Hello Doctor,I rwoke to a bad cramp in my leg last Tuesday evening. It was so severe and sudden, that I apparently passed out after not being able to stop the cramp. My wife tried to revive me and panicked when she saw that I was gasping for air. I came to right away and was alert and not groggy, though a little confused and shaken. I slept the rest of the morning - a few hours - and called my doctor s office thinking I was fine. They said to go to the emergency room right away and have tests done ECG, blood, MRI of left leg (has felt like it gets less circulation) and then a chest X-ray. All proved perfectly normal, actually quite good in terms of ECG, blook and MRI. Xray said heart large but normal. The next day I had to finish grading my students work, teach, then run to setup for a two hour concert that I peformed the same night. All went fine, but day after (yesteday) I felt exhausted. Though, I am scheduled to have follow up soon with my doctor, last night and tonight after dinner, I experienced some sharp pain in my chest. I at first thought it was related to holding the guitar up all evening with left hand and arm. Now, with second episode, I m concerned. I m 55, work out regularly, probably have an extra 5 or 10 pounds I could lose to be at perfect BMI, but otherwise am fit and have only a cold every year or two. I have had a noticeable very slight but wheeze that my family teases me about when I laugh super hard. But I have not had any difficulty breathing during the sharp chest pains. They lasted a few minutes off and on. Oh, also, I had been on aspirin (self-prescribed) for several years, and a few months ago, my doc recommended I not continue since there is mixed evidence on their effectiveness. However, last night and tonight, I took one when I sensed the sharp very localized pain. Major worry, or is it probably due to stressing about all of the above since prior to the wake up with leg cramp, I ve been fine except for getting much less sleep than I should and drinking good amoutns of coffee to compensate. I hope to reach my doctor tomorrow to get in asap for a stress test and possible the monitored heart test that you wear around . Fortunately, I m off work all this week. Any thoughts are welcome. Thanks much.
posted on
Thu, 26 Mar 2015