Has anyone else dealt with this issue? This is my second episode with pericarditis is the past 6 months.
Viral, bacterial, both?
The dr thought it was viral. from my understanding it was hard to determine the cause in most cases?? The first time I had this the symptoms went away after a few days on prescription anti inflammatory. Just started having the uncomfortable chest tigtness again.last night… very painful laying down trying to sleep.
As your doc said, most cases are idiopathic (unknown cause) or viral, and thus difficult to treat. Was echocardiography or CT scan used to look for chronic changes, or assuming acute stage? Oral ibuprofen/ aspirin is used to help reduce inflammation and constriction. Guessing you don’t have a fever, but don’t exercise with any chest discomfort.
yes, they did an ekg at an urgent care the first go round and I ended up being transported to ER. Scared the crap out of me! No fever either time… just chest discomfort. And thanks for advice. It’s easy to get carried away training 
esp when you have an upcoming race. I’ll def stop the workouts until pain goes away.
I had it back in 2005 and eventually had a mild heart attack. Took 6 weeks to go away with 2 hospital stays. Dr says it was from exposure to sanitary sewer water from the job I had at the time. I had pleurise (sp?) A few weeks prior and both at the same time. It sucks. Hope you get through it quick.
EKG changes are similar to acute MI, so a trip to ER was the safe thing. You should plan on playing safe and not exercising. Your doc might OK returning to sport after chest discomfort subsides and heart sounds are normal.
yes, they did an ekg at an urgent care the first go round and I ended up being transported to ER. Scared the crap out of me! No fever either time… just chest discomfort. And thanks for advice. It’s easy to get carried away training esp when you have an upcoming race. I’ll def stop the workouts until pain goes away.
Dr. visit went ok. Nothing too scary on ekg and blood work will be back tomorrow. Prescribed an anti-inflammatory and rest.
Bringing up an old thread.
How have you been doing? Any recurrences?
I was just diagnosed with Pericarditis two days ago after experiencing chest discomfort including burning to the left of my sternum. Showed up on ekg but labs did not reveal anything. BP and pulse were fine.
Now that I know the symptoms I’m fairly certain that I’ve had this before but never this noticeable.
For now just taking ibuprofen and no exercise. Follow up next week. Slight improvement with ibuprofen but still pretty uncomfortable.
Side note: I was having mild symptoms last week but the symptoms got significantly worse the day after donating a double platelet and rbc donation for a local critical care patient. Not sure if that was a trigger. My GP did not know. I did not meet with the cardiologist yet but she did read my ekg and labs.
I’ve been doing great since the second relapse. I’ve also slowed down my training. I’ve been taking a break from triathlon and for the past year just biking. It is definitely a unique feeling when you have it. The second time around I knew exactly what was happening when I had that feeling in my chest.
Both times I was diagnosed with this the recovery was very fast and was back to training in a few weeks. Hope your recovery goes well and no more relapses.
Thanks. Feeling a little better day by day. The pressure is better but the burning is still pretty uncomfortable. Plan on pretty much doing nothing strenuous for another week or so. Heart issues are scary.
Wife had it for 3 years post heart surgery. Wishes she never got the hole closed in heart. More pain and aggravation from pericarditis than hole in heart. She was on some stronger anti inflammatory drugs for years. Eventually it has gone away. If you are feeling burning in your chest though, I would definitely stop exercising. Not worth the gains to end up in the ER if it gets really painful. I say rest up and get that under control completely first. I remember driving her to the ER in tears with her feeling like she was dying or having a massive heart attach to find out it was her 2nd or 3rd pericarditis attach.