Coronary artery stents

My husband experienced exactly the same, we were worrying for weeks, visited ER and the cardiologist 2 times, who got already inpatient with us.
He described it like the same kind of pressure, he experienced before getting the stunt.
Everything looked fine though.
Finally our family doctor explained us, that it can be totally normal, this “ stent stretch”.
What a relief after all these weeks of being worried.
And he was right, after about 2 months the pressure disappeared.
2 years after, he still feels wonderful.

Thanks. A few months seems long but I will try to be patient. 🙂

First make sure to let your cardiologist check on you, to be on the safe side.
Good luck 🍀

Thx for the discussion everyone. This Jan. I received 2” LAD stent. I have been having intermittent chest soreness (not really pain, pressure, or s.o.b.) since. This began the night of my stenting. It was my first experience with any chest discomfort at rest. Kind of freaked me out. Cardiology explained that it was probably stent stretching. I had 25 years of ICU experience and, that was new to me. Strange that it is not mentioned more often in the literature. Otherwise, I am symptom free.

Hi, @johnmk -
The only reason I knew about stent pain was because of a post by Carolyn Thomas, https://myheartsisters.org/. I had never heard of it either. As of right now, I am three days free of stent pain (what I called my Lego pain because it felt like I had a Lego lodged in my chest) and am hoping I am done with that. It lasted four and a half weeks.

Thanks so much for your guidance to the heart sisters website. Medicine practitioners seem to walk a balance between oversharing and being secretive.

I am having the same thing. It scared me to death the first few days. My doctor told me not to panic unless it felt exactly like my heart attack. I am now 7 weeks past my heart attack and still have several of these a day. They did leave a 50-70% blockage on my rca and I panic every time I feel one of these. The doctor did put me on Renexa…but I still have them. Any suggestions from anyone?

@alana924 I strongly feel that talk therapy should be offered to every person who experiences a heart attack. Know that stent pain usually goes away, sometimes weeks, sometimes months. Mine is gone now. But feeling panic is not a good way to live and therapy may help with that.

Thanks for responding! I agree with the therapy part. I also think they should warn you about stent stretch…I am sure that is what I am experiencing and I didn’t hear about it until researching yesterday. I am a very strong person…and everyone in my life expects me to be strong….my dad has a long history of heart trouble…27 stents and I have done everything in my life to avoid that. Healthy weight, diet…etc. I didn’t realize we have the genetic high LPa which diet and exercise don’t affect. This heart attack has really thrown me for a loop mentally…but I do feel better today knowing what probably causes my pain. Thanks

@alana924 I agree that we should be warned about stent stretch. I wasn't. You weren't. As a side note, the medications that treat LPa are in the pipeline, soon coming. That's what I am hoping for. I always say, there is no justice in the world because I can do everything right (OK, not my overweight body) and still have an LPa in the sky. Best of luck to you, I hope you find a place where you don't have to be strong all the time.