Stent Placed After Heart Attack. Have Lightheadedness With Shoulder And Arm Pain. Related?

Posted on Wed, 6 Feb 2013

Question: I am a 49 yr old male. I had a heart attack in 2004 and a stent was placed. In 2/12 they did another XXXXXXX and said two arteries were 23% blocked but I was fine do what ever I want. I have had lightheadedness on and off for about a year now. I had a echo cardio stress test 10/12 and passed. Since about 1/4/13 I have had lightheadness again, I also have very painful left shoulder and arm pain that comes and goes. I do have herniated disc in my lower back, middle back between shoulder blades and minor disc problems in my neck. The arm pain comes when I walk around, no chest pain or shortness of breath. I do 30 minutes on the treadmill and the left arm pain is there along with upper middle back pain. Both the arm pain and back pain go away when I go back to a walk. My question is this why after the exercise does my "Ligh"thead "go away for a couple of hours? I have done the tread mill about 8 or 9 times since 1/4/13 no chest pain or shortness of breath or exhaustion when finished.

Answered by Dr. Anantharamakrishnan (4 hours later)

Hi friend,
Welcome to Health Care Magic

23% block is not significant to cause symptoms.
No intervention is needed unless it is 70% or more.

Your pain obviously is not from the heart, as shown by excellent effort tolerance and normal TMT results on several occasions.
It is from degenerative changes in the spine.

Light headedness may be caused by several reasons – one possibility is reduced blood flow to the brain (brain stem). Exercise increases the blood flow to the organs. The same causes affecting the heart vessels could also affect the brain vessels. A neurological assessment and assistance will be the best option. MRI and MRA (MRI angiography of carotid and vertebral system = neck and brain blood vessels) may be needed to evaluate and arrive at a diagnosis.

Take care
Wishing speedy recovery
God bless
Good luck

Note: For further queries related to coronary artery disease and prevention, click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar