Heart cath thread!

[bpesta22]

Post here your heart cath stories. Are you stented? What meds must you take?

I go in for one Tuesday morning. My other tests were normal, except my blood was a bit out of whack (borderline high cholesterol; my bad C is 154, though my good C is 44. I also am very high on homocysteine which supposedly indicates high risk for heart disease. And, my hemoglobin is high-- 17.5, which could be due to the 50+ cigs I smoke per day).

My family has an extremely long / negative history of hd and early death from it, so my doc ordered the cath just to be sure. I had one about 9 years ago and was zero blocked back then (my brother had a heart attack last month, on the day my uncle was buried for his heart attack; my mom got two stents put in just 3 days ago).

So, bets on the outcome?

[bpesta22]

Argh, that should be heart in the title, not hearth. I hope I'm not in a hearth next week. That would suggest the cath didnt go so well:shocked:

[casebro]

I guess I never heard of a heart cath just to look around. No symptoms?

My three angioplasties at 18 month intervals were each done after stress tests with radioactive dye that showed low blood flow to parts of the heart muscles. Stents fixed me right up each time. Seven total. Avoiding wheat has relieved the chronic angina. No angioplasty for three years since. Mitral valve murmur is probably un-related.

I guess with a family history like yours, smoking is a death wish.

[casebro]

There are risks to angioplasties. Clots leading to strokes is one severe frinstance.

[Dr. Trintignant]

I had a heart cath for an ablation procedure to treat Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome.

I had to go in twice. The first time, the procedure went awry, and one of the valve chordae wrapped around the tip of the cath. They had a heck a time removing the catheter and eventually cut the manipulation handle off, and slid another (hollow) catheter up around the first. Once it got to the tangle, the outer cath sort of slid it off, the way you might use your hand to slide a rope wrapped around a broomstick right off the end. This was their last resort option before going in for open-heart, so it's a good thing it worked.

They didn't finish the ablation, and I stayed in the hospital overnight since the cath entrance was opened up a bit more than usual due to the manipulation, and they wanted to make sure it healed properly.

The second time went much more smoothly--no tangles, and the ablation went well. I went home the same day. It's a year later and I haven't had any more tachycardias.

No meds besides some baby aspirin for a little while afterward (a couple weeks, I think?). No stents, since that wasn't the point of the procedure. I healed quickly, but then I was only 30 at the time.

I actually enjoyed the procedure, though I'd have preferred only going in once. The amount of technology they use is impressive. I enjoyed seeing all my vitals on a huge 3x2 array of LCD panels, including a real-time X-ray feed of the cath wiggling around inside my heart. They claimed I shouldn't feel anything, but I could definitely sense the manipulation. Maybe it was pressing against some other organs, or something. Anyway, I was only put to sleep for the actual ablation procedure--everything else I was awake for.

- Dr. Trintignant

[LibraryLady]

Argh, that should be heart in the title, not hearth. I hope I'm not in a hearth next week. That would suggest the cath didnt go so well:shocked:

Fixed that for ya.

[bpesta22]

Dr. T.

I'm guessing ablation means frying some tissue and they did this to get your heart beating "regular". Glad to see it went well.

I'd prefer not to see wires in my heart in real time, so that freaks me out a bit. The gaping hole in the femural artery is also bothersome.

I noticed if you act real scared they give you more valium!

[Dr. Trintignant]

Dr. T.

I'm guessing ablation means frying some tissue and they did this to get your heart beating "regular". Glad to see it went well.

I'd prefer not to see wires in my heart in real time, so that freaks me out a bit. The gaping hole in the femural artery is also bothersome.

I noticed if you act real scared they give you more valium!

Yes, there is a lattice of nerves in the heart which sequence the contraction of the heart chambers, but WPW syndrome means there is an extra pathway which can cause tachycardia in some cases. Burn it away and all is good.

Somehow I let my intellectual curiosity take over in these instances. Works well since I am genuinely curious and it distracts me from the small possibility of dying. I think the doc started giving me sleeping meds when I was distracting him by asking too many questions :).

The only really annoying bit was lying on my back for 12+ hours afterward. I slept a lot.

Anyhow, good luck with your procedure! It's really not too bad; my grandfather had one at 78 (stent insertion), and again the most bothersome part for him was laying on his back. So, relax, and maybe focus on all the beeping and booping in the cath lab instead of worrying about a tube in your femoral :).

- Dr. Trintignant

[cwalner]

I guess I never heard of a heart cath just to look around. No symptoms?


Yes and no, I have had several 'exploratory' heart cath procedures These were not due to lack of symptons, but were mostly done as preperation for open heart surgery to get a better look around before cutting the chest completely open.

I was born with 2 congenital heart defects that caused the need for the surguries. The first was at 5 months preceding OHS for coarcation of the Aorta, the second at 5 years precding OHS for a Ventricular septal defect. One was done at 14 years to check the healing from the surgeries just before puberty.

Lastly I had two in the last year (39 yrs old) in preperation for possible reconstructive surgery on my Pulmonary Artery because of a Stenosis that resulted from something done in the initial surgery (38 years prior). I got very lucky on this last one, since the doctor found that the stenosis could be corrected via angioplasty so went ahead and did it while the catheter was already in. So I had to spend 1 extra day in the hospital for the cath procedure, but don't need antoher OHS that would have put me in the hospital and cardiac rehab for over 6 weeks.

I also had an ablation about 3 years ago to correct some atrial fibriliation that also seemed to be from ongoing complications of the congenital defects.

As to the tube in the femoral, that was never an issue for me. The only two I was awake for was when I was 14 and one of the recent ones. I was so loopy from the general anesthesia that everything was just groovy. Also with the local in the leg it does not hurt. I did feel the pressure of the tube sliding in when I was 14, but not in the recent one. Now they apparantly use a wider, short tube to connect the femoral artery to the outside and slide the catheter through that.

[bpesta22]

I guess I never heard of a heart cath just to look around. No symptoms?

My three angioplasties at 18 month intervals were each done after stress tests with radioactive dye that showed low blood flow to parts of the heart muscles. Stents fixed me right up each time. Seven total. Avoiding wheat has relieved the chronic angina. No angioplasty for three years since. Mitral valve murmur is probably un-related.

I guess with a family history like yours, smoking is a death wish.

Sorry, I missed your reply earlier. I did the die thing too. The results were "normal to maybe their might be something there".

Never heard of wheat causing angina issues!

[casebro]

Sorry, I missed your reply earlier. I did the die thing too. The results were "normal to maybe their might be something there".

So "My other tests were normal, " is not quite a complete truth.

Never heard of wheat causing angina issues!

Try Googling 'allergic angina' or 'Kounis syndrome'. I believe allergy activity is the root of CAD. That would explain the inflammation connection. Statins act as anti-inflammatories, the lipids have nothing to do with CAD, except maybe lowing lipids is a result of lower inflammation?

I've just lately realized that bananas are bad fro me too. Seems they have actual histamines in them. Also, tumeric has an anti-mast cell activity, so curried beans seem to help a lot.

[fls]

I did the die thing too.

That seems an unfortunate slip of the tongue, considering the subject matter. ;)

Linda

[bpesta22]

That seems an unfortunate slip of the tongue, considering the subject matter. ;)

Linda

Indeed!

the doc said "it's probably nothing, but it could be a blockage". So, I think semi-normal was an accurate way to characterize the stress test.

The last time I took it- about 9 years ago- he thought he saw a blockage. As it turns out, I was clean, and he concluded it was my chest muscles preventing a clear image.

Me strong like bull.

[Bikewer]

I had one this Spring. Had been dealing with high cholesterol for years, and have taken several different statins. No problems, no symptoms.
Over a weekend, I had some mild chest discomfort on mowing the lawn, and likewise while walking from the Metrolink to our station.
Called my doc, and he said "get your butt in here."
Classic angina symptoms...

Went in Thursday, had the procedure Friday, and went home Saturday. Pretty amazing; I have nice pics of my partially-blocked vessel, the little roto-rooter approaching, and the two stents they applied.
So far, no further symptoms. They've got me on Plavix, and a couple of blood-pressure-heart-relaxer meds. Oh, and asprin.

I bruise easily and bleed like a stuck pig...

[casebro]

More on statins and mast cells: "Thus, statin treatment
of mast cells uncouples Fc RI signalling and thereby offers a novel
therapeutic approach to the treatment of allergy."

From this study: <http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&q=cache:9ZkSNQd5WEAJ:www.biochemsoctrans.org/bst/bs2004/bs2004A319.pdf+statins+%22mast+cells%22&hl=en&gl=us&sig=AFQjCNFEe4R8BBhjeOJw0bzfzx5oDx2duA>

I do read that to mean that Statins actual activity is by the control of allergy effects. The lipids activity of statins is a confounding.

ETA, I have read that arterial plaques have 200 times as many mast cells as healthy artery wall.

[Beerina]

Post here your heart cath stories. Are you stented? What meds must you take?

I go in for one Tuesday morning. My other tests were normal, except my blood was a bit out of whack (borderline high cholesterol; my bad C is 154, though my good C is 44. I also am very high on homocysteine which supposedly indicates high risk for heart disease. And, my hemoglobin is high-- 17.5, which could be due to the 50+ cigs I smoke per day).

If you're a man, cigs almost outweigh all other heart disease factors put together. It's a much bigger threat to heart disease than it is for cancer. If you're overweight, well, good luck.

[bpesta22]

If you're a man, cigs almost outweigh all other heart disease factors put together. It's a much bigger threat to heart disease than it is for cancer. If you're overweight, well, good luck.

I see that. This whole thing will test my world view that most everything is caused by genes (i.e., I'm pretty sure I don't have the crappy genes my brother has, since he started with problems in his 20s and has had multiple stents plus one heart attack since then). In a fair / jesus-guided world, I should be blocked.

But I am not over-weight.

[casebro]

So you smoke 2+ packs a day so you can catch up to your brother? How much did he smoke ?

But yaknow, smoking's link to CAD is probably inflammatory/mast cells too.

[a_unique_person]

Post here your heart cath stories. Are you stented? What meds must you take?

I go in for one Tuesday morning. My other tests were normal, except my blood was a bit out of whack (borderline high cholesterol; my bad C is 154, though my good C is 44. I also am very high on homocysteine which supposedly indicates high risk for heart disease. And, my hemoglobin is high-- 17.5, which could be due to the 50+ cigs I smoke per day).

My family has an extremely long / negative history of hd and early death from it, so my doc ordered the cath just to be sure. I had one about 9 years ago and was zero blocked back then (my brother had a heart attack last month, on the day my uncle was buried for his heart attack; my mom got two stents put in just 3 days ago).

So, bets on the outcome?

Not trying to tell you something you don't already know, and docs have already told you, but you should cut down on the cigs, or give them up. 50 is a lot.