Apart from this you should be on maximal medical therapy including beta blockers, ace inhibitors, aspirin and plavix as well as a statin. Is you heart function preserved after the heart attack? It is possible that your shortness of breath is secondary to systolic dysfunction and not only pneumonia. In fact, the so called pneumonia you had could have been congestive heart failure all along and not a bacterial pneumonia at all.
The goal of treatment is to control chest pain and to prevent heart attack. The pain is relieved by a medicine called nitroglycerin (dilates coronary vessels). You have been prescribed norvasc and that should relieve any chest pains. Norvasc is in a group of drugs called calcium channel blockers. It dilates blood vessels and slows the heart to reduce blood pressure and the pain of angina. Calcium channel blockers may be needed long term. Medications may also include beta-blockers.
Stopping Nitroglycerin Patch suddenly may cause serious, possibly life-threatening, WITHDRAWAL symptoms, including chest pain and heart attack. Having a nitrate-free period each day will help prevent tolerance, dependence, and withdrawal problems.
Issue Date: November 5, 2008
Database Edition 08.4.1.002
Copyright © 2008 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.
It is recommended to have a free period from a nitrate!. I take sublingual nitro occassionally and nitrate pill 3 times a week for many years.
Thanks for your input...my bp is slowly dropping now, so I guess the nitro is finally kicking in.
A few weeks ago I had a heart attack... it was not caused by a blockage but by vaso-spasms related to unstable angina and I was placed on medications to try to manage this. (As per the Hospital Cardiologist after a heart cath)
One of the meds I was given was sublingual nitroglycerin and I have had to use it many times so far (I only use it when the chest pains last longer than 20-30 minutes or get really bad).
I understand your doctors are suggesting taking isosorbide daily as aschemia does not always produce angina even though the heart cells are not getting sufficient blood supply. This can lead to a silent heart attack so the medication is recommended continuously whether there is angina or not and older people in general are likely to have a silent heart attack.
But there is a risk of developing a tolerance.
I have the same thing but 6%. I was prescribed the same things. This all just happened within the last week for me. The Cardiologist said that mine is like a 6% chance of having a heart attack right now. So, I'm assuming yours is 15%. I'm hesitant on taking the Amlodipine because it lowers blood pressure and mine is already low. As far as drinking, I wouldn't advise it especially with the Isosorbide, that is basically Nitroglycerin in a daily form.
Oh, dear. This signals a stroke or heart attack. Whomever is having these symptoms MUST go straight to the ER, and if they cannot transport themselves, call 9-1-1. That numbness on one side and nausea is a sure-fire sign of stroke, and it must be treated within a certain period of time to prevent damage from becoming permanent or disabling.
Whether someone survives depends on how much heart tissue is damaged from the attack and whether another heart attack follows soon after the first one.
I'm so sorry to hear about your uncle. It's always a shock. Sometimes we get warnings about heart problems and can take the proper medications and change things in our life. Other times it strikes without warning.
Is that normal procedure?
I was told I did not have a heart attack that I had a heart spasm. After I got home I saw the blood pressure cuff on the floor. This was my reading when this occurred 93/60 and my pulse was 50. I have high blood pressure and take meds. Normally my blood pressure is 145/80-154/88 and my pulse is 70-89. I have Narcolepsey and must take stimulants so its difficult to get my blood pressure down much more.
Just went through that myself. I have been on sythroid for 12 years, three years ago I started having palpitations. My doc gave me a tranquilizer and said it was stress. Then in Sept. I had a tachycardia experience, it was really scarey. The emergency room doc said again' stress' since the ekg looked ok. My doc gave me a beta blocker which caused heart attack symptoms . . .the only way to get rid of the angina was to pop three nitroglycerin tabs.
When there is ischemia there is a probability of heart cell damage and a silent heart attack. My first symptom of a heart problem was congested heart failure caused by ischemia and damaged heart cells.
APO-diltiaz belongs to a family of medications known as calcium channel blockers. It is used to treat high blood pressure and angina (chest pain). It works by relaxing blood vessels and by reducing the workload of the heart. .
My dad, who is 76 years old, suffered a heart attack (Sept. 1992) and underwent triple bypass surgery in Jan. 1993 with mitral valve replacement. He has been doing very well the last 14 years until the summer of 2007 when he started having problems breathing on minimal exertion accompanied by chest pain and not helped with Nitroglycerin. My Dad's cardiologist did a angiogram in Nov. 2007 and found his EF to be 0.25%.
My husband is 76 years old. He had a heart catherization recently and was found to have several blocked arteries. He had 2 stents put in 2011. Are the risks too great for my husband at his age with insulin dependent diabetes for 19 years to have open heart surgery?
His cardiologist so far has put him a medication regimen to try to help with his blocked arteries.
The only sympton he has had with the placing of the stents was Chest Pressure, no other symptoms.
I still had stable angina every time I did some for of cardio activity or is I ate something with sodium. I started using Nitroglycerin patches and even have the pills just in case my angina episode occurs.
I had a date and I read online that you can't take viagra and any nitrates cause it can drop your blood pressure really low. So I stopped using my nitroglycerin for about 48 hours so I can take the Viagra.
I am a fit, slim, non-smoker and had a heart attack at age 54, 19 months ago. I had been under a lot of stress for years. I had a 95% blockage in one of my arteries. I received 6 stents, and stayed on lipitor for 3 months and plavix for 6 months - hated the side effects. Now I am only on low-dose aspirin. I have had chest "squeezing" pretty well this whole time following the surgery, but mostly in the last month.
CONCLUSIONS: ABNORMAL MYOCARDIAL PERFUSION PET STRESS TEST
Assessment: small reversible defect; non-dominant RCA
Question: What's this mean? Have 3 month trip out country. Go/Stay?
THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
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