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.

[tony969]

Thank you very much. I will discuss this with my cardiologist. After I stopped Lisinipril/this is my second day/ my blood pressure went up but I can breath better and do not have this nauseated feeling. Can you take it without a diuretic? Is it still beneficial? And which one of the ARB's from your expirience has better results with less side effects? Thank you again for your help

[ed34]

From what I've read, the main concern seems to be nifedipine, which is not diltiazem. In fact a trial run by the AHA, found there were fewer side effects with diltiazem and it was issued in higher dosages than nifedipine. The reference to the FDA receiving public petitions to remove drugs from the market is really neither here or there. You won't believe how many petitions they get, and they all stem from scare mongery web sites led by so called caring Doctors. They want you to subscribe to their treatments of course, such as the fantastic chelation which does nothing for CAD. There have been attempts with petitions to remove various statins from the market, but in their research the FDA found no scientific backing for the claims made. All medications will affect some people in the wrong way, that's life which is why they all carry leaflets with the warnings. I think you should look at the side effects with some other medication, such as beta blockers, the list is much longer than diltiazem. As an example, look at bisoprolol. My statins (lipitor) have some nasty effect to some people but after 4 years I've had no trouble at all from them. Here is an interesting comment from the first web site you listed, which explains it all really....
"I now believe God has plans for me to share this message and offer hope to others who have severe health problems."

I wonder if God really told him to get rich exploiting others and scaring them off their meds. It makes you wonder if Jesus charged for his sermon on the mount.
If Nitro doesn't cure a spasm, which can be fatal by the way, then the only real remaining hope is CCB. Unless they fancy a chat with DrHeise instead who will charge them to use his nutritional supplements to no avail.

[erijon]

I take Benicar CHT 40/12.5 mg which is a angiotensin II receptor antagonist (ARB) with a diuretic. I have been on this for years and it works great and NO side effects. If you look at my blood pressure tracker you can see the results, it keeps me at an average of 110/69 which is down from 135/85 when I started about 6 years ago.

No complaints here except it is expensive as there is no generic and I'm constantly fighting my insurance carrier to pay their share, h=they would like me on something cheaper like Lisinopril which I refused.

Hope this helps, let me know if I can give you any further infor.

Jon

[tony969]

Here are some web sites and pieces of different articles. You can click on the web sites for more information- the other are just small pieces since the articles are too big. I can send you thousands of them but this will give you the idea. Thank you

http://www.drheise.com/calciumchannelblocker.htm

Risks
•  CCBs may interact with other drugs and cause them to be less effective, and may even cause severe reactions in patients. High doses of one of the more common calcium channel blockers called nifedipine can be extremely dangerous, and the American Heart Association recommends that doctors use it cautiously and in low doses, if at all. Side effects such as heartburn, swelling in the extremities and exhaustion have been reported by some users. Rare side effects are more serious---some, like erratic heartbeat and increased chest pain, can be very alarming and quite dangerous.

Read more: Benefits & Risks of Calcium Channel Blockers | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_5491707_benefits-risks-calcium-channel-blockers.html#ixzz1EW6rpJCD

On November 9, 1995 Public Citizen's Health Research Group petitioned the FDA to put warning labels on all calcium channel blocker drugs because of the rapidly mounting evidence that a variety of these drugs, used for different medical purposes, including the treatment of hypertension and angina, actually increase rather than decrease the risk of death. The majority of studies including randomized controlled trials and other epidemiological studies either fail to show any clinical benefit, and in many cases actually showed harm to patients using calcium channel blockers.
Our proposed boxed warning label (with a similar one to be required as a patient package insert) is as follows:
Emerging evidence shows a consistent association between the use of the immediate release dosage forms of calcium channel blocking drugs and an increased risk of adverse cardiovascular events including myocardial infarction and death. The evidence to date most strongly implicates the immediate release dosage form of nifedipine in moderate or high doses, but there is no evidence that extended release dosage forms are safer as far as patient mortality is concerned. The three calcium channel blocker sub-types are chemically dissimilar, but they share mechanisms of action. Consequently, it is prudent to consider that this warning should apply to all calcium channel blocking drugs, regardless of chemical class or dosage form (immediate or extended release).
The calcium channel blocking drugs should not be used in those patients with recent myocardial infarction and congestive heart failure.
Drugs from alternative classes of agents for the initial treatment of stable or unstable angina pectoris or hypertension, diuretics and beta-blockers, have reduced major cardiovascular events and mortality in well controlled trials in hypertensive patients. Other agents, including the calcium channel blockers, have not been shown to reduce the incidence of stroke, myocardial infarction or death. Consequently, the Fifth Report of the Joint National Committee on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure recommends diuretics and beta-blockers as the preferred drugs for treating hypertension.

http://www.totalhealthsecrets.com/ENGLISH/resources/articleDetail.php?articles_id=69

[ed34]

Can you please point me to a site or 2 that say "VERY DANGEROUS MEDICATIONS"?
These meds have been around for 40 years. I look forward to your resources.

[tony969]

This is a little update. The chest pains continues and the "expert" can not find anything. I have gone to several specialist with no success so far. Currently taking Plavix, Aspirin, Simvastatin, Carvedilol/Coreg/, LIsinopril. Stopped the stating for a week but this did not help. Read that sometimes Lisinopril can cause chest pains and pain in between the shoulder blades/I have one too/, so the cardiologist and I mutually agreed that I will stop taking it for a week and see the results. In the meantime will monitor my blood pressure 3 times a day. Also I have read that ARB's provide much better results than ACE inhibitors and with less side effects. Does anyone have expirience with the "best" blood pressure medication with less side effects? Thank you for your replies.  By the way- ed34- have read that calcium channel blockers are VERY DANGEROUS MEDICATIONS.... It is not my opinion- that's what most of medical web sides state.