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coronary spasm and meds

Posted , 9 users are following.

linda89207
linda89207

Is anyone with coronary spasms taking Ranexa (ranolozine) and what side effects have you experienced

3 likes, 28 replies

28 Replies

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  • Bettebet
    Bettebet linda89207

    Posted

    I have not heard of that drug. Are you having adverse side effects?
  • lynette16906
    lynette16906 linda89207

    Posted

    I have that complaint and take nicorandil, it's amazing and no side effects that I can think of, it has made a huge difference to me, I also take clopidal as it's for similar and coversyl and monodure, I have prinz Metals angina coronary artery spasm, terrible thing, I can't be mire pleased with nicorandil,  
    • linda89207
      linda89207 lynette16906

      Posted

      Bettebet I think it is a relatively new one used when the usual are not working well enough to control the spasm/angina taken with the usual ones. lynette I take nicorandil unfortunately I can only take half 10mg twice daily as any higher dose gives me permanent severe headaches. Side effects of ranolazine are varied in severity and range I seem to be getting the rare ones, I was hoping someone else was taking it and had experienced side effects and wondered if they eventually stopped with time, it has had some really good results apparently
  • sue39353
    sue39353 linda89207

    Posted

    I have microvascular angina and am taking Ranexa, L-Arginine, Lisinopril  (ace inhibitor) and Carvedilol (beta blocker). With that "cocktail" all chest pains are gone. The last med added was Carvedilol and with that came a dry cough along with general fatigue and tiredness which seemed like a setback. Up until the beta blocker, I didn't experience any noticeable side effects. What type/which side effects are you experiencing ?
    • linda89207
      linda89207 sue39353

      Posted

      Hi Sue please see the reply to Lynette I think this will answer your question too
  • lynette16906
    lynette16906 linda89207

    Posted

    Hi Linda, how much L Argenine do you take a day I found them in capsule form and take one every morning, it's about one teaspoon full I guess, my cardiologist put me onto it
    • linda89207
      linda89207 lynette16906

      Posted

      Hi Lynette, I don't take L Argenine my meds are Digoxin, Isosorbide (2 daily slow release GTN) Aspirin, Fruosomine, atorvastatin, Omeprazole,Ranexa (was 500mg twice daily now 375mg Twice daily) the side effect I am getting are imbalance, blurred vision, tight pressure in head, numbness in tongue and lips and a general feeling of unwell, this isn't all day I get a period in the morning which I assume is from the evening dose then again in the afternoon about three which is from the morning dose. I am at present experimenting with not taking the morning dose just to get me through the day.
  • sue39353
    sue39353 linda89207

    Posted

    I take 3,000 MG L-Arginine a day.  They come in 500 MG tablets. I take 2 tablets 3 times a day
    • cathymcphee
      cathymcphee sue39353

      Posted

      I tried posting appropriate dosing for L-Arginine here for you. They took it down, even though I didn't include the specifics of where to get it from, the wedsite address or the name of the manufacturer that is recommended by a cardiologist who has done more research on the amino acid than anyone in the world (not my cardiologist or my personal opinion of what you should takr). You are not taking the most effective dose for Prinzmetal, and neither is the other person that mentioned it. The directions on the bottle is for other uses, not specifically what we use it for. I was an ICU nurse and also worked in a cardiac cath lab for 15 years, so I worked with people that had it professionally, and have been involved in two research groups about it, but that is irrelevant to the moderators of the site. I have had four MIs, two cardiac arrests, two surgeries, spend 25 percent of my life in the hospital, have been evaluated for a transplant (incredibly rarely considered for Prinzmetal), and the plan is to go through with that down the road (I currently meet some of the criteria for a new heart, but not all yet), all in the last four years. One would think that given my professional knowledge about the subject, and everything I have experienced personally, driving me to do even more study on the topic, that this would be an asset to the group, but on more than one occasion, the evidence based info (not my personal opinion) I have posted has been removed by the moderators. I have no issue with them removing personal opinions, as they can be danderous, but if we are to become educated on our condition, it won't happen here. That's why I'm rarely on the site anymore.
    • Emis_Moderator
      Emis_Moderator cathymcphee

      Posted

      Hi Cathy,

      The only post you have ever had removed was the one above. There is no problem mentioning Amazon in your posts. It was removed as it was all very vague and sounded like a "promotional" post. The dosage you quoted was "For best results, the usual dose of L- Arginine is 9 grams per day." 

      If you want to post links to evidence based articles they will get approved as long as they are to non-commercial reputable sites. If there is information that may not pass moderation, ie brand names or commercial links etc you can use the private message service to exchange these details.

      http://patient.uservoice.com/knowledgebase/articles/398331-private-messages

      Regards,

      Alan

  • lynette16906
    lynette16906 linda89207

    Posted

    Hi Linda,nthanks for that I have only been taking one tablet a day of 500 mg so I may increase that do you feel they are a big help, regards Lynette 
    • linda89207
      linda89207 lynette16906

      Posted

      To be fair the increase in Isoosorbide to two daily is the one that finally stopped the spasms, I had some side effects from the Ranexa when I first started on them which stopped after a couple of weeks but then I had Floroscopic steroid injections in my back for a disc problem that gives me a lot of pain and then I sterted to get these more severe side effects so not sure if they are fighting each other as Ranexa is a bit sensitive to medications and have to be careful what is prescribed
  • Bettebet
    Bettebet linda89207

    Posted

    I am a newbie to the spasm/angina health problem. Before I had my heart and after I had very few and only 1 painful spasm episode.

    Would any one ne willing to describe their symptoms?

  • cathymcphee
    cathymcphee linda89207

    Posted

    Any medication used to treat any type on angina has the potential to cause varying degrees of headaches, sometimes quite painful ones. Here's why:

    Nitrates and all calcium channel blockers dilate our coronary arteries, as everyone here knows. They also do this to all the other arteries in the body. What a blood pressure reading is, is the amount of pressure (measured in mm of mercury) exerted on the inside of the artery walls by the blood inside them. Ever hear the docs, nurses and medics comment that your blood pressure is lower after you take a spray of nitro? The arteries suddenly become much larger in diameter, while there is little change in the amount of blood (this gets into how the body shunts blood and I'm getting to it), leading to a decrease how tightly packed the blood is. This registers as a low pressure.

    Thousands of years ago, when man had low blood pressure, it wasn't due to the nitro, but to losing blood. Saber tooth tiger bites your arm off. Your blood vessels remain the same size, but you are losing blood. This means there is very little blood pushing up against the artery walls. Your body says, "Wait! I can live a few hours without most of my organs getting enough blood, but if my heart, lungs and brain go without blood for a couple minutes, I'm dead". Your body opens up the arteries to those organs to keep them alive. This is now an automatic response the body does anytime the blood pressure drops (such as after our angina meds kick in).

    We are at my meds are working and dilating all the arteries in my body. The protective mechanism of shunting blood to the already dilated arteries in the brain. What makes the difference is the skull is a closed environment. Your body is trying to cram a bunch of blood into your brain, which acts like the walls of a box. You know how when us ladies pack a suitcase and we are cramming everything we can in there? That's what's going on in your head. The skull won't let the brain expand out (like when you get swelling from a large bruise). The pressure is now directed back on the brain tissue, where the pressure sensing nerves say, "This hurts!".

    Over time, we become tolerant to those medications. The body realized it isn't really going to die, so it doesn't react as strongly to that stimulus because it recognizes it. This will lead to a reduction in the typical headaches we first experience. The time table is very individualized, sometimes days, sometimes months, but it will happen.

    So in the end, the headaches we get are all due to hungry predators in our ancestos' pasts. This has been (a hopefully interesting) episode of medications and physiology with Cathy.

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