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OMGs   tell me about it.   Try having a parent with dementia, in a memory care facility, who was herself a chef.  I swear the food quality was all she could talk about most days and for good reason too.  Never mind she couldn't recognize me from a nurse, or one of my sisters, but she knew the food stunk.

Tony....least you are home now....

Love you,

Pegg

Tony,

Hope you don't mind me asking but did the doc mention anything about looking for the source of the angina?  Stress test?  Cardiac cath, etc.?  Ya got me worried about you, my friend.

As far as patients mentioning thoughts of suicide.....lots of hospitals assign monitors or babysitters when a patient mentions the above.  Legal stuff, for sure.  CYA territory.

Hospital food is nasty.  Whenever I work at the hospital, my co-worker and I head out to the lunch trucks for our munchies.

Stay well.

Hugs,

Cyn

cynjeep89 wrote on Feb 11^th, 2009 at 11:02pm:


Thanks Cyndi... I had blood work and a stress test while I was there yesterday... first they tried the treadmill thingy.. My heart rate didn't get to where they wanted it... so he did the injection thingy. He said it was a pain in the ass to get a good read because of the pacemaker. I did not have a heart attack... which is way cool.

I did the cardiac cath last  may or june... they only found a 20 % blockage and said it was no biggie..

He seems to think I have some weird sort of angina that makes my arteries spasm? I forget what term he used for it... at any rate he just  upped my dose of norvasc to see if that would make a difference.

Interesting thing about norvasc is that it's a vaso-dialator...  it has an interesting side effect. 

with warm regards,
Tony

Good to hear your ok Tony, but sorry what you had to go through.

While I am glad you are (relatively) well, Tony, it is no surprise to me that you had to go to the hospital. With all of those bugs circling the Mule's ass, you were bound to catch something.

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Tony, I know that every case is different and you should listen to what your doctor tells you.  You may want to consider talking to him about the nitro though;  When they had me in the hospital for an attack (and while I was using imitrex I was hospitalized 3 times for cardiac problems and none since it was taken away from me) they decided they needed to hook me up to an IV nitro drip.  I tried to explain to them why that was a bad idea, but in the end, I had to listen to them as they are supposed to know what they are doing.  As soon as the nitro hit my system it caused one of the most vicious hits I've ever had.  As a result, my vitals went crazy.  The nurses and doctor all thought I was going to have a coronary right then and there.  They have since put in my medical file that I'm allergic to nitro, as they feel the risk of the onset of a cluster while in coronary artery spasm is just to great.  They use ativan instead, and that has seemed to do the trick the following 2 times I was admitted. 

Keep in mind too, that I have had heart palpitations since I was 16, so what has happened to me may be something altogether different.  I just want you to be as informed as you can be so you can ask your doctors important questions.  Can't have you dropping dead on us

Again, you obviously have to rely on your doctors advice, just learn as much as you can and ask them pointed questions.  I was never able to go higher than 7.5 on the norvasc because I'm hypotensive and would pass out at any higher dose, so I'm sure that plays a part in my treatment as well.  Just be informed and be safe.

You'd be amazed at just how crazy your vitals can go when you are in spasm and get an attack brought on by nitro.  My BP skyrocketed - one reading they had was 200+/152 - I can't remember the systolic exactly, just remember it was over 200, and I went into an arrhythmia and atrial fibrillation.

Be safe, be well and take care of yourself.

Cat

I'm not 100% sure on the nitro, from what I was told it's an agent used to dilate the blood vessels, thus allowing greater blood volumes.  Morphine also works that way, and is one of the reasons it's used in association with cardiac pain.  Both those medications will bring on major attacks for me, and both are now listed as allergies in my file. 

I'm not sure if you have other cardiac problems that stem from something other than the prinzmetal angina, but for my particular case, they use the ativan to relax the body, hence relaxing the spasms. 

I am not sure as to why nitro is almost always a trigger for ch'ers;  While we know the causative factor of CH isn't vasodilation, anything that causes dilation tends to trigger or intensify attacks, and medications that constrict tend to work as abortives.  Of course that isn't true for everyone, one of the many frustrating aspects of trying to isolate a better treatment for CH. 

Because I can't use calcium channel blockers or beta blockers in doses that are even adequate for cardiac issues, let alone clusters, the primary focus when I am in spasm is to relax the arteries.  The ativan (given IV) has worked well for me; 

Like I said though, each case is very different, and you have to listen to your doctors.  It can't hurt to talk to them about the possibly dangerous effects of nitro should you be in cardiac distress and end up bringing on a cluster at the same time.

Supposedly, prinzmetal is fairly rare.  They diagnosed mine after I failed my stress tests and they did a cardiac cath;  With other heart issues going on, you may have a completely different treatment plan, and using nitro may not be a choice   Just wanted you to be sure to ask so that you don't endanger yourself with an attack sending you into further distress.

Cat

p.s. it was during that attack that they got in a fight with Clark when he was screaming at them to put me on a non rebreather mask with high flow oxygen as well - they kept arguing with him saying that I was 98% O2 sat and didn't need higher flow - they didn't understand that high flow O2 with a non rebreather was my best shot at aborting the cluster.

Good on ya Tony, tight lines.

         Potter