Hi all - I am a 46 yo woman with COPD/Emphysema (not very bad yet, thank God!) and have had heart issues in the past. Went to the ER with severe chest pain and had the gamut of tests run with a cardio doc). I have never really heard anything specific except that I do have Mitral Valve Regurgitation (whatever that is). I have been having a crushing pressure in my chest (feels like an elephant sitting on my chest) and kind of a numbing feeling in my left arm and hand. I went to the urgent care center last week over by work and they did an EKG and then they gave me a spray of Nitro and an aspirin and then they did anther EKG. The first EKG showed a problem on the left side (something like left lateral) and then when they did the second one, it was normal. The urgent care doctor wanted me to go to the ER but since I work in the Escrow industry and it was the end of the month, I opted to call my Cardio first and see what he thought. He is out of town and not available, so the nurse had me fax the "bad" EKG page to her and then she called me back and said it was normal. How can it be normal for one doctor and not normal for another? The EKG strip actually said something about the left lateral lead, something, something, something (since I do not have it here at work, I can't remember the exact words it said).
Anyway, they told me that I should not worry about it and if the pain got worse, to go to ER and they would call them. Well, I talked to my husband who said it was probably just an anxiety attack (never had one in my life) and not to worry about it, but I still get the crushing pain and the numbness (tingling, kind of like your foot falls asleep ) in my left arm and hand, sometimes sharp pains in my chest (left side more than right side), short of breath (blame the COPD on that) and I am totally wiped out. I sleep about 8 hours every night and still wake up exhausted. I have had 2 stress tests in the last 3 years as well as an ECHO (done about 1 year ago). My cholesterol levels suck - bad cholesterol too high and good cholesterol way too low. I cannot take the cholesterol medication as it all sends my liver readings through the roof so am just dealing with that with diet and fish oil tablets. I also take an aspirin a day (per the doctors orders). So, now to my questions...sorry so wordy!
Should I just take a wait and see attitude or should I go to the ER and get it checked? It gets worse sometimes and sometimes it lessens. I don't mind telling you that I am scared to death. Any help or insight you can give me would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again and again I am sorry for being so wordy! Diana