Had Cath, Now more questions,no answers yet.

[fluffypurrcat]

I am about out of faith and energy as well. For the past month I have been on pins and needles waiting for answers to what happend to me On April 2nd, I had all the classic symptoms of a MI, and my dr. put me on Nitro as well as other cholsesteral meds to help me till my Stress test. The stress test came out abnormal, showing what is called Reverse Perfusion defect, which said I most likely had a MI.


Referred to a cardiologist who gave me a Cardiac catherization yesterday, June 2nd, and after much stress, it came out that I don't have any blocked arteries...Now I don't know what to do or what to think. My cardio has me set up for a echocardiagram on Thursday, the 5th. What is the purpose of this test? What can he possibly be looking for?  What will this test show that the Catherization did not show? I am starting to believe I am just not going to get any answers at all. My husband thinks this is all a waste of time, and that somehow it is my fault, that I am supposed to demand solutions to problems that I can not explain and the doctors don't know what the problem is.

       The Stress test was my glimmer of hope, that yes, it showed I did have a problem, that it was not my imagination. I know my body and I know the chest pain I had and following symptoms ( angina attacks) are new and not normal to me. But if a dr. can't show what is wrong, what good is it? If I have stunned myocardium, will the Echo test show areas of the heart that have some damage, or are not moving correctly, scar tissue? Are these things that don't show up on a cath test, because that test is only looking at arteries and veins?Allso would a repeat stress test do any good at this point? My cardiologist was saying he wished that they had given me a regular treadmill stress test, he didn't like idea of the Medication induced test? Why would that be? He allso did not have the pictures of my heart, but I would think he should be able to get copies, since he is a dr.

I am so diappointed, I know this sounds strange, but I would feel better if I had a attack while in the dr. s office or while having a test, so they could see for themselves, and I could get an answer. If you do not have a blocked artery, and you have a MI, or the symptoms of one, what other conditons of the heart can cause this to happen, and how do they diagnose this? I am almost dreading the test on the 5th, because I am afraid of failing it too.

Besides the STress test abnormal results, my EKGs for a couple of years have showed a couple of things;Sinus Bradycardia, 42 bpm, on 03/21/07  Prolonged QT interval., 09/06/07. ;Sinus Bradycardia: 46 beats per minute.
Poor R wave progression,Extensive T wave changes are nonspefic.04/28/07 Sinus Rythem, 68 Beats per minute;( this was after my MI, so my heartbeat and pressure have been up since that invent.) Inferior and Lateral ST-T changes Borderine abnormal possibley due to Myocardial Ischemia ***Dr. noted** T waves more pronounced since last EKG.
  Can anyone give me any advice and tell me what does any of this signify and what can the dr. be looking for on the echocardiagram. ? Thank you for listening.                                      fluffypurrcat

I know I should be happy for no signifecent blockages, but I don't have any answers.

[fizzixgal]

Not having answers after going through that has to be the worst thing! I don't know what else to suggest other than what Jon said, coronary artery spasm (Prinzmetal's variant angina) is something you might ask your doctors about if they haven't already mentioned it. Though if they thought that might be the problem, they could have tested for it during your catheterisation by giving you a drug that induces spasm in people with that condition. My cardiologist says though that for liability reasons they often decide not to do that... another thing your doctors might be considering is that you could have blockage or spasm in the smaller vessels (microvascular disease) that they can't see on an angiogram. That is also called Cardiac Syndrome X. But to be diagnosed with that you really need to have confirmed ischemia on EKG. That could be why your cardiologist wishes that you could do the treadmill test as it is both a perfusion test and a stress EKG. The persantine test doesn't put your heart under a workload the way exercise does and so isn't a real stress EKG.

But the best news is really that you don't have blocked coronary arteries! Good luck in getting everything else sorted out.

[erijon]

I'm glad the cath went well, sorry you don't have more answers. The echo will show if there are any abnormalities of the wall motions in your heart which may indicate an area of damaged muscle. Has any of your doctors mentioned the possibility of your MI symptoms being cause by a vaso spasm? This will cause your arteries of the heart to constrict and will produce the same symptoms of an MI caused by a blockage, it would be worth asking about. This can even cause muscle damage depending on how long the arteries are constricted.

Hope you get your answers soon,

Jon