Its difficult to say whether not being quickly diagnosed is problematic as sometimes mild pericarditis cases may improve on their own. Treatment for more-severe cases may include medications and, rarely, surgery. It is true early diagnosis and treatment may help to reduce the risk of long-term complications. Two weeks is not a long time and the condition can improve within 2 weeks.
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In pericarditis, with EKG there are often abnormalities that sometimes can help with the diagnosis. Unfortunately, many normal variants can mimic the changes in pericarditis or the EKG may be normal. An EKG is not a reliable source to diagnose pericarditis.
A chest x-ray may suggest enlargement of heart tissue and can be used to rule out other problems within the chest.
Blood testing can be used to look for specific causes of pericarditis like infection, leukemia, kidney failure, connective tissue diseases or thyroid abnormalities.
It is an echocardiography or ultrasound of the heart that is often used to confirm the diagnosis. The cardiologist looks for the presence of fluid in the pericardial sac, although in many mild cases of acute pericarditis, there is no pericardial fluid seen with echocardiography.
If the underlying cause for pericarditis is viral or bacterial, the proper treatment of the infection can prevent further episodes....A silent heart attack would not cause pericarditis. Anxiety is not a recognized symptom for pericarditis.
The doctor will assess: the quality of pain, what brings it on, what makes it better, and did come on gradually or quickly and what other symptoms may be present. You may have had some feed back from your doctor, and your experience for your own assessment
Thanks for the reply! I appreciate it.
Thank you for taking the time to respond. I wish you well, take care.
My friend has been diagnosed with pericarditis 5 weeks ago. She has a very physical and stressful job, will she be able to do the same job when she is better