Thanks so much for your reply.
The ECG did scare us when it said slight ischemia and the Dr thought it was worth checking out. She prescribed amlodipine there and then as he blood pressure was high and the gave her an angina spray just incase it was anything. She was given a stress test within a week. Nothing happened to her heart at all while having this only her blood pressure shot up. The person doing the stress test said there doesn't look to be anything wrong with her heart as nothing happened during the test, is this correct if the ECG picked somethin up the day after the chest pain? Her blood pressure shot up on exercise to 200 over something. The Dr doing the test said as long as she is on medication that should get better within a couple of weeks. She has to go back to the Dr for a medication review in the next couple of weeks to see if her blood pressure meds are working.
Do you think there is something wrong with her heart even though the Dr said not after her stress test. Can an ECG show slight ischemia and not be anything serious? Just worried that's all where Mum isn't really worried at all
Generally, unless the heart is not getting enough oxygen, the EKG will be within normal limits.
The ST segment, which demonstrates ischemia when depressed, only manifests itself after damage has been done.
Most commonly the problem is due to two problems. (1) A narrowing of the main blood vessels feeding the heart (2) a spasm of these vessels, which causes further constriction, and perhaps oclusion.
Nitroglycerine is a vasodilator and relieves the spasm, opening the vessels.
If she has symptoms, the most important thing is to stop all activity and to lie down. This permits the body to devote itself to supplying oxygen to the heart. She should not hesitate to use the nitroglycerine spray immediately and have it with her at all times.
Generally the spasms are self-limiting and don't last over twenty minutes. Under no circumstances should she walk around or attempt to go to the hospital by herself.
She should not hesitate to call 911.
The irregularities in the heart rhythym are something else. Generally they are due to a death of heart tissue that interferes with transmission of the electrical signal from the atrial pacemaker site.
People live for a long, long time with these problems.
Blood pressure over 200 is extremely serious. It is defined as an acute hypertensive crisis. It is important that she adhere to her physician's instructions in regard to medications and take them as directed.
Forgot to add her heart also misses beats. I was feeling her pulse in her wrist the other night and I counted to 7 then it stopped and missed 3 beats until it started again. She says it does this a lot but she's can never feel it happen unless she is checking her pulse at the time.
She gets hot a lot and dizzy when out and about which worries me too