clogged arteries - Heart Disorders Message Board

rc1975 · 03-20-2004, 11:56 PM

two questions:

1.what are the early symptoms of having ablocked artery?

2. if someone did have a blocked artery when you go on the treadmill for 20 minutes a day would you have pain from it?

thanks

zip2play · 03-22-2004, 06:14 AM

rc,
It depends on where the artery is located and how badly blocked it is.
A severly compromised coronary artery would very likely cause ischemic pain with a hard 20 minutes on a ttreadmill (burning, pressure, radiation to shoulders, left arm, neck, jaw.) If no pain, then it's strong evidence that all is PROBALY aok (but not 100% diagnostic.) Remember though there is a point in the clogging process that is just a day away from enough of a blockage to ache. So one could have lots of plaque but no pain YET.

CobaltBlue · 03-22-2004, 06:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rc1975

two questions:

1.what are the early symptoms of having ablocked artery?

2. if someone did have a blocked artery when you go on the treadmill for 20 minutes a day would you have pain from it?

thanks

1. For me RC, with a 90% blocked LAD artery, I could feel a radiating pain that started in my left shoulder and went down to my the biceps region in my left arm every time I started to jog. The pain would "roll in" after about 10 seconds of jogging. I would then jog for 1 min total, and walk for 1 min. It took about 1 min of walking for the pain to "dissipate and fade away." I did this 6 times in a row in one afternoon, to make sure I was reproducing it. I then went to the hospital the next day to get a stent in that artery.

2. Many people would experience pain, but it might be experienced in different ways by different people. Additionally, diabetics (like me) can have strange manifestations of the pain, or not feel angina at all. If you are able to run 20 min on the treadmill daily and not experience the pain then, chances are that you are alright. (Granted it's never certainty, but the odds are in your favor of not having highly occluded arteries).