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Is chest pain related to PMR or GCA

Posted , 7 users are following.

pam21073
pam21073

Hi, I was told two years ago that a have PMR and after coming off of the prednisone about a month ago I started having severe headaches about a week ago and after three days nothing would help it so I called my doctor and went in for labs and my sed rate had went up to 51 and my C-reactive protein was 35.9 so he started me on 60 mg of prednisone. After being on the prednisone for 5 days and I have been having an electric shock kind of pain across the middle of my chest going from shoulder to shoulder  it has happened about 60 times today. The pain  in my chest also goes through to my left shoulder blade and I have been having sweating around the front of my neck every night. Does heart problems act this was or is it from something else? Has anyone had any of the same problems???

0 likes, 4 replies

4 Replies

  • Elijo
    Elijo pam21073

    Posted

    You better call your doctor right away, it sounds as if it could be heart; do NOT fool around, get checked right away!  Even if you have to go to the emergency room, get checked to make sure.  Hurry!
  • MrsO-UK_Surrey
    MrsO-UK_Surrey pam21073

    Posted

    Pam, I ended up in A&E with weird chest symptoms and heart beat all over the place within days of starting 40mg of Pred for GCA.  The high dose Pred had caused an old irregular heart beat to kick back in, but it can also lead to atrial fibrillation.  Don't panic (difficult, I know) but do call an ambulance immediately and get checked out at A&E.  Hopefully, like me, you will be fine, but better to be sure.  Good luck and do let us know how you get on.
  • JanSP
    JanSP pam21073

    Posted

    Don't hesitate seeking medical help if it seems like your heart is involved. Hopefully since I'm reading this 8 hours after you posted it you are in an emergency room and all is OK. I don't know if my heart problems are from GCA, PMR, the pred or what but about 5 years ago before all the weight went on I felt like I was going to pass out while walking up a slight incline. I didn't have heart issues but I did have high blood pressure before this. Turns out it wasn't my blood pressure but my pulse would drop doing exercise (40 bpm!)and then climb to normal when I rested. Crazy - it should be the other way around. It's called type II heartblock. I now have a pacemaker which signals two heart chambers. One needs it 25% of the time and now the other doesn't beat without it.
  • pam21073
    pam21073

    Posted

    I went to the ER and they said that everything looked ok with my heart. They said that the pain I was having was probably coming from my C-Reactive Protein being at 35.9 causing so much inflamation in my body. Strange thing is once they gave me the asprin the pains got better and I have not had any since. I still worry about the GCA  with the CRP and Sed Rate being so high and what that can cause, Just don't know how you will be able to tell when you need to see a doctor and with my headaches I don't want to loose my eye sight because I wait too long to get something checked.
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