What the Heart Wants

I have been struggling with moderate to severe chest pain off and on for nearly four years, ever since my heart surgery. The reactions I have had from the medical community have varied. I have been pushed aside, ignored, regarded with suspicion, told I was lying and told I was crazy. I have been fortunate (finally) after all this time to have found a cardiologist who not only listens but agrees that a normal, healthy woman in her early thirties should not be experiencing chest pain and shortness of breath.

For just over a year he and I have been working together to try and find a root cause to the symptoms. My doctor is not always as aggressive as I would be, but at least he hasn't given up on me. Recently we tried a different approach with my medications. The Ranexa I had been taking had ceased to be effective in controlling the pain so we stopped it all together. He gave a prescription for nitroglycerin pills to try out. When my chest pain got really bad I was to take one, under the tongue. After trying it out five times I was to call him and, if it worked, I would get a new prescription for a new heart medication.

Well, within a week I had given the nitro a good trial run so I called the doctor back. I have a new prescription for isosorbide. It's a medication designed to relax and dilate blood vessels so blood can flow more easily. So far it seems to be working. I have a steady low ache instead of a stabbing pain, so that's some improvement. I have the nitro for sudden, strong pain. I'm supposed to keep them with me all the time. I feel like one of those old men in the movies who suddenly collapses and gasps for his pills.

There are still no clues as to the reasons for the pain and my doctor hesitates on running any further tests. I understand why. Everything so far has declared me fit and healthy and he is doesn't want to put me under undo stress for nothing if more tests also reveal no answers. I get it, I do. But my thinking is that where there is pain (and has been for a long while) there has to be a reason. Right?