Just venting....

Hi gracey

You sound in a difficult position I'm a nurse but we're sometimes patients too - I am having an angiogram on the 21st myself and understand your frustrations. Firstly you have had a medeication change albeit it briefly so it could have had a slight impact but I wouldn't expect the improvement to continue long term now back on original medication. If it was the new medication it will be long out of your system and so you would expect your symptoms to return.

perhaps your body goes into the fight or flight response when faced with medical appaointments and tests in that things improve at the time so there is nothing to find, and then revert and you are left with debilitating symptoms. You need to carry on seeing GP Consultant or whoever is looking after you, and ask for onward referrals until an answer is found for your symptoms. Just because they don't display on the day doesn't mean you aren't experiencing them! Hang in there and see what the next step is.

As an aside I am expecting similar from my angiogram, if I walk on flat normally am fine can walk 8 or 9 miles no problem . however stairs, the slightest bit of rushing around or exerting myself brings in breathlessness and burning central across my chest, relieved by rest. Been happening for 16 months now. Cardiac perfusion scan normal, battery of bloods normal CXR abnormal but GP doesn't think it's the cause, tells me I should be fit because I look fit! I am generally healthy apart from this so as completely understand your frustration.

maybe the test needs to be repeated or you need the 24hour cardiac monitoring I wish you well and hope gets resolved for you.

Hi gracey,

I understand your frustrations with out any solid diagnosis from GP's and Cardiologists. For me I actually have sometimes visited my cardiologists rooms with chest pain, I have bought it to his attention, all he does is feel my pulse, sometimes he'll listen, I have a slow heart rate but he has put it down to the medication I'm on, he says there's no point in doing an ECG because it "probably " wouldn't look any different than the others I have had, that's true, perhaps, but one day he's going to miss something.

Now you say you had a medication change, did you start to feel better on it and just the side effects that wouldn't allow you to continue ? BP medication is touchy for a lot of people, I know it's not much comfort but it's trial and error in that department. I'm only just wondering, the old medication you were on would have been long gone out of your system while on the new meds but as soon as you had to revert back they probably were actually working for you because you hadn't been on them for X amount of weeks, if you start to get all your old symptoms back perhaps an increase dose of that medication maybe needed or a better class of drug, I don't know, that's the only thing that I could think of that has made you feel well in that period. Just out of interest and I know everyone feels this when an attack comes on, Anxiety, are you prone to panic / anxiety attacks ?  Panic and anxiety are uncomfortable, very uncomfortable but they do not cause pain, your chest may feel tight and find it hard to breath in a panic attack but there's no pain, in angina there is pain, well nearly always and angina doesn't have to start in the chest, here last month my left shoulder and arm had a heaviness in them with a bit of pain in my left shoulder and mid back, no chest pain well not until the afternoon. because I couldn't stop the pain / spasms I called for an ambulance and taken to our emergency department, I had mentioned the "reversal " of symptoms to the treating doctor and he informed me that angina doesn't have to start in the chest. See I thought I may of somehow pinched a nerve or somehow hurt my arm but I didn't, that's why I had never thought of it as angina at first.

Sorry I forgot to ask this further up, how long have you been back on your  original BP medication ? has it been longer than 2-4 weeks ?