Monday 25 January 2016

Lub dub, lub dub

Welcome to Fast SOS and Laurie M., via here and Greg Matthews via Bloglovin. I see the followers tab is still not correct as the number of followers I have is more than the number it is showing. So apologies if you have joined and not been welcomed!

Thursday we were at the hospital having another visit to the cardiologist. Saw a new one this time, a lovely chap who was amazed I had been previously discharged without treatment.

For those of you who watch Chris Marshall in Death in Paradise, he acted a little like that, peering at results on the computer "ah ha", scrabbling back through previous ECG's 'ah ha" etc.

He then circled several things on other ECG's, pronounced his findings and off I went to have a blood kidney function test and to await a cardiac MRI - I had been given an ECG when I arrived to see him.

I need to wait for 2 weeks for today's report to reach my doctor then go to him to begin a low dose of beta blockers.  I am not looking forward to taking them as some I know who do so, say they are fine, others the opposite. I am not a pill popping kind of person but needs must I suppose!

If they help with my tachycardia I will need to stay on them. If they don't work (after being slowly raised) or make me ill, I must be referred back to him. He will probably then do a catheter ablation, providing they can pick the problem up as it is intermittent if frequent! Depending on how that goes, the final step would involve me being fitted with a pacemaker:(

He hasn't ruled anything out, even Brugada Syndrome or Wolff Parkinson White Syndrome, but doesn't believe I have either of them which is very good! Maybe the MRI will show something. The ECG taken that morning showed a brief electrical misfire that he circled but was otherwise normal - no tachycardia in sight - sod's law isn't it?

Maybe if I had had the implantable loop recorder fitted at the end of my previous consultation, something may have shown up! Onwards and upwards. At least I feel something is happening now.

D, I will chat to you about it this weekend.


5 comments:

  1. It sounds as though you have a good doctor now. I hope that all can be resolved for you. xx

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    1. Thank you Amy, but the problem with consultants is , should you not go back within the year, you tend to see a new one!

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  2. He sound thorough which is good. Too many dismiss things these days or your fall by the wayside because the repeat appointment is overlooked by the specialist. That happened to hubby.

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  3. I had a problem with palpitations and tachycardia a few years back,I went through all the business at Papworth, got taken for an ablation and they coudn't do it because the rogue signal was coming from too near to the sinus node, too close to operate without upsetting it). So I had a choice of open heart surgery, a pacemaker, or do nothing and just live with it but take beta blockers forever after. Before release I was shown a couple of tricks on how to stop these palpitations on my own when they came. (which do actually work). I have to say, at one stage they came nearly every day and sometimes for up to 3 hours, but I decided to forge ahead on my own, and only take the beta blockers if really needed. Five years later, I hardly have them at all, and the beta blockers are nearly all still in the packet. I am convinced that it was all due to stress at work which the consultant said wasn't possible, but I'm now retired and hardly ever have them. I'm glad I didn't go down the beta blocker route or the pacemaker, I hate taking pills for anything other than a headache. Good luck with yours!

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    1. Thank you. I did enquire about positional ways of stopping it but was told mine isn't that kind. I don't get to see my GP for 2 more weeks so shall discuss everything with him. I have been retired for quite a while now so for me, that hasn't made a difference.

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