Member Comments are provided by individuals and reflect their personal opinions only. Under NO circumstances should you act on any advice or opinion posted in this forum. ALWAYS check with your personal physician before taking any action regarding your health! MedHelp International and our partners, sponsors and affiliates have no obligation to monitor any comments posted on this site, or the content and/or accuracy of such exchanges. MedHelp International does not endorse the views of any user.
Heart Disease (Expert Forum)
Potential Heart Atteack From WorrY!
This forum is for questions and support regarding heart issues such as: Angina, Angioplasty, Arrhythmia, Bypass Surgery, Cardiomyopathy, Coronary Artery Disease, Defibrillator, Heart Attack, Heart Disease, High Blood Pressure, Mitral Valve Prolapse, Pacemaker, PAD, Stenosis, Stress Tests.
Potential Heart Atteack From WorrY!
by ane__0__0, Jan 20, 1999 12:00AM
Someone REALLY needs to answer my question. A cardiologist has told me that I have possible coronary artery spasm. i have suffered from chest pain for years (I'm 24) and have had a normal catheterization. MY cardiologist, along with every ER doctor I've ever talked to, reassures me that the liklihood of dying from spasm is remote...Well....I took a little look at your library and now the words, "sudden death cannot be ruled out" are burning their way into my brain. What's the deal here? Am I going to die or what? I don't want to have the catheterization where it spasms on purpose and I've tried calcium blockers and they do not work..all that works is beta-blockers,Xanax and nitro. IF I'M GOING TO DIE I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW!
Doctor's Answer
by CCF Cardio MD - MTR, Jan 20, 1999 12:00AM
Dear Anne, thank you for your question. I cannot answer the question about the likelihood of sudden death in this forum - as you read in the introduction, we only provide general information and do not make diagnoses nor predict prognoses. However, if you have normal coronary arteries and you have chest pain due to coronary spasm, a certain ECG abnormality called ST-segment elevation has to be present when you present with ongoing chest pain. If this has not been documented, then I suspect that the diagnosis of spasm is presumptive. There are certain medications that can be given during a cardiac catheterization to provoke spasm, so you should ask your cardiologist if that was done. Finally, I suggest that you address your question to your own cardiologist.
I hope you find this information useful. Information provided in the heart forum is for general purposes only. Only your physician can provide specific diagnoses and therapies. Please feel free to write back with additional questions. Good luck!
If you would like to make an appointment at the Cleveland Clinic Heart Center, please call 1-800-CCF-CARE or inquire online by using the Heart Center website at www.ccf.org/heartcenter. The Heart
Center website contains a directory of the cardiology staff that can be used to select the physician best suited to address your cardiac problem.
