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Just Had a Stent Put In. What Should I expect?

5K views 51 replies 19 participants last post by  cujet 
#1 ·
I know there are a lot of members who have had stents put in and others who are medical professionals.

I go for morning walks at 5 AM. Over the past couple of months, I started experiencing an ache down the center of my chest that would radiate down my arms. As soon as I got home and sat down, the ache went away. It got so bad a couple of weeks ago that I went to my doctor.

My doc did an EKG, which showed no heart problems or past heart attacks. He sent me to a cardiologist for a stress test. The cardiologist listened to my story and told me I had a blockage. He said a stress test might bring on a heart attack, so he recommended a heart catheterization.

I was skeptical because I eat well and have reasonably good cholesterol counts. My HDL has been 43 to 45 for many years. I'm also a very active hiker.

I was awake during the catheterization. He used consious sedation, which didn't put me out. They found a 99% blockage and a 50% blockage. He showed me the blockages on the screen. The used a stent on the 99% blockage. Their rule is 70% or more before they use a stent.

The cardiologist put me on:

Metoprolol as a beta-blocker

Brilinta as a blood thinner

Rosuvastatin as a statin drug to help with the 50% blockage.

I'm most concerned about the Rosuvastatin because that is supposed to be Crestor, which has a reputation for having very harmful side effects. My sister was on Crestor and she said it did considerable muscle damage.

With the 99% blockage, the cardiologist said a heart attack was imminent.

I feel like I dodged a bullet.

What advice can anyone add to this?
 
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#2 ·
Sorry to hear about it. It can be upsetting to find a medical condition like you have even when you do all the right things like eating and exercising. At least you are getting professional medical care and and becoming informed about it. Your concern about the prescription drugs you must take is a valid one.

Have no advice but wish you well.
 
#3 ·
I hate to bring it up, but from what I've read stents have not been found to prevent heart attacks. The last study that looked into this called the ORBITA study came out a few years ago. Other similar studies can be found doing an internet search You can find articles and TV debates between doctors on the topic of why are stents continued to be used to prevent heart attacks when no study has found stents to prevent a cardiac event.

Some information on the ORBITA study can be read here ~

https://drmalcolmkendrick.org/2017/11/12/what-causes-cvd-part-xl1-part-forty-one/

Good luck with your other treatments. I hope they help improve your health.
 
#5 ·
I work with a guy, amazing he is still with us. He had a bypass a year before I did, his chest incision never healed properly (mine still hurts if I over do things) and subsequently needed stents put in. He was out for 7 months.

Overall, even with a hard recovery the bypass was the right and only move to save me. I had a nuke stress test in May, saw my heart doctor last week. I am good to go.

I was out for 3 months and really should have never went back to work. Stress is very unhealthy and I'll be out for good next April.
 
#4 ·
My brother had 2 done at age 42, he's now 61 and probably rides his road bike at least 50 miles a week. His, they went in through the groin, a guy I work with had one done on the back of his hand. My brother was back to work in a week, the other guy the same thing.

My brother is off the blood thinners for a while, takes only something for acid reflux. I had an emergency bypass done in 2016, the only things I take are 2 BP medications and Lipitor and watch what I eat.
 
#6 ·
Hi HD,
Glad they found the blockages in time.

I had a heart attack 3-4 years back, two stents put in. Life-savers! The biggest change was taking the Metoprolol, 50 mg. I couldn't sweep my deck off without getting winded. Doc reduced it to 25, that helped, and finally at about the 2-yr. mark down to 12.5 mg. I adapted to this new regime and you will too.

One thing I learned during cardio therapy... there are factors beyond our control (hereditary issues) that can cause this sort of thing; eating well, working out, etc. are all good but no guarantee.

RE: stents not preventing heart attacks, I believe that misses the mark. My stents, and yours, were inserted to allow blood flow. Without my stents I'd be dead, so I'm a big fan.
 
#11 ·
6 yrs. ago I had a 100% blockage of the widow maker. Flat lined in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. Wife was told that there was no time for prep. they would just do it. Everything was a non-event as far as I was concerned, except the bikini trim(DRY).

Outside of being tired and having very little energy it is a full recovery. Watch for problems caused by the meds. such as balance, tired, upset stomach.

Glad to hear that you are doing well, eat healthy and exercise. They tell me that these are the answer and have appeared to work for me.
 
#12 ·
Outside of being tired and having very little energy it is a full recovery. Watch for problems caused by the meds. such as balance, tired, upset stomach.
I'm already seeing those symptoms and I'm only a couple of days into this. But they are better than the alternative if I had not taken care of it. Thus far there is no heart damage.
 
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#26 ·
Widow maker here too, folded up like a house of cards in the ER. Still quite impressed that I survived. Guy I know, 20 days later, same ER, same heart doctor on, he takes the ambulance ride, codes 2x there, codes again at the ER and he doesn't make it. Talked to my heart doctor (my doctor in the ER) and he said the guy's heart was too badly damaged. Mine has almost no damage.

I exercise, watch what I eat for the most part. I'm ok with what I take for medicine, I may be a little tired now and then at worst.
 
#14 ·
Be careful of that statin.

If you were my husband I would have you on 800 mg mixed vitamin E every day.
 
#15 ·
I am a retired Internist. I had a heart attack at age 50; (total occlusion of Left Anterior Descending Coronary artery in 1986.-33 years ago). I only survived because I had the occlusion in the hospital (immediately after a treadmill stress test). Fortunately I was taken immediately to the Cath lab, and the only cardiologist doing angioplasties in the area, was there in about 30 minutes. I still had extensive damage, and had a triple bypass a couple of years later.

Fast forward. I have been on Statins every since. I have always been in good shape, I have hereditary coronary artery disease. My father had his first heart attack at age 50 also. I have followed a very strict diet.

I have had 18 angioplasties and have at least a dozen stents. I had my second bypass in 2010 (21 years after the first one). I was placed on Plavix and told never to stop it. I had to have a back procedure, and my local cardiologist told me to go off the Plavix--and I could stay off, since it had been 3 years since the bypass. I stenosed the majority of the second bypass about 2 weeks later! About 3 years ago, I was on oxygen constantly, my ejection fraction (basically a measure of heat output was in the low 20's--very low). I could only walk a few feet, and felt that I probably was gong to die shortly. My cardiologist who said he could do nothing for me, suggested a facility in Calif. near where I had practiced and near where my children live. I saw this cardiologist, and he did a series of 4 more stents. Since I have had a sequential pacemaker/defibrilator. My ejection fraction is back up in the higher 30's. I have a much better exercises tolerance. Although I still have some angina, I can do almost anything I want. I have been up to 5,000 feet elevation, and still had a normal P O2. I have not required oxygen in the last several years.

I am alive today, because of angioplasties, Stents and bypasses, plus medication. Oh yes, I am still on Plavix--and will not stop it--even though I had to have double hernia surgery last year. I am 83 years old now and very active for my age. We just got back from a month on the Tennessee River in a small boat.

There are a number of alternate therapies, including from some who profess to be better than main stream medicine. I am skeptical. Check with your cardiologist and also report any symptoms of medication to him or her.

I would say indeed you dodged a bullet and should be very thankful to that cardiologist. You need to continue to follow up indefinitely.
 
#16 ·
A few years back, I had a near fatal stroke. Diagnostics revealed 97% blockage in a neck artery, doctors surmised a little piece of that blockage sheared off & caused the stroke.

They installed a stint & I never had any problems with it, after a little adjustment of the applicable medication.

The after-effects of the stroke were what was real nasty. Took almost a year of all sorts of stringent physical therapy to learn how to decently walk, talk & swallow again. To this day still suffer from almost debilitating stroke related fatigue .
 
#17 ·
Crestor is a statin drug. I am allergic to all statin drugs. So, I take a Epi pen type shot every two weeks with a liquid medicine that controls cholestrol. It works great. I have two stints in after having a heart attack. Ok now, but on BP meds and the Preluent pen shots. If you take Crestor and have pain in your joints making it hard to walk or lift things, tell your doctor and ask for alternatives to statins. Preluent is expensive but Medicare and insurance cover it.
 
#19 ·
The Crestor is the one drug I'm most concerned about. It has a reputation for some serious pain and side effects, such as damage to muscle tissue. My sister was on it and she claimed to get extensive muscle damage that took over a year to recover from.

The statin is used to combat the 50% blockage. If I remember right, they said it's soft cholesterol buildup, not a hard plaque. Statins are the only things that work for these types of blockages.

The only significant thing I've noticed is a drop in blood pressure. I'm testing it again today, but I think the Crestor is doing that. My BP is usually perfect at 120/70. After taking the Crestor yesterday, it dropped to 95/65. At one point it read 90/60. I didn't get light-headed, but I know 90/60 is the danger point when hypotension (low blood pressure) sets in.

I'm posting all this mainly to help someone else who might be having similar symptoms. Don't ignore odd pains in the chest or arms or shortness of breath when you are walking or lifting. I only had an ache that I wouldn't even call pain, but it drained all my energy when it occurred. As soon as I'd sit down, it was gone. It was the type of ache you get with a flu bug. It's easy to ignore these things when you've been very healthy all your life.

One of my buddies in Chicago had the same thing happen. He said he didn't experience any pain, but got winded easily and couldn't keep up with his wife when walking. When they did the heart catheterization on him, they found two blockages and a bad heart valve. Because of the heart valve, he opted to do the bypass surgery. He said the recovery was the worst week in the life.

I've never felt fragile in my entire life, and up until now, I've avoided all longterm medications. Those days appear to be over. It looks like I'm officially getting old.
 
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#23 ·
I had terrible side effects from antidepressants and eventually almost died from one reaction. So no more SSRI's for me.

Some of my side effects:
low blood pressure
Loss of appetite (severe)
Blacking out when standing up
Eventually passed out at work, went home, laid down woke up COVERED in hives for weeks.

Be careful when taking anything. This year I had to deal with medication overuse (rebound) headaches because my friendly little headache pills were causing plenty of headaches on their own.

My Dad, his sister, and my mother all had/have serious heart trouble. Killed my mother. The drugs I take can mess with my heart so that is just ****ed up. But I would rather not murder anyone so there's that. But the lithium and antipsychotic have been linked to various heart difficulties.

I wish all side effects were like the bigger boobs.
 
#25 ·
I went for a 5 AM walk this morning. No aches in my chest or arms, so it looks like the procedure worked.

Zeke, I will check out the CoQ10. That may be good advice to prevent the nasty side effects from the statin. Thanks.
 
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#27 ·
You should have zero chest pain, if so get medical attention ASAP. I take CoQ10 too. Ask your doctor if you qualify for a cardiac rehab program, it was 36 sessions and it helped me a lot.

We had a guy start work with us about 12 years ago, a heavy smoker, bright red face from his BP. He wasn't feeling good at work, they call an ambulance and he winds up with a few stents and is back in a couple of weeks. Not long after, he's smoking again. About 2 years ago, another HA, more stents and he's still red in the face and smokes.
 
#30 ·
I actually feel lucky because a lot of you had much more serious problems than me. I acted on the warning signs, even though I was skeptical, and escaped without any damage to the heart. But I was probably only a couple of days away from an appointment with the pearly gates.
 
#36 ·
I worked with a guy a couple of years prior to my HA, he was 61, worked as an EMT for a local fire department as a volunteer. Smart guy, or should have been. He worked in another facility from me, but he's having chest pains at work, leaves early and has to talk coworkers out of dialing 911.

He goes home, waits for his wife to get home.. she of course freaks, starts calling 911. He stops her, they compromise on seeing the family doctor in the morning and he wakes up dead. This man is what got me up and going to the ER. I was literally minutes away from death. From the time I walked into the ER to coding was less than 2 minutes, this is why my heart was not badly damaged.
 
#31 ·
I worked for Abbott Vascular, making stents both cardiac and carotid arteries.
for the heart there are 3 types made that are used . one is a bare metal stent ,used for crushed or damaged arteries ,one is drug coated to prevent renewed growth through the stent that was the original cause for the problem, and the third is the bioabsorbable stent designed to dissolve through time.
Doctors are suppose to keep up with the procedures and advancements in the field but it doesn't always happen. Done wrong the designed result is missed.
There were countless testimonies of success and as a matter of fact my good friend i care for has several stents that have extended her life .
 
#33 ·
I am not a doctor and don't dispense medical advice but thought I'd share my Father-in-law's experience here since he was in a similar situation.
7 years ago he had one of those widow maker blockages. He had to be brought back with the electric paddles in his living room and in the helicopter on the way to the hospital. He had stents put in but I don't know the details on that.
Afterwards, he was prescribed a bunch of meds which he balked at since they are health nuts and had been for years. Interesting that he had a heart attack despite their strict diet and active lifestyle but apparently it runs in their family.
Anyway, he didn't like the idea of the blood thinners and other meds so he consulted a kind of woo-woo doctor out in New Mexico. Maybe it was Arizona. He and his wife went out there and stayed at the Doc's ranch for an entire month. At a cost of around $30,000.
He believed what she told him and quit all the meds. He made a few minor changes to his diet, which was already pretty healthy. Quit smoking (but he started again after a year). The only things he takes are some stuff they learned to make that they call Power Tonic and twice daily doses of Cayenne Pepper (half teaspoon of fairly fresh, high scoville unit stuff washed down with water). The Power Tonic is made from Persimmon vinegar, garlic and cayenne.
I was very concerned about him not following doctors orders and going on such a different naturopath regimen. Apparently, I was wrong because after a short time doing this his real doc said his arteries are clean as can be and told him to keep doing whatever he was doing.
Like I mentioned, they are extremely active. They have 40 acres and are constantly building new stuff like a new barn with living quarters above, building incredible stone walls, patios and other stuff.
I wish he would quit smoking but he is convinced that since he rolls his own with supposedly chemical free American Spirit tobacco, he is ok. He believes it's the chemicals in cigarettes that cause the health issues. I kinda think that tar build up of any kind in your lungs can't be good. But, what do I know? He seems to be doing great!

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 
#34 ·
In the recovery room after back surgery my husband had a heart attack. He was taken in for tests and had a stent put in. 3 months later had a pacemaker put in He was 65 at the time and now is 82. He has a great heart Dr. At the present time he just goes in for checkups every 6 months for all tests needed and has his pacemaker changed about every 11 to 12 months.. When he goes in every 6 months they also check his pacemaker and know when it needs changing. He has never had a problem since.
 
#38 ·
They put stints in around my heart a few years ago. I had problems breathing after they sent me home and I went to the ER three times where they kept me overnight for observation. The whole medical team came in and they told me that they didn't know what was wrong but it wasn't from anything that they had done. Then the attacks got worse and heat would flood up through my body starting at my feet. I would have to lean way back on the couch and gasp for air. My G.P. said that it was a reaction to Simvastatin and that another guy had just had the same problem. They changed my statin to Rosuvastatin and the attacks went away immediately. Good to know the side effects and if there are any recalls for medicines these days.
 
#39 ·
They changed my statin to Rosuvastatin and the attacks went away immediately. Good to know the side effects and if there are any recalls for medicines these days.
Statins can be very nasty drugs.

They have me on Rosuvastatin. The only side effect I've noticed related to that is a drop in blood pressure when I take it. I check my blood pressure regularly and it drops about 15 minutes after taking Rosuvastatin. I'm not getting light-headed or dizzy, so that may be normal.

Rosuvastatin is Crestor, which does cause serious side effects for some people.
 
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#42 ·
I know Swanson is good and that's what I would take and give my family. They are online.

My husband is doing the denial thing with an issue. I am trying to balance empathy and ass kicking.

I am at a huge risk of heart attack, I have a murmur, never had an EKG, middle aged, overweight, mother dead of a heart attack, heart disease on my Dad's side as well. I need to get back taking my Vitamin E. I do live a pretty active life so that helps.
 
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#46 ·
Oh yeah, I wanted to add that diet and exercise are not a cure-all. People have this very mistaken impression that diet actually makes a significant difference. In reality, about the best one can do is to be at your ideal weight and to avoid the things that worsen the situation, like high blood pressure, smoking or steroids such as prednisone.

Egyptian mummies showed evidence of very typical arterial calcification. Despite a natural diet and plenty of exercise along with a complete lack of modern "triggers" . Arterial calcification is a fact of life and for those of us with heart problems it's good to understand there are NO magic bullets to stop it.

Dr. Malcolm Kendrick has a lengthy blog about what causes heart disease. It's worth the time. He lays out the incredible complexity of the situation, how it's misunderstood and what things worsen the situation.

Possibly of interest NIH study of EDTA treatment for arterial calcium: https://nccih.nih.gov/health/chelation/TACT-questions

And https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3809012/
 
#47 ·
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#50 ·
Another study came out today on heart procedures, finding many are not helpful and can even be harmful. Basically it came to the conclusion that stents and bypass surgery do not prevent heart attacks. That is similar to other study results.

"Big study casts doubt on need for many heart procedures"

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/big-study-casts-doubt-heart-procedures-67070426

excerpt:

"People with severe but stable heart disease from clogged arteries may have less chest pain if they get a procedure to improve blood flow rather than just giving medicines a chance to help, but it won't cut their risk of having a heart attack or dying over the following few years, a big federally funded study found.

The results challenge medical dogma and call into question some of the most common practices in heart care. They are the strongest evidence yet that tens of thousands of costly stent procedures and bypass operations each year are unnecessary or premature for people with stable disease.


That's a different situation than a heart attack, when a procedure is needed right away to restore blood flow.

For non-emergency cases, the study shows "there's no need to rush" into invasive tests and procedures, said New York University's Dr. Judith Hochman.

There might even be harm: To doctors' surprise, study participants who had a procedure were more likely to suffer a heart problem or die over the next year than those treated with medicines alone.

Hochman co-led the study and gave results Saturday at an American Heart Association conference in Philadelphia....
 
#52 ·
Another study came out today on heart procedures, finding many are not helpful and can even be harmful. Basically it came to the conclusion that stents and bypass surgery do not prevent heart attacks.

Once again, rapid reperfusion greatly improves cardiac performance, and therefore quality of life, regardless of whether all cause mortality is improved or not by the procedure.
 
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