to have or not to have an angiogram?

[karinosa]

Brief background:

Female, Hispanic, 40 years old, active and healthy up to 3 months ago.  Now very high blood pressure 160/110 at times, very fast and pounding heart rate at rest 97-110, intermittent chest pressure, BP and heart rate goes higher with minimal excersion.  Have had all tests return normal: ECG, 24hr Holter, MIBI and Echo, during MIBI it was determined though that I do have excercise induced LBBB.  Was put on BP meds 180mg once a day Tiazac, had helped a bit, chest pressure is less, heart rate has diminished at times - but not consistant.  Blood work all fine except verry low ferritin, I've been taking 900mg iron daily.  I was also tested for pheocromocytoma (tumor in adrenal glands) will get results tomorrow.

My cardiologist now says that sometimes there are 'false normal' results so he wants to do an angiogram just to make sure there is no blockage even though MIBI pictures and Echo are both normal.

I'm really scared to have this procedure done.

I cannot do my day to day activities as my BP and heart rate go extremelly high, if I rest and specially if I lay down on my right side I can lower my BP to 117/76 and heart rate at 76, but as soon as I move it goes to 145/98 and heart rate in the 90's or more.

Should I go through this procedure?  If I do it will be done between Xmas and New Year's.  I have 3 kids 11, and 10 year old twins.

We also have a cruise planned for end of January.

Any advice?  I want my life back!

[karinosa]

Thank you martsam and chattykathy,

I sure hope mine echo goes smooth!  All my tests have come back normal, so they are not sure if I do have a blockage or not, my life is at a stand still as I cannot do anything without making me tired or getting shortness of breath or chest pressure.

Thanks again for your response.

[chattykathy1958]

Hello,I am 50 yrs old and at 45 I had  double bypass surgery,all my tests prior to the cabg showed nothing,I was not overweight,exercised,etc.I had what they called the widowmaker,the left main was about 98%blocked,most of the time a stent can be used if there is a blockage,my point is if I would not have had the cath I would not be here now.I have heart disease so I also had a stent 2 yrs ago.I am having another cath done Jan.9th,been having some shortness of breath and fatique,he said it was better to look than to not since I have never had a heart attack,we don't want to start now.It is not a painfull procedure,The last one I had was a little painfull because I have had so many and there is scar tissue,so I just told them and the cranked up the juice and all was well.You will do fine.

[martsam]

I am 32 and had an angiogram done last year as I had a heart problem. First of all you are awake and can see the proceedure. They put an needle into either your leg or your arm depending on surgeons preference. That does not hurt I promise, you dont even feel the scratch because of the meds they give you to relax you. They then tell you they are about to inject the a die into you, they do this for about twenty seconds and you feel a flutter in your heart. It does not hurt and it passes quickly, it feels weird, kind of like when you turn the tv on and their is static and you run your hand over it, that is the sensation that you feel in your chest.

You can see the die going around your heart on the computer monitors in the room or choose not to look. I kind of had one eye open and one closed.

Then it was all over. You need to drink a lot of water for the next few days to get it out of your system and when you pee it smells and looks radioactive. After about two days your system should be clear.

No panic, no worries, no pain and most of all, a very quick and safe proceedure.

Good luck

[karinosa]

any thoughts from anybody out there that has had an angiogram before?

[karinosa]

I also have severe shellfish allergy, is it safe to have the angiogram when they use iodine dye which comes from shellfish?