post-heart cath pain

Nurses General Nursing

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I had a new admit last night...30 something year old who had a heart cath in mid december. He was admitted with pain in his lower extremities (intractable). I remember hearing a physician saying once that it is common to have like referred pain in the extremities after a heart cath..but this seems excessive for a heart cath 2 or 3 weeks. He was getting 1 mg dilaudid q2 hours..called and got it bumped up to 2 mg..then the doc was sick of us calling and wrote for toradol 15 q 6 hours

anyone give me some insight? is this just a weird phenomena?

Yea I am anxious to get back to work to see what has happened with this patient.

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Specializes in Utilization Management.

Another scenario you might consider:

After I had EPS and a cardiac procedure, I woke up to the most intense back pain I'd ever had in my life. I was OK after I could stand up, but my chiro told me later that I have a curvature that makes lying flat a very bad idea, and causes spinal compression. After lying flat for nearly 4 hours for that procedure, I had to have heavy pain meds in order to remain lying flat, total of about 12 hours, every one of which was agony.

Is it possible that lying flat for the cath procedure somehow triggered a back problem for this patient, and he's having pain radiating to the extremities?

I do have patients who c/o back pain more than groin pain after a cath, so I'm not alone in this.

It might be something to look into.

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Specializes in cardiac.

AngioPlasty,

You bring up a good point. Multiple pts suffer from various degrees of back pain after a cath procedure. It is very hard for most to lay flat for that long of a time. It's a very "real" problem. And sometimes hard for the pt to adhere to the post cath recovery protocol. But, this particular pt that the OP was discussing had their cardiac cath 2-3 weeks prior to the admit. So..that's what "stoops" me about this situation. Is it possible for the pt to still experience some sort of pain, triggered from the back pain, after such a long time?

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Specializes in Utilization Management.
AngioPlasty,

You bring up a good point. Multiple pts suffer from various degrees of back pain after a cath procedure. It is very hard for most to lay flat for that long of a time. It's a very "real" problem. And sometimes hard for the pt to adhere to the post cath recovery protocol. But, this particular pt that the OP was discussing had their cardiac cath 2-3 weeks prior to the admit. So..that's what "stoops" me about this situation. Is it possible for the pt to still experience some sort of pain, triggered from the back pain, after such a long time?

Probably a good question to ask an ortho doc. Now I'm curious. I'll have to find out when I get a chance.

See what ya started? :lol2:

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Specializes in Cardiac, ER.

Will be interested to see how this works out,....I've worked in a cardiac unit for over 7 years now and have never heard this complaint,..I don't routinely treat pts for groin pain after the line is pulled but back pain is my number one c/o especially for those who had intervention and are bedrest for 6 hours,..those w/o intervention and a clear angio stay an hour or two until they can eat and pee then they go home! The cholesterol shower someone mentioned is usually an immediate thing and can get quite ugly (ie to the lung),..keep us updated on what the docs decide

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I had a heart :redbeathe cath the Thursday before Christmas 2007. It is now mid April and I am still having pain :bluecry1: in my groin at the area of my heart cath. Most of the time the pain is just very uncomfortable, but a few times it has been a stabbing pain. :yawn: The pain has on a few occasions kept me awake at night. :bugeyes: I saw my doctor today and he said it could be a hernia. I stressed to :banghead: him that I did not have this pain till after the heart cath. He then mentioned it could be nerve tissue damage or a Hematoma. He then had a ultra sound scheduled for me. I go next Friday for a ultra sound.

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I have also heard from people post cath(months after) that they never had a problem with high blood pressure until AFTER their cath. Also one person states that feels something in the chest area that feels funny. Cardiologist has blown it off and it is months later and is still there daily, this feeling.

The Cardiologist blows me off too but I swear I feel the stent in my heart. I can't really describe it but I feel something there.

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