TIA Symptoms?

Hi Ruby, yes I was diagnosed

with that too and the excuse was two fold. Firstly I was taking to many different medications and secondly I should lose weight. I totally lost it with the consultant, called him a quack to his face and walked out. If like me you are on a lot of medication the so called consultants don't really want to know and better to be rid of you than find the true cause of your TIAs. I hope you are soon feeling much better

Hi RubyRed,

Can't say I've heard of that "strain" of migraine and I'm on a few of anti anginal mediations and that was never mentioned as per your explanation. I made it a point in mentioning my fading memory over a period of time since my second questionable TIA (? by a neurology specialist) I asked my GP if it could be because of all the medication I was on causing it and he went through my medications with me and he said the only one that may cause memory loss (not complete loss but hazey if you  know what I mean) is the Alprazolam (Kalma) .

My first TIA a different specialist tended me back then and I'm catagorised as high risk for MI , TIA/Stroke due to my cholestrol levels and it has specialists worldwide stumped "apparently" according to my cardiologist, he did a symposium on me quite a few years ago now and I was known as patient X. I'm on the list for the new "eagerly " awaited drug that would take care of cholestrol and quite possibly Prinzmetal Angina, it hasn't been released yet, I believe it is in final stage testing  or being looked at by our medications authority here, it's an injectable medication and it's name from memory is SP KHC9 but don't quote me on that name as being totally correct, although the name does sound like something from the police canine department...lol. I will have to have a look later on as I came accross it on the net a few weeks ago, as of writing here my angina is playing up and just had spray #5 in 25 minutes I'll take what pain killers I have here and if not gone will be on my way into ER....ohhh what a day to spend in ER an early Friday morning.

Thank you Loretta, here's hoping your health improves too.

From what I've read of other people's experience with it (HM) no medication they've tried appears to have any effect on the migraine and its symptoms. I've been using 2x Codeine alongside 2x Paracetamol since yesterday just out of desperation, and it's all I've got atm.

I also ordered a medic alert bracelet & put every diagnosis I've got on it, never had one before but feel it's a necessity (should have one anyway re: heart) at least should anything happen and I'm not capable of explaining myself, someone else/paramedic can see/read it.

How are you feeling today Samuels? Did you go to ER? I usually do 2 gtn sprays and if no relief and the pain is bad go to emergency, then I'm sometimes put on a gtn infusion after standard investigations etc. Usually have heparin injected in my abdomen and morphine.

Here we go........now I've been told by one consultant I have Prinzmetal's Angina because I get my pain in recent attacks during the night, hence it's when I'm resting. Yet another consultant says it's Angina, well I know Angina is Angina however there are different types. For example, firstly diagnosed with stable angina as they attacks happened upon exertion, then unstable angina as they were coming any time during the day resting or on exertion. Now they mostly come at night which is rarer and Prinzmetal's Angina...this is what I have been told by different consultants. Diltiazem I'm taking alongside gtn, I can't have beta-blockers as I'm asthmatic and one consultant said I can't have them. 

Hope you are feeling better, best wishes.

Hi RubyRed,

Yes ended up in ER for the day, usual done, ECG,Morphine and repeat Troponin blood test , both came back negative at 8, so for me it was just my Prinzmetal Angina acting up.

Yes Prinzmetal Angina is the rarer of all Angina, it can come on at rest or exertion, when it comes on at rest that's when Prinzmetal is looked at, ER doctors were telling me when I was first diagnosed with it years ago is that it can be the dangerous one even if ECG shows normal but Troponin blood test comes back positive, there doesn't have to be a blockage in any artery to cause Prinzmetal, here where I am Prinzmetal Angina falls under unstable angina /variant angina. I am on 480mg's of Diltiazem (broken up into 240 mg's twice daily) since the increase it has helped tremendously, also Nicorandil helped but wasn't quite enough to stop the spasming (it stopped the night time spasms), also on 120mg monodur and the usual GTN spray as required. Unfortunately there is no fix for Prinzmetal Angina, it's with us for life.

I do have mild plaque build up in my right coronary artery ( 50-60% ) but that's considered a baby blockage and can be treated medically they informed me, they also  tell  me at that percentage rate of a blockage they don't make stents that big.So for me being treated medically is not happening at the moment as I can't take any statins and that includes the old fashioned Questran powder.

What dosage rate are you on with your Diltiazem....I noticed a big difference when mine was bumped up.

Hi Samuel. I have unstable angina and I am on 240mg Dilzem XL one a day. Nicorandil 40mg twice daily. Idosorbide mononitrate 120 M/G daily. I do still get attacks I take the spray under the tongue and wait 5 minutes. If that doesn't do the trick I take 2 more puffs. That usually does the trick if not I dial 999. The angina can suddenly come on at anytime. I have even woken up because of an attack. I do admit that I don't phone 999 or go to the hospital now I ride it out.

Hi loretta,

Yes I still get attacks but it's winter time here where I am and thats a known trigger, I was on the largest dose possible of Ditiazem that could be prescribed by my GP and they weren't helping so the Cardiologist incresed it to 480 mg but divided it up into 2 I.E 240mg twice daily(here only a specialist can go higher than the recommended dosage rates, the next step for me was around the 520 mg from memory if this didn't do the trick), I average 1 trip a month to ER now rather than 4- 5 a month due to the increased Cardizem (Diltiazem), Nicorandil stopped my night time spasms but as I said it's winter time and I have had 3 episodes of spasms now at night, come summertime and being on Nicorandil I go back to no night time spasms.

I can take up to 15- 20  sprays before I call our paramedics...99.9% of the time everything comes back negative, that .1% over a period of a year I have raised Troponins, I've been told I've had 3 NSTEMI's one in 2012 and 2 last year about 6 months apart and  2 TIA's  although one specialist as per this forum has suggested it may of been a migraine, although another specialist has put a question mark next to the second one, as she know my other pre-existing conditions that contribute to TIA's

Since my Cardizem increase I haven't had to use the GTN as much, maybe once a week to a week and a half that's when the bad attacks occur, seems to come in weekly or so clusters, the GTN helps for around 40 minutes but just comes back stonger the chest pains and spasms. At 20 sprays my blood pressure is still sitting on 160/90, I have been told I  may have developed an immunity to the GTN

I was originally on 360mg  Cardizem CD (Diltiazem CD) once daily but I had done a bit of research on here and elsewhere and people were having huge improvements on the higher doses of Cardizem (Diltiazem) so I put this to the Cardiologist and he agreed that people with Prinzmetal were having good success rates on the higher doses (this wasn't my original cardiologist that I was speaking to ) My Cardiologist is one of those that make it out that it's in our minds, if it wasn't for this other Cardiologist mine would be still treating me like it was still in my mind.The Cardiologist that increased my Cardizem CD (Diltiazem CD) had said to me that I will continue to have some problems but hopefully not as much as I had, you know he was right , Now your Cardiologist has to weigh up the risks and benefits if they are going to put you on huge doses, the main concerns with huge doses is water retention and diarrhoea, well that's all I was made aware of  and where I live my GP has to get an authority to write up the higher dose script.

I was having a lot of angina attacks. The hospital said it was migraine. (That must be the get out of working card) I saw a locum who increased my Nicorandil and hey I stabilised. I really loathe hospitals. They nearly killed my hubby who had a massive heart attack. It was labelled as abdominal migraine. I blew my stack and he was sent to Glasgow and had a stent put in. When I told the cardiologist what had been said he wanted the name of the Dr. I provided it

I was actually asked by a doctor ,Registrar I think, "Waht's Prinzmetal Angina " I just stared at him blankly and shook my head. I've had at least 4 young doctors ask me over the past 2 years what is prinzmetal angina...I wonder if they actually teach this condition in Med school or it possibly falls under "unstable/vatiant" angina ? even then I suppose a different name like prinzmetal is enough to confuse them and not being able to make a connection.

Yes I've had to submit a couple of complaints in about certain ER doctors, they are the newish ones,Don't know how ER works completely but I think the younger doctors have to do rotations after so long as there is a lot of new faces to me in there this year and I've had a couple send me home in pain and refuse to do a troponin blood test and yet it's written in my files from Cardiology, that an intitial troponin  blood test has to be done because of the surprise NSTEMI's that have cropped up over time ....I think it's merely in place to cover their backsides...