pain in left shoulder blade and left arm?

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denobobeno

I had an experience this morning that I've never had before.. (I have called my Cardiologist)
I had some sudden, intense stabbing pain in between my shoulder blades predominately my left shoulder blade. It then traveled down my left arm and then began hurting in my chest. It then went into my right arm and right shoulder blade. It lasted about 5 minutes or so..it seemed like 30 minutes.
Have any of you guys ever heard of this or experienced it?
It was really intense pain..I wonder if I didn't just pinch a nerve or something. My Cardiologist was at the hospital and his Nurse is going to have him call me.
I had AVR in july by the way..
Deana
 
Oh, Deana, I am so sorry to read this. Have no great advice but to tell you to call the cardio immediately or even to just go to the ER. Please don't wait too long for a return call and let us know how you are.
 
Deana, thinking of you! Keep us posted after you speak with your cardio.
 
Thanks for your concern..
I still haven't heard from my Card.
I looked up the websites you recommended. It got my attention. It's hard to want to check up on this since now it's gone. I have to admit that I was praying hard when it happened that the pain would go away and that it would be okay. It's hard to not worry that your overreacting and that it's not a big deal.
I guess I'll just let you know what my Cardiologist says and maybe I'll get some relief of mind (I'm really curious what he has to say)
What is the best test to do? I was a little confused what test you should have run. TTE or echo or heart cath.
Thanks a million!! If it wasn't for all of you I'd probably have completely blown this off!
Deana
 
I think your probably experiencing a nerve firing. I can remember that pain as though it were yesterday, but it wasn't this far out from surgery. When in doubt, get checked out.
 
I forgot to answer your questions Rachel.
Noone has ever mentioned an aortic anuerysm or dissection.
My Card. nurse called me to let me know what my INR was yesterday and then she remembered that I had called earlier about this, but, she hadn't had time to let my Doctor know...she called me right back and told me he said it was probably not anything to worry about and let them know if it happens again.
I really don't want to mess with tests...expensive and time consuming..I am hoping Ross is right.. that is what I'd like it to be.
I think right now I'll see what happens and wait. It could have been a fluke I guess. I went ahead and told my husband in case it happened again. I feel good other than that and so maybe it wasn't anything.
Thanks for your prayers and concern!! :)
Deana
 
Rachel and others,
Dumb question...but, do you automatically have an ascending aorta when you have a Bicuspid vavle? They didn't run any additional test other than the echo. I do remember my Surgeon saying I had a big ole aortic valve and it took a really large artificial valve to fit into the spot correctly (since I'm a shorty and don't weigh very much). I don't know if that has anything to do with it..?
I got my St Jude Medical card and wrote down what's on it,maybe it has the answer somewhere in all the numbers and letters:
83318069 (serial no.)
23AGFN-756 (MODEL NO.)
Rachel and others thank you for your considerate questions and information.:p
Karlynn, precious baby. I'm jealous! If you ever need a baby sitter I"m only a plane ride away! :D
Phyllis, thankyou for the links and concern. I feel so blessed to have all of you to talk to. :)
 
Deana, unfortunately, I'm also a plane ride away from our first grandchild.:( But thank you, we think she's precious too!

Does your card also have a valve size on it. Mine does, but it's a 15 year-old card, so I don't know if the cards are formated the same.

Are you still experiencing the pain?
 
There are many things that can cause the type of pain you've experienced. While it's a possibility to consider, an aneurysm is not the most likely cause.

There is a larger likelihood of it being of muscular origin, or the result of a temporarily pinched nerve. I would look more to whether you were peeling a large number of potatoes, folding heavy clothes, washed an encrusted broiling pan, or had lifted a large bag of birdseed on the day before.

There is a good point to double-checking with your cardiologist for unassigned chest, back and shoulder pain (and you should, as you've already contacted him to do), but the fact that you've had heart surgery doesn't mean that each new incident in life is going to be related to your heart. Those types of pain are far more often incidental to other things than an aneurysm.

Nor does having a BAV mean that you will have an aortic aneurysm of any sort. Even among the subset of BAVs who require AVR, the majority do not experience an aortic aneurysm requiring an operation in their lifetime. One way to express the nature of that risk might be: patients who have BAV should be more thoroughly and frequently monitored for aneurysms, and any signs of dilation should be monitored and treated more aggressively than a non-BAV patient.

My point is that it doesn't seem to have been established that you have any measurements or signs that indicate that an aneurysm or even dilation exists. As such, unless your echo or other results do show some indication (a CAT scan or MRA would be nice), I wouldn't become overly concerned at this point. Pursue it, so you can feel confident, but don't anticipate it.

If your valve was a big one (did you happen to get a card or something from the valve company that mentioned the size?), it indicates that the surrounding anatomy is likely to be similarly upsized, as a normal part of human variation. Thus, your aorta may be slightly larger than expected for your size without being aneurystic. Valves don't grow and enlarge with an aortic root aneurysm, so your large valve size doesn't indicate an aneurysm. Valves instead distort in shape (and thus leak) from the enlargement around them, if there is an aneurysm. However, they much more often leak for other reasons, such as mismatched cusps or calcifications.

We're all very sensitive to our hearts, particularly after surgery. Me, too. And it's good to be aware and even vigilant, depending on our individual circumstances. But it's also good to try to apply some of the perspectives that we had before our hearts came knocking at our consciousness to our current aches, pains, and discomforts.

Best wishes,
 

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