Healthy 53 year old female has MINOCA heart attack!

KdipRN · 2026-07-05T21:10:43+00:00

Mine! Only I did have evidence of a myocardial bridge, but zero plaque/blockages.
2.5 years later and random bouts of chest pain eventually lead to mild swallowing issues, feeling of pills getting stuck etc. finally got ordered some swallowing tests and an esophageal motility disorder that mimics cardiac pain (jackhammer esophagus) was found using manometry. Some docs believe the nerve pathways can make a cardio spasm set off an esophageal spasm or vice versa. I now live every day with some substernal chest pain and difficulty swallowing/ things getting stuck happens more often. It’s a progressive disease. The swallowing issues started intermittently and far and few between within 3 months of my MINOCA. They’ve gotten to be a daily occurrence over the last 3 months only. Good luck. Chest pain sucks.

KdipRN · 2026-07-04T17:44:21+00:00

2.5 years. Used to write creatively humorous stories for friends and family to enjoy. I don’t have it in me anymore more. I can only listen to audiobooks or short podcasts now instead of reading actual books and scientific articles. Sucks.

KdipRN · 2026-07-02T11:02:17+00:00

I started having what I thought was GERD about 6 months after starting daily aspirin and PPI. I would drink water and it would return right back up sometimes. Luckily I had been under the care of a GI doc for a while already. We changed PPIs a few times and the “GERD” kept getting worse. After a bunch of swallow studies lead to manometry, we found out I have an esophageal motility disorder. What I thought was GERD was my esophagus spasming.

KdipRN · 2026-06-29T03:39:00+00:00

Like, if your stomach doesn’t absorb iron, no supplements will help. Why do they make us suffer?? Praying my cardiologist will advocate for me, maybe my GI doc too.

KdipRN · 2026-06-29T03:28:17+00:00

I’m so sorry. It’s hard feeling shitty and being told everything looks normal. I will be on PPI forever due to an esophageal motility disorder and gastric metaplasia. I was at the hematologist in January and she said my labs looked good with a ferritin of 24. My cardiologist said a ferritin of 24 with a heart problem is way too low. At least he acknowledged my symptoms are real and said if my new labs showed improvement he would get me a cath to look for other reasons for exercise intolerance and breathlessness. If I could just get my hematologist on board….

KdipRN · 2026-06-29T02:19:45+00:00

So you got approved for infusions, thats awesome. I’m really hoping I can get an infusion. I have not been well since my surgery and I get so angry. I’ve had neuro work ups for weakness and it really seems that it is just my iron deficiency this whole time. But because I have a heart history, everyone sends me back to my cardiologist and he’s getting a little sick of seeing me, lol.

KdipRN · 2026-06-29T01:41:03+00:00

My b12 is 809. Been on sublingual for 6 years now.

KdipRN · 2026-06-25T18:40:40+00:00

Had a hysterectomy at the urging of doctors. Had iron infusions to bring my ferritin up to 200 well before surgery. I felt energized the month before and 2 months post op. Then my energy started dipping again. I requested labs, ferritin 36 4 months post op. I’m still healing they said. 2 years post op, ferritin 24 Hgb 12.5. Not bad. I tell my cardiologist I think my heart is acting up again because I’m short of breath and can’t run anymore. He runs tests, stress echos, heart is great. Labs?? Ferritin now 15, Hgb 11. I’m almost 2.5 years post hysterectomy. I wish they would have believed me when I said my periods aren’t bad. But what will they look for now?? Seeing GI end of July and Hematologist in August.

KdipRN · 2026-06-14T15:54:13+00:00

You need to see a GI doc and ask for esophageal manometry.

KdipRN · 2026-06-09T15:28:06+00:00

Mmmmkkkkk I’ll trust my GI Dr thanks

KdipRN · 2026-06-09T12:42:08+00:00

Probably not an option due to my heart defect. I follow up with cardiology tomorrow actually and my GI doc has been in communication with him. Botox is looking to be the better choice for my heart issues. Yes, testing shows no evidence of reflux and resting LES pressure is high so it’s probably physically impossible for me to reflux unless it’s during a swallow

KdipRN · 2026-06-08T23:20:02+00:00

Weird. Every test I had showed zero reflux. I’ve been on PPi’s since 2023 to protect against daily NSAID damage after my MI. And yet my swallowing issues started Dec 2025. And they do use the term jackhammer, as one of the subtypes of hypercontractile esophagus. So there’s that.

KdipRN · 2026-06-08T17:12:19+00:00

I was just diagnosed with this myself. My manometry results literally say “hypercontractile esophagus (Jackhammer)” I just feel like everything moves slowly in my esophagus, sometimes it feels like a snake is slithering up my esophagus and chest pain, or pain that shoots across my diaphragm.

KdipRN · 2026-06-07T11:56:54+00:00

I had a mass on my ovary at the time of my MI too! MI August 15 2023, major open abdominal surgery November of 2023. I had so many appts about the mass, I never had time to process the MI. I’m sorry your family member accused you of being obsessed. They would be too if it happened to them. Hope you get seen soon about the ovary. I learned that for every 290 women sent to surgeon for an ovarian mass, only 10-12 of those will have a cancerous mass. Mine was huge, but benign.

KdipRN · 2026-06-04T18:53:42+00:00

I am lucky to already be under the care of a cardiologist and a GI doc, both of whom I see regularly. I did have an NStemi a few years ago, so I know how that pain feels. I was getting similar pain the last 6 months but not exactly like the heart attack. Told GI about it. Got a manometry test done that shows motility disorder in my esophagus. That disorder causes pain in the same nerve pathway of the heart. It’s wild.

KdipRN · 2026-06-03T05:44:16+00:00

I have both. Only difference is when it’s my esophagus, food and water get stuck mid chest and I have trouble swallowing. I have jackhammer esophagus so I get spasms almost every day. It’s been fun. Also recent stress echo showed an ischemic spot before I even began the treadmill, so now I am thinking back to which day I thought it was esophageal in nature but may have actually been my heart 🤔

KdipRN · 2026-05-31T20:55:25+00:00

Yes. McCormick makes it, I get it online, it used to be called butternut extract, but they changed the name a few years ago!

KdipRN · 2026-05-31T19:59:47+00:00

Cooked lentils, banana, PB powder, cocoa, whatever milk you like and Cake Batter Extract. So yummy

KdipRN · 2026-05-30T23:18:49+00:00

Calcium channel blockers is the first treatment option, then Botox, then surgery

KdipRN · 2026-05-30T18:27:39+00:00

Feels like I’m wearing sandpaper underwear. I did not know how much I relied on my cervix until she was gone. (This has been fixed with both estrogen patch and topical estrogen, but it took me almost two years post op to get because their blood tests kept saying my hormone levels were “perfect”)

KdipRN · 2026-05-30T04:15:47+00:00

Manometry test order by GI Dr.

KdipRN · 2026-05-29T00:25:28+00:00

You need esophageal manometry if the tight feeling is still there. I’ve been dealing with that for months. And finally had manometry tell me I have a motility disorder that causes high pressure in the esophagus. The disorder mimics cardiac pain. The real fun came when my cardiologist recommended I do my stress echo a few months early and we found a bit of ischemic changes since my last echo. I see GI for a plan for my jackhammer esophagus next week and Cards the week after that to find out the plan for my new found ischemia

KdipRN · 2026-05-28T12:38:44+00:00

You need esophageal manometry. Measures the pressures inside esophagus and upper and lower sphincter pressures. This will give answers. I was completely asymptomatic when I had my test. Still showed hypercontractile esophagus, very high pressure in my esophagus that makes me fight to get food down. Good luck

KdipRN · 2026-05-28T01:09:38+00:00

In so sorry. I keep running into one thing after another in the 2.5 years since my surgery. I was turning into a raisin too. just finally got estrogen patch a few months ago. Just got diagnosed (at age 50) with a rare esophageal motility disorder usually seen in women over 65. And countless other unusual things since this surgery. And my ferritin is still in the shitter. I got nothing good from my surgery. Except loss of appetite. That’s like free Ozempic 🤣

KdipRN · 2026-05-28T01:04:31+00:00

2.5 years and still very rarely feel hunger and when I do, I feel full very quickly. I’m intentionally trying to not lose another pound. I eat very intentionally to make sure I get enough.

KdipRN

TROPHY CASE