No change in symptoms following stent

Question

My husband had a bare metal stent inserted 3 years ago for 95% blockage and unstable angina. He is on Plavix and an asprin drug. Had to stop beta blockers because of tongue swelling, however, this has continued and the docs now have him on anti-histamines for the swelling whilst waiting for an allergy appt. He has never felt any better since the stent surgery. He is still very tierd, still has leg pain and suffers very poor short term memory. Various GPs just refill his prescriptions as his cholesterol is lower and so is his BP. He does not discuss his leg, tierdness and memory problems with them. I should add that he still binge drinks and smokes 15-20 pd. Also, he has not changed his very high fat diet as he feels there is no need if his cholesterol has come down with the tabs. He did stop smoking for some months but still felt no better. Has anybody else not noticed any improvement following stenting and medication?

This discussion is related to bare stents.

kenkeith · Answer

Thankfully, I don't have any side effects with medication.

mazza642 · Answer

Thank you very much for this, I will tell him.  Do you experience any of the symptoms he described when you take your pills, ie pins and needles/tingling throughout body?

kenkeith · Answer

I take a sublinqual pill for angina management in situations likely to provoke angina attacks. 
 Directions: If relief is not attained after a single dose during an acute attack, additional doses may be given at 5-minute intervals. If pain persists after a total of 3 doses within a 15-minute period, prompt medical attention is recommended. That seems to confirm your understanding of 15 minutes, but the recommendation is go to ER and have a driver...don't drive yourself !

mazza642 · Answer

I'm posting this to Flycaster but would appreciate comments from anyone who knows.  Following the above I spent a couple of months with my husband and he curtailed his drinking substantially.  We did visit the GP together, however, he hasn't been back since I left to get the results of the tests, he says if the GP was worried he would call.  However, he did get a prescription for Champix and has given up smoking!  One night, whilst on the Champix (now stopped - Chantix in USA) he had a VERY heavy drinking session - 12+ hours.  The following days his "indigestion" was severe and about 11 pm he used (for the first time) his nitro spray, forgetting what the doctor said about sitting down when using it.  He got very giddy and felt pins and needles all throughout his body.  He said it was a very unpleasant sensation.  The spray took 1 hour to work before his chest pain went away.  He hasn't drunk so heavily since.

My question is:  Should the spray take this long to work?  I thought if it didn't work after 15 mins you were supposed to call an ambulance?  Does anyone have any experience with this spray?

mazza642 · Answer

Another update.  Well, he stopped drinking at his party early enough that he was able to go to the bush the next day.  They walked down a gorge and swam in the pool at the bottom.  The walk back up proved challenging for all and they had several rest stops en route.  However, my daughter tells me that my husband was unable to do anything for 2 hours afterwards and had to rest in the car.  He tells me he only chose to do this.  Anyway, it was enough for him to realise he must change his ways.  He is planning to give up smoking today, lose some weight and ask the GP for a full work up, including a stress test, which he has not had since the original blocked artery finding.  The only point we didn't agree on for this was the timing, he is going to wait until the second week of Jan.  Still, at least this outing may have been a wake up call for him.

mazza642 · Answer

Well, you said to keep you informed.  My husband has been working overseas since July and we used to talk daily on the phone.  My daughter has been working in the same town since Sept so has hooked us up online.  We still talk daily.  Normally I only see a head shot of him but yesterday he was stood up in front of the camera and I was shocked by the amount of weight he had put on.  His stomach is huge.  My daughter has been getting him to curtail the worst excesses of his alcohol consumption but it is still way beyond average.  He is still smoking and she says she has been unable to convince him to change anything.  Today when I spoke to him he said he thought he had indigestion, although he had not yet eaten his dinner, and was again "sighing" a lot.  When I asked him to show me what he meant it looked more like long, slow intakes of breath.  I asked him about the chest pain and he said he had it with "trembling inside, all over".  Now I am very worried.  I told him I didn't think that was chest pain and he should see a doctor.  He said he would make an appt for a couple of days as he has his works Christmas party tonight and is going on a day trip tomorrow to a national park.  I asked him to make sure he had his nitro spray with him (which he usually doesn't) and suggested he go to hospital for a check up b4 the party.  He feels a GP's appt in a couple of days will do but at least this time he will tell them everything, at least he says he will.  Now I am really worried.  I'm a 21 hr flight away and he is going into the bush with my daughter and friends for the day tomorrow - well, perhaps I shouldn't worry about that as he has never made a single event planned for the day after a drinking session in 30 years so probably he won't make that, although as my daughter is very keen he may make an effort.

Guess I'm updating and really looking for some support here, what do members think?

mazza642 · Answer

Thank you very much for this comment.  I have tried and tried to get him to open up more to the doctors.  He won't listen to me and gets very cross when I tell him to tell them about all his problems.  I have now entlisted the help of my daughter to try and talk to him, hopefully she will have more success than me.  I did think it was unusual that he had no improvement and he genuinely hasn't.  He still looks very tierd, is lethargic, his skin tone is not good and his memory is shocking.  I also think there is something of the Ostrich about his attitude, if I ignore it it will go away.  Firstly he would say maybe more time would help, now he says perhaps this is the best he can hope for and if the doctors were worried they would do more.  I will keep you posted.  Eight stents in three years, that is a lot.  Are they all in the same artery?  How did your disease progress?

Flycaster305 · Answer

With aggressive CAD, blockages can occur very, very quickly.  I had one stent three years ago, now I have eight, I mention to reinforce my comment.  Like your husband, my cholesterol dropped dramatically when I started the cholesterol-lowering drugs, I exercise regularly, don't smoke, and control my diet carefully. 

His leg pain very well is something called PAD, which is common with CAD patients, a leg artery is very possibly clogged up. 

I would urge your husband to see the doctor at once, have an angiogram again to determine what is going on in his heart arteries.  I think he frankly is in great danger for a heart attack.  Also, I'd add that continuing to smoke cigarettes with his background and symptoms is very, very dangerous.  Please, urge you see a Cardiologist as soon as possible and in the meantime urge him to quit smoking, moderate his alcohol usage, try and get some exercise without taxing himself and adapt a better diet.  It's a tall order, I know.  Keep up informed.