did i experience cardiac chest pain??

[google2008]

i hope someone can help me out here. first of all,i am in my mid 20's,but i am not in very good shape and i have some family history of early coronary artery disease. i was watching tv and i was excited/tense and for about 3 seconds i felt a "crushing" type pain in the center of my chest. i got so nervous afterward that my hands turned cold for a bit but then i calmed myself down. is it possible to get cardiac chest pain for 3 seconds?? i recently had a calcium test done and my score was 300 and the Dr. said that it was a bit high for my age. should i worry about this,or considering my age,everything should be fine??

[is_something_wrong]

I assume that your diagnosis is verified with coronary angiography.

I think two things are necessary. First, a cause must be found for your extremely early (almost world record) onset of coronary artery disease. Again, how are your cholesterol levels? Blood pressure? Diabetes? Other risk factors? Genetic disposition is important, but it manifests through something, like extremely high cholesterol. Some kind of treatment is necessary to protect your other coronary arteries and to prevent further blocking of the LAD.

Second, your existing CAD must be treated somehow. We can't tell you if you should or should not get bypass surgery, but for young people it's usually the best treatment. The risk of developing a heart attack in the future should be less than with stenting, and it sounds terrible to live with angina symptoms for the next 50 years..

If only one artery is affected, the procedure can sometimes be done minimally invasive (without heart-lung machine, opening of the breast bone, etc).

Take care, and keep us updated. We are so sorry to hear about this.......

[achillea]

Why do you not want bypass surgery?  Especially when a stent does not sound as if it will be possible for you.

You do not have many options. Perhaps more info about a blocked LAD will help you understand what is going on:


http://www.texheartsurgeons.com/cad.htm

[google2008]

well,i have some bad news for me. after further testing,a cardiologist determined that i have something called "demand ischemia". he told me that the culprit lesion is the left anterior descending artery. when i get emotional or physical stress,i start to get out of breath and i do get chest tightness and both my arms get tight and numb too. he told me that is most likely genetic disposition. now,i have to take 100mg of atenolol a day and nitrates too. my life is ruined..i took one tablet today and i almost blacked out at the supermarket. when i got home,my pulse rate was just 44 beats per minute and i was very dizzy. what should i do about my life now? i am so scared,i do not want bypass surgery. and my cardiologist said that a stent would be difficult because of the length of the lesion. can anyone tell me what my options are ??  thanks very much.

[spade22]

Hi there,

are you still seeing your cardiologist?  I saw that you posted a few months ago that you had BP readings of ~ 200/100 and pulse rate of ~160 and other symptoms such as dizziness and shortness of breath when walking.  The chest tightness is a symptom you need to let your dr know about especially coupled with the other symptoms you have had recently.

Please let us know what your doctor says.

[is_something_wrong]

It doesn't sound like cardiac chest pain if it lasted only 3 seconds and happened during rest.

Yes, that calcium score sounds a bit concerning and should be a sign that you need to do some serious changes in your lifestyle. I have some family history too and not a history of too healthy lifestyle when I was 20-27 years old (though I've changed it the last couple of years, and my calcium score is still zero, and I'm 30). The doctor told me that "almost everyone at your age have a score of zero".

If your score is 300 in your mid 20s, you should possibly get a full check of lipids (including HDL, LDL, triglycerides, maybe ApoA/ApoB ratio), sugar, Lp(a) and thyroids. Is your blood pressure OK? Is inherited lipid disorders ruled out?

I don't know how unhealthy your lifestyle is, but key words for a heart healthy lifestyle are more exercise, less saturated fat, less sugar, less caffeine, no smoking or drugs, avoiding junk food, eat lots of vegetables, oats, some nuts (not too much as they are high in (healthy) fat, fish, etc. If you are eating meat, choose a steak instead of sausages, etc, and try to eat less than 500g of red meat a week.

[achillea]

In my opinion, with your lack of conditioning, your family history, your high calcium score, plus the fact that you describe chest pain that is "crushing" (that word being important), yeah, you should  go get checked out.