Misc Pericarditis from strep throat??🤔

[RUC4]

My partner’s brother is visiting. He’s 26 and loves to smoke weed. And as far as I know, he only smokes weed and sometimes eats mushrooms.

When he first came to town, I noticed the crook of his arm is red and kinda strawberried… on both sides. We asked him and he said he works construction and was drilling holes and some metal flew off and burned him. Ok. We let it go.

Then a night later, he casually mentioned he had been hospitalized from pericarditis. (My partner is a nurse) She asked him how he got it, and he told her he had strep throat and he didn’t notice it and it spread to his heart.

I know a few people, from NA mostly, who have a scar on their chest from pericarditis. They were IV drug users. My partner said it is unlikely it’s from strep throat.

Has anyone heard of pericarditis caused by anything other than IV drug use or heart attack?
(Besides from Covid)

I figured I’d ask the experts here.

 

[negrogesic]

Pericarditis can be caused by many things. I had it occur with a batch of tar heroin, but who knows the actual cause. I was filtering with cotton and was forced to reuse syringes because they were prescription only in my state at the time and were hard to get. Now i see them on Amazon with next day delivery, a little too late since i stopped using them quite a while ago. I was exceptionally sanitary though, and both boiled/bleached everything I reused. But filtering tar heroin with cotton is asking for pericarditis, endocarditis or worse.

But in any event many things can cause pericarditis. Sounds suspicious as you described it but who knows.

 

[RUC4]

Pericarditis can be caused by many things. I had it occur with a batch of tar heroin, but who knows the actual cause. I was filtering with cotton and was forced to reuse syringes because they were prescription only in my state at the time and were hard to get. Now i see them on Amazon with next day delivery, a little too late since i stopped using them quite a while ago. I was exceptionally sanitary though, and both boiled/bleached everything I reused. But filtering tar heroin with cotton is asking for pericarditis, endocarditis or worse.

But in any event many things can cause pericarditis. Sounds suspicious as you described it but who knows.

Yeah he’s a young, healthy guy. He’s only 26 I think. I don’t buy the story that he had strep throat and didn’t notice it. 2 people in my NA meetings had scars on their chests from surgery for pericarditis.

Also @negrogesic is this the right place for this post? I would like to reach as many people as possible.

 

[Shady's Fox]

Yeah he’s a young, healthy guy. He’s only 26 I think. I don’t buy the story that he had strep throat and didn’t notice it. 2 people in my NA meetings had scars on their chests from surgery for pericarditis.

Also @negrogesic is this the right place for this post? I would like to reach as many people as possible.

no go see a cardiologist. Simple as that.

 

[ĐmantuNJofra]

pericarditis is like the swelling of the heart barrier which can be caused by bacteria, some medicines(antibiotics)irony, my relative had it and he actually got it from i think that can be transferred from untreated bronchitis or tuberculosis, I'm sure he was ok cause it was acute, the only time I heard that heart had a like it's funny word to translate literaly from Cro to Eng he had acute:

no go see a cardiologist. Simple as that.

and this is how he not get chronic, and saved him self,! simple and effective sentence
also why are people not honest especially with relatives,? and I don't need the answer just ask yourselves couple times and think about that?
Speculations, that's how poor witches were hunted even here in Croatia.

 

[Jen X]

A friend of mine almost died from it because the doctor assumed like your girlfriend that it must be drugs. It wasn't and she's taking legal action.
She's a nurse, not a doctor and just because he smokes weed doesn't mean he shoots up. What a judgemental stretch.

 

[Jen X]

My friend caught it from a bacterial infection in her throat. That's what they think anyway.

 

[ĐmantuNJofra]

My friend caught it from a bacterial infection in her throat. That's what they think anyway.

here you are OP go online on like Cosmopolitan-like portals you can find about the same
But that's why we are here to help you and not just to answer your specific question
to also broaden your perception we are tool for TRANSCENDENCE

 

[Lysosomalstorage]

Like negrogresic said it can be the end result of many many things, being around/doing drugs is obviously going to give you confirmation bias/tunnel vission in regards to what you think caused it, and see drug abuse in everything.

Drugs are one of the less common routes of pericarditis infection in reality. Because most people don't IV drugs outside of a hospital.

 

[Xorkoth]

It does sound suspicious, given there are two pieces of evidence, but he could also be telling the truth. It's really impossible for any of us to say. But yeah IV drug use isn't the only thing that can cause percarditis

 

[negrogesic]

Yeah he’s a young, healthy guy. He’s only 26 I think. I don’t buy the story that he had strep throat and didn’t notice it. 2 people in my NA meetings had scars on their chests from surgery for pericarditis.

Also @negrogesic is this the right place for this post? I would like to reach as many people as possible.

Sure, its fine to post here, though technically may be more appropriate for other subforums.

The question is though, what is your objective . I suppose you're simply trying to figure out if this guy that is staying with you is fostering a secret narcotics habit, which I suppose I would also want to know given the possible issues that come along with that type of situation.

But while the combination of apparent injection marks and pericarditis point to IV drug use, it is definitely possible to experience pericarditis as a complication of something like strep throat. Though rare, being young and healthy doesn't preclude this from happening, in fact i suspect pericarditis caused by something like strep throat may be be more likely to happen in a younger healthy person as consequence of an overvigorous immune response.

But who knows. I were in your shoes I would simply talk to the directly and compassionately about what your suspicions/concerns are. If you are in the US -- where the life expectancy of IV drug users has become even shorter than it used to be due to the rise of ultra potent synthetic opioids -- you may even save a life by helping him address it.

Whatever the case may be, pericarditis sucks. My drug induced case of it began very quickly right after shooting that bad shot of tar. It started as a case of "cotton-fever", high fever, chest pains, delirum etc. Felt like I was going to die, wasn't sure if I was having a heart attack. Evolved into a case of pericarditis and even after it went away I had a low grade fever (like around 99.5°F) on a daily basis for a good 6 months.

 

[mcflurry]

depends on what kind of pericarditis … or if its pericarditis after all - maybe he meant to say endocarditis?!

infectious pericarditis from strep throat is absolutely possible. streptococks (see what i did there) can also give autoimmune pericarditis. could also be that he has a genetic heart issue making him from prone to pericarditis… regular viruses (coxsackie) can also give u perimyocarditis… then there is postviral pericarditis … the list goes on … if it was indeed iv drug use, endocarditis would be the one to watch out for, but most users only get it after quite some time of iv-ing. getting it straight away at 26 is rather unlikely.

(md here)

 

[RUC4]

A friend of mine almost died from it because the doctor assumed like your girlfriend that it must be drugs. It wasn't and she's taking legal action.
She's a nurse, not a doctor and just because he smokes weed doesn't mean he shoots up. What a judgemental stretch.

Not really a stretch considering the marks on his arms .
Also their father was/is a serious addict. She’s just concerned.

 

[Jen X]

Not really a stretch considering the marks on his arms .
Also their father was/is a serious addict. She’s just concerned.

From smoking weed to shooting up all because of a rash on someone's arm and an infection is a stretch.
You shouldn't judge people for what their parents did either.

 

[RUC4]

From smoking weed to shooting up all because of a rash on someone's arm and an infection is a stretch.
You shouldn't judge people for what their parents did either.

You’re right. However I’ve been an addict (clean for almost 4 years). I have a bit more knowledge than other people.
And there is science to back up hereditary addiction. Your brain is wired for it and more susceptible to addiction.
But I agree IN GENERAL, a person shouldn’t judge. Also I was an IV user. I can usually sniff out an addict.

 

[Lysosomalstorage]

Or you're more likely to see drug based apophenia. Is there anything else addicty about him?