What should I do when this happens

[Guest [Pf...]]

I am not asking for medical advice here, so no need to prefece responses with a statement that the resonder is not a doctor.

 

I am a 45 year old man.  I have a history of high cholesterol and had a stent placed in 2004.  Since then my cholesterol has been good.  And I have passed multiple stress tests, and even had an angiogram in 2010 that showed that my arteries are clear.

 

That angiogram was prompted by having chest pain.  And I have gone to the ER with chest pain on mulitple occassions, only to find out that nothign is wrong with my heart.  On other occassions, I have had chest pain or discomfort that passes.

 

Today while walking I got moderate tightness in my chest.  Nothign terrible.  And I had just eaten and my muscles were very tight.  On one hand, I don't want to overlook somethign serious.  On the other, I have been checked out time and again for this type of thing and been found to be OK.  I expect tha the discomfort itself, as well as my concern is caused by benzo withdrawal.

 

How do I not drive myself crazy, worrying that this time I am overlooking something seriuos? 

 

 

[[en...]]

I have chest pain a lot. I had my heart checked out last month and all was well, no blockages. I wore a heart monitor for 24 hours, that checked out as well. I have stopped worrying about it. I think its a WD symptom. I exercise 30 min a day and walk a mile 6 days a week with no issues.

 

But you need to do what ever puts your mind at ease.

 

endeavor to persevere

[[pa...]]

Pfeff,

 

You seem to me like a very educated guy.  I consider myself the same.  If it were me, I'd just go to my GP and tell him my concern with the hope that we could find some benign way for me to check myself at home without further concern as to whether this was still the ups and downs of recovery or a real concern.  In my case, while the pdoc didnt' believe me in regards to benzo w/d and recovery, my GP did, and he has been supportive - so if that is not a hurdle, that could be an option. 

 

For example, before I jumped, I was having consistent flares of high BP.  I assumed it was benzo-related, but high BP does also run in my family. Still, I was in excellent athletic shape and eat well - so it was likely benzos, but still, I needed to address the concern.  My GP wasn't sure either, so he asked me to purchase a home BP monitor to take my BP throughout this experience.  I had to monitor things several times a day, but I soon had a good baseline and could tell when flares happened that it was related to withdrawal. At this point in recovery, my BP is fairly stable and totally a normal 120/80 or better. 

 

Perhaps there are similar ways or signs to monitor that you can easily walk through at home in a checklist-fashion or potentially a monitor you can "rent" for a few months if you need to monitor things for youself.  If you have a creative doctor or cardiologist you see, perhaps there are easy ways for an educated person to track this concern without running in to the office every time it occurs.

 

In particular, whether you opt for this or not, I'd keep track on a calenar on times/days this occurs. If it seems to be all the time in a certain situation, that may give you or your doctor a helpful hint that it's withdrawal (or not).

 

I continuously remind my doctor of the tinnitus, color changes in vision, and other NON-anxiety related aspects to recovery - I mention that in passing often so that he is reminded of the fact that recovery is a very real phenomenon and that these symptoms are not indicative of anxiety, but of brain recovery and glutamate overexcitability / GABA underaccessibility.

 

:)Parker

[[GH...]]

You might ask the dr about how you can tell if your sx might be cardiac related. Like if you are having cardiac chest pain, your BP and pulse would increase.  i dont know if this happens with the benzo sx that are similar.

 

I am curious about how you got you cholesterol down. As far as i know, a stent is just a mechanical device and will not effect cholesterol.

 

be careful