Chest Pain Input Please

[maillotpois]

Torrilin - you're mom's got to be a coumadin lifer, right? Bummer. That's my fear. If this happens again, I am a lifer. Fortunately, I think we nailed and eliminated my risk factor. And I'll be shooting up (w/lovenonx) before any long flights, just in case.

I agree a stress test shouldn't be the place to start. It's funny they'd rather run a complicated and lengthy procedure instead of a $50 blood test. Whatever.

Just remember: It's your body, not your doctor's. I am sure your doctor has good intentions, but PE is the leading sudden death killer for a reason - it is often mis-diagnosed or just plain missed.

ETA: In case there's still some perception of wolf crying here - I had an interesting discussion with an old friend of my in laws who is a pulmonology researcher at Scripps in SD. He developed some drug or something that allows premature infants to breathe. Which is cool. Anyway, he was asking questions about my episode and was just amazed that I was okay. He says that the PEs can not only simply cause you not to have enough air, but they can actually cause some sort of neurological reaction that shuts your heart down.

As said, we all hope you don't have a PE and you probably don't. However, the 5 - 10% chance that you do isn't worth messing around with and waiting for a doctor to figure something out.

[li10up]

Wow, I certainly appreciate all the concern. I didn't go to the ER and I've not had any pains over the weekend. I probably should have gone just to make sure. If it happens again I'll go...but right now I'm feeling fine. Rode yesterday and today with no problems. I'll feel really stupid if it's just "gas" or something like that. I will keep an eye one it. Thanks everyone.

[Torrilin]

Torrilin - you're mom's got to be a coumadin lifer, right? Bummer. That's my fear. If this happens again, I am a lifer. Fortunately, I think we nailed and eliminated my risk factor. And I'll be shooting up (w/lovenonx) before any long flights, just in case.

IIRC she's not a lifer. The first one they nailed down some of her risk factors, and eventually weaned her off coumadin. The second one happened while she was in the hospital for shoulder replacement #2. Sorta hard to keep her mobile enough with major surgery involved.

li0up, don't feel stupid about getting tests and coming back negative. There are a lot of cheap and simple tests that make life much easier for doctors (and patients!). Much better to use them if it's called for.

[li10up]

I finally got scared enough about the chest pains that wouldn't go away and went to the ER yesterday afternoon. I told them I had been told to ask about this test and the dr. asked if I knew some doctors or something...just told him I had some knowledgeable friends (thanks everyone). Anyhow after talking with me he seemed to be concerned about the possibility of PE and ordered the d-Dimer. It came back "high" and so then I had a chest x-ray and then a CT scan of my chest. I'm happy to report that those came back negative. I'm happy that a serious medical condition like PE has been ruled out but I'm still wondering why I continue to have these chest pains. He still wants me to have the stress test on Tue. He's starting to think that it may be gastric and gave me an Rx. I'll try that and see how it goes.

[Zen]

the dr. asked if I knew some doctors or something...

[maillotpois]

Wow - well good for you for following up. I am glad the CT was okay. Fun experience, isn't it? (They used the iodine contrast that makes you feel like you peed your pants, right?)

[Aggie_Ama]

I am far from an expert but my dad had pains like he was having a heart attack before having his gallbaldder removed. The pain was terrible when he breathed and woke him up at night, since he has elevated blood pressure he was convinced it was a heart problems. What kind of gastric problems was he thinking?

Did they make you drink the fabulous juice for the CT? My husband had 4 CTs last fall and he always mentions how much he hated the drink.

[maillotpois]

If they were checking for PEs, they wouldn't have had her ingest anything for the CT, but would have run an iodine dye contrast. Which is even more fun...

[Aggie_Ama]

If they were checking for PEs, they wouldn't have had her ingest anything for the CT, but would have run an iodine dye contrast. Which is even more fun...

Oh yeah, my husband had one of those too. When they did the CT Guided Aspiration. Being a Crohn's patient, he gets to have all the fun medical procedures.

[li10up]

Wow - well good for you for following up. I am glad the CT was okay. Fun experience, isn't it? (They used the iodine contrast that makes you feel like you peed your pants, right?)

Wow, that's EXACTLY what it felt like...for a moment while I was laying there I wasn't sure what had happened...it was pretty weird.

I got an Rx for Prevacid and took my first dose this morning. About 45 minutes later I had pretty bad chest pain. Thought maybe I was having a reaction to it. But after an hour or two the pain subsided and I've felt pretty good all day...just minor discomfort. Maybe GERD is all it is. All of this sure has made me appreciate the good health I have always pretty much taken for granted.

Thanks to those of you who encouraged me to go get more tests...I hated to go to the ER but at least now I'm not worried like before.

[KnottedYet]

Not trying to be a party-pooper here, but...

Your D-Dimer test came back "high"

so, where's the clot?

Is it in your heart?

(and yeah, I loved the iodine with the CT scan. My rad was nice and warned me I'd feel it. Weird sensation all right!)

[Wahine]

You know......

Knott has a very good point.

Any possibility of a clot elsewhere?

[li10up]

Apparently the d-Dimer is very sensitive. He told me that if I had scraped my knee it would show up on the test. Weird thing is is that I don't have any bumps, bruises or scratches ANYWHERE on my body...so can't acct. for the "high" result. He said that perhaps my body was doing some repair work from the recent hike or recent bike ride and the test picked it up. Sounds kind of iffy to me but that's what he said. I'm just glad to rule out the pulmonary edema...which, as was pointed out to me, is a killer. So I'm just looking forward to the stress test which I'm hoping will show that my arteries are clear with no blockages whatsoever. Then I'll feel okay about riding hard even if I'm having chest pains. As it is now I'm a little nervous when I'm riding.

[maillotpois]

It's actually pulmonary embolism which you wanted to rule out. I believe that pulmonary edema generally goes away when you return to lower elevation. And pulmonary embolism is the one that kills you instantly.

[evangundy]

Every once in awhile, I get a pain in the center of my chest.....it's when my back is trying to go out. It is directly behind my breastbone, which seems to pull on my ribs or something. I can't take a deep breath when it hurts. My back doesn't have to actually go out for it to hurt. But when it does go out, it hurts even more. I describe the pain as feeling like someone stabbed me in the chest. Once my back goes in (or gets put back in) the pain is gone immediately.

Something else you might check into. I hope the cause of your's is found soon, and that it's something easily fixable.

Edna