Angina/Cardiomyopathy

[Sconnie]

Hello, I would hope someone could give me some insight...

I am a 35 year old female from the UK,  used to smoke (socially only), vegetarian (diet contains a lot of cheese) cholesterol 5.4.  Mother 69 suspected angina, father, diabetic...His mother died at 37 of a heart attack....leaky valve.
Back in August I gave birth to my first child.  2 days after birth I went into heart failure with an ejection fraction of 35%, severe biventricular failure, and moderate mitral regurgitation as a result of the pregnancy... peripartum cardiomyopathy.  I was told 50% of women recover and could take up to 2 years.  Upon my 6 week followup, an echo showed my EF back to normal along with everything else, apart from mild diastolic dysfunction, and mild mitral regurgitation. So I felt very lucky.  However I have been experiencing what I feel is Angina, central chest pressure and left arm heaviness, burning, squeezing, its sometimes lasts for hours each day, I have been to ER twice now, all they do is check for MI, which has come back negative, one ECG a doctor said had changes, another doctor said it didnt. The arm pain in deliberating, annoying and scary, it burns on the inside of my arm, and sometimes feels like someone is grabbing my elbow.  But bizarrly I have the arm pain independent of the chest pain, its either one or the other.  I dont seem to get them on exertion, mainly at rest and can last for hours.  My cardiologist say this is all atypical, I am currently waiting on a stress test, but have been waiting 7 weeks now and just getting worried.  I have been passed off as anxiety, or musclar chest wall pain, but the pain cannot be created when my chest is pressed and it doesnt feel tender.  I get the pain when I dont even think i am anxious, anxiety then comes afterwards.  Im aware i am very young to have Coronary Artery disease, and the cardiologist seems to think my EF wouldnt have healed so quickly if my arteries were blocked, is the true?  I know if I had suffered a heart attack, it wouldnt have healed as the heart is then scared, but my heart was not damaged by the acute heart failure I suffered so it was able to repair.  They think the heart failure in pregnancy is caused by an autoimmune response when the immune system returns to normal during the last month, they think its an inflamatory process and I am worried its affected my arteries causing them to constrict or narrow. I previously had a positive ANA test with antibodies before pregnancy showing nucleolar pattern for scleroderma, which I believe affects the heart.  

I just get either the arm pain or chest pain daily and its becoming stressful as its relentless, and while waiting for tests I am scared of having an MI.

Thanks in advance for any advice

[grendslori]

The first thing that hit me reading your post is that you said that the arm pain was 'burning'. Burning pain is usually caused by nerve issues, not heart issues. Have you considered seeing a nuerologist? Also chest pain that lasts for hours can happen inreference to the heart, but when that happens, there is significant damage done to the heart and you would probably be in heart failure by now so the pain you are having is probably not heart related. We had a friend who went through this a few years ago; a couple of days of chest pain without seeing a doctor and he ended up in severe heart failure as a result. Your mother died very early and probably died from a fatal arrhythmia as opposed to an actual heart attack; when people die suddenly from any kind of heart issue, it's usually thought of them having a heart attack, not an arrhythmia problem. True heart attacks are xcaused by a lack of bloodflow through blocked coronary arteries; a woman's hormones protect her from coronary artery disease during her childbearing years or obvious reasons. Arrhythmias are a different story and some can be fatal, as in, one minute you're here, then next you are gone. Keep us posted on ho0w your doctor's appointment goes, okay?  Take care  

[jrbon]

My advise is to be checked for anemia, calcium, Vitamin B1, B12 and Vitamin D.

Been vegetarian and had gone through the stress of pregnancy and had some autoimmune issues my guess will go for a lack of nutrients, mainly Vitamin D which is a potent modulator of immune system.

You should aim at list at  60ngr of 25-hydroxyvitamin D in serum.

Jesus