Chest/Back Pain Concerns

[dreamwarrior13]

Hey guys, so something's come up and I'm a little (read: growing steadily MORE) concerned. For the past couple of days I've had this mild-moderate pressure in my chest and pain in my upper back and it seems awfully familiar when I remember how I felt when I first got diagnosed as having an aneurysm/leaky valve/etc. I'm kind of hoping it's just stress and/or sitting wrong at the computer too long, but last time I said that it didn't work out that way and I'm getting a bit, well, nervous. And the thing is it does seem to feel worse when I lie down (like, when I change positions, not just lying down the whole time). It's not constant yet, but I feel like it might be worse today than it was yesterday.

Once or twice before this in the past couple of weeks I felt a little pain if I laid down too fast (like if I flopped down dramatically on the bed or something) but I figured I was just tired. The only other thing I can think of is about two weeks ago I went on some rides at a local fair and while I tried to only get on very mild ones like the swings and Ferris wheel, there was one I went on that went much faster than I realized (no major drops or going upside down or anything, it just goes in a circle) and during it I started to feel a bit dizzy but once I got off I was fine... until that night, when for the first time in a very long time I felt the same sort of chest pressure/back pain I feel right now. That time though it only lasted for awhile that night and when I woke up the next morning it was gone.

I'm going to see my cardiologist the day after tomorrow anyway, so I'll obviously talk to him about this then, but in the meantime any advice/comfort would be majorly appreciated. My worst nightmare is that I'll need surgery again, and while I know that ultimately that is something other people have gotten through and that I can too, I really, really, REALLY don't want to and the thought of doing the whole operation-and-recovery thing all over again scares me quite a bit.

(For those who don't know me the short story is: I had AVR surgery January before last for a leaky valve and major aneurysm and had my valve replaced with an On-X mechanical valve. I had a relatively smooth recovery with no serious problems, just relatively minor things that either got fixed or turned out to be nothing. I haven't had any issues with pain to speak of since I got off my post-op pain meds way back in January/February 2015.)

 

[Nocturne]

Woah. This is weird. I was diagnosed with mild AVS about two weeks ago, and I have been having the SAME symptoms you say you had when you were first diagnosed -- mild-moderate chest pressure, upper back pain, even an ache in my left arm. Dizziness when standing up from laying down. I'm thinking this is just stress (very stressed out over what the results of my calcium score test will be), but its interesting to hear someone else had the same issues.

About a year ago, I was having some heart pounding when I lay down to bed, but it would fade after a minute or two. That's why I got a GP doc in fact. He said it was probably nothing but I lost 55 pounds due to another issue and the heart pounding went away. So it's weird that I would be having chest pains (more like an ache really) and the rest of this stuff RIGHT after a stenosis diagnosis. All in my mind?

 

[dreamwarrior13]

Well, it could be stress, although when you have that particular set of symptoms it's always good to get things checked out, just in case.

For what it's worth, when I saw my cardiologist on Thursday my EKG, blood pressure and pulse all looked very healthy, but because such symptoms (especially chest and back pain combined) CAN indicate very serious problems for heart patients in particular, we scheduled an echocardiogram to make sure my valve and aorta are still functioning properly.

My echocardiogram was this morning, and I just got the call from my doctor -- everything looked good, no signs of trouble whatsoever. And since I have not experienced the pain again since last week, it probably was just high stress, lack of sleep (I've been trying to beat the nightowl habit but it's tough), and possibly too many hours spent typing away at a computer while sitting with less than ideal posture. Whatever the cause, I was so relieved nothing serious showed up that I started crying on the phone. XD

As for your heart pounding when you lay down, is it possible you were overly tired or stressed (or both)? I've noticed that if I've been pushing myself too hard I have a higher occurrence of irregular beats and/or an elevated/intense pulse -- but only for a few seconds or minutes -- especially when changing positions (and extra-especially when I lay down to sleep at night, because by then I'm exhausted).

 

[honeybunny]

Glad to hear everything checked out.

 

[dreamwarrior13]

Thank you!