Originally Posted by Brambledog

I have had cramping in my heart region too, like my heart muscle itself was completely in spasm for about fifteen minutes. I honestly thought I was having a heart attack, it was very painful and very scary. My CRPS is all through the left side of my body, including of course my left arm and chest. Tricky to tell when the ache/pain is 'just' CRPS pain, or when it might be something more sinister.

The GP I saw afterwards was completely blasé about it and treated it like I was just exaggerating. She told me that nobody (including confirmed cardiac patients) should call 999 unless the chest pain has been ongoing for at least 15 minutes. OMG what a crock of rubbish. People can die within 5 minutes. The ambulance guys my husband called for me said that you should always ALWAYS call immediately and not wait. They said they'd far rather come out and see a case where everything turned out to be ok, than attend a DOA who hadn't called in time. I told my pain specialist what the GP had said, and she was horrified. Makes you realise how little GPs can get away with...quite frightening.

My heart rate is pretty low edging towards too low, and my BP is fine. I haven't had bloods done because from the ECGs and BPs everything looks fine, and until it's actually happening I suspect the GP docs don't believe me. The ambulance guy did though, and said after all the tests were ok that it was far more likely to be spasms due to my chronic condition than a random cardiac event. My pain doc also said it was possible but likely to be a random issue rather than something that would become regular. I'm not sure what to believe TBH! It hasn't happened again seriously, just a few times as the sort of thing that made me stop suddenly and catch my breath. She thinks its likely to be my intercostal muscles between my ribs behind my heart, rather than my heart itself. It doesn't feel very reassuring at the time though...

Anyway, enough of my ramble lol, take care both of you, and I hope you get answers and treatment that works.

Bram.