4 years Post-Op, with sudden chest pains and urine in blood

[deogloria11]

So it's almost four years since my surgery (see siggy below) and last night I started having small pains in my chest, right where I had them pre-op. There would be intermittent pain for about a half a minute, then it would go away for a few minutes, then come back, then go away a few minutes, etc. Lasted about an hour or so. I was really getting worried. I also, for a while, could hear the blood "swishing" in my ears a little (it was very quiet in the house). I noticed a pink tinge to my urine this morning, but only once. It was clearer the last two trips to the bathroom. I know blood in the urine can be a symptom of endocarditis, but I don't feel like I have a fever, and the only other symptom I think I have is night sweats, which could be attributed to other factors.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this? Last echo I had was maybe a year or so ago, in the ER, and they said everything looked okay and they noticed my mitral valve had a slight leak (yay, I needed that like a hole in the head). I have noticed lately that if I bend over, or strain myself, I feel a kind of pressure in my neck and sometimes my head, and can feel my pulse in my neck or hear it in my ears. Don't know if this is related to anything.

Anyway, just wondering if this sounds familiar to anyone.

p.s. I checked my blood pressure and heart rate during this episode last night--both were slightly elevated for ME, but within normal parameters for normal people. (Since surgery, I run about low 90s over 60, heart rate in low 60s...without bp meds.) Considering I was worried that I might be dying :eek2: (okay, an over-reaction, I admit), I didn't consider the slight elevation to be unusual.

 

[metronome]

Hematuria should never be ignored. You did call the doc didn't you ??!!

 

[deogloria11]

No. We don't have health insurance. My husband just lost his job, so we're hoping to qualify for some kind of public health care plan. I heard obamacare is in effect now, but i don't know anything about it. I haven't seen any more pink color in my urine, so maybe it wasn't blood, maybe it was something I ate. Hopefully. I'd be more worried if I had a fever or other signs of endo. If I feel like I need to go to the ER, I will.

The chest pain hasn't come back, but it still has me worried. I'm going back on raw food, which always helps--after my surgery, I had significantly reduced pain when I was eating a raw diet. Every time I went off raw, the pain came back with a vengeance. So hopefully whatever the situation is, it's not urgent, and I can heal it that way. But as soon as I can get on health insurance, I'll be going in for a full round of tests, anyway, cuz I'm overdue.

I'm kind of wondering if the chest pain is an issue with my aortic valve, or possibly my mitral getting worse. Back when I started getting chest pains bad (which lead to the discovery of my aneurysm), they started getting bad whenever I exerted myself. I was resting at the time this time, but had run a lot of errands earlier in the day. So I don't know if that could be related, or if it was a random thing. The last time, the pain got much worse, I believe, because I was pregnant at the time and I think the preggo hormones made my connective tissue stretchier. This time around, it's unlikely that I'm pregnant. So...I don't know. I hate not knowing! Ugh.

 

[Gail in Ca]

I'm so sorry you have no insurance. I don't know where you live, but I have noticed at the medical clinic I go to and at Stanford, there are signs that say if you can't afford your medical care to please contact (insert number or location) and they will work with you , even cover the cost. Please check into this. I don't think you should ignore your symptoms. At least call your cardiologist and talk to the nurse. Good Luck!

 

[katm]

Sorry about your husband losing his job but seems to me that you then would qualify for aide of some kind. There are a couple of free clinics in our small town so you should be able to find one in your area. Call your health department, they would be able to tell where they are located. I guess I suggested that cuz it would be a starting point for you and possibly get you some paperwork to fill out for medicaid. Sometimes I think people feel overwhelmened when looking for health care when they dont have private insurance but you would be surprised what is out there for people. It sounds as though you need to be accessed by someone, better safe than sorry. Good luck to you.