my heart hurts, like my actual heart muscle. it started last night, like a dull achy pain. it woke me up a few times in the night, and today its still present only a little different. i still have the dull achy feel the pain all the time pain, and if i move or breath deeply its a sharp stabbing pain. i was going to call my dr and see if I could schedule an appointment but i was thinking maybe i should ride it out until tomorrow and see if it goes away on its own. i am not having any trouble breathing or shortness of breathe and other than hurting when i move or inhale deeply i am fine. other than a headache thats all that is bothering me.
i am only on plaquenil and adderall right now, as i weaned off the prednisone at my drs advice a few weeks ago. and luckily i didnt have a major flare after i weaned down from it, just some burning in my joints and stiffness that had been gone completely.
i feel pretty horrible at the moment and i am trying to figure out if i should wait at home unless i feel like its a life threatening kind of thing, and if i still have the pain tomorrow call my dr...idk my husband is telling me to go to the dr, but he worries so much about me that i assumed he would say that. i was a little concerned that after stopping the prenisone the inflammation would be out of control and i would have a lot of pain but i assumed it would be joint pain not in my heart. its just in my heart too, not in my arm or shoulder like they tell you to be concerned about when they talk about chest pain.
any suggestions? should i be concerned and head to my dr asap? or wait it out? ugh part of me thinks that having this disease makes me hypersensitive to every lil ache and pain that i might normally shrug off, i dont wanna be a crybaby hypochondriac that annoys my dr everytime i get an owwie...
You should go to the ER as soon as possible - if for nothing else than to put your mind at ease. It could be many things! Often, pain in one area of the body gets felt in another area ("referred" pain). It could be pleurisy, it could be an infection of the lining of the heart (pericarditis), it could be costochondritis (inflammation of the joints in the ribcage), pneumonia, a broken rib, who knows.
After my husband had his heart attack, he had chest pains for weeks afterwards. He was sent home from the hospital with a bottle of nitroglycerin and told to take them if he had chest pain. Well, he popped them like candy and the chest pains didn't get better. We asked the cardiologist, and he told us that there were 3 cracked ribs from CPR.
You need to see a doctor. RA can cause swelling of heart, lungs etc. You may need to end up with prednisone etc. to help with the breathing and swelling of those areas.
There are also a ton of other things it could be. One thing is for sure, get to a doctor right away so it doesn't get worse.
i called my family dr and they cant see me until tomorrow, should i call my rheumy? and if it gets any worse go to er? I'm surprised your GP wouldn't see you - usually if it sounds like 'chest pains', they want you to come right away. I'd call the rheum, and if they can't help, you might consider Urgent Care (but the ER if it is really bad). Take care and keep us posted.heart type chest pain does not present itself the same in women as men. iYou need to go to the ER.
I had that feeling, just an odd ache and not feeling well. I went to the ER and ended up with some heart problems and was in the hospital for awhile......IT took them a time before they could stabalize me in the ER...it took over 4 nitroglycerin and some other med to stabalize me, ...oh what a headache they give you.
I have had more heart trouble ever since I moved to Michigan...the breakup was so stressful that it caused major health problems with me and I wasn't that well to begin with.THis disease added with stress can be deadly.
GEt to the ER..do not mess with this.
jode
hey, how are you? Did you go to the er? When I just read that, it sounded like pericarditis. Which is inflammation of the wall of your heart. I have had a couple of times. I hope you are ok. Let us know A.S.A.P!!!
Just giving this thread a gentle bump as I am interested to find the outcome.
I'll be interested to hear what he says. I've been having a lot of pain in my chest the last few days myself but I know mine is inflammation in my breast bones. It's not unusual for me at all. It's quite often the first place that acts up during a flare.
The weather has turned off very cold here. We went from 80 degrees last week to 40ties for the high this week.
Hope everything goes well for you today and you get some answers.
Glad they are seeing you. I to am worried and will be waiting to hear how it all turns out. I hope it is nothing serious.Erica?
Checking back on you.....anxious to hear how things went.
Oh good! I Am so glad that you are being checked for this, let us know!
WE are definately worried about this.
jode
my family doctor said that it is pericarditis, told me to take ibuprofin nsaid or something the like and sent me on my way...huh? i was kinda surprised bc all he did was ask me about the pain when it started yada yada listened to my heart &lungs for a long time and then said since i just quit taking the prednisone he thinks its pericarditis inflamation and said it happens with RA a good amount. i was kinda shocked by his blase approach and i have a rheumy appt next week so i called him and left him a message to see if we can bump it up to this week. he hasnt called me back as of 6pm which is usually when they leave the office over there. idk i felt kinda like he rushed through our appt and i guess i will just take some advil and if i feel any worse go to the er. i just felt like he wasnt very concerned but i thought chest pain was a big deal...kind of a bad experience for me bc usually my family dr is very thorough and nice. i am sorry to take so long to reply, i was taking a good nap! i feel better today than yesterday but still that dull achy pain in my chest. If it's not caused by infection, it sounds like your doctor has given you the standard advice. When they listen to the heart sounds, they can tell if the inflammation is causing the heart to malfunction. Sounds like it wasn't. Definitely seek help if it gets worse, or if you feel faint, dizzy or short of breath. Sometimes they have to drain the fluid. My grandmother had pericarditis (she also had RA); it resolved on its own in about 3 weeks.Humm.... well... not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing, Erica.
Huggs is all I got for ya.
thanks guys, i was concerned that my FD was being casual about it. but if thats the norm then i feel better. it sounds bad, haha but he listened to my heart and didnt really saying anything so maybe i just have a mild case??? i will ask my rheumy more details when i go next week. thanks for all your concern and support. i am def feeling better than i did before, no dizziness or shortness of breath so i feel better knowing what to look for!