Re: Heart Problems

Posted By CCF CARDIO MD - MTR on February 25, 1998 at 11:27:46:

In Reply to: Heart Problems posted by Jim Farley on February 16, 1998 at 13:06:23:







: I'm 57 year old, 5'9", 160lbs. On May 5, 1995 I felt
terrible and tried to lay down & rest. I felt uncomfortable
and restless. I got up and start to experience a lot of
chest pressure, left arm numbness. I broke out in a cold
sweat. My neighbor who had left my house about 10-25 minutes
prior returned and asked what was the matter. She said I was
whiter than the shirt I had on, she notice that the shirt
was very wet. She took me to the hospital. The hospital took
blood, chest x-ray and an EKG. The doctor said everything
was normal and suggested it may have be gas, heartburn etc.
I told him I didn't think so. He put me on a monitor saying
they would monitor me for 15-20 minutes & if they didn't
find anything I would be homeward bound. About 10 minutes
later I started to feel the pressure again, looked at the
monitor screen, heard alarm. I went into cardiac arrest. The
following morning I was out on a helicopter to another
hospital where they did an angioplasty.
    Since that time I have been on several different heart
medications. I presently take Vasotec 2.5 mg BID, Procardia
XL 60 mg. I have never felt even close to what I felt
before. My BP stays relatively low, the range is between
95/70 - 130/95 or a combination of them. My heart rate very
rarely goes lower than 75 even when resting for several
hours. It is more common for it to be in the mid to high
90's while resting and at times have been as high as 117
resting and stay that way for several hours. I suffer from
constant tiredness, no energy, waking up after a couple of
hours & difficulty getting back to sleep. there are times I
think it was mild chest pressure that woke me, but I'm not
sure. I have also been given AXID 150mg for heartburn,
Buspar (no longer take), Zoloft 50 mg, Nortriptyline 50 mg.
Claritin D, Yohimbine 5.4 BID. I feel as if none of these
are helping, if anything making me feel worse. My libido is
very low, especially when compared to prior times, when it
is up I cannot get an erection or only a partial. I still
get periodic chest pressure or mild pain & blood pressure
isn't elevated. I get shortness of breathe occasionally for
no reason, it is most noticeable then I get it as I am
starting to lay down.
    About 3 weeks ago I started to take CellSparc it is a
Compound containing 60 mg of Coenzyme Q10, tocotrienols 100
mg, Omega-3 240 mg. I take them BID. I also take a substance
called Barleygreen and a capsule containing 334 mg of 100%
Alpine Wild Garlic & magnesium Stearate, BID.
    I'm looking for a way to feel healthier, not so tired
and hopefully increase my sex life. I try to go to the mall
& walk but I get so tired & pains in my lower body & legs
that I must stop after a very short while. There are times
that I wake up feeling a little better than normal then
about 2-3 hours later I feel like the only thing I want to
do or can do is sleep.
    I almost feel like throwing all the medications down the
drain & see what happens, because I know I should not feel
this bad. The only thing that keeps me from doing this is
that I have custody of my 13 year old son. He is a really
good boy and my pride & joy.
    I have been to several cardiologists, the one I go to
now appear to care & listen, the others didn't. I actually
do not know of any other in my area. Small town in WV called
Princeton.
    I sure hope you can give me some give me some insight on
all these problem I having. I'm at a point I need to do
something soon. I plan to go to NY when school get out in an
effort to try a doctor in that area. I hope I can endure
that long.
    Thanks for any help you would give.
Sincerely,
Jim Farley







Dear Jim, thank you for your question.  I'm sorry about the delay to respond.  It sounds
like you have had a hard time since your angioplasty.  I'll try to explain what may have
happened to you and give you some suggestions to improve things.
  Your description of what happened with your chest pains sounds classic for angina also
known as chest pain.  I can't tell whether you had a heart attack during that event but
you were treated with the right procedure - cardiac catheterization and angioplasty.  A
catheterization is also called an angiogram and it images the coronary arteries to identify
blockages like the one that caused your angina.  Blockages can often be treated with
angioplasty and coronary stents.  Angioplasty involves inflating a small balloon in the
blockage to open the narrowing and is often followed by a stent which is a metallic
scaffolding device that it inserted in the artery to better relieve the blockage after
angioplasty.  After these procedures, patients can usually return to their normal activities
in 1 - 2 weeks.
  In your case, you have been bothered by persistent symptoms like shortness of breath,
chest pain, fatigue, loss of libido, impotency, and leg pain.  You are on a number of
medications that could be causing some of these through medication-related side effects
but that would be hard to tell without an examination.  I am more concerned that you may
have a recurrence of the blockage in the coronary artery that was treated with
angioplasty since you are having recurrent chest pain and shortness of breath.  I don't
know the results of your original angiogram so it would be hard to comment on what could
be going on now.  After angioplasty and stents, about 20-30% of the blockages come back
within 6 months.  It's often hard to predict which patients will have blockages return.
As for the difficulties with sexual function that you've been having, that certainly could
be related to your medications but we also know that diabetes, high blood pressure, smoking,
and elevated cholesterol (all risk factors for coronary artery blockages and heart attacks)
can contribute to impotency.
  My advice to you would be to have a complete,thorough reevaluation by a cardiologist to
get to the bottom of your problems.  We have many patients from W.Va. come to Cleveland
Clinic for evaluation and we would be happy to see you here if you would like to visit.
Contact Cleveland Clinic at 1-800-CCF-CARE and ask for an appointment with a cardiologist
at Desk F-25 to get started.  If you come here for an evaluation, please copy all of your
medical records and your angiogram film and bring them with you to your appointment.  
  I hope this information helps you.
Information provided in the Heart Forum is for general purposes only.  Specific diagnoses
therapies can only be provided by your physician.