constant chest pain after stenting

[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 middle LAD. 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 inside of those two. This time was Xience 5- drug eluted stent that went inside other two. The doctor started paying a little attention and even apologize that he did not listen to me.Since then/it’s been a little over 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.

[ChatterAlly]

Please keep us posted and take care!  Ally

[tony969]

Thank you very much. When I see cardiologist next time, definetely I will talk to him about stress echo test...

[ChatterAlly]

I went back to the ER this past April with chest pains that were the very same type pain I had with my heart attacks.  It turned out to be heart spasms.  My cardiac enzymes were good, the echo I am not sure of as I didn't care to ask.  The cath showed a new blockage that would need bypassing, but it was flowing at around 50%.  So they concluded that the chest pains I had been having several times a day every day were from the coronary artery spasms or prinzmetal angina.  This is rare, but it was treated with a calcium channel blocker.  It took some trial and error to find the right med and combination of meds, but the spasms have settled down quite a bit.  And I use a long acting nitro and quick acting nitro. That's my case, but may not be in yours.  Take care, Ally

[ed34]

I saw a Cardiologist back in November who said my problems are no longer cardiac related. Another Cardiologist said that it was due to spasms. I visited my regular Doctor who agreed with me that this is angina and not caused by spasms. She demanded that my Cardiologist organise a lung test and echo stress test. The lung test was fine. For the stress echo, they slowly injected some agent into my blood stream to get my heart racing. I was soon suffering throat discomfort, shortness of breath, jaw ache, chest pains, nausea and dizziness. The images reveal an area of heart muscle near the bottom of the left ventricle not getting enough oxygen for exertion. Maybe ask for a stress echo to see if your heart is coping properly under stress?

[tony969]

Not recently but the last test was very good. The doctor is shure it is not cardiac related. I had an angiogram in April and the stent was wide opened.

[ed34]

Have you had a recent stress echo test to see if your heart is working properly under exertion?