constant chest pain after stent placements

[tony969]

I am 47 year old male, very athletic but unfortunately 4 months ago I had a heart attack/my left ventricle artery was 100% occluded/ and 2 regular metal stents were placed in my left artery. It was a big shock for everybody, especially for me, since my cholesterol was 170 at that time and even during my heart attack my blood pressure was 124/80. Plus genetically nobody has had or died of heart attack among my relatives. I do not eat fried or fast food so my diet was generally ok. My pain never stopped after that- I was experiencing constant chest pressure and shortness of breath but my doctor here did not pay any attention. He was saying that “etiology of my pain is not known but it shouldn’t be anything cardiac since my stress test was ok”.Last month I ended up in the emergency room with re-stenosis /one of the stents was clogged 99% and another stent was placed on the top of those two. This time was Xience 5- drug eluted stent that went on the top of the other two. The doctor started paying a little attention and even apologize that he did not listen to me.Since then/it’s been only a month/ I continue to experience the same problems. Every day I have pain- it doesn’t matter if I exercise or just sit in my office. The pain may start in the middle of the chest but moves to right or left, goes to back/upper part only/ and my shoulders/. Right above my breast bones hurt sometimes more and it is very tender to touch. Before I had my heart attack, I have never experienced anything like that- everything started after the stents were placed. Any suggestions or comments will be greatly appreciated- I can not function normally. I hope the stem cell science will advance much faster than we anticipate and will bring a new avenue and hope to people like us.

[ed34]

He doesn't mention what happens to arteries which have stents. I think a stent holds arteries open, which means they cannot contract. I take it that this means they are unable to expand further also? Another problem with arteries is scar tissue formation, which he doesn't mention. As far as I know, nothing removes this.

[p1954]

Granted Dr E does not do as good a job explaining the mechanisms as I would like.  But the diet he advocates helps with NO production and dramatically affects lipids levels - both of which are helpful for cardiac patients   I went on a plant based diet very close to what he and Neal Barnard and other vegan advocates recommend and my lipids dropped like a stone.  LDL is consistently around 60 and TC is about 120.  I took myself off of my low dose statin for two weeks and retested after consulting with cardiologist and lipids barely moved up.  An older Ornish study also showed benefit using a plant based diet, but Ornish also advocated exercise and stress reduction.  In both cases, Ornish and Ess, some patients who underwent  angiograms which indicated either no progression or some reversal in blockage, unlike the controls which showed progression.  I would like to see studies with larger numbers of patients, including substantial numbers with stents.   Dr Ess is supposed to have a paper coming out soon which decribes the results of about 200 patients who followed his approach compared to patients with a similar profile who did not.  He touched on the results briefly, but there was not enough data there to satisfy me.    The Ornish and Esselstyn papers can be found using google scholar if you are interested.  If nothing else, I am a firm advocate of doing one's  homework as I have learned that my doctors will not tell me all that i want or need to know..  

[ed34]

I watched the presentation with great interest, but I am left asking some questions which were not answered really. For example, in the first part of the presentation he repeatedly states "heart disease is reversible" and yet this hasn't happened in any of his patients that I can make out. What he later says is "so what's happening with these patients, well nitrous oxide is increasing and making the arteries dilate, allowing more flow past the blockages". So to me the word 'reversible' is misused. The disease is still there. Another thing is he doesn't mention the involvement of white cells fully, in particular macrophages. These critters break open the lipids to reveal the raw fat inside, and fat is sticky. Nitrous oxide will not stop this being sticky and attracting further problems. I simply don't understand all the mechanics behind it. He also stated that within hours after eating a bad diet, the arteries were affected? really? The liver produces lipids mostly when we are sleeping, so how can the food be digested, turned to lipids and then sent into the blood stream that quickly, along with lowering nitrous oxide levels? Again, no real explanation. As far as I know, the human body can happily digest meat and fat. Eskimos managed it with no issues and no heart disease. We can go on blaming omega this, omega that, but it seems every year there's a new blame.Sorry for being so pessimistic but I have friends who have eaten nothing but fruit and veg since their teens, and they have heart disease.

[CCF CCF]

You should consult your physician about your pain especially since you have multiple stents and have had restenosis.  The pain you are having may be angina.  The tender rib pain is unlikely to be cardiac, however if you have pain similar to the pain you had prior to the stents you should definitely see your physician.  If your vessels are unchanged, it is possible you need more aggressive medical management for angina.

[p1954]

Try Dr Esselstyn's approach.  It has helped me..   I had two Xience V stents placed last Sept.  

go to minute 50 and watch about 10 minutes worth if you don't want to watch the entire presentation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6pLRdawBw0


  

[tony969]

Thank you Ed. I do take Ubiquinol on regular basis- the problem is with the chest pain,,,have you heard about Enhanced External Counterpulsation or EECP?