cardiac cath question

[jeyjaz]

What does a cardiac catherization feel like? How do you feel after ?

[Tarheelguy1967]

I've had 8 caths over the last 2 years and they were very different.  The first 4 were done at Walter Reed (military hospital) and the others were done at civilian hospitals.  I received VERY little drugs for the first 3 at Walter Reed, and the 4th they pretty much knocked me out.  For the first three, I only received a small numbing shot where they put the shunt in, and it didn't help a lot.  It was a little painful I must admit.  Also, when they opened the balloon, I could really feel it - VERY heavy chest pressure.  The worst part was in the recovery room where they put about 30 minutes of heavy pressure on the incision site to stop the bleeding - that was quite uncomfortable (I used a lot of 4 letter words I try not to use very often :-).  But given this, I'd rather have had a little discomfort rather than die of a heart attack - so in my view it was a pretty good trade-off!  Don't ask me why the doc who did the first 3 was so "stingy" with the drugs....maybe he was trying to save taxpayer $$$s.  The 4th military doctor was a big fan of drugs, and I really didn't feel anything.  He also used angio-seal to close the wound, and man was that a big change for the better.  For all the caths at a civilian hospital, I've never hesitated to ask for drugs, and they've provided them.  Don't really remember much to be honest, but maybe with having so many I'm starting to damage brain cells for the long term :-)  The hard part for me is I've usually gone to the ER late at night, and they keep me away from food for about 24 hours - I get pretty hungry.  And you can't eat for several hours after the cath until the wound has sealed, so I've gone almost 2 days without food as a part of the process.  Only problem afterwards is the leg is a little sore, but no big deal.  It was a little tender by heart cath #8 because there really wasn't much time between caths, but still it was nothing I couldn't deal with.  I still have some tenderness, but not too bad and most people don't have so many caths done in such a short period of time.  7 of the 8 caths were done in my right femoral, so it is the one that is sometimes tender, but I'm still able to run 2-3 miles every other day with no difficulty...just aches sometimes but it is getting better.  Again, it is really a pretty painless procedure, especially when given the "drugs", but regardless, I'll take any pain (espcially a small level of discomfort caused by a cath) if it keeps me from dying from a heart attack!  

[FLBrat]

I was out like a light during my cath.  And I slept for many hours afterwards.  I will say that I had many fears about having one, but the worst part was confirmation of problems, not the procedure itself.  Four other members of my family had cath done without any problems.  No one mentioned any real discomfort.