Newbie's Heart Attack Story

[DJohnDavies]

Hi Everyone!

This board is really great especially for a newbie like me. I am a 47 year old male. I have an interesting situation and I will make it as short as I can. In early August 2004, I had a heart attack (Right Coronary Artery) and all has been resolved as far as I know with 2 bare metal stents inserted.

I was put on Toprol XL (Beta Blocker), Zocor (40mg per day), and baby aspirin. Everything was fine but six weeks later, I noticed some "weakness" in my left hand all of a sudden as I was typing. This "weakness" then seem to extend into the rest of the arm in the next couple of days. The lleft arm felt more fatigued and still does than the right arm with simple actions (like blowing drying my hair). Since then, the left hand seems a bit better but i still get consistently sore triceps in my left arm pretty regularly. I have no clue why.

Anyway, about two weeks later, my thighs on both legs started to get "weak". It felt like it was a little on the "jelly" side but it was just the thighs and not the hamstrings. It also seems to fatigue or get sore easier. At the same time, I began to get some muscle twitching in both thighs, both foot arches, left bicep/tricep area, rarely in abdominal area which continues today. It does seem like the right leg gets more twitches so far. So I went to the PCP and he suggested I switch to Crestor from Zocor. He also did a CPK and it was normal. I decided to just abstain from both statins to see if my muscle issues and twitching would resolve. That was 10 days ago and things have not gotten any better.

I have not seen a Neurologist but I am guessing I do not have clinical weakness but subjective weakness. My right calf is about 5/8 of an inch less in circumference than my left calf. I have no idea if this is atrophy or whether I have had this for a long time. My right leg does seem to be weaker than my left leg (according to my chiropractor although I have no clue if this has always been the case.) although both still have enough strength to do normal activities without problems.

I have the following questions:

1) Has anyone experienced muscle weakness and twitching from taking statins (zocor in my case)? If so, how did it get resolved?

2) Do my symptoms seem anxiety driven and benign? By nature, I am a very anxious person.

3) Does this seem like a Motor Neuron issue? Of couse, like everyone else, I am worried about this being early onset of ALS.

Thanks in advance for your help. I would also like to commend JT and Alonzo for their great help to the BFS community. You guys are top notch!

 

[HaleyHH]

Welcome Brian!

I can't answer all of your questions, but I'll take a stab at #2 and #3.

I've been twitching for about 10.5 months now and I've read tons and tons of people's accounts of twitching in various forums. One common theme that jumps out to me is that many of the folks who experience BFS twitching are the "anxious types". I am one of those myself! I think anxiety is a very large contributing factor. My wife - who's a calm person by nature - has been twitching more lately after several months of anxiety over her mom's health, her own health, my health worries and a home remodel. You just had a heart attack for goodness sake - which I think puts you right at the top as far as anxiety is concerned.

If you are worried about motor neuron disease, I think you should see a neurologist. But the only reason I say that is because it'll put your mind at ease. You don't want to carry the weight of this worry around for too long. It's just not any fun at all. A good neuro can give you all the answers you need - then it'll just be a matter of believing him or her when they tell you that you don't have it.

Johnny

 

[alyLeoNCali]

Brian,
I, too, started measuring the circumference of my calves--my left one was the one with most of the twitches and subjective weakness. There was about a half-inch difference, which needless to say scared me to death. That was over six years ago, and I still have a difference in circumference (despite all the extra exercises I subjected my poor calf muscles to!). No one is perfectly symmetrical on both sides, but most people are fortunate enough to never have to even think about it! Besides, atrophy is caused by a major loss of function well before the wasting sets in--obviously not your problem. I think anxiety makes us notice every little thing, but I will stress again that the symptoms cause the anxiety, not the other way around. The bad news is that the symptoms are real and are probably not going to disappear anytime soon. The good news is that you are not going crazy, and this is BENIGN! Have a good day!
Lisa H.

 

[neySueSid567]

Great post, Lisa H.

Brian, how true. We are not symmetrical, but we used to have the luxury of not noticing that.

--alyLeoNCali