I keep having chest pain

They put my PM in almost 2 weeks ago attempting to control tachy/cardy syndrome and afib. There was also an issue of a 20 second asystole. Since then, I have been to the emergency room twice with chest pains on the same side the leads are implanted that runs up my shoulder and even my neck. The VA did a stress test, echo, and perfussion test last time that all showed perfect - normal EKG with no blocages or ischemia. But the pain persisted. It went away after a day and a half. At home, if I move around much, I get chest pain. I'm a tree trimmer so other than my heart, I am in excellent shape for 57 years old. I just don't get it. Think I should go outside of the VA folks?

2 Comments

This one is a tough call

by donr - 2012-08-10 11:08:45

If you have been checked while having pains, there's a fair bet that you are not having a heart attack. Based on all the tests they did on you. I see that the KU Med School in Whicita is associated w/ the VA center, so you should get pretty good evaluation of the results.

There really is no reason to have all those invasive tests repeated - perhaps to set your mind at ease you could have the records of the tests reviewed by another set of physicians as a second opinion. Not necessarily to rule out heart attack, but to see if they can pinpoint the reason for the pain.

Sounds like you just might have an anxiety component to your pain. This soon - yes, 2 weeks is soon - after surgery it could be all physical pain, but any pain can have an anxiety multiplier along w/ it.

Did they give you any pain pills & if so, did they help? How about any meds for anxiety, like Xanax or another short acting med?

These things are tough to treat.

don

Donr

by ILoominatedEKG - 2012-08-11 01:08:00

Thanks for the repsonse.

They gave my vicodin for the incision pain but never mentioned level 4-5 chest pain. It helps a lot when I can't sleep. I'm on anxiety meds already (runs in the family). But this pain feels closer to pleuresy I had when I fell on the corner of a file cabinet years ago.

I'm trying to do absolutely NOTHING for 2 weeks. If it comes back, I'll ask the doc to shut the PM off for a couple of minutes and see if there's a difference. If not, it may be time to start looking for nerve disorders.

I'm not concerned about easing my mind. I'm worried about trimming trees out of 7,000 volt electric lines while being distracted by level 5 pain. It's not just me who could fry.

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