Arrythmia's

[sharon1]

Hi all, I would be interested to know of anyone who has suffered any form of heart arrythmia's and their experiences of how they were treated by the medical system. My story started by having a transient AF (Atrial Fibrillation) nine years ago which I had put down to stress (also have a history of anxiety attacks triggered by the suicide of my grandad in 1997) due to the death of my mother at the time plus the starting up of my hubby's new business adventure, among other stress factors. I was taken to hospital. After several hours it reverted back to normal without any intervention. All tests came back confirming my heart hadn't been damaged. Everything was hunky dorey for about 5 years when I started experiencing numerous short rapid bursts of tachycardia, where I would say a dozen or so of these lasted upto 10 mins. Went to docs, who referred me for a 24 hour holter monitor. Results came back negative, which was quite obvious (as my symptoms were sporadic). I kept pestering the doc time and time again to no avail. I took it upon myself to buy an Omron heart monitor which I was able to catch some minor bouts, these were sent to the cardiologist where as soon as he read my notes and knew i had a history of anxiety attacks, told me to go home, forget about it and that it was all in my head. Hmm was I going to listen to his advice, no way, you know yourself when there is a problem with your body.
This carried on for two years, and several trips to A@E (missing out the middle man, the doc, as I had lost faith in the medical system by now). Anyhow, cut a long story short, I had a long episode which was caught on the heart machine of a paramedic who came to the house after ringing 999. Halleluiah I finally had my evidence.
As I was a member of Bupa, I went straight to my doc and got him to refer me to a Cardiologist in Cheshire, as soon as he saw the readings which were in excess of 300 bpm I was transferred to the local Heart ward where I had a catheter ablation. If I had not had this operation my heart could very easily gone into failure due to the very rapid beats. I was diagnosed with AV nodal physiology and AVNRT. I have to say the operation was a success and only now suffer from very short bursts of tachycardia which I can live with and know they are harmless. This now is the end of my story, but have to say is the beginning for my hubby. After having a cough for 6 months with breathlessness and a lot of nagging from me, he went to our docs, nurse saw him instead and said he got asthma, prescribed several inhalers organised a chest xray and told to come back in a month. Chest xray came back clear, hubby's peak flow readings were hitting the roof so no problem there, but cough and breathlessness still persistant. Went back, this time with me in tow. Nurse checked his heart. Doesn't like the sound of that "irregularly irregular" she said, need an ECG. Had phone call later on that day, doctor wanted to see him the next day. Went to reception to book in, hubby's name wasn't there but someone else's name instead. We said it must have been a mistake as doc wanted to see him Anyway, receptionist relented so hubby went to see the doc. Listened to his heart and said minimally invasive treatments were available these days (we're assuming a possible ablation), but doc said he can't refer hubby to cardiologist until he's had a 24 hr holter monitor, hubby's ECG results weren't in his file either (what's going on?) and here we are now waiting upto 3 weeks if not more for results and guess who the cardiologist who will be passing on the results. You guessed, the one who told me to go home and forget about it. Alas we're not with Bupa anymore so are in that long waiting queue and where you know there is something wrong but you feel as though you are a number on a conveyor belt. I have skipped out a lot of mistakes and errors the medical system have caused as my story could go on forever and could bore you all but would be very interested to know about any success stories as well as possible misdiagnosis or blunders. When you hear about the footballer last month (can't remember his name) and the 30 yr old woman in the marathon collapsing at the weekend, it does make you more conscious of your own body and who's hands you put your life into especially when it comes to arrythmia's

[mrs boodles]

Sharon, I can`t give you any advice on arythmias but it`s very frightening when you know something is wrong especially heart or lungs. I had an episode of palpitations a couple of months ago with pulse in excess of 250 and was so fast could not count it. I phoned the surgery and was given an ECG and seen by doctor who thought it was from inhalers I am using. I have`nt had another episode but frightened the life out of me.
I t must be so hard for you and your husband to have such a poor service from medical teams. I am so lucky with mine, surgery and hospital, I cannot praise them enough and the service I have been given has been brilliant.
I do hope your husband feels better soon and you can get the problem sorted out soon, living with uncertainty is very stressful and stress you don`t want.
take care and have a hug

[sharon1]

Mrs boodles, thank you very much for your kind words, I am very glad your medical service is of excellent value, it's a shame the service isn't equal everywhere which it should be. But we must persist and keep pestering docs until they see the light, and anyone who has any form of health issue serious or minor should do likewise.

[ChrisG]

My mother had tachycardia and arrhythmia for about ten years. She started with ulcerative colitis, for which she was hospitalised. They told her the side effects of the treatment could be tachycardia and/or DVT. She got both. For the DVT, they put her on wafarin. Ten years later (and still on the warfarin), she started having problems with her circulation and her blood pressure refused to stabilise (this of course being the way rats die when fed warfarin poisoning). She was hospitalised again. They wanted to do an abdominal scan (not entirely sure why at first), but realised they couldnt because of her ulcerative colitis - MRIs can apparently cause bowel perforations if you have ulcerative colitis. Eventually she ended up in ICU - they sent her for not one, but two scans. Two days later, she was vomiting fecal matter. It then took them 5 days to decide they really ought to operate and find out what was going on. A five year old could have told them it was perforation of the bowel! They operated and the operation was a success, but, as they say, sadly the patient died - two days later.

No, treatment is not equal everywhere and I will be eternally grateful if I need hospital treatment for anything not to be anywhere near the Royal XXXXXXX Hospital - they couldnt diagnose their way out of a paper bag!

If you have arrhythmia, the general advice is not to get stressed as it can bring on attacks. Not so easy when the hospitals and doctors dont seem to know what they are doing, delay matters, and seem to use their patients as guinea pigs for the experimentations.

[albertajune]

I also suffer from Atrial Fibrillation which is kept well under control with Flecainiede tabs, which are taken daily.
Mine started as a result of side effects of high blood pressure tabs, which it is now decided that I don't need as I also have what is called white coat syndrome. Wearing a monitor showed up nothing when I wore one, as my episodes were very sporatic. It was only diagnosed with me when having to go to A&E with the first episode which lasted for 9hrs. Most of my episodes have lasted for hours but were very spaced out as far as time was concerned. Touch wood not for a long time.
It is very worrying when an episode does go on. What does bother me, is that the doctors that I saw at the hospital did say that it isn't dangerous, but all the time I read in the newspaper that it is one of the most common reasons for a stroke.
I do hope that you soon get some peace of mind as worrying about your conditions doesn't help you. Good luck to you bothl.

[sharon1]

So very sorry to hear of your very sad experience about your mother. It is so frustrating to hear of these events and not be heard by our own medical teams until it is too late. I also had a similar instance when my grandad tried to take his life 15 years ago (the cause of my anxiety attacks), he was admitted to the local psychiatric ward, he was living with my parents at the time, they did a fantastic job until he was transferred to his own psychiatric ward in his own hometown who didn't seem to have any time for him and discharged him against our will. Alas, he took his life a week later. We were told we had a case against the hospital but as it had been such a traumatic suicide we felt that no money could bring him back and why bring on more stress the family could do without. Two years ago my dad went blind within a matter of 2 months, he was fobbed off, just because the GP couldn't find the cause, they brushed him to one side. Dad paid to see a private consultant for a second opinion. By just having one DNA blood test he was diagnosed with a genetic disease which unfortunately is no cure, but his frustration in not knowing the problem has been alleviated and he has adjusted his life accordingly. Just to be heard and taken seriously by our GP's and medical teams would make a difference, that in itself gives you confidence to confide in them, but when there is no interest, the world can be a very lonely place when you aren't well.

[Richard]

I've had this for a number of years too, very irregular heart beat, palpataions.
It's part of the reason I took early retirement from the Railway and downshifted. In fact I was classified as Ill Health Retirement through the heart thing and stress.

I had an Angiogram at Guys,13 years ago and they said all was well but 'keep taking the tablets' !!
I've only ever had a few bad attacks, always triggered by getting worked up about something, I can only describe them as kind of panic attacks, I get really breathless and my heart beat goes stupid and I can't calm down easily.

All these things wrong with me it's amazing I wake up every morning!!

I agree with June, my Doctor puts my TIA's as a link. I control my temper well nowadays, but when I go, I go and this usually brings back the symptoms.

I think the best way to face anything is in the simplest way possible. Rather than googling and getting all the in-depth stuff, just think about yourself and look forward to seeing some Great Grandchildren one day.

But that's my handle on it all. Like the film 'A Matter of Life and Death', most health is already written I think, sort of !!!

You take care Sharon and be positive, think about you and you alone, it's your health, your body and your life. It'll be a long one I'm sure

Richard

[ChrisG]

I so agree with you Richard. It is when something goes wrong that we realise just how fragile life is and how we cannot take our health for granted. Years ago, I used to walk a lot; then I walked less and increased the stress; I still walk a bit, but nothing like I did before - and I think I'm reaping the 'benefits' of a sedentary lifestyle along with too much stress. Downshifting (rather than downsizing for us) is something we are doing, because there are far more important things in life than getting stressed unnecessarily.

[sharon1]

I must admit, I was a very highly strung person and after the ablation and the cardiologist confirming I wasn't going to keel over, I learn't to slow down and take life in its stride. What I can't get done today can always be done another day. The problem is, the pounds are piling on now, have I slowed down too much I just get frustrated with the medical profession, knowing full well there is plenty of room for improvement.