This still happens

[Griffin9]

Man misdiagnosed with anxiety for 10 years learns symptoms were actually heart condition

itv.com/news/granada/2022-0...

[BobD Volunteer]

Unusual. It is usually ladies who have that problem.

[mjames1]

Very sad. Hard to judge from afar, but one has to wonder how well served he was by his doctors.

Panic attacks and various tachycaridias, including afib, SVT, etc. often present with very similar symptons. The difference of course is in the ECG, but the problem here is that by the time someone say in SVT (or afib) gets to the hospital or the doctor, their SVT may have resolved and their ECG now normal resulting in a diagnosis of Panic Attack. This is further complicated that these fast arrhythmias may induce a panic attack and even vice versa.

Monday Morning quarterbacking, this patient should have had more of a differential diagnosis with fast arrhythmia's being ruled in or out via longer term monitoring such as a two week Zio Patch. But even that may not pick up an arrhythmia that only presents every few months.

That's one reason why home devices such as Kardia and Apple Watch are changing the game.

Two people walk into the doctor's or hospital with classical symptoms of a panic attack and both have normal ECG's in the office. The first patient doesn't have a Kardia or Apple Watch and goes home with a diagnosis of Panic Attack. The second patient with the Kardia walks into the office with an ecg taken two hours ago showing SVT. That patient goes home with a diagnosis of SVT and a referral to an ep for further observation and treatment.

Jim

'

[jeanjeannie50]

Walking home tonight, after being out all day, we started climbing up some steps (my town is full of them) - a lady was stood halfway up trying to catch her breath. I asked if she was ok and she told me she just felt so out of breath. I heard her story of how she would feel her heart beating wildly and would come over feeling sweaty. Her GP had done an ECG and told her she was fine ! I felt so sorry for her and explained how heart rhythm problems can come and go. I had friends with me so didn't want to go on too much about it, but why didn't her GP believe her when she told him her heart was beating fast and it made her sweat. A stroke waiting to happen!

Jean

[IronGirl68 in reply to jeanjeannie50]

Yep, that could have been me Jean, my episodes went on for far too long without me being listened to 😔... I feel that it didn't all need to get as bad as it did. Well done for speaking with that lady, I make sure that I speak up too x

[Ppiman]

Fascinating. I have had arrythmias since a young age, mainly runs of ectopic beats (as I knew of), and I was told that it was down to anxiety, but since my atrial flutter in 2019, my cardiologist said that I might have had arrhythmias all along. The oddest thing was that the "anxiety attacks" were infrequent and weren't a response to stress. I remember one happening while I was washing the pots! No one will now ever know - such is life.

Steve

[Jetcat in reply to Ppiman]

Since my late teens My missed beats and ectopics have always been put down to stress/anxiety and anger issues. Fast forward 30 years and Iv undergone 3 PVI ablations for AFIB.😁

[Ppiman in reply to Jetcat]

When mine were first looked at in my twenties, I was told by a cardiologist that the ectopics I was having might come to nothing at least until I was older and maybe not even then. Well, at 66, in 2019, they did come to something, and with a vengeance, when I developed, out of the blue, it seemed, persistent atrial flutter and tachycardia. Now, so far as I know, persistent arrhythmias usually come after years of them being "paroxysmal" (on-off), but I was never aware of anything except the odd panic attacks I'd had occasionally since my thirties. All along, too, I'd had a small sliding hiatus hernia and IBS, which seemed linked, to me.

It was the cardiologist I saw for the Afl in 2019 who said I'd probably had bursts of short AF or AFl for years and they would have caused what seemed like panic attacks. I was amazed when he said it as I'd even labelled myself as having an anxious personality, which is partly true, yet life events were always something I coped very well with.

Steve

[Jetcat in reply to Ppiman]

Yes i suppose it’s easy to give a anxiety label.? But then again if I was a doctor and I read a normal ECG in a young person who wasn’t at the surgery every 2 minutes I can understand why a little to be honest.??

If my kardia watch had been around 30+ years ago I would have had a ECG print out to show my doctor In the very beginning I suppose.!!!

[Ppiman in reply to Jetcat]

Exactly my own thoughts. I sympathise with doctors as "catching" AF even on a Kardia isn't always easy. I had a two-week Zio in 2021 monitor and that showed only brief AF like episodes lasting 10-20 seconds.

Steve

[Jetcat in reply to Ppiman]

I once had a monitor on for 48 hours and showed all normal. Half hour after handing it back I started with a episode of fibrillation.😡 So back down to doctors to go through it all again 😁

[Ppiman in reply to Jetcat]

I guess AF must go undiagnosed a lot of the time.

Steve

[Jetcat in reply to Ppiman]

Yes I bet.? More and more will get diagnosed earlier with all the new health watches and monitors now available on the market.👍

[Ppiman in reply to Jetcat]

I think you’re right. I was reading about the American situation where it is said to be rapidly increasing, but I’ve often wondered whether that wasn’t more down to diagnosis than the illness itself. On the other hand, obesity is generally what is being blamed along with high blood pressure (often hand in hand).

Steve

[Jetcat in reply to Ppiman]

I posted a comment the other week about how easily available cheap addictive high fat high salt fast food is. Everywhere you go it’s there readily available cheap.! You can Get your kids eating it and we’ll give them a toy included and they can wash it down with a fizzy drink too.!!

Then the government has the cheek to say something needs to be done about the obesity epidemic in children in the UK.

My children know when my grandkids visit they get offered healthy meals and when they refuse to eat it because they don’t like peas, or they don’t like carrots or the chicken isn’t like what my dad gets me.! (from drive through ) then they leave without eating.!

I know it sounds harsh but I’m sticking to my guns.

[Ppiman in reply to Jetcat]

We have a four year old grandchild and he eats far better at his parents oddly than with us, in the sense that he eats his veg at home but is not keen here! He’s lucky though as his mum grew up on a farm and knows what good food truly is. Our son is lucky, too!

Steve

[Jetcat in reply to Ppiman]

You can’t beat that. At least he’s eating his veg.👍 good to hear.

[Ppiman in reply to Jetcat]

Thank you! Good chatting with you.

Steve

[jeanjeannie50 in reply to Jetcat]

If ever I had a monitor to wear my heart would behave beautifully and I would feel full of life and energy - as though I could climb mountains. Like you when I took it off my heart would play up again. It made me realise how much our minds contribute to the way we feel.

Jean

[Jetcat in reply to jeanjeannie50]

That is a very good point Jean, I never thought of it like that.!!!

[Madscientist16]

As Bob said..."Ladies usually have that problem." Doctors (male) tried to convince me that it was "all in my head", anxiety or peri -menopause symptoms. YIKES!