Chest Pains

[timeistight]

For over five years, I have been getting episodes of chest pain. There is no pattern to them, they are not connected with exercise and they can come, without warning, either day or night. In that time, the longest I have gone without one of these episodes is about six weeks.

There is no warning at all. I have instant, crushing chest pain that goes up into my jaw, gives me pins and needles in my left arm and gives me a strange, almost metallic, taste in my mouth. I feel as though I cannot breathe and yawn constantly to try to get the air in. It gradually fades away after 20-30 minutes and then I just feel wiped out for the next 12 hours or so.

I have been to my GP. He had no idea at all what it might be, but he did an ECG, which was normal, possibly because I wasn’t having an episode at the time of the test. I pushed him to refer me to the hospital. They were going to do a CT scan, but I have multiple allergies and they were concerned about possible risk posed by the contrast medium, so that didn’t happen and I was discharged.

Otherwise, I am fit and well, apart from well-medicated hypothyroidism and some osteo-arthritis.

Anyone?

Go back to your GP. And be persistent, don't take no for an answer. Ask for a referral to cardiology. In my experience you sometimes have to be incredibly insistent to get further tests.

As pp said go back to GP, it needs sorting out. I wonder if there are contrasts that are suitable for people who have allergies or for other reasons cannot tolerate the dye. I am surprised they didn't pick up on your allergies before you got to the scan. I can't believe any GP has no idea what it might be, that's just ridiculous. Have'nt you called for an ambulance before when you had this chestpain.

Ive had this. I eventually had a full blown panic attack and ended up in A&E after passing out on tube.

Got fully checked out - the chest pains were a form of heartburn/reflux. The passing out and shallow breathing/breathlessness was a panic attack.

I was in A&E at 10am on a Monday morning and they said they'd already had 11 people like me in with heartburn thinking they were having a heart attack. I felt pretty silly but they were great - they always say to come in, they can quickly check if you are in the middle of a cardiac event.

Apparently it is very common in 40 somethings because we're not used to heartburn feeling like a crushing chest pain. A course of PPIs and a change of eating habits sorted me out. Worth asking your GP about OP.

Forgot to say I'd already been to GP about chest pains and had normal and tracer ECGs, all to no avail. The panic and anxiety just mounts and mounts.

I had similar, coronary artery spasm was diagnosed. I did have abnormalities on some ECGS tho but had a load of other tests that were normal. Have you had ECG or monitor on when having an episode? Maybe ask for a Cardiology review.

I have been on medication since and been ok so far.

Next time it happens, call an ambulance. In A & E, they will put you on a cardiac monitor and take bloods to look signs of heart attack. It may be heartburn as PP have said but you can't be sure at this point. Have it checked out AT THE TIME.

Have you been checked for gallstones, a severe attack can feel like a heart attack

I was going to say gallstones, I thought I was having a heart attack when I had my first attack! So did a highly experienced nurse with me at the time! (Until the paramedic did the ECG which was clear)

After a really bad episode last night, which lasted nearly 30 minutes and knocked me out, I have managed to make a GP appointment for next week. Thank you all for your advice.

Time can I just say, if you're going to worry, I'd call into your A&E after your next episode. They can do tests to see if you're having a cardiac event, in fact the triage nurse did the first of them.
Please don't worry about wasting their time, my experience is that they much prefer to have a false alarm confirmed than the alternative.

I get this too - I had all the appropriate tests until we could rule out my heart and yes it was indigestion (oesophigal spasm to be exact). Some foods bring it on (potatoes) as does stress. I went to A&E the 2nd time thinking it was a heart attack but seeing as its happened dozens of times now I don't worry. Drinking water can stop it in its tracks and I am also on Omeprazole which prevents it mostly. Agree the staff don't make you feel silly as it does present exactly like a heart attack after all. Good luck!

GP appointment in the morning. Wish me luck.

I've sort of diagnosed myself with variant angina, which has a tie-in with another condition I have.

Hopefully, I'll be wrong.

How are you? Did you find anything out?

How did the app't go?

It went pretty well thanks. GP gave me a thorough examination and said everything sounded OK, but I;m going back for an ECG tonight and and am being referred to the Rapid Access Chest Pain Clinic, where I should be seen within two weeks.

I am instructed to call 999 if I get another episode in the meantime that lasts over 15 minutes.

Thank you for your support.

Sounds positive OP. Hope you get to the root if it and are ok

Ask about a 24hr Holter monitor.

Agree, ask for a holter monitor - its an ECG that stays on you for a day or specific amount of time. Alternatively look at getting the Kardia (from amazon) its a sensor you stick on your phone and when you download the app, it can do an ECG whenever you want. You can then save the tracing as a pdf and show it to your doctor, or email it to them. If you want a quick diagnosis, you can send it to their cardiologists and they will review it for you. Its about 100 pounds and about 10 pounds for their review. Very reliable and well respected.

Sadly, the GP surgery has screwed up the referral process by completely ignoring the protocol so I won’t get seen until 27 March, which will be three weeks from my GP appointment, not two. I also need some bloods that the GP didn’t pick up on, but can’t get through to the clinic to find out what bloods they need This is doing absolutely nothing for my stress levels and I’m pretty much going to pieces.

Finally got my bloods sorted and went to the chest pain clinic, where I was given a GTN spray and referred for a myocardial perfusion scan.

Haven't used the spray yet. The last two episodes have been in the middle of the night and I've basically half slept through them. The previous one was at lunchtime. We called the paramedics after 15 minutes and they said it looks like unstable angina of some sort.

I'm not used to being taken seriously by the NHS. This is scary stuff.

Try not to stress out (easier said than done I know) as it could still be nothing much (reflux or whatever). I used to get it in the middle of the night too and I found drinking water stopped it. At least they are checking everything out now. Good luck!

How are you now?

So I had the myocardial perfusion scan, which included a massive reaction to the drug they used, which the staff didn’t recognise, so I finished up in A & E, and a then a couple of weeks later I got a call from the departmental secretary to say that I was being discharged because my scan was clear. However, not being medically qualified, she could not tell me what this actually means. I asked what I should do now and she said I should go back to my GP. I went to my GP who said she couldn’t refer me back to Cardiology unless anything changed because they had already discharged me. I gave it a month and then went to see another GP in the practice, who agreed to write to Cardiology to see if they will accept another referral. I haven’t heard back on this yet, but I’ve just totted it up and I have had 14 of these episodes since 11 February and not a day in that time when I have not had some breathlessness and low level chest pain.

So, I went to see a different cardiologist, who was lovely, and who diagnosed me very quickly with coronary vasospasm, also known as vasospastic angina, and couldn't understand why this had not been picked up before.

I'm about to start calcium channel blockers and am hopeful that this will stop it in its tracks.

Thank you to everyone who advised me to persist. it's not stress, or reflux, it's actually a thing.

I NC as well

Only just seen this thread. Thank goodness you persisted and saw someone who actually understood what was going on. Hope the CCBs do the trick.