Tag: coronary microvascular disease

Chest pain while running uphill

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 12 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥  @HeartSisters

 Part 3 of a 3-part series about pain

runningMy initial heart attack symptoms struck me right out of the blue.  I was out for a brisk walk early one beautiful Monday morning around 6 a.m. when suddenly, I experienced a pain smack in the centre of my chest. It felt like a cross between crushing heaviness and a severe burning sensation that gradually extended right up my chest into my lower throat. My left arm began to hurt. I also felt like I was going to vomit, and I started sweating far more profusely than my walking pace warranted.

But a strange realization about my heart attack symptoms hit me much later, long after I was hospitalized for what doctors still call the “widowmaker” heart attack.  

This was not the first time in my life I’d felt the chest pain symptoms I experienced on that spring morning.
 Continue reading “Chest pain while running uphill” →

When thyroid problems masquerade as heart disease

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 38 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas   ♥  @HeartSisters

I love a medical mystery that gets solved by a patient, don’t you? In May 2009, one of my regular readers – known to me and other readers here simply as JetGirl – experienced what she calls “classic heart attack symptoms” of very sudden onset, and sought help immediately at the Emergency Department of a Los Angeles hospital.  The 45-year old former airline pilot was released from hospital after a week’s stay in the Coronary Care Unit with a vague cardiac diagnosis of ischemia*.

Six months later, JetGirl once again experienced more cardiac symptoms including “massive chest pain” and shortness of breath.  This time, nothing was found.    Continue reading “When thyroid problems masquerade as heart disease” →

EECP therapy – and wearing fun socks

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 14 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥ @HeartSisters

Happy Feet!“Do small things with great socks!”

So says Sharon Durbin, a 62-year old recently retired RN and heart patient from Eau Claire, Wisconsin, who has been undergoing a unique, non-invasive, non-drug and effective way to manage the debilitating symptoms of angina caused by coronary microvascular disease and cyclic spasms.  This photo shows Sharon’s view of her feet during the cardiac treatment known as Enhanced External Counterpulsation, or EECP.*  Sharon’s EECP sessions are held daily, and consist of a series of 35 to 50 one-hour appointments.  As Sharon explained recently in her This Old Heart blog article:    Continue reading “EECP therapy – and wearing fun socks” →

When routine tasks trigger heart symptoms

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 17 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥ @HeartSisters

household-choresHeart disease is a strange animal indeed. Our very first symptoms can range from mild shortness of breath on exertion to sudden death – and almost every possible symptom in between.  My own were those of the textbook Hollywood Heart Attack (crushing central chest pain, nausea, sweating, and pain down my left arm) – yet I was sent home by Emergency Department staff with a misdiagnosis of indigestion – feeling very, very embarrassed for having made such a fuss over nothing.  It took two weeks to be finally correctly diagnosed with myocardial infarction (heart attack) caused by a 95% blockage of my Left Anterior Descending Coronary artery. And it took several more months – and another trip back to hospital – to figure out what was causing ongoing distressing symptoms that were ultimately diagnosed as Inoperable Coronary Microvascular Disease (MVD) or dysfunction of the smaller coronary arteries.

But MVD is very tricky to diagnose because most standard coronary artery disease diagnostic tests – the kind that work so well at  identifying big fat blockages in our larger arteries – may not be capable of catching it.  Continue reading “When routine tasks trigger heart symptoms” →