in both the shoulders and spreading slightly to back. After the pain I felt some loss of energy in both the shoulders. No chest pain. I contacted a doctor who advised that an immediate ECG be done. ECG showed normal sinus rhythm and nonspecific T wave abnormality. Further investigations were carried out that showed normal echocardiogram. The doctors also conduted angiograpghy and found everything normal. In the angiography the report stated that I had LAD type III vessel.

All biochemistry, haematology, cogulation, immunology,urine tests were found normal.

I still sometimes feel tingling in both shoulders.

Could this pain have been becuase of angina or because of spondylitis? Could this have been an attack of silent angina?

[CCF-M.D.-MJM]

Hello,

It is difficult to say what caused your pain.  It should be reassuring from a cardiac perspective that the EKG, echo and cath were normal.  Spondylitis can cause chest pains, but I think it will be difficult to determine exactly what is causing this.  Sometimes having no conclusion is better than knowing, especially if it means have significant coronary disease.

Silent angina would not cause chest pain and usually presents as fatigue, weakness or nonspecific symptoms.  With a normal cath and assuming you don't have coronary spasm or a metabolic syndrome (glucose intolerance, increased triglycerides, low HDL, and obesity), I doubt the cause was cardiac.

Thanks for posting.

[Flycaster305]

Ankylosing Spondelitis hit me at about the age of 30, and slowly and painfully worked up from my lower back to my neck and then to my chest.  I was informed that many times this disease fuses joints to a greater or lesser degree, then simply goes away as one gets older, and that is exactly what happened to me (I'm 65).  However, the arthritis pains sure make one think they are having a heart attack!  I went to the ER one night thirty years ago and got really good advice, I think... if you press your chest and the pain increases, it's likely to be joint pain. I'm recovering from my second heart attack, and still find it difficult to tell the difference between an asthma attack and a heart attack, and bet a Cardiologist wouldn't know for sure until tests are run.  Given that heart tests are so definitive now, I'd trust the tests, but I'd get checked how the Spondelitis is progressing for your peace of mind.

[tickertock]

I have ankylosing spondylitis , don't know if this is the same spondylitis you are referring, I think there is also one called spondylosis which is different and mainly affects the neck. Just want to say that I have experienced similar pains that your writing about with my spondylitis, also a alot of costochondritis that sometimes mimics heart pain.

[Barbarella]

A Radiologist found (in 1986) that I had Spondylitis in my neck when an Xray was done on my neck and back because of severe pain, burning and stiffness in my neck, pain in my shoulders,  pain between my shoulder blades and pain in my back.

Request an Xray of your shoulders and back to see if you have Spondylitis.

[Agoofer]

Thanks for quick reply. I think I meant spondylosis and not spondylitis. Can spondylosis cause sudden shooting pain in both upper arms for about 25 seconds?

[jan]

I have c-spine spondyloarthropathy which is just the degenerative changes, herniated discs, pinched nerve, stenosis, spurs, blah blah blah.

Anyway, I had L. upper back (shoulder area) pain and the side of my neck, and down my L. arm., ER thought cardiac.  To top it off my ekg was abnormal, so I got the 3 day cardiac stay.  It turned out to be from the spondy. diag by MRI. (I don't know why my ekg was abnormal, it's usually picture perfect or just some IST.)

I have had radiculopathy on both sides, now it just seems to be on the rt. side causing parasthesia.  An emg/ncs showed this.

This just came to mind...I had Lhermitte's sign once and that is a tingling shocklike sensation down the arms and it was from my neck.  I know you said pain, but look that up and see if it doesn't describe what you felt.

[sandro]

hi! sorry to bother you, how do you feel bigemeny? ever since the episode i had on tues. last week ive been EXTREMELY freaked an scared. i had my hand on my pulse before and during the episode, my pulse was BEAT...BEAT...BEATPVCBEAT...BEAT (i think it was a PVC). my heart acually felt like it was flip floping an fluttering...but i always get them in singles, but im afraid that one day there going to come in groups and the way i perceive them as singles is bad enough. it seems that most of the time i feel PVC, not the beat after it. is there any comfort you can give, please! thank you.

[tickertock]

If you take your pulse while in bigeminy it feel like beat pause beat pause beat. In the chest it almost feels as thoughyour heart is rollin over and over with no rhythm at all, of all the irregularities to me bigeminy PVCs is worse the feelin of all, Hope this helps. Every moght experience a different sensation.

[tickertock]

My sister has spondylosis of the spine in her neck, she's 53 and her complaints are mostly shooting sharp pains in the upper arms , mainly the left one. This might not apply to your condition, just sharing the symptoms of someone very close to me spondylosis.

[sandro]

do you ever feel the PVC's that don't cause a pause, i think there called interpolated?
mine will either cause a pause or come right inbetween. do you get bigem. often? ive never had bigem. and hope to GOD they stay as singles. thanks for posting a comment for me. when i get these reeeally freaky ones i wonder if i should go see the electo again for another test...but i think to myself with 8 electrophysiologists and all the tests that were done within less than a year, have they really over looked something???

[tickertock]

I have had nearly every PVC documented possible though probably about 98% are unifocal PVC , when I did get them, I have had interpolated PVCs also. Try not obbess, it nearly drove me insane. Don't let this happen to you. I rarely have PVCs anymore, maybe 5-10 a month that I'm aware.

[sandro]

i hope my decrease as i eat more and get through the extreme physical anxiety they cause. i was told by my psyhcologist told me im VERY hyper sensative to my bodily functions. i kinda figured that one out myself. thanks again for your patience with me.