What does acute coronary syndrome mean

Hi Ben, no I am on edoxoban a blood thinner following a DVT, so hopefully that will help.  It all seems rather surreal as I had a scan of my heart a year ago which shows no calcium, so not sure how I have gotten this bad so quickly.

Ok. Edoxaban is far stronger blood thinner than baby aspirin.

Btw, I saw your other post. Those ECg changes are consistant with cardiac Ischaemia.

Hi, trouble is A&E consultant, said not heart related, the pain was probably due to muscular skeletal problems and he did not agree that the ECG showed anything untoward.  Unfortunately, the letter that came today say's otherwise.  I am getting pain just stressing over it.  

Tell me your full story. where you admitted to hospital or just A&E.

You seem so knowledgeable about all this, do you have heart problems or are you in medicine?

Thanks, firstly, I am 58 female and live in UK.  Don't and never have smoked, hardly drink, I am overweight but not excessive. Over the past couple of years I have been having lots of episodes of pain in centre of chest which rarely goes away, palpitations and racing heart beat which I am aware of most of the time, it goes from 72 to 121 in seconds.  This has been caught on monitor. I had various ECG's, stress tests, just returned a cardio memo and did have an angio a year ago without contrast as couldn't get catheter in, this showed zero calcium.  The cardio memo was to catch paroxysmal AF.  On 6th November, everything went black, I did not faint, I went cold, then hot and started to feel my heart racing, as I was on my own I called 999 and they caught lots of fast beats which they said was tachy sinus.  In A&E they did various tests and one junior said she could see an abnormality.  They did the blood test to check for heart attack but as this was done within 3 hours of episode said I would need another one 6 hours later.  I sat there and after a while it became obvious that they had lost my notes from the ambulance and only had the 2 ECG's done in A&E to go on.  I was given a bed as it was late at night and then a consultant came in said I could go, it was not heart related, the junior doctor had made a mistake the ECG was ok, my blood was ok, my TROP was 4.6, CRP 4.4 and it was probably muscular skeletal pain.  I asked about the repeat bloods and he said it wasn't necessary.  I was not happy but had no choice but to go and hoped everything was ok.  Today I get a letter which says main diagnosis Acute Coronory Syndrome and then reading through it says about the ECG.  It also said I was given chest X ray, GTN spray and urine test, which I wasn't!! Advice is follow up with GP who I am seeing tomorrow.  My main concern is that googling ACS I could drop dead any minute. I really appreciate you reading this. 

 

At the risk of some repetition - from the above reference . . . . .

Though ACS is usually associated with coronary thrombosis, it can also be associated with cocaine use.[6] Cardiac chest pain can also be precipitated by anemia, bradycardias (excessively slow heart rate) or tachycardias (excessively fast heart rate).

With respect you should have further dialogue with Cardiology. Good luck.

You had an angio, which was clear. Ergo you do not have coronary artery disease and are very unlikely to have gone into ACS.

You are having episodic palpitations and you need to await the results of the memo. How long was the memo done for? Did you have an episode whilst wearing it?

The Discharge summary is written by the junior doctors - not the consultant. I would assume the discharge is incorrect.

If the A&E consultant said the ECG was normal - I would take that as the truth over what the junior said.

Do you feel pain when you press/massage the muscles of your chest?

Thanks, I will speak to GP tomorrow and hopefully he will put my mind at rest.  Yes I do get pain all over chest when pressing as I have arthritis in next which is causing this.  I do accept some of the pain is caused by this, but it would not cause the racing heart etc,  The angio was about a year ago so I did wonder how it could have got that bad so quickly. Take care and thanks for the chat.

It wouldn’t progress that quickly. Not in a non-smoker.

Hi, looked at my notes last night and the angio was Aug 2015 over 2 years, time goes so quickly it all blurs sometimes.  I am just not able to believe that a junior doctor would get the ECG reading wrong, she actually showed me what she was looking at. It's a long story but all this happened April 15 when I had a carcinoma removed from my eye which became infected, I was given 3 different antibiotics one of which I was allergic too and within 30 minutes my face was swollen and blotchy and my heart racing. I went to the GP and the ECG showed erratic heartbeat.  Ever since then it has been one thing after another.  When I mention this to anyone in the medical profession they look at me as if it could not possibly be that, but trust me prior to then I was as fit as a fiddle, I still am fit and young for my age, I have to be I have an18 year old, but now I have severe health anxietiesthat were never there before.  Take care

2 years is still far too short a time period.

Anaphylaxis sounds like a good precipitant for anxiety neurosis. It is life threatening afterall.

Await the results of the memo, but dont be surprised if it turns out that these palpitations are sinus tachycardia and are due to the anxiety.

 

Hi, sorry to be thick but don't really understand your second line, are you saying anxiety is life threatening or just that I am perceiving it to be?  Went to GP who said letter was alarming as it is contradictory and he is contacting the cardio.  He wants me to go onto statins as my cholesterol is 4.4

but need a blood test first to check liver. I am hoping that it is just anxiety but it always happens when I am sitting after a meal and either reading or working on computer, never when exercising, walking or doing daily chores.    Thanks for chatting with me.

Hi, thanks for your link although Wiki is not my first choice for information.  I have been to GP who said letter was rather alarming and is contacting cardio to get me an urgent appointment. Take care

Hi, you were right, thank god, the ECG had been misinterpreted.  Went to see cardio today who said he understood why myself and GP were not happy and it was a badly worded letter. So nothing to worry about.  Take care.