These spasms that restrict blood flow in the large coronary arteries cause Prinzmetal's or variant angina. The ECG tracings for the two forms are also different. It often affects women under the age of 50 and characteristically occurs in the early morning, awakening people from sleep. Treatment of angina begins with identifying the form, and depends on the severity and stability of the symptoms. Prinzmetal's angina episodes also respond well to nitrates and calcium channel blockers.
Beta blockers aggravate the coronary artery spasms.
Be sure all questions regarding your husband's condition are answered, and be sure to gather enough information to fully consider all risks and benefits of any treatment option. Blood transfusions are almost always used to replace the loss of whole blood. But you may be getting more than you bargained for. Whole blood contains much more than the red blood cells, platelets and fluid that are needed on an emergency basis to combat blood loss. In 1998, a committee of the FDA recommended that leukocytes be filtered out of blood prior to transfusion.