My story....
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Now 64 years old.Over 20 years ago started episodes of extreme shortness of breath when climbing stairs.No chest pain. Because of my history of non smoking,normal weight and regularly cycling 200 miles per week was not considered a cardiac case.But over the following years the s.o.b. became progressively worse and despite actually collapsing at the top of 2 flights of stairs and being hospitalised over the weekend still was not considered to have a heart problem.Anxiety was mentioned as a possible cause.Any sort of heavy exercise literally brought me to my knees ,gasping for breath.I actually developed a phobia about stairs because of the distress they caused...I had to change my dentist because the surgery was on the 1st floor and when I was nervous I could not manage one flight.Well I had many E.C.G.s,Chest X rays but still no heart diagnosis.My job was not too strenuous but if I lifted something heavy I got pressure in my chest which took some time to clear.Well I moved home and now live in a hilly area and that is where my problems increased.Walking uphill I got terrific pressure in my chest which disappeared very quickly on the flat.It did not hurt .......just like having massive wind.Anyway I presented myself at the doctors with my symptoms and to cut a long story short ,after a scan was given a diagnosis of angina.But still no chest pain.However the breathlessness is a massive problem.The spray I was given does not help-in fact if I take a dose before exertion it makes the problem worse.I also seem to get fatigued very easily and suffer terrible dizziness.My life right now is pretty miserable in many ways.My meds are Lipitor 20mg per day and aspirin.I had to give up sex years ago because of the s.o.b.Would love to have a stent or two but not sure if that is the answer.
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samuels Guest
Posted
You can have angina without chest pain, but we rarely hear of cases like it, have you had a lung function test ? I'd be interested in the result, I realise you have stated you are a fit person. It's very intriguing that the spray under the tongue doesn't help , GTN spray is also used for indigestion believe it or not
. GTN will make you feel dizzy especially first time users, did you get the headache as well ? You talk about stents, have you had an angiogram to see what your arteries are like ? I have a 50 % blockage in the LAD and a 60 % in the right coronary artery, they won't stent here with that amount of blockage, they class those 2 blockages of mine as baby blockages, they stent when the artery is 95 % blocked unless you have a heart attack before hand to find it 95 % to almost fully blocked, I have heard some patients here being stented at 85 % .
Doctors will always use the "anxiety " exscuse if they can't find anything first time around. What kind of work do you do ? I'm not a doctor but to me what you are describing is lung(s) they can also give off chest pain as well even though you have stated you don't get chest pain. What other heart tests have they performed on you ?
Guest samuels
Posted
samuels Guest
Posted
It is interesting and thanks for sharing, this strengthens my belief that it may be your lungs as any form of dust causes emphasema, cigarettes aren't the only things that cause this horrid disease, factory workers, concretors , anyone that works around dust is susceptable to it. My GP says I have emphasema or COPD but my xrays like yours are clear that's why I asked if you have had a lung function test done.
I also find it strange that a doctor asks you a question and with your answer leaves you in limbo, especially if you do have narrowing of any of the arteries that maybe causing you this shortness of breath grief. usually the cardiologist performing the angiogram shows you on the big monitors where you have the blockages, they did with me, interesting stuff watching him look around in your arteries and heart