Coronary Artery Spasms

[KARI2501]

On October 5th 2008, I went into cardiac arrest.  After a few minutes, I was brought back.  I spent a week in the hospital.  A few weeks before all this, I started getting severe pressure in my chest, down my arms and up into my neck.  I was diagnosed with Coronary Artery Spasms.  Since leaving the hospital I have had few more attacks, not as severe but still painful.  I've heard this is a rare condition.  Will I have to live with these horrible spasms the rest of my life or should my meds be able to keep them at bay

[Cleveland Clinic]

Sounds like you have severe coronary spasm, dangerous enough to cause low blood flow to the heart leading to an arrest.  Even though, generally, patients with spasm have similar outcomes compared to the normal controls, I think you are a bit different bacuse of the cardiac arrest.  I think your doctors have to be very aggressive in terms of cotrolling your symptoms.  You should be on calcium channel blockers and nitrates at maximal doses until your symptoms are controlled.    

[Cleveland Clinic]

Also, I think your doctors should at least putting in an ICD (defibirillator) in you.  There is no strong data for this in your case but given that you have suffered one arrest aleady and continue to have chest pain despite some medical therapy, your risk of recurrent arrest may not be low.  You could therefore benefit from this lifesaving tharapy.