How do you know if you are really having a heart attack?
Hoe do you know if you are really having a heart attack with my family history?
I have so many memories of me taking my sister Cathy to the ER with horrible chest pain, and back pain. She was hooked up to all the appropriate monitors, EKG's were done, blood work completed, and a few hours later, we were told nothing was wrong, and she could be taken home. No explanation given for all her pain. A week later, the routine would be repeated. Cathy was in her last 20's. This didn't surprise any of us, since my Mother's first heart attack came when she was 34, and the second one, the one that killed her, came when she was 35. From what we have been told, her EKG's were all normal, as well as her blood work, until the day that she died.
But, back to Cathy's problem. None of the Doctors believed that she was having heart problems because they were only looking at the test results, and not at what was happening to her. We didn't have anything in writing about my Mother to prove that there might be something strange about our medical make up. (obviously a mother dying at age 35 from a heart attack in the 70's, wasn't found odd enough)
Finally, Cathy found a cardiologist that agreed to do a stress test, but sad to say that came back normal, but because he had two sisters that told him the same convincing stories about our Mother, he agreed to do a heart cath. They were very shocked. She had had a heart attack, and maybe 2, there was a lot of damage done. She needed a quadruple bypass done, but they wouldn't do it because they had never dealt with a heart with such tiny arteries before, so they got her to Chicago where she spent over a week in recovery. A few years later, it became again, and she needed stents, but at that time, they were too big, she still smoked, and they wouldn't put her on the heart transplant list, so at age 38, my sister passed away from a massive heart attack right in front of me.
Fast forward to about a month ago. My chest pains that I normally have, started getting worse, but only when I took in a deep breath. Charles took me to the ER, where they did all the appropriate testing. Everything looked fine, they thought it was lung related, and my Doctor put me of prednisone for a week. (which did ease the pain in my hips greatly) About 2 weeks later, the pain became consistent, it was in my chest and in between my shoulder blades and was difficult to breath. I was exhausted, and had that "I just don't feel good at all" feeling. This went on for a couple days, until I asked Charles to take me to the ER. While standing in the ER waiting to be admitted, the lightheadness started, and I was so tired, I didn't want to speak, I just wanted the pain to stop and go to sleep. This time, they were more serious. Blood work, EKG...said all that showed was a previous heart attack which I didn't know, and still don't know anything about, Chest x rays, CT scan of my chest...the works. They wanted to keep me, saying that I needed a heart cath in the morning. I agreed, as long as they would do one in the morning!!! (feel for this again)
A few hours later, I called the nurse telling her that my left arm was killing me, going into my left shoulder, up my neck and was making me clench my teeth, like when you have a tooth ache or a sinus infection. Now, I have had a frozen left shoulder and been on oxycodon, and this pain was getting comparable. She keeps telling me that my potassium was really low, so they were giving it to me through my IV, and that was causing my arm to hurt, but she would call the Dr to see if they could stop it. (not ever sure if this happened or not)
I was having a lot of pain from the center of my chest, through my back over to my entire left arm and shoulder area, up my jaw and mouth. Morphine and nitro wasn't really helping much.
Next thing I remember is, this Doctor coming in telling me that I was having to move to another area because I was having a heart attack. I told her I figured I was because it was really hurting, and the morphine wasn't helping much. More morphine, and now some Nitro paste, bedrest w/ bathroom use. It hurt like this for a couple hours from when I started to complain until it eased up that I could say I was getting some relief. I was exhausted. They kept telling me I was going to have a heart cath. By this time we had 2 Doctors telling us I had had a heart attack, numerous cardiac nurses explaining this blood test that ONLY goes up when you have a heart attack. "NO other reason at all will cause it".
The cardiologist came in, and the first thing out of his mouth was, "why are you still going to Prairie Heart for you Cardiac Care, why aren't you picking a doctor here, your other doctor's are here"? He wasn't nice about it at all. I told him I loved my doctor there, and before I could finish, he tells me that I did not have a heart attack, that the blood work cannot go sky high like that, and then fall back to normal, it just doesn't happen. So what happened then?? He didn't know, a lab error maybe, but he did know it wasn't a heart attack. I asked him how a lab error could have done this. Again, he didn't know, he had never seen it, but it wasn't a heart attack. When we told him that 2 other cardiac doctors told us it was, the nurses saying "this test ONLY goes up if you are having a heart attack, NO other reason would cause this".. he told me he didn't care what they said. So, now I wasn't getting a heart cath until Monday. 2 days away!
My last Ejection Fraction rate in 2007, done by this doctor was 58-60%, which tells how efficient your heart is pumping blood. This one, done by another doctor because I refused to let him do it, is down to 52%. Why? Doesn't seem like a big drop, but under 50% is considered left ventricle dysfunction. Was there a heart attack that caused this drop?
I could drive myself crazy wondering what happened. Am I like the rest of my female relatives and respond differently to the EKG's and blood work? Who knows.
They did keep me on bedrest for the rest of the week. (why) They did an endoscopy and gallbladder ultrasound to see if that could have been causing the pain. They both were normal. (still on bedrest) A day or two after this "episode" I was off the morphine because the back pain was gone, though they left me on the nitro paste.
I am signing releases for my Cardiologist to get all the Progress notes, lab tests, discharge notes, CD of the heart cath to see what it actually showed. I have yet to have spoken to anyone in the cardiology Dept after the heart cath to hear their explaination, to answer any questions that I might have. They became like ghosts that just ordered tests, and never gave me the results. The nurses would look them up for me. (but they couldn't answer my questions)
It was a very stressful stay to say the least. If there is a next time, I will take the time to drive to my Cardiologist where I can get the care that I have become use to having.
The first 3-4 days after coming home, I was so exhausted. I couldn't stop myself from falling asleep. Actually, it's been over a week now, and I am just now getting around a littl better. I am still tired most of the time, but I am not falling asleep every time I sit down for more than 10 mins. I have had a couple sharp chest pains, but nothing compares to the pain that I had in the hospital that night...no matter what it was.
You know those little surveys you get in the mail after you have been in the hospital? Hmmmm, I wonder what I will say??? Please, I know exactly what I am going to say......see above.
We will see what my Doctor has to say after he reviews all the information. I'll keep you updated.
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