Posted 10/21/2009 3:42 AM (GMT 0)
Hello all.
I had a mild heart attack on Sept 16th. Since I also have MS, I figured the pain I was feeling was just another bout of the MS hug. I took extra Soma since I didn't feel well enough to get up to get my Baclofen. The pain steadily got worse.
I got up and told my husband (who was on the computer) that I was in a lot of pain. I went to sit outside (that usually makes me feel better at least mentally, but that's another story) and my husband followed me. He asked where I was hurting and I showed him that my left side upper torso, arm, neck and jaw were hurting. Still I was thinking it was my MS, especially with the jaw involvement. I'd had a major relapse last year that involved Trigeminal Neuralgia and the jaw pain felt like that.
The pain was still increasing and I decided to go to the ER. Hubby went in the house to get his wallet, keys and shoes. I followed him in and nearly collapsed in the hallway. I told him to call 911. While he was on the phone with them, (answering their 1001 questions), I felt like I'd been set on fire! OMG! I told him I thought I was having a heart attack. I still halfway believed it was my MS acting up. I'd been to the doctor, the ER and in the hospital quite a few times with chest pain, had all the FUN tests only to find out it wasn't my heart. (At those times, I had not been diagnosed with MS although it was suspected.)
By the time I got to the ER, the pain had lessened, the monitor the EMTs put me on showed normal sinus rhythym but I felt like I was going to throw up. I asked for phenergan and something for pain. The monitor at the hospital was normal too as was my EKG. I was pretty out of it from my night meds and the extra soma and then got shots of morphine and phenergan. I was really spaced out! All I knew was that for some reason they were going to admit me.
The next day, the nurse came in around lunch time and told me my cardiac enzymes were "critical". HUH??? Shortly afterward, the doctor came in and said they were slightly bumped. Again HUH??? Then the cardiologist came in, said I'd had a heart attack (By this time I felt great and wanted to go home) and they wanted to do a cath and possible stent placement the next day. Later that night, the nurse came in, said my cardiac enzymes were even more elevated and they wanted to put me on a medication that would require closer monitoring and I was going to ICU. SCARED THE CRAP out of me!
To shorten the story, I spent the night in ICU, had the nurse jolt me awake the next morning EARLY (I was supposed to have the cath done after lunch), telling me they were coming to get me for the cath.
Cath done, stent placed, another blockage spotted.
Now, I stay frightened of chest pain. Never worried about it before because I'd had everything done and was fine... just figured it was the MS and took my Baclofen which helped.
I made a trip to the ER last week and spent the night in critical care only to have the doctor say.. YUP... Not your heart! SHEESH.
I don't have insurance and trips to the ER are expensive, so what am I to do? I know heart pain is different for women, but after my heart attack, I don't know how to tell or cope.
Thanks for listening!
Nana