Carly Pearce On How Her Recurrent Pericarditis First Went Undiagnosed

Pearce’s Pericarditis Was Misdiagnosed In 2020

If you’ve somehow forgotten what happened to everyone in 2020, here’s a reminder. That was the year that something called the COVID-19 pandemic started. “In 2020, much like the rest of the world, our lives were a bit anxiety-stricken, if you will, and I had had some chest pains that were not familiar to me,” Pearce recalled. “They were pretty sharp, and I had some trouble walking up a hill and kind of doing my own workouts that I always did. And I thought maybe it was anxiety or stress and dismissed it.” But eventually as Pearce indicated, “I ended up going to see a doctor because the pains persisted.”

However, the doctor that Pearce initially saw thought that these pains in her chest were actually in her head, so to speak. “They also dismissed it as anxiety and being in my head,” Pearce said. In her heart, though, something else was going on without Pearce realizing it yet because no one had told her. That certainly didn’t leave Pearce headed in the right direction.

Pearce Finally Got The Pericarditis Diagnosis In The ER

Guess what happened next? “Weeks following that, I ended up in the ER,” Pearce related. “I fainted and went in and found the diagnosis of pericarditis, which I had never heard of, and learned all about kind of what that means.” Pericarditis is inflammation of the pericardium because anything with “-itis” at the end means inflammation of that thing. The pericardium is the thin, two-layered, fluid-filled sac that holds the heart, kind of like Saran wrap around a fruitcake.

She added, “My father, he’s a survivor of a widow-maker heart attack. So you hear anything that has anything to do with an issue with your heart and immediately I thought, 0h my gosh, can I die from this? Can I go to sleep at night?” Even though Pearce finally had a diagnosis of pericarditis, it’s not as if the emergency room went through all the layers or every little thing of what that meant or might mean. “They sent me with some medication, and I wasn’t clear about the answer of why or what to do next, and went on my way,” Pearce indicated. “For the next few years, I had a few different small flares, but I kind of was able to manage by just over the counter medication.”

Pearce Found Out That She Has Recurrent Pericarditis In 2024

The proverbial truck really caught fire coincidentally the same year her song “Truck on Fire” was released. “In 2024, I was about to embark on a 40-city arena tour with Tim McGraw, and found myself in the ER again with a severe flare,” Pearce recalled. “That is when I heard the term recurrent pericarditis for the first time.” Recurrent pericarditis is when the pericarditis returns after at least four to six weeks of having no symptoms.

“My symptoms are very classic: sharp pain, chest pain, where I get relief when I bend over,” Pearce described. “And it gets more severe when I lay down.” That’s because the heart moves within the pericardial sac when you change your body position in such manners. Pearce also mentioned that the pain is typically in the middle of her chest but ”I’ve also had it where it kind of radiates to the left side.”

The Cause Of Pearce’s Recurrent Pericarditis Hasn’t Been Established

Now, pericarditis simply describes what’s happening but not what’s causing it. There are many possible causes of pericarditis. One possibility is an infection by a virus such as an enteroviruses, influenza, adenovirus or, guess what, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2—you know the thing that causes COVID-19. Other infectious pathogens like different types of bacteria, fungi or parasites can be culprits too.

Then there are autoimmune disorders like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, or scleroderma where the immune system may mistakenly attack the pericardium. Other possibilities are kidney failure leading to the build up of waste products in the blood, cancer in the chest area, radiation therapy to the chest and heart attacks. Pericarditis can also result from physical trauma to the chest area such as some type of heart procedure or surgery or Thor laying his Mjölnir hammer there, which would be rather rude. Pericarditis can be a rarer side effect of certain medications as well like procainamide, hydralazine, or phenytoin.

Many times, though, the actual cause isn’t determined. This is known as idiopathic pericarditis, which has nothing to do with being an idiot. Idiopathic is a medical term used when the origin of something is unknown. That’s been the case with Pearce.

Pearce Has Been Managing The Pericarditis With Medications

That means that one way of managing pericarditis—addressing the underlying cause—isn’t currently an option for Pearce. Therefore, rest and anti-inflammatory medications are her main options right now. So is knowledge and the F-word, as in familiarity. “I probably have flares, I would say, you know, every couple months,” Pearce explained. “My old friend will come, and I know what’s going on, and I’ll just kind of manage it because now I don’t operate out of panic. I’ve got the knowledge that I need now. So it doesn’t really scare me anymore.”

The knowledge thing has helped motivate Pearce to partner with Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals for the “What is Pericarditis” campaign to raise more awareness about this problem. “I think knowing that you can be perfectly healthy and young, and this can still happen,” said Pearce, who just released her fifth studio album called “Honest Woman” and is currently on the road.

She’s also found that honest talk about her medical condition can help others. “I’m always amazed at how many people reach out to me and say that they have it,” she recounted. “I think just as a society, normalizing, speaking up for yourself and also just normalizing that just because you’re healthy and young doesn’t give you a free pass.”

That would be a normal takeaway when you’ve experienced something as heart-felt as recurrent pericarditis like Pearce has. You could say that lack of awareness and true understanding of different medical conditions is a recurrent problem in our society—one that needs to be addressed more.