[Closed] Angina

I have micro vascular angina (not stentable) i use an e mtb and can just about get by.

Food has a huge impact especially carbs i tend to not eat anything except black coffee the morning before i go for a ride and this gives me more headroom.

I also take one particular drug called ivadabradine which lowers your heart rate and gives you a better starting point. Beta blockers are crap and not good for any form of excercise.

If he can get stents he should do it ASAP

I've never been a 'proper' mountain biker, just a keen pootler, but I had a major heart attack in October 2019 (whilst out cycling), got back into riding, experienced further chest pain, got diagnosed with angina and went on to have 2 more heart attacks (last week was my first back to work after the third). That's 3 heart attacks in 13 months despite having having had an angioplasty & stents after each and a diagnosis of angina. I guess I'm a tad nervous now, but I was told that chest pain indicates that the heart's struggling and shouldn't be pushed. Equally angina, it would be appear, can also indicate the possibility of further attacks.

At the very least, after a heart attack your mate should be carrying GTN spray at all times. I'm on a shed load of medication and, as oldmanmtb2 says, beta blockers are a pain as it's impossible to get your heart rate up much (I also have a chunk of dead heart muscle which doesn't help).

Ideally you friend should be talking to his consultant and/or cardiac rehab. team about exercise and medication options and really, really shouldn't be working through chest pain.

Could he push for a referral to a chest pain clinic who could do further tests and possibly a follow up angiogram to check that there's no further furring of the arteries?

I'm off the bike again and looking at an entry lever turbo trainer to get me started.

I took my grandma to the doctors the other day and he said to her "you have acute angina" and she replied...

"wait til you see my tits!"

IGMC

I had a heart attack on Monday, Angiogram and Angioplasty with stent on Tuesday and am now recuperating at home reading, web surfing, etc.

I was getting chest pains for approx 10 days prior to the attack, but not serious/painful enough to make me think “I’m having a heart attack”... more like “****, that doesn’t feel right, let’s see if it dissipates” and each time it did. But the chest pain started recurring more frequently, so I called NHS111 and went into hospital immediately.

To the OP, who has diagnosed angina? His GP, the hospital, a Cardiologist? If a GP I’d recommend your mate gets himself to a hospital immediately.

Had I not done so, I may not be here today. My left anterior descending artery was approx 90% blocked.

To the OP, who has diagnosed angina? His GP, the hospital, a Cardiologist? If a GP I’d recommend your mate gets himself to a hospital immediately.

Yes, this is a good call - I put my second and third attacks down to angina.

Yup - and that’s not dissing GPs by the way, it’s just that they’re not cardiac specialists.

QWERTY, when i saw the title of the thread I knew that joke would be here - and I still laughed!!
(Not that heart disease is a laughing matter, good luck to you guys affected!!)

@oldmanmtb2 I'm sent you a message.

I agree with what's said above, get your mate to get it checked.
I'm also in the heart attack club although I had a full on cardiac arrest and 'died' for 10 minutes until the CPR and defib kicked my arse (maybe that should be heart) back to life. It started with what I and my GP thought was acid reflux but turns out was angina. It ended up with me losing face down on a beach, dead. I did get a Heli ride to hospital and was emergency stented. However, since then I'm better than ever and running and riding is no problem and I can push. I am on a cocktail of meds but they seem to be working well for me. Just get your mate to go and checked out before something irretrievable happens. I was one of the lucky 10% who survived an cardiac arrest outside hospital. Your mate might not be so lucky.

Thanks for the replies,

If he can get stents he should do it ASAP

He had a chemical stent the day after his heart attack.

He's changed his diet and looks like he's lost weight.

To the OP, who has diagnosed angina? His GP, the hospital, a Cardiologist? If a GP I’d recommend your mate gets himself to a hospital immediately

Yes diagnosed by doctor.
He's trying to get a referral to see a specialist.

I also take one particular drug called ivadabradine

I'll pass that on .

I’ve had what I thought was a pulled muscle upper left chest and the back on my shoulder blade for a few weeks. Had been doing DIY so after day 2 I took cocodamol and it went away. I did two runs in the week totalling about 18k then did some more diy over the weekend. Yesterday it came back worse than before, both front n back, and I got some sharp pain when holding a big hip of air. Crap night sleep and no change this morning means my wife kicking me to ring the Docs. Had planned to run again today but Doc said get taken to A&E today and don’t leave it.

I’m hoping for something muscle related rather than anything worse.

I’m hoping for something muscle related rather than anything worse

Any update?

Yep, thanks for asking. Had ECG, Chest X-ray, couple of different blood tests and 3 blood pressure checks over 6hrs. They checked for everything I guess including pleurisy and clots, and ultimately, nothing major is afoot and put it down to infection, muscle strain and stress; told to rest and take penicillin/antibiotics for the next few days.

I feel very privileged to have got that service today; It’s a load off but I’m laying here in real discomfort hoping the drugs have an impact.

Again, appreciate you asking. Cheesybeanz