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What Causes Mild Pain In Left Side Of The Body After A Heart Attack?
Hi, my mother is 80 plus and had a heart episod last january. She was given a statin(Lipiget), a low platt, a beta blocker and vasteral and Norvasc. We had left norvasc and cut down on the low platt to half the 75 mg strength. Yesterday she felt mild pain in the left shoulder, under the arm, the lower left back and the upper left arm. The pain went away after a while. Today again she felt some pain while lying down in
the upper left shoulder, lower left back and left waist and left arm. The pain dissapeared after a while. She is very interested in solving crosswords puzzels and sometimes sits on the bed for hours holding the newspaper in the right hand and the pen in the left one.
the upper left shoulder, lower left back and left waist and left arm. The pain dissapeared after a while. She is very interested in solving crosswords puzzels and sometimes sits on the bed for hours holding the newspaper in the right hand and the pen in the left one.
posted on
Fri, 14 Mar 2014
Medically reviewed by
Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team
Mon, 13 Jun 2016
Answered on
Mon, 13 Jun 2016
Last reviewed on
Hello!
Welcome and thank you for asking on HCM!
I carefully passed through your question and would explain that it is important performing a comprehensive differential diagnosis of different causes that may lead to this pain:
1- a musculo-skeletal pain. Is the pain modulated by body motion or respiration? This would indicate possible musculo-skeletal pain. Staying in a wrong position for a prolonged time could cause these problems. I would recommend performing a shoulder joint X ray study, a cervical column X ray study and inflammation tests (complete blood count, PCR, sedimentation rate) for this purpose.
2- myocardial ischemia. I would recommend performing a resting ECG and cardiac enzymes to exclude this possibility.
You should discuss with her doctor on the above issues.
Meanwhile, I would recommend taking acetaminophen or ibuprofen for the pain. If her symptoms are relieved by one of these drugs, it would be another fact in favor of musculo-skeletal pain. In such case you have nothing to worry about. She should only avoid staying in a wrong position for a long time.
Hope to have been helpful!
Best wishes,
Dr. Iliri
Welcome and thank you for asking on HCM!
I carefully passed through your question and would explain that it is important performing a comprehensive differential diagnosis of different causes that may lead to this pain:
1- a musculo-skeletal pain. Is the pain modulated by body motion or respiration? This would indicate possible musculo-skeletal pain. Staying in a wrong position for a prolonged time could cause these problems. I would recommend performing a shoulder joint X ray study, a cervical column X ray study and inflammation tests (complete blood count, PCR, sedimentation rate) for this purpose.
2- myocardial ischemia. I would recommend performing a resting ECG and cardiac enzymes to exclude this possibility.
You should discuss with her doctor on the above issues.
Meanwhile, I would recommend taking acetaminophen or ibuprofen for the pain. If her symptoms are relieved by one of these drugs, it would be another fact in favor of musculo-skeletal pain. In such case you have nothing to worry about. She should only avoid staying in a wrong position for a long time.
Hope to have been helpful!
Best wishes,
Dr. Iliri
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