r/pericarditis

Hey, has anyone improved their symptoms (high heart rate, heart pain, shortness of breath, etc) using any or both those medications ?

If so : what did it improved, when & how long did you take it/them, and any side effects ?

Tysm, good luck to yall x

I have been struggling since 2024 when I was 25 years old. Wasn't being taken seriously until last year when I was hospitalised with pericarditis and a small pericardial effusion. The pain was unreal! Couldnt walk, bend down, cough, sleep or do anything without being in immense pain.

Long story short i have been hospitalised 5 times now as its recurrent which then turned into peri-myocarditis. I had an MRI which confirmed the pericarditis too. They have discovered its being caused by an autoimmune disease (They said Undifferentiated connective tissue disease) so have put me on prednislone, hydroxychloroquine, colchicine, mycophenolate. Everytime I come off of the prednislone or if I lower my dose I have a flare up and my inflammatory markers go up really high. Experience all of the painful symptoms again and end up back in hospital. Even when im out of a flare I constantly have a dull ache in my chest, palpatations and I do get a racing heart often. Cant exercise either.

I recently had another MRI and it says i have no evidence of active or healed myocarditis. I don't understand how that could be as when I was hospitalised I had all of the same symptoms I usually get when having a flare. Im worried they're not gonna take me seriously now. Anyone got a similar experience, im struggling to be honest

any one here who tried Edibles after recovering , I cant seem to find much information about edible weed and pericarditis , ive been using weed for months now to help me with my sleep and to manage anxiety ,and what I know is smoking it can cause peri and flareups , is it the same case here with eating it ? thank you for every response .

Just through my first few weeks with Arcalyst; first loading dose in my stomach was fine, no problems. Second dose in my thigh resulted in cellulitis (infection) which I’m still on antibiotics for. Third dose (stomach again) and I’m having an red, itchy injection site reaction (day after).. :(

Not a great start. Anyone else had issues when they started that resolved over time? Or is this just ‘how it is’?

(I have reported this to my doctor and to the kiniksa one people)

Hi everyone. My brother who is 22M was diagnosed with pericarditis with fluid around his heart.

When I received the call I was very worried. I just learnt about this condition two days ago and I’m doing thorough research.

He was given colchicine and was told to rest with no heavy activity for at least 3 months. What worries me most is the fluid. They said it will drain itself. But it just worries me.

Is there anything else me or my brother can do? To help ease the pain? Or just any advice in general?

He is in pain especially when he’s trying to sleep. Shortness of breath (they ruled out a PE) and just general fatigue. I do not like seeing him in pain.

Thank you for reading. I hope you all are doing well. Take care of yourselves. This condition is tough.

Hello, i have pericarditis and Incomplete RBBB. I have to do tooth extraction and implant and i am afraid. Anyone here had this procedure done, did you had problems from anesthesia? Thank you

I have chronic recurrent pericarditis (as a result of an auto inflammatory condition)
And I’ve always had palpitations to some extent. More recently I have been having crazy palpitations. Really strong, really irregular. Like the kind you can’t ignore. I notice it tends to happen more when I’m tired, I work 12 hour night shifts and they are definitely worse after I get in from one.

I have previously had a 24 hour monitor and they said they noticed palpitations but weren’t worried. But since then it’s definitely worse.

I’m on the waiting list for a cardiology follow up and a cardiac MRI since October (love the NHS) 😅

Does anyone else experience this when not actively in a flare up? I don’t know it’s something I should be telling my GP or someone? I don’t want to end up sitting in A&E when I don’t feel it’s really needed.

I've had the sharp pain in my chest and shoulder feeling for about 3-4 days now, any deeper than really shallow breaths makes it worse, lying down sucks until ibuprofen kicks in. Ibuprofen helps significantly but it hasn't gone away since it started. Every symptom lines up and it's definitely not life threatening.

I spoke with a nurse on the phone through my insurance, she said go to the ER. I spoke with 2 different walk-in clinics and they said they wouldn't be able to help me. And from what I read online, people who go to the ER just get an appointment with a specialist anyways.

I'd be looking at (at least) $1,500+ USD in ER medical bills which I'm fortunate enough to be able to pay, but would definitely make me struggle bad. And at this point, it seems like the ER would just be "yeah, tests show this is happening. Get a specialist" and send me on my way.

What do you think? I can thug out the pain for another 4 days if it means I save $1,500+.

Edit: 26 year old male, United States

I've been taking colchicine for 10 months (2 months with NAIDs and 8 months colchicine only and reducing the dosage with time). I'm currently at a low dosage of 500 milligrams every two days, and I felt really good for nearly 2 months. Even sleeping in positions that used to caused symptoms.

But I forgot to take my medication 4 days ago... Now I have like mid intensity symptoms and they are not going away that easily. I was supposed to try to stop colchicine in June because the signs were all good, but with what is happening right now I don't know how I feel about it... I finally thought I was free from pericarditis problems. My journey personally started on January of 2025 (19 yo woman).

I will try to post my experience later when im feeling more up to it, but I had an ED visit on Friday that escalated to pericardiocentesis Friday night removing 300 cc. After that in hospital, recovered well with meds and rest, less than 50 ml drainage next 24 hours. Drain clipped Sat evening, clear echo on Sunday morning and they removed drain and sent me home with ibuprofen and colchicine. Felt decent Monday, but couldn't tolerate much activity at all trying to stay under 100 bpm. Today, woke up with a recurrence of pain and higher resting heart rate. Is it normal for this to fluctuate some during recovery? I did have a 9 hour period between ibuprofen. Is that enough to cause this? It's now been 3 hours since I took my morning ibuprofen and still feeling kinda off.

Just trying to see if this sort of fluctuation is normal or if I have to head back to the ED.