1. Community
  2. Heart Health
  3. Angina

I've just been diagnosed with Angina.

Posted , 4 users are following.

pat79451
pat79451

After a couple of months suffering with what I thought was indigestion, my GP sent me for an ECG, then informed me I had Angina. I'm 66, but have never smoked, only drink occasionally, and apart from having a sweet tooth have a quite healthy diet, so this came as a bit of a shock. I am taking aspirin, and have a Nitromin spray. However I'm confused as to how to deal with the symptoms. I can go for a few hours and feel fine, usually when indoors. Then feel a bit of discomfort, though not actual pain, and now and then actual pain in my chest right collar bone and neck. Do I use the spray when it's just uncomfortable? Or wait until it's actually painful? The Nitromin gives me a headache and slight giddiness, so I don't want to use it unecessarily. I'm seeing my GP next week for advice, but would appreciate any helpful feedback now.

1 like, 10 replies

10 Replies

  • andrew22534
    andrew22534 pat79451

    Posted

    Hi Pat, i can only tell you what i do and think, it may or may not be right.. my GP seems to think  it ok... I spray as soon as it becomes  a pain so if we use a xout of 10 scoring. I use spray at onset of 6 or above. before that i will try genrtle exercise ie walking (ambling) sometimes the demand takes the stress away and you can get distracted looking at things etc... if that doesnt work withing 15 mins i accept my fate and basically wait for it to proceed... I leave it as late as possible becasue we do get used to nitrates and so to keep them effective... however whe nthe pain gets above 8 you should get checked out in A&E I use alivcor and monitor my heart (i also have intermittant arrhythmia) and have a reasonable knowledge of what the trace should look like i do not recomend this but i have reduced faith in my local A&E and will only go when i am outside my comfort zone of knowledge and pain. Use it as you need it perhaps for you as this is new using it at 4 would be better but never ever dont use it cos you think should i or shouldnt i. If you are thinking that use it!!! if in doubt go to A&E. at least they will confrim your safety. I do what i do becasue of long coaching and athletics experience has made me very body aware. My researching has made me comfortable with my knowledge. this is a condition that does its best to catch you unawares and often does. I am only posting this because it shows theat there are a range of things you can do. dont be afraid to push your GP or Cardiologist for advice and always ask questions. Be positive and good luck. You will see some posters will disagree a bit with me which is great this is a discussive forum where we all put our ideas experience forward and hopefully also then get our medics to do some work for us too. we are all supportive even when we disagree. the day we stop learning....... oh and again it is always necessary for us ot use what ever tools (medicine) we are given dont be afraid to use it.. even if in the middle of shopping, meal out, etc get them to get you a chair or find a safe spot take it and if you feel better carry on. Being brave or embarrased doesnt matter do the right thing dont be brave and hey what wrong with being a bit embarrassed better that than the alternative. I have found 90% of shops and etc have been great supports, met some nice people, dont let this control you it is mearly an oppertunity to be brave and determined in a different way  
    • pat79451
      pat79451 andrew22534

      Posted

      Thanks Andrew, I went to my GP today and got some advice and am now waiting to be referred to the Angina clinic. I'm getting used to the fact that I have the condition, and have only used the medication three times today, so am managing ok at the moment. Thanks again for your reply, much appreciated.

       

  • samuels
    samuels pat79451

    Posted

    Hi Pat,

    You don't have to be a smoker or drinker to have Angina, it could come down to just  your body make up and  a hereditary condition.

    This is the advice I was given when you feel a niggle come on (chest pain) to take one spray, if pain is still present after 5 minutes take another spray,once again if pain is still there 5 minutes later take another spray after a total of 4 sprays ,5 minutes apart (period of 20 minutes) and pain is still present to call for an ambulance. A lot of doctors suggest taking one spray before doing any exercentional kind of stuff to try and prevent angina coming (stable angina) the head aches should disappear once your body gets used to taking the medication, where I live panadol/panamax(paracetamol) gets rid of the GTN head ache pretty quickly (panadol/panamax are mild pain relievers for aching muscles and head aches) I don't know what other countries call parecetamol smile

  • isaac83740
    isaac83740 pat79451

    Posted

    Hi

    My name is Isaac and I also got diagnosed with Angina. A couple of days ago I got admitted to the ER with really high blood pressure and left arm numbness which it felt like a heart attack even though am 30. They did all necesary testing and even inserted a pipe through my right heat and scanned the heart. After it was all done the doctor said no arteries were clogged however one of them was obstructed. He said surgery was not necessary and therefore i was diagnosed with Angina. He gave me nitro to control the blood pressure and lipitol for colesterol. Inasked him if the warm feeling in my chest was normal which he said yes it is normal but honestly i am aboslutely terrified right now. Having been able to sleep for three days since i am just waiting for the heart attack. Any advice out there?

    • samuels
      samuels isaac83740

      Posted

      Hi isaac,

      t the moment is completely normal after a heart event, did they offer you cardio re-hab on discharge from the hospital ? I believe it is compulsory where I live, what it's all about is how to deal  with life after a heart attack, they take you through gentle exercises right through to the pyschological factors after a heart event.

      Did you have a heart attack and how was it picked up ? sorry I haven't  really a clear mind this morning smile but you mentioned "no blockages but one was obstructed " was it a blood clot of plaque ? this has me a tad bewildered..sorry...lol..what did they do with the obstruction ?

    • samuels
      samuels

      Posted

      Hi,

      they took off a sentence on my post above...lol..It should of said the way you are feeling at the moment.......

       

    • isaac83740
      isaac83740 samuels

      Posted

      Hi Samuels

      Sorry about the writing but was/am freaking out.The doctor found just plaque no blood clot. It was not a heart attack because i believe it was just Angina but the anxiety blew the blood pressure to 200/115. The doctor gave the orders to discharge me from the hospital and he said that there was no way i would have a heart attack. The doctor did nothing with the obstruction he said it was a mild obstruction therefore no surgery required and he put me on meds.

    • samuels
      samuels isaac83740

      Posted

      Hi Isaac,

      I see, Pretty similar to my case, although they called mine a small blockage, I had been informed after an angiogram that I have a 50-60% occlusion in my right coronary artery and could only be tried to be treated with medication, I can't tolerate any statins (cholestrol medication) even though mine was only a mild heart attack ,they call them NSTEMI's as it wasn't picked up on an ECG/EKG but through the Troponin blood test, I felt like you are feeling now , it took 4 weeks for me to recover as I slept or got worn out after attempting every day things and had to go lay down, to this day I still am scared to drive by myself, I had just started to make head waves prior to my mild heart attacks as I use to suffer panic/anxiety with agoraphobia and was just starting to get out and about past my suburb by myself, now I'm back to square one with the agoraphobia, no panic/anxiety just the agoraphobia.

      I was diagnosed with Prinzmetal Angina with a huge warning from cardiology that if I didn't give up smoking I am at a greater risk of having increasing the blockage therefore bringing on a bigger heart attack. At this stage I have what they call a non flow limiting blockage which according to them is why they believe I don't have stable angina, I have what they call unstable angina as it can come on with out exercise and a name was put to it about 5 years ago (Prinzmetal Angina -Vaso spasms), arteries and the blood vessels in the heart going into spasms  giving off a heart attack feeling...unfortunately for this kind of angina there is no cure ...medication helps to a degree but does not  alaways stop it from occurring.

    • isaac83740
      isaac83740 samuels

      Posted

      You're right we havr very similar cases. So i guess there is nothing to do except get use to the feeling and change the diet?
    • samuels
      samuels isaac83740

      Posted

      Unfortunately yes sad

      I have to watch what I eat because as I said I can't tolerate statins for my high cholestrol, I was told I could have a treat every now and then smile but not everyday, you know what I mean...lol....

      With my Prinzmetal Angina I was in emergency at least once a week because of the pain and under the advice from Cardio Re-hab and some doctors not to ignore the pain as I could be suffering another NSTEMI or even worse the big one. Now my original cardiologist diagnosed me with the original condition but he no longer works for our public hospital but I can still see him in his private rooms, he did warn me that the new cardiologist taking over from him will be asking for all the tests again to which he did, this new cardiologist seems to think it's nerve pain in conjunction with anxiety I voiced my dis-agreement with him so he referred me to our pain management clinic and I got an answer back "sorry we can't offer you anything other than pyschological or pyschiatry treatment for the anxiety...I tried to explain to them that I don't suffer panic / anxiety anymore, sure there's a level of anxiety when I experience disturbing chest pain it's a normal thing for any human I believe but just to fob me off as a head case took the cake. I had a troponin rise November just gone and was admitted but because emergency doctors had me pain free by the next morning,Cardiology did their rounds and I had a different cardiologist and I had several questions for him, I put it to him did he agree with the diagnosis of Prinzmetal Angina and he said Yes and went onto explain in laymans terms, where we as patients could understand completely... he adjusted one drug and my emergency room visits have ceased,well except for a couple of stressful events but even for me that's a record in itself as this time last year I would of been in our emergency room every week,where as I have only been in twice since the start of this month, I have a pre-teenage daughter and she is , lets say starting to learn stuff and the news I had recieved about her shocked me and put me in an angry state and as we know they are triggers for spasms.

      As I mentioned I had a medication increase and that was with diltiazem (Cardizem) I was originally on 1 X 360 Mg's a day but it was bumped up to 480Mg's a day , 1 X 240Mg's twice a day and I have to say that has improved my spasms greatly... my normal cardiologist was going the wrong way he was dragging me back because he didn't think I had any kind of angina because my blockage was only what they call a baby blockage and non flow restricting giving him the idea that it was panic so he halved all my medications...worst thing he could of ever done, I was in emergency 3 times a week then, I was put back onto my original doses by my GP stopped the 3 times a week visits to once a week to emergency via ambulance, now I'm aiming for hopefully no more visits at all unless of course something feels really out of place like if the pain increases back up to the 7/10-8/10.

      Medication that I'm on for this Prinzmetal Angina is

      120Mg's Monodur once daily

      100Mg's Aspirin once daily

      20 Mg's Nicorandil (Ikorel) twice daily..I found this drug to have been effective to when first put on it.

      240Mg's Diltiazem (Cardizem) twice daily, this has significantly reduced the number of spasms .

      I was on Crestor 5 Mg's (lowest dose) had to be taken off that statin even on the lowest dose because I had the severe muscle and joint side effects from it...I could hardly walk even on the lowest dose.

      I also suffered  TIA in December 2013 and was put on Clopidogrel (Plavix) but was taken off them by my cardiologist, be interesting to see if he puts me back on that as I have an appointment with him in a couple of weeks and he's going to get a lot more questions from me about his diagnosing abilities, I'm sure some are only there for the money....lol...

       

Back to top

Report or request deletion

Thanks for your help!

We want the community to be a useful resource for our users but it is important to remember that the community are not moderated or reviewed by doctors and so you should not rely on opinions or advice given by other users in respect of any healthcare matters. Always speak to your doctor before acting and in cases of emergency seek appropriate medical assistance immediately. Use of the community is subject to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and steps will be taken to remove posts identified as being in breach of those terms.