Posted 6/7/2023 10:39 AM (GMT 0)
i have spent the day in A&E recently due to chest pain
in my case it was waves of pain in the chest and pain traveling through the shoulder and down the arm - usually in the early hours of the morning
they did x-ray, EKG, bloods and physical exam but have not been able to find a cause
my blood pressure is 115/78 at rest - pulse around 75 (used to be 60 or under before getting ill)
i suspect bartonella is driving it - but as yet the mechanism is not clear
while the palpitations many of us report seem to be common in this community and rarely lead to serious / risk to life type heart problems - severe chest pain needs to be taken seriously
here is a link describing when to seek emergency medical care
https://www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/heart-matters-magazine/medical/when-do-you-still-need-to-get-medical-help
generally chest pain that is accompanied by
- pain that travels down the arm or other places
- loss of consciousness
- feeling nauseous, sweaty, faint, dizzy etc
tends to be more of a concern
since my EKG, X-ray etc was apparently normal - i was told to call an ambulance if i had pain lasting for more than 20 minutes that is not relieved by nitro-glycerine spray
(the nitro-glycerine spray is a powerful vasodilator that relaxes blood vessels - and can stop angina type pain)
if you have not had these things checked yet with this new onset - i would seek medical help right away
it could well be just another crazy symptom of lyme or some kind of herx like reaction to treatment - so i do not mean to alarm you - its just better to be safe than sorry where the heart is concerned
both lyme and bartonella can cause various heart issues - lyme carditis, endocarditis, myocarditis etc etc - although typically more often in the early few weeks or months.
note i did not mention lyme in the A&E - as they tend to be disbelieving of chronic lyme - instead i told them i "had been sick for several years since being bitten by insects on a picnic on farmland" - which is true - but allowed them to draw their own conclusions( they should be trained to know there are diseases spread by insect bite that can cause heart problems) and avoided me presenting myself as some kind of expert patient ( which they have no time for)
keep us posted on how you get on