|
|
Post by Leftee on Jul 27, 2020 18:15:52 GMT -5
We have a lot of experience here.
So... what does the pain down the left arm feel like? What kind of pain? Can activity bring it on?
|
|
|
|
Post by Auf Kiltre on Jul 27, 2020 18:31:37 GMT -5
Dude...you having issues?
|
|
|
|
Post by Leftee on Jul 27, 2020 18:33:24 GMT -5
Asking for a friend.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 27, 2020 18:39:02 GMT -5
Activity can bring it on but it doesn't need activity. If it wants to come it's going to come. Take a regular strength aspirin if you feel something coming on. Be sure to tell the doctors you took an aspirin when you get to the hospital.
|
|
|
|
Post by Leftee on Jul 27, 2020 18:42:40 GMT -5
Sharp pain, dull ache? How is it usually characterized?
My friend had labs, an ekg and a stress test a couple weeks ago. All negative.
|
|
|
|
Post by guildx700 on Jul 27, 2020 18:43:56 GMT -5
Personally I had no arm pain, more like armpit/lymph area.
|
|
|
|
Post by Auf Kiltre on Jul 27, 2020 18:45:22 GMT -5
My brother never really described the arm pain beyond a generalization. He also had jaw pain and tightness in his chest. Full blown heart attack in the E/R. Almost full blockage in the widow maker and over 90% blockage on the right side in front of a previously installed stent. Doing ok now, but the poor sap has been tasked to drive his FIL from Dallas to Michigan and right at this moment his Belgian Malinois is delivering 10 pups. That'll put those stents to the test.
|
|
|
|
Post by Auf Kiltre on Jul 27, 2020 18:48:53 GMT -5
Well its encouraging that your friend had what seems like a comprehensive workup. Does he have a cardiologist?
|
|
|
|
Post by guildx700 on Jul 27, 2020 18:50:01 GMT -5
My main pain was in my right upper chest when under strain, also too heavy a meal was causing same symptoms.
|
|
|
|
Post by Leftee on Jul 27, 2020 18:50:08 GMT -5
He does not.
|
|
|
|
Post by Auf Kiltre on Jul 27, 2020 18:52:02 GMT -5
Hmmm, I had a stress test at 40 and the followup was with a cardiologist. Seems to me a referral is in order.
|
|
|
|
Post by Leftee on Jul 27, 2020 18:52:57 GMT -5
A cardiologist read the test and informed his GP.
|
|
|
|
Post by Mfitz804 on Jul 27, 2020 18:55:59 GMT -5
For me personally, I would not entrust a cardiac workup or cardiac care to my GP. I would (and have) consult a cardiologist.
My GP has training in cardiology. I go to the cardiologist who trained him.
EDIT: I should add, I did not have a heart attack nor heart attack symptoms. I have high blood pressure, likely due to genetics, as my whole family has it, and being overweight. That said, I passed a stress test with flying colors and was told I have the cardiac function of an athlete. So I guess that’s good.
|
|
|
|
Post by jhawkr on Jul 27, 2020 19:15:21 GMT -5
5 confirmed heart attacks. None with left arm pain. Jaw pain like a severe sore throat. Profuse sweating. Sharp pains upper Center left chest, right where heart is located. Sometimes so severe it would drop me to my knees. Pain, symptoms would come and go. My 1st 2 heart attacks were most severe. I learned to be aware and that has saved me from major heart attacks. I think that most experienced people would tell you that they ignored symptoms until they got so bad they couldn’t ignore anymore. A key to survival is treatment early. Blood thinners, angioplasty, bypass.
|
|
|
|
Post by Peegoo 🏁 on Jul 27, 2020 22:14:03 GMT -5
If you're having acute onset arm pain or chest/shoulder pain, hie thee to the ER right now.
Do Not Delay.
Minutes count.
It's one thing to get to the ER, get hooked up and enzymes checked and be told it's not a cardiac event.
It's a whole 'nuther thing to keel over in the kitchen drinking some Maalox thinking it's heartburn.
If it is a cadiac event, you're in the ER and they can treat you.
|
|
|
|
Post by HenryJ on Jul 28, 2020 6:51:35 GMT -5
Mine was "indigestion" and feeling like crap in 1999. There was only one short but mild twinge in the left shoulder. I didn't have jaw pain then. It was a mild heart attack, as the ER nurses said the enzymes indicated so.
My most recent trip to the ER, in April, was accompanied with jaw pain. Not a heart attack. We caught it in time. Just an RCA stent.
|
|
Buster
Wholenote
Posts: 213
Formerly Known As: Buster Strings
|
Post by Buster on Jul 28, 2020 7:07:01 GMT -5
Mine started with an overwhelming feeling of severe agitation or frustration for absolutely no reason. That lasted about a minute before the pain started in the elbow area and quickly moved all the way from my shoulder to my fingertips. This all came about in around 2 minutes. My pain was like a hard, but dull, ache. It all happened so fast that it was easy to figure out something was very wrong.
It resulted and one stent, two days in the hospital and annual trips to my cardiologist for a checkup.
That was 13 years ago.
|
|
|
|
Post by Leftee on Jul 28, 2020 7:12:30 GMT -5
Thanks for the inputs. 👍
|
|
|
|
Post by HenryJ on Jul 28, 2020 7:29:08 GMT -5
What Peegoo implied is true: it is much better to go to the ER with a false alarm than to die at home. When I was in cardiac rehab, a fellow participant told me that cemeteries are filled with bodies with Rolaids in their stomach.
|
|
|
|
Post by Leftee on Jul 28, 2020 7:37:09 GMT -5
Ok... so the friend is me. 😜
The pain is upper arm only and periodic. I do get shortness of breath with exertion and my energy drains rather quickly. No chest pain or feelings of heartburn or indigestion or tightness or pressure.
My blood panel to check enzymes came back normal. EKG normal. And treadmill stress test was deemed normal.
My GP said the next step would be a cardiologist. Or the ER if something changes rapidly, obviously. It’s my call.
|
|
|
|
Post by Think Floyd on Jul 28, 2020 7:56:35 GMT -5
I was cutting my grass when I became extremely hot and sweaty, and had to take a break. I don't like the heat or high humidity at all, but this seemed a lot worse than normal. It was so bad that I sprayed water on my head from the garden hose, and I've never needed to do that before. I went inside, thinking it was heat exhaustion or possibly the onset of heat stroke. I was still hot inside, and ripped off my shirt. All of a sudden I felt a pain in my back. It felt like the muscles in the middle of my back were all knotted up, and I moved from the couch to the floor but just couldn't find a position to make the pain stop. As soon as my fingers started tingling, I knew something was terribly wrong, so I yelled to the wife to get me some aspirin and call 911. (On the bright side, the ambulance was air-conditioned!) One stent, one artery opened with a balloon, and another left alone with a 70% blockage.
So, it's not always chest pain! The Doc said that the pain could radiate out in any direction, depending on which part of the heart is damaged.
|
|
|
|
Post by Leftee on Jul 28, 2020 8:05:15 GMT -5
Good to know! Thanks!
|
|
swampyankee
Wholenote
Fakin' it 'til I'm makin' it since 1956
Posts: 713
|
Post by swampyankee on Jul 28, 2020 8:11:54 GMT -5
What Peegoo implied is true: it is much better to go to the ER with a false alarm than to die at home. When I was in cardiac rehab, a fellow participant told me that cemeteries are filled with bodies with Rolaids in their stomach. Yeah, many years ago when I was 50 ish I woke up with tightness in the chest. I waited a bit to see if it was gas or something and then called it in. They confirmed it was not a heart attack, but kept me 'til the following afternoon anyway. They say there is a high likelihood that a real heart attack could occur after someone has been released from care after a short visit, hence keeping me 12 hours. Since then I've been to the cardiologist a few times for stress tests and the like. All seem ok, although these days I don't have the energy and stamina I once did. I chalk that up to being a sextaquadgenerian. |
|
|
|
Post by FlyonNylon on Jul 28, 2020 8:12:56 GMT -5
The typical left arm pain with ACS (acute coronary syndrome, just a catch all term for bad things caused by coronary artery disease) is tightness/aching/pressure/dullness that tends to start in the left lateral chest area and ache towards the left arm/shoulder/neck/jaw. Often associated with fatigue, nausea, lightheadedness, shortness of breath and a general sense of uneasiness. Lots of people, especially diabetics though, have no pain during a heart attack and often just have SOB or nausea or feeling "generally weak." And every person is different. Notice how a lot of these symptoms are super vague? That's why urgent cares don't see CP and why a lot of PCPs just say "go to the ER" when you mention "chest pain." The unfortunate fact about ACS is that all the enzymes can be normal and your stress can be normal, and you can still have significant coronary artery disease that leads to an MI. The issue is hard plaque vs soft plaque. Hard plaque is calcified and has been there forever. Once it reaches a certain % stenosis (70-90% or so) it causes "angina" which is typical CP ie, "Every time I climb up my stairs my chest hurts and I feel SOB." This is a sign of fairly stable chest pain actually and a lot of times cardiologists will cath these patients as an outpt, meaning, you just deal with your stable chest pain for a week then show up for a cath. Patients with hard plaques often have positive stress tests (unless they have balanced multi vessel disease, in which case you usually need a CABG) Soft plaque is like a pimple under your artery that can rupture at any time, with no preceding symptoms, and cause a heart attack or cardiac arrest. It often has normal EKG, normal troponin, and normal stress test. This is why literally every CP patient I see over the age of 35 or so I offer to admit them for further testing (and document). I will be honest and say there's a 99% chance their pain is non-cardiac but still it's impossible to rule out CAD with a ER visit or stress test. Gold standard is heart cath as I'm sure you know and really the only way to really know whats going on. Cath is invasive and has a complication rate of <1% generally but still has risks so it's a risk/benefit decision. Sounds like your upper arm pain is fairly "atypical" which gives you a HEART score of 1-2 (assuming EKG nl and age 45-65 with 0-1 risk factors) which means risk of 6 week adverse cardiac even of < 1.7%. Next test for you would probably be an echocardiogram due to associated shortness of breath and CTA chest (CT scan with arterial phase contrast to rule out PE/dissection/aneurysm/lungmass). Again sounds like it's pretty unlikely that your pain is cardiac but without knowing your coronary anatomy (via cath) unfortunately there's still uncertainty involved. It's probably musculoskeletal..  |
|
|
|
Post by Leftee on Jul 28, 2020 8:40:43 GMT -5
Thanks! Lots to digest there.
I have had surgery on my left shoulder twice in my adult life. Recurring dislocations, first anterior and later posterior. That complicates things for sure.
|
|
