My question is how do you figure out what chest pain is with RSD, which is with TOS, and which is with heart problems?

These past two weeks I have been diagnosed with Metabolic Syndrome, IBS, and just got my blood work back that my cholestral is way too high. I see my Dr. Wed and he says we have to decide what to do about these things. I did gain 13 lbs in the past 8 months. I honestly chalked up the start of this to Lyrica.

I have lost 3 of those lbs. and am working on getting rid of the rest. It is in the middle that I have gained it.

Yesterday I started having chest pain and I chalked it up to my insurance company refusing to pay for my Prevacid pill instead of the kind you chew. I have never been able to take anything but Prevacid that worked for my stomach issues.

My Dr. wanted me to go to the hospital tonight but I have the boys, the roads are horrible and we are suppose to get 3 to 4 more inches of snow and I just don't want to go.

It's just so confusing to not know what is causing what here and was wondering if any of you have wondered about the chest pain cause before. I know I have heard a lot of you say you have chest pain.

Thanks for the help.

Ada

Ada,
Sorry you are having all this trouble and winter in Colorado is not where you want to be if you need to get places in a hurry. I am concerned about you. Please don't take any risks and stay home if you think you maybe having a heart attack. In some women there are just no signs at all.
Here's something to think about. My doctor told me, that we can't blame everything on RSD and just ran some new test on me. RSD and the meds have so many ill effects, that it is often hard to tell whats going on. But, the heart...thats a big one! Is there anyone there you can have to come and stay with you for a while? I really am not familar with all the symptoms of a heart attack, but if what you describe to the doctor makes him tell you to go to the hospital... you should go. My brother is an ER doc and people go to the ER's for beds, food, drugs and shelter... So do Not hesitate to go if you need to!!!! You should go if the pain persists and your doc has advised. Keep me posted. Wish I was there to help. Love Di

The only way to possibly "rule out" what it might be is by having tests run. If there is some kind of heart problem then an EKG would show something. I'm sure there are lots of other tests too but I don't know much about that kind of thing. I've only had 2 EKG's a couple of year's ago due to horrific chest and shoulder pain. I had pleurisy and let me tell you....that is NO fun!! LOL Like anything that causes pain is. It put the rsd pain to shame even!

I agree with Di. Don't play around with this. If the doc thinks you should go to the ER, then you need to go. It could be serious, it could be nothing. Better to know than have something horrible happen.

Hugs,

Karen

Hi ADA,

You need a EKG. Chest pains are nothing to full around with. Your Cardiologists should have an ECHO done as well. Roz

I didn't go to the ER. I laid around all day Tuesday and tried to just relax.

I did see my Dr. yesterday. He put me on Pravastatin and in 8 wks. he will see if it has come down and if it hasn't he will put me on a second med. He thinks it will take two to get it down. My cholestral was 348.

After the holidays I will have some more test done. I just donot like the Cardiologist that I have seen. They didn't do Bill any good and I don't feel like they have done anything for me.

My biggest issues are meds. I have so much trouble with them. I actually believe this chest pain goes back to the IBS meds I have been put on.

By the way, I don't wait 8 weeks to see him, it's just that he wants to give it that long to see if it will work.

I feel like with the RSD, TOS, Costo and Esopogeal problems, it's just damn hard to tell what is going on.

Thanks again for the help. Diana, thanks for the call. It perked me up girl.

Ada

Ada, I am so sorry that you are going through all of this right now and really hope that things get better for you soon . You are in my thoughts and prayers.

I agree with what the others have said about doing further tests to try and rule out other possible illnesses. I also get Chest Pains quite a lot, especially when I am in a lot of pain. Sometimes it feels like someone is pressing really hard onto my chest near my ribs and really hurts. Have you checked all of the side effects of your medications? I know sometimes different meds can cause chest pains and shortness of breath. I had this happen when I was prescribed Propranolol so I had to come off it straight away.

I have never had my Cholesteral checked so can't help you on that one unfortunately . I have my blood pressure checked really often and my Doctor says that sometimes it is really high however he believes this is from the RSD and doesn't want to put me on any meds at the moment. I often feel really light-headed and sick so I always know when I need to check my blood pressure.

I hope things get better for you soon and please keep us updated.

If you get more muscle aches and pains - it could be from the cholesterol med. My RSI/TOS pain was way worse when I was taking Lipitor
I stopped taking it an began to feel much better overall.

There are some alternative viewpoints that just because you happen to have high cholesterol numbers - it doesn't necessarily predict that you will have heart problems.

mine has been over 300 since 03 - I took Lipitor for a year {had muscle aches and had memory/cognitive problems too}
just got it tested a few months ago and it is @ 345 - new doc now so they might try to get me to take statins again

but i would rather go for a weight loss & PT program with them- they have their own PT/gym right there.

Anyway I just wanted to put that out there, in case you start to hurt more due to taking statins. Or if your memory/ focus changes.
Talk it over with your doctor if you notice changes.

our vitamin forum has some threads on cholesterol lowering alternatives and Mrsd has good ideas on those too.

cholesterol information thread on Vitamin forum:

Take a look.

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread64327.html

I'd suggest getting a fasting insulin level done. If you have elevated insulin, that means you are insulin resistant.

One treatment for that is metformin. I took this years ago for over 6mos, but had to stop it because side effects.
Many people do tolerate it well, and it will lower cholesterol, and help you lose weight which will then improve your blood pressure. It works really well for some people.

You can learn more by Googling "metabolic syndrome".

You're quick mrsD

I was gonna post the link here for Ada - but got side tracked after reading that thread and went online to buy some of supplements & Vitamins

Ahhh chest pain....I have chest pain almost every day and when I'm in a huge flare I could swear I'm having a heart attack. I too have elevated cholesterol and high blood pressure. I take BP meds and was taking Lipitor and found that it affected my memory and increased my pain. I hate statins.
Iv'e been to the ER a few times over the years and it was not my heart, it was TOS/RSD.
Now when I get the chest pain I take my typical Soma, add a Darvocet and a 400mg Motrin, sometimes a second Darvocet then another Soma. Take a hot shower, stretch out on my ball, apply a Lidocaine patch, hot pack and that usually takes it away, at least for that day. My pain isn't in the chest when I wake up, it hits at about 10:00 am.It's a burning pressure....if I did't know the routine again I would swear it was an MI. I can relate to this.....