Acute pericarditis occurs when your pericardium, a little, protective sac that’s wrapped around your heart, becomes inflamed and swollen. The pericardium roots your heart in place, holds it there, keeps it safe, and lubricates it so that it’s always in good working condition. It’s possible for bacteria to infiltrate your body and take hold of your pericardium. It’s possible for you to be suffering from a lung disorder such as tuberculosis, and have the ailment spread up to your heart and thus effect your pericardium that way.
Acute pericarditis is a painful and dangerous condition to have. Chest pains often accompany acute pericarditis. These pains can be stabbing and sharp, or dull and brutal, and usually will increase in intensity as time goes by. Your first instinct may be to lie down, to slow your breathing, etc., but in the case of acute pericarditis you’ll find that these actions actually increase the pain and suffering rather than alleviate it. A good temporary remedy for temporary pain relief is to simply lean forward. But deep breathing, lying down, eating, and coughing will all make the chest pains worse, will make them stab into you more deeply.
Oftentimes with acute pericarditis the chest pains will spread through your left arm and down your back. At this point you may be thinking, that sounds an awful lot like a heart attack! And it’s true, it does, acute pericarditis shares a lot of features with heart disease and low blood pressure. Chest pains are common to both, as are fever and inflammation. If you’re feeling feverish and suffering chest pains at the same time, chances are you’re suffering from acute pericarditis. But the same thing could be said of heart attack and stroke. It is crucial, therefore, if you are suffering from these symptoms, to get into your doctor right away so that he or she can target what you have and get you on the road to healing.
One way you doctor will be able to tell if you have acute pericarditis or not is by listening to your heart. He or she will hold a stethoscope to your chest and listen for a peculiar sound. Different heart ailments make different sounds; the sound that acute pericarditis makes is a squeaky, raspy one, kind of like two pieces of leather being softly rubbed together.
It’s speculated that this sound is caused by the two layers of the pericardium rubbing together. Normally, when healthy, they remain separate, but when they become swollen and big they rub on and irritate each other.
Acute pericarditis can last up to six weeks. Your doctor will decide on the intensity and urgency of your case and so decide on whether to hospitalize you or to treat you with simple drugs and let you go home. Aspirin and anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen are effective in dealing with acute pericarditis. If the pain is very severe, there are other drugs, such as morphine, that offer relief. In the most extreme cases surgery is performed. A tiny peace of your pericarditis is snipped away and a tube is inserted which drains pus, bacteria, and other buildups that may be in you.
The fact that acute pericarditis can look, feel, and even sound like other heart disorders means that you’ll need to ask for the help and advice of the experts in order to counter it. Your heart is a strong but delicate instrument, sending blood to the brain and the rest of your body and keeping you healthy, alert, and strong. Heart discomfort must be looked after immediately, so that a diagnosis can take place and treatment can begin.