Can HIV cause chest pain and heart problems at age 50?

Question

Hello doctor,

I am a 50-year-old female recently diagnosed with HIV. Nowadays, I often get chest pains. When I consulted the doctor, he told me to undergo open heart surgery. I doubt if HIV can cause cardiovascular problems. If it causes cardiovascular problems, what are the problems caused? Can taking medications help in this condition or does it require doing surgery? How to manage HIV along with cardiovascular problems. Kindly suggest.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I understand your concern.

If the cardiologist has mentioned open heart surgery, then there must not be any other option. No doctor wants to operate on an HIV patient as it is a big risk to the operating doctor on HIV patient and is an extra burden on the hospital as the operation theatre will close after the HIV patient's surgery and seven days of fumigation, and all clothes used during the procedure have to be destroyed, they cannot be reused. I want to know what heart problems you have because you mentioned only chest pain. Are there any findings of blocked vessels that need operation? I suggest you use:

Mucaine gel 10 ml without water three to four times at the time of pain. If it subsides in 30 minutes it may be acidity.
Tablet Sorbitrate is to be put under the tongue. You can keep two tablets, one after one, if the pain subsides then it is possibly heart pain.
Go for a troponin test, its normal value is one. If it is more that decides whether it is an emergency or you can wait for any procedure.
Also, take a light diet with less salt.

I hope this helps.

Thank you.