Coronary artery spasm that caused a heart attack

[Jammininaz]

I am a 43 yo female who had a heart attack. My only risk factor is high bp due to kidney surgery as a child that has been controlled by meds. My EKG indicated damage and I had troponin levels of 6 and then 5. The cath showed totally clear arteries and no damage. The diagnosis was coronary artery spasms. I'm within reasonable weight, cholesterol is good, don't smoke, no drugs. What causes this and what can I do to avoid this happening again?

[jrbon]

What symptoms did you have?
Did you suffer any chest pain? Particularly at rest?

Those at typical of artery spams. I found strange that without any previous pain you directly get a heart attack.

If I were you I will try to get a second opinion. In women, some of typical  EKG warnings of HA, like the size of the R wave, are not relevant and the Troponine elevation can be due to other reasons, like a kidney failure that you indicate have problems with. If there is real damage, it will show in a cardiac echo.

Just a thought.

Jesus

[erijon]

Sorry to hear of your problem. Coronary artery spasms are not very common and have several triggers. Some of the most common causes are smoking and high cholesterol which you do not have. Other triggers include high blood pressure, stress, exposure to cold, medications that cause narrowing of the blood vessels (vasoconstriction) and certain stimulant drugs like amphetamines and cocaine.

I guess the first thing to do is try to eliminate these triggers. You also need to keep you BP under control as that is a know cause as well.

Check this website out for more information;

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000159.htm

Hope this helps,

Jon