Woke up at 5 am Sunday morning with severe pain under right shoulder blade which remained all day despite maxing out on paracetamol. In the evening I dug out some codeine tablets I had for sciatica last year and added those with similarly little improvement. Monday was more of the same except by now I was even more tired from lack of sleep.
8 30 this morning I rang doctors and managed to get an urgent same day appt for 9 10! ( think seeing so much cardiac stuff on one's records pushes one up the scale.
Doctor was very thorough, ecg. listen to chest, listen to heart checked movement of shoulder looking for injury etc. Drew a blank . Rang local hospital ( remember I have a month old Pacemaker) and they said come straight here we need to do x ray of PM and check not related.
Anyway I just got back. A and E was heaving and got more crowded as time went on. By lunchtime it was standing room only.
Having repeated all of the above (the PM looks fine on x ray) they are just as lost. And all I wanted was some pain killers that work!. (They gave some to me just before saying good bye.
All in all a long pointless exercise in covering one's **** I fear.
The point of this rant apart from venting my spleen is remind people that A and E is to be avoided at all costs and unless you think you are dying it is best to stay home. Now we have a few days to see what we caught whilst there .lol
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Oh Bob. You haven't been doing too much stuff with your pistons have you?Our A&E has a new minor injuries unit. I was diverted there when I'd banged my knee. 2 people there and in, x-rayed and out again within an hour on a Sunday morning. I don't care what's wrong with me, I'm heading straight to that next time I have an issue.
Well Bob, glad to find out your new PM is not the cause. 🤞 was it constant pain ? Maybe you pulled something ? If it's transient, then probably something you'll never discover what it was. Big old gas bubble ? I hope you figure it out but maybe let your body heal itself, lay low, pretend you're on holiday. Lol. Sally from San Diego. Ps, the heat is coming our way this week you all had a couple wks ago. 😱
Was it wind?Thank you for the advice about only going to A&E when we think we are dying but I think that’s pointless and we might as well cut out the middleman and drive straight to the undertakers.😃
Seriously, hope all is ok soon, wasn’t a nice experience by the sounds of it.
How you feeling now Bobd you ok? It’s funny cause when one goes to A&E you sort of coke better at the realisation do I need to be here especially when it’s so busy
Everyone's nightmare waiting endlessly in A&E or stuck in the back of an ambulance while in pain... wish you better and avoid going back in winter is my advice..
Hope you're feeling better now Bob , this is just the start I think . People are now getting comfortable visiting A and E again without worrying about Covid .
That has been our experience too . Absolutely had to go twice this year with my hubby . 12 hours there both times although to be fair that included being triaged, seen by a doctor and having a CT scan. A and E was heaving and horrible. We would only go there if we had no choice. Why on earth do people want to sit there for 12 hours with trivial things???!Hope you are feeling better now Bob. X
Oh gosh Bob, you certainly know how see things at grass roots level. Sorry you had so much pain but glad it wasn’t cardiac issues. Hope you are feeling a lot better now even if wiped out. Please rest, rest and then some. x
Hereford A and E is just as bad. Only time I've ever seen it emptyish was just after the pandemic hit. It was deserted. Commented so to nurse (was my 2nd AF episode ahd I didn't know any better) "that's because the only people here are the ones who NEED to be" she remarked drily. Hope your pain has taken a runner and nothing sinister Bob.
Hello, you definitely did the right thing being checked but so agree about A&E. hope that you are now in less pain must have been awful. Wishing you well x
NDDH have been saying A&E its overwhelmed for some time now with waits exceeding 10 hours. Sometimes you can't avoid A&E , especially for those on anti coagulants who have any head trauma, but better a long wait in A&E than seeing St Peter at the gate.
I do hope you are feeling better now Bob, I hope the strong painkillers did the trick. I totally agree with you re A&E. Earlier this year whilst on chemo/radiation I developed a temperature and the cancer hotline told my husband to take me straight to hospital. We got there and I was seen relatively quickly and put in a room by myself with plastic covered 'easy' chairs. Bearing in mind I had quite considerable radiation burns at that point I was in there for the (most uncomfortable) night. In the morning I was transferred to an actual bed (joy!) in the emergency department separated by a curtain from everyone else and hooked up to antibiotics (suspected urine infection). I was there until 3am the next morning when a porter transferred me what seemed like miles to a private room. The hospital were completely out of beds and the doctor apologised later. A few weeks later I had a temperature again and my husband monitored me every couple of hours and fed me paracetamol and I stayed put in my own bed. I was fine and am here to tell the tale!
Aww hope you are ok now Bob. I called an ambulance for my Colin who was having a heart attack at 5 am Monday morning. Was told up to two hours. It came two hours 5 mins later to take him to hospital 2 miles away! Whilst in A and E his heart rate dropped to 37 so I called the nurse and they rushed him into Resus . Yes it was a heart attack they said, needed two Ct scans and to come off bisoprolol for a few days so they said he was to stay in to be monitored for a few days whilst off this tablet that he has taken for 4 years. So he didn’t take the bisoprolol that morning with his cocktail of tablets , that was Monday , Tuesday morning saw the doctor who said he had to start taking them again? AND he didn’t need his second scan and discharged him? I questioned why he wasn’t going to be monitored for a few days… they said he was o.k. If he gets another come straight back??? Would have ordered for him to have been monitored for a few days and have his second scan that the first doctor said but there is nothing you can do.
Oh my goodness. That's awful. Hope all is well now. 🙏🙏Wish we could turn the tides on these Drs so they can see how badly they treat us sometimes. Take care.
Aww it’s been so bad. He had three heart attacks 4 years ago given a stent, whilst in hospital found kidney cancer… took the kidney out.. spread to both lungs so he has what they call kidney cancer of the lung… given no treatment as he feels so well. They say the treatment is horrendous. My point is.. he has never been called back after having his stent put in four years ago. He gets follow ups for his cancer but need to create about no follow ups with the cardiologist , such a shame you have to shout out!
HiI have a St John's Alarm at home. MSD pay for it.
Best is a ride in the ambulance straight to be seen not like A&E.
But I've not taken that ride. I got St John out after fall banging my head loosening my frozen arm from a former injury as the elbow ended up crashing through the nutro double edge of dog's plastic kibble, smashing it.and down on my coccyx bang.
When St Johns arrived I was sitting on a frozen bag of peas.
My arm went black and took months to settle.
I have a dog so didnt want to go to hospital and there is also the trouble gettng home. The ambulance is a one way 40min trip.
May be BobD you should consider a home alarm.
Never called ambulance when my persistent rapid H/R day. Left uncontrolled after stroke. Excess sweating and stopping and tired on exertion.
At 2 years3 months had enough and got to see a specialist and change of meds. But reduced to 156 not alot of change.
It was suggestion of my new locum Dr to visit priv specialist where he was interested. He introduced me to CCB Calcium Channel Blocker and on 1/2 dose I went down by a further 105 H/R day per minute.
Twinked I take 120mg Diltiazem am and only 2.5 mg Bisoprolol pm. CONTROLLED.
Happy yes with a steady 123/72 BP. and 77-88H/R day on 24-monitor and 47 H/R at night.
Oh dear, I know exactly how you feel about A&E but glad to hear that you have been checked out. There are times I have avoided going when I know many would have got things checked out and I possibly should have done. Hope the pain relief has taken effect now and left you feeling more comfortable. Fingers crossed you haven't come away with more than you went in with!!
Unfortunately it is no better here in BC and most of Canada. I expect it will get worse before it gets any better. Our so called free health care system is in for a wake up.
Hope you feel better soon! I spent a night in A&E a few weeks ago, and I definitely wouldn’t recommend it either. Luckily didn’t catch anything, which felt like a miracle. All the policemen around really took me aback, like a different world in there.
Felt a bit or a fraud, but seemed to be seen faster than many - heart rate of 170 must mean a faster triage. Was amused to hear I had a ‘funky ECG’.
Some of us here in the states say if you want to get sick check into a hospital. I've known a couple people who ended up with serious infections they certainly didn't have before they were admitted to the hospitals they were in. 😟
I was between medication for A Fib. The cardiologist had advised to stop dronedarone as it wasn’t working, and I needed an echocardiogram before I could be given Flecainide plus Bisoprolol as a pill in the pocket.He advised me to go to A&E for a cardioversion if I went into A Fib in meantime.
(Of course I did - have only just got that PIP.)Yet they didn’t give me the electric cardioversion that he suggested,
They tried a magnesium sulphate drip, then when that didn’t work I was given 1.25mg Bisoprolol. Was allowed home when rate went below 100, with daily Bisoprolol. Went back into sinus rhythm a couple of hours later.
Though I’m stopping that now that I have the treatment ready for just when I go in A Fib. My heart rate is usually low anyway, and down in 40s on daily Bisoprolol.
I’m on waiting list for a cryoablation. I find the idea scary, but feel it’s more likely to work if it’s done earlier in the progression of A Fib.
Interesting - thank you. Didn't know they gave magnesium via drip for high HR, though I know folk take it in tablet form. Cardiologist took me off Bisop as it was lowering HR too much & making HR very irregular. Had 4th ablation 4 months ago & although have had problems feel much better.
That’s good to know, it does scare me but having had one failed medication already it seems a good idea. The dronedarone got me out of my first (diagnosed) episode in February. But then I got episodes in April and May while on it, though at a lower heart rate. The episodes lasted a week though! It also left me feeling flat with low heartbeat the rest of the time, and raised my liver enzymes. Came back to life when I stopped it, then got A Fib again after a month. I have felt that these lowered heart rates on the medications seem to have made the rate more irregular at times. Though I’m trying to check my watch less, as anxiety doesn’t help,
Hope you feel better soon Bob. Afib frightens me to death and so does my fluctuating heart rate and BP but stay out of A & E unless I feel unwell. Thank for your reassurance at all times, you stay so calm and I admire you
Just seen this. Hope by now things are settling. Hospital "care" very variable. Had to ring 999 as my neighbour on edoxaban had fallen and had headache. Paramedics fairly quick, about40 mins but then 3 days 2 nights on trolley in A&E. No beds. Surprise surprise came home with pressure sore!!
I had bad pain near m6 right shoulder in the back. All kinds of tests were negative. I found out a long time later that it was referred gallbladder pain. I was ticked that my doc didn’t seem aware of the possibility of gallbladder pain,
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