Pulmonary Hypertension

@carculmer
I had a heart catheterization done in December. They go thru the right wrist radial artery. You feel zero pain only a slight burning when they first go in. Mine took a full 6 minutes to complete. You are awake and you can watch the monitors. Kind of a neat experience. They give you a slight sedative to calm your nerves but you don’t sleep. I was talking to the doctors and nurses during it. I was scared of this procedure but it’s really a breeze. They do shave the groin area just in case they can’t go thru the wrist. Hope this helps.

Hello Cognac. I had my right heart cath last thursday. I was awake during the procedure and pedaling some bike pedals which had been secured to the end of the table. The catheter was inserted in the jugular vein in my neck. Pressures in the right side of the heart were measured while at rest, during exercise, and during recovery. I've been informed that the test results were normal. So I am back to square one in a quest for an answer to my symptoms. The insertion of the catheter was extremely painful and I felt an intense pain from the top of my shoulder all the way to the tips of my fingers. While the catheter was in place the doctor kept pushing on the area where it was inserted which also caused a great deal of pain. I still have pain in my neck 5 days later. I was told that an Attending cardiologist would do my procedure along with a "Cardiology Fellow". Well, I never saw the Attending. The "Fellow" or student did the procedure. It was an awful experience. i would caution others that are going to undergo an invasive procedure to demand an experienced Attending Physician who has done thousands of them. Teaching hospitals many times do not give you an option. There is a "bully-type" attitude that exists that has no place in medicine. I am still on the quest for an answer and I am looking into "chronic myocarditis" as a possible cause. I hope you are hanging in there and having more good days than bad. Does weather affect you? We have recently had 95-100 degree days with high humidity. I always feel much worse on those days.