Originally Posted by
Shimagnolo
Three years ago on New Years day, I drove myself to the ER, and walked in complaining of chest pains.
DAYUM, I got fast service!
They kept me over night, repeating blood tests every four hours, but finding no evidence of myocardial infarction. By noon the next morning, they figured out it was only pericarditis, i.e. inflammation of the tissue that encapsulates the heart, separating it from the lungs. The treatment was simply to start with a 4 x dosage of ibuprofen, then taper off to zero over a week. 20 minutes after the first dose, i was fine.
After a week, it was gone, and I've never had it again.
One of the critical issues, of course, is that any suggestion of heart problems should involve an immediate trip to the ER or to call an ambulance.
I don't want the thread to suggest that people should ignore their chest pains. All too frequently, they do ignore the pain, thinking it might be something else.
There are several TV campaigns that have run over the past few years here that have urged people to not delay getting medical assistance... and that it's better to be safe and have a positive non-MI prognosis, than to be dead.
In the end, I now believe that my incident wasn't an MI, and that in itself is heart-warming, so to speak. But I wouldn't have had it any other way on the day -- it was straight off to hospital.