Totally Frustrated with presistant Chest Pain:(

[char2mar]

Hi all: I am still fairly new to this site and thus far have gotten some valuable info from some of your members. I have been recently been diagnosed with BAVD. I have moderately servre AV regurgitation with mild stenois.My mitral valve, tricuspid valve and plumonary valve all leak too. Trace to mild. I have also been diagnosed with pericarditis however I have been on anti-inflammatory drugs for the past 6 weeks and the pain still has not gone away. I went to the ER on Monday night and they put me on 50 mg of prendisone a day for 7 days. I have been on it for 4 days now and the pain is still there. Not only that but in the past 48 hrs I have been feverish. My current temp is 99.9 f. My throat feels a tad bit scratchy. My chest hurts in the sternum area and the pain radiates to my back in between my shoulder blades. My neck and shoulders hurt too, but not as bad as the sharp stabbing pain that I frequently get in the center of my chest. I have read that if the symptoms of pericaritis do not go away after taking anti-inflammatory drugs then a ascending anuersyum should be ruled out. Just to note that the ER doctor feels that I may not have pericarditis because he couldn't hear the friction rub, but since my cardiologist diagnosed it back in DEC 2004 I am labelled as having it and thurs will be treated for same. (What is up with that?) My cardiologist is ultamitley going to have to reacess the diagnoses. I am getting an echo on the 7 of Feb and an appointment on the 10th FEb to talk about the echo. Does anyone out there have any suggestions as to my chest pain????or any suggestions as to how I can get my caridologist to do a MRI on me to rule out anuerysums. (Apparently BVAD and anuerysums usually go hand in hand especially if it is connective tissue disease.)

Totally Frustrated with this Pain. Help.

Is there a possiblity that I could also have endocarditis???? I am still experiencing SOB with mild exertion and dyspena. I have palpitations and eptopic beats and supraventricular bigiminy arrthymia fequently. Las September I had the flu....and have been sick ever since. BooooHooooo......

 

[Abbanabba]

I'm so sorry to hear you've been in so much pain for so long. I can relate to so much of what you're going through, only I've got severe PV regurg, mild TV regurg and trivial regurg in the AV and MV. I also have incredibly frequent irregular/ectopic beats, SOB and fatigue.

Having said that, I've also had the complete run around trying to find out why I've been feeling so bad (..because according to my cardios, even with all of the above, they don't believe my heart is the problem! ..), and one of the things we were looking at was chronic fatigue syndrome. The only reason I mention it to you is because you mentioned getting sick last year and being sick ever since. I've been doing a bit of research into this lately and that is usually what sets it off (..and if your system is stressed from your cardiac problems, it may well be enough for something like that to develop..). The other indicators were a constantly sore throat, high temp, aches and pains that don't go away and SOB.

Now, I'm not trying to tell you this isn't cardiac related, but I just thought if it's something you haven't already considered, it might be worth checking out since many of your symptoms seem similar. Then again, these symptoms also present with a number of things - but that's why you can't afford to rule anything out.

Meanwhile, I hope all goes well with your echo. Who knows - it might show them exactly why you've been feeling the way you do. I hope you keep us posted on what happens.

Sending best wishes and positive thoughts your way....
Anna : )

 

[Bryan B]

Char,

Ask your doctor to do a blood culture...NOW (no later than Monday). If it comes back positive then you need to have your echo moved up to check for endocarditis. Do a search on my screen name and you will find a bunch of posts describing my symptoms of endocarditis, but you sound a lot like me. I got a nasty case of bronchitis in June 03...and they finally figured out I had endocarditis in October 03. They finally found it when they did a blood culture and it came back positive for strep in 24hrs. I had an echo a couple of days later and they found the endocarditis in my aortic valve.

I hope it turns out negative, but do not delay in getting the blood culture done. It is the definitive test to find out if you have bacteria in your blood. If you do, then they can do an echo looking specifically for endocarditis. Do not delay and do not pass go...get this quick and easy test done no later than Monday.

 

[char2mar]

Thanks for the info, and will get checked out ASAP. I still feel like crap and wish I can go crawl under a rock and sleep for a week.

 

[Bryan B]

I know the feeling Char. I was sick the whole time from June until October. I was treated with steroids several times, and it would help some...but every time I stopped taking them the symptoms would come back. Here's a list of my symptoms:

low grade fever
chronic fatigue
weight loss
achy all over (especially in joints)
swelling of hands and feet (especially feet)
night sweats
towards the end pain just to the left of my heart with pain radiating between shoulder blades

Here's a post I made a couple of weeks ago:

http://valvereplacement.com/forums/showpost.php?p=106426&postcount=8

The night sweats is one of the classic symptoms of endocarditis. You didn't mention whether or not you've experienced this. If you haven't then it might be something else, but I would still get the blood culture done. When people like us with "funky" valves get bacteria in our blood, our deformed valve is a perfect spot for the bacteria to set up shop and start colonizing (i.e. vegetation). My doctor diagnosed me with several different ailments, but if he would have just done a blood culture a couple of months earlier I might still have my original parts.

 

[ALCapshaw2]

Do you have an appointment to be reexamined by your Cardiologist? If not, I would get one, or seek a second opinion from another cardiologist.

Have you ever had a heart Catheterization?
Your symptoms COULD also be caused by the more common cause, namely Coronary Artery Disease which creates blockages in your coronary arteries. The pains you describe are very familiar (I've had both CAD and AVR).

Keep bugging the doctors until you get a proper diagnosis and treatment plan.

Good luck,

'AL'

 

[perkicar]

Steroids and Infection

Steroids and Infection

Also, if your temp is 100 on steroids (dexamethasone or whatever you're on) your fever is probably alot higher. Many of our patients are on solumedrol and it masks your body's attempt to fight the infection--ie you won't get a fever even if you do have a raging infection. I took care of a patient on Friday who was fine in the morning and by afternoon he was shivering as if he had a high fever, although it only measured around 99. So yes, insist on a blood culture ASAP, as well as starting on antibiotics just to be on the safe side. There could very well be more going on than the docs realize.

Carolyn Perkins

 

[char2mar]

Thanks Again

Thanks Again

I have an appointment on Feb 2 to see the cardiologist and will demand a blood culture. Yes I do get night sweats and pain radiating from my chest, shoulders and arms. (Even my arm pits ache) My fevers are intermittant. My joints ache and today I had a raging headache. I am also very agitated and feel bloated and congested. I really feel odd to say the least. Thanks again for all the advice....will keep you posted.

Char

 

[gemini1968]

I just want to add: Please make sure they look into a possible aorta tear/dissection...my mom had horrible back pain, fever, headache, etc. and they diagnosed her with pneumonia at first...only a TEE showed she the aortic dissection. Best of luck to you!

 

[Mrozek]

Pericarditis

Pericarditis

Hi... my experience....

I had no past valve or heart problems.... In 2002 I got a minor infection and later was diagnosed with pericarditis....

I have been feverish for a long time (weeks) and throat scratchy. I also had a dull chest pain... prednisone etc... helped in a couple of weeks. Be patient!!!

They couldn't hear my friction rub !!! After CT, echo and catheterization I was diagnosed with pericardial effusion... and later (unfortunately) with constrictive pericarditis...!!! I'll need surgery soon... started with an innocent infection.

Only catheterization can measure exactly heart chamber pressures... my understanding is that most pericarditis resolves itself... only 2% will develop into constrictive one...

Hope this helps... be patient!!! takes a couple weeks to get rid of the fever and a couple of month to recover...