prinzmetals angina

josie_mccall · 2013-11-02T11:37+00:00

I was diagnosed with Prinzmetal's Angina a couple of years ago, and now have been diagnosed with cancer which required some surgical procedures. My consultant anaesthetist told me that my variant form of angina is called "syndrome X" by the surgeons because they don't know what causes it. The only treatment for an attack is bed rest and pain relief. However, they can put you on permanent heart medication to protect the heart from damage when the attacks happen. I am on such medication and it does mean I have fewer attacks. I got a bit fed up with waking up in the middle of an attack and having to rush off to hospital at all hours!! My advice…. get whatever regular meds you need, stop looking for answers they don't have, and when you DO have an attack, call the ambulance straight away and get to A & E and tell them what you have been diagnosed with. The rest of the time, stop worrying and get on with your life. They can't stop the attacks, they can help when they happen, but looking for answers is fruitless and stressful. There is life after Prinzmetals' diagnosis. Enjoy! and best wishes to all of you

vicki_lee · 2013-12-10T20:23+00:00

Wow so nice to find this discussion, I was diagnosed last August with a trip to the hospital and all the tests, I was told mine was caused by stress and caffeine (I was taking 2vivrin in the morning instead of drinking coffee or soda) so I made a complete lifestyle change, I follow Dr. Joel Furman nutritarian lifestyle gave up all forms of caffine a absolutly no processed food keeping the stress down and I feel fantastic I do take 1channel blocker per day but there is no more pain or shortness of breath or anything. I hope this helps someone

josie_mccall · 2013-12-11T18:00+00:00

Hi Vicki,

I have recently had cancer treatment which has caused difficult symptoms which I am waiting on a diagnosis for, but it's likely I will find I have PRD (Pelvic Radiotherapy Disease). To ease the symptoms I am trying a

low fibre, low residue diet for a while which means no caffeine. It is possible the no caffeine may help with

the angina too. I will let you know

Nowlybear · 2014-01-06T22:41+00:00

Hi, I am new to this having just had my third admission to the local cardiac unit and had the angiogram done as well. The result is prinzmetal's angina. Chronic pain in my chest, arm, neck you name it. All the usual meds, verapamil, isomono, nitrates, statins etc... But at 45 feels like my life has be turned upside down. Three months ago I was walking the three peaks, a fit healthy man... And in three weeks I have turned into Albert steptoe! Great to know you guys are out there too... I felt like no one understood, each time in hospital the ECG was ok, the troponin was good so no heart attack, felt like I was making this all up... Even the angio came back ok until the cardiologist explained what was going on... Does anyone have any tips for coping with this... What works well, what have you tried? What to avoid? Thanks for any advice folks.

Daren

valerie29187 · 2014-01-08T15:41+00:00

I was diagnosed with Prinzmetal's Angina last year, after my doctor thought I had angina. The hospital specialist put me on cholesterol tablets and an Angina tablet and said he would see what happened over the next 5 weeks and then possibly do an angiogram. After taking one tablet I had really dreadful headache that lasted 36 hours so stopped taking, tried a different tablet with same effect. My doctor wrote to the hospital and they carried out the angiogram and found no angina, but Prinzmetal's. I am already taking a betablocker and asperin for paroximal atrial fibrillation so was not keen of taking any further tablets. I only get pain if I run for the bus and takes me 5 mins to stop gasping. So I don't run for buses now. Fortunately I don't seem to have much problems other than that. I have tablets I can put under the tongue for as and when necessary, but not used them yet. Except I am having trouble getting travel insurance. Good to hear what problems other people have experienced.

cathymcphee · 2014-02-06T23:04+00:00

Hey! I'm a former critical nurse who is now disabled at the age of 37 due to Prinzmetal's. I was diagnosed 5 years ago. Had a heart attack two years ago. Had a cardiac arrest (my heart stopped and I gpt CPR?shocked and by the grace of God made it back) a year ago. In 2013 I had 13 admissions to the CCU, which is why I am now disabled.

I just wanted to let people who have SEVERE cases, like mine, know that there is a surgery that is rarely done today, but it may significantly improve your case. It's called a sympathectomy. When the sympathetic nerve is stimulated (along with the rest of the sympathetic nervous system it is responsible for the "Fight or Flight" response), it causes the coronary arteries to constrict. In some people, their Prinzmetal's can be caused by over stimulation of the sympathetic nerve. What happens with the surgery is a cardiothoracic surgeon goes in through your chest (ribs) and removes the part of the sympathetic nerve that would connect to the coronary arteries, so it cannot send anymore impulses there. 60% it is cause my the left sympathetic nerve, and 40% by the right. Sometimes they gamble and do just the left, in my case they did both sides. In some people this cures the Prinzmetal's all together. In mine it improved it, but I still have a lot of issues with it. There is no way to test ahead of time if this is the issue. You can google it and see it done on video. It used as a treatment for other things as well. Like I said, it is not done often, and is really a lst ditch effort, but when your case is really bad, sometimes they will do it. Finding a surgeon that is proficient at doing them is not easy as they are not done frequently, so if this is something your cardiologist feels may help you, go with who they recommend, as they would likely know who has done them.

Cheers!

Cathy

cathymcphee · 2014-02-06T23:07+00:00

The previous post was mine as well. I didn't proof read it. It was supposed to read the I got CPR/shocked, not the CPR?shocked. Can I blame my poor typing on the Prinzmetal's, lol?

Cathy

josie_mccall · 2014-02-07T21:58+00:00

hi Cathy, thanks for you post, it was very informative. I have been to Emergency dept at our hospital twice in under a week after having almost a year free of Prinzmetals…. no idea why all of a sudden i'm getting two close together. two years ago I had two episodes two weeks apart but they are not usually so close together. I am waiting on the cardiologist as I have a lot of other health issues as well, but I will see whether he thinks this could be helpful in my case. All the best.

Josie

samuels · 2014-02-08T04:51+00:00

Hi....I haven't visited the forums for quite some time now, I have been diagnosed with Prinzmetal Angina myself around 5 years ago may be longer...I experience what everyone else does here as well,it's a debilitating thing to have...To start with doctors were all the same they all kept telling me it was my panic / anxiety acting up because all my CKMB's and troponins kept coming back negative,well my troponins were coming back negative but I did on many occasions have raised CKMB's,I questioned this as CKMB's are also a marker for heart attack but I was assured that it wasn't . As time went by I was at the stage where I was calling an ambulance up to 3 times a week because the chest pain would come on anytime of the day or night,relaxing doing nothing or working/exercising....I was 46 when I had my first mild heart attack,ECG was normal but bloods came back positive for an AMI I was admitted to hospital for 3 days and had a barrage of tests done,I had a heart echo ,Angiogram (third one in 10 years - previous 2 results were Arteries in pristine condition) The third Angio showed a baby blockage of 50-60% occlusion of the right coronary artery,this occurred 2 years ago and now the Emergency take notice when I'm bought in,depending on my pain and bed availability I'm usually seen immedietly other wise I'm put out into the waiting room sometimes in immense pain radiating to left shoulder and arm or straight into the back,along with chest pain this is the usual pattern for me before having to call for an ambulance.

I'm literally to embarrassed to call for an ambulance because I've used them nearly once a week and now it's creeping back up to twice a week and ,....yeah well I'm well known by all in the emergency and paramedics profession.I've had a couple of doctors tell me it's in my head that there is nothing wrong with my heart over all most doctors are sympathetic as they know about the condition of Prinzmetal Angina and that there is no cure for it just pain relief and a barrage of medications to try and alleviate the spasms,they have worked but I think over time your body adjusts to the medication just like it does with the GTN spray, you become almost immune to it,it only works for a few minutes then another attack follows.

My cardiologist has also said there is no cure for it as yet all they can offer is medication to try and alleviate the spasming but as I stated above over time your body becomes use to it....the medications that worked the best for me is Cardizem360 mg and Nicorandil 10 mg twice daily, I have found and need to discuss this with my cardio is that the Nicorandil still works but not for the full 12 hours as it is suppose to, I need to find out if I need to be on a higher dose....This year alone I've been into our emergency department 11 times with this ...it's becoming so embarrassing I'm starting to doubt myself, I'm doing as instructed by my doctor and cardio re-hab nurse that if pain doesn't go away after taking the GTN as instructed 1 spray every 5 minutes maximum of 4 (20 minutes) to call 000 Because I know what it is I try to stick it out and try and relieve it with the GTN when I can't relieve it I end up giving in and calling paramedics because the heart attack that I had could quite easily happen again you just don't know....I can tell the difference between a panic attack and a heart attack or angina attack as I'm sure most of you can as well ?

I have found caffeine doesn't make a difference I gave up the coffee years ago to alleviate the anxious feelings with the panic attacks I use to have.....Also taking it easy will also keep the chest pain at bay but I can't live like that I need to be doing something at all times of the day...I have done some research with varying opinions ,they say men suffer more than woman and under the age of 50...then other professionals say women suffer more than men so I don't know...all I know what gets rid of my bad attacks (pain wise ) is Morpheine or a GTN infusion depends which ER doctor I get

prinzmetals angina

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