Angina ....the silent pain that wants to be heard (My Experience of Angina)

Member Name: Ladymagic

Product:	My Experience of Angina
Date:	15/12/08 (52 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Its painful , its interrupts your life and its a darn nuisance.

Disadvantages: I get free GTN sprays and heart tests .............yipppppie!

I have had angina since I was very young , possibly in my teens as the chest pain I get has been around for over 40 years now .

I have a GTN spray to use when I can , unfortunately my angina is the nasty sneaky sort , most people get an attack and thats that , Oh no granny here has to be different and mine comes in waves .

I always liken it to the film 'alien' because at times I've been sure that something will brake out of my chest and look up at me saying ' Ah , its you I've been trying to escape from all these years ' !!!!!!

At first the pain will hit me at level 3-4 ( I use the hospital scale for pain 0 = no pain & 10 = just let me black out to stop it )
and stay like this for 3-4 minutes......then go .
Then back it comes at level 5-7 for around 4-5 minutes, by now I'm grey sweating and looking like 'death warmed up ' .....but it goes again ......bye-bye.

If I'm really unlucky it will then return at level 7-9 and its then when I start to get worried as we are around 25 minutes from the hospital in a fast ambulance , that if it can get to me first as it takes around 25 minutes to get to our village = a 50-60 minute delay in getting help if my heart stops.............oh , yes mine is the very sneaky sort and I have died before now , twice in fact.

If I reach level 10 + then I'm either begging my husband to 'hit me' and knock me out to stop the pain or I'm out cold on the floor with it , which ever way you look at it , its not good news.
So do I panic ............no , I dont , why panic it will only make it worse and there nothing I can do is there ?

I've also a hole in my heart and leaky mitral and aortic valves and this is not helped by the fact my heart beats so slowly at around 40-50= beats a minute ( bradycardia)

I do try and eat well but with my other conditions its hard to at at all at times, as for drinking , well both my son and I cannot drink ( T Total) as it affects us in a big way and we cannot smoke as POTS suffers ( which is what our medical condition is) die because of pneumonia .....caused by smoking as we all know .

yep , angina is just another little annoyance which is sent to let me know I'm still here , still alive and can still feel whats going on.
I live with it and hope that I can get away with as few attacks as possible , fingers crossed none over christmas as it knocks me for six when I get one .............. for my sneaky little friend here likes to set off all my other conditions , so I end up in bed for 3-4 days ............so body listen to me speaking .....please ......No angina over christmas.

Summary: Angina a condition that can effect your whole life ....silently.