My first A & E visit- but with a twist

drove myself to A & E yesterday with chest pain in THE CENTRE of my chest and centre only.

told them i have asthma and what meds i am on and told them that the pain was not what i usually feel when having an attack. my only symptom was the pain, i.e. no SOB etc.

they did an ecg and told me my heart was quite fast. apart from that they didnt tell me much. after 5 hours i was sent home with the feeling that the entire time the only thing that had been checked was my heart and from the questions they were asking it seemed as though they were determening whether i was having a heart attack or not.

by the time i left, the pain had gone but they DID ask me whether i wanted to stay (??) but i said no thank you. i was to go home, take pain killers and sleep with two pillows to ""help my heart and asthma"".

my experience was fine. they were kind to me and although the waiting was long and the doctors sparce, over all it wasnt bad- especially as i had gone alone.

what i am wandering is: could this have been asthma related? i never took my inhaler during all of this as i was concerned my already fast heart beat would speed even more and wasnt sure what was causing the pain. but even though they never once mentioned my asthma, does that mean it was all heart related? Im only 22..... but i DO get palpitations and heart pain occasionally- more often than i think i should be, but STILL i am only 22.... my family history is however unknown.

anyone out there with any comments that might shed some light on my situation?

Lizzie xxxx

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Hi,

Sorry to hear you had to go to hospital but glad it wasn't too bad.

I don't know if I can help much except to say that I fairly often have what feel like palpitations and/or a fast heartbeat. When I first saw a consultant about my SOB last year they thought it might be heart related so did tests including ECG, echocardiogram and 24 hour ECG all of which were totally normal, except that they commented my heart rate got very fast, over 170 bpm, on exertion(running for train). But they didn't seem worried.

I have also had a pain in my chest which tends to be vertical or like tendrils, quite sharp, and feels like heart pain but have been seeing a physio for what I thought was a shoulder problem but turns out to be a spine problem with referred pain, including one that feels like heart pain as described. I'm 25 and didn't really think it could be heart but was still worried what with the SOB as well, though that is starting to show itself up as more respiratory hence me being on here.

Don't know if any of this is helpful or relevant but thought I would share in case it is and to show it doesn't need to be anything serious. If you are worried though I would definitely go to your GP and ask if they think more tests would be helpful maybe a 24 hour ECG. Might show up normal but better to be reassured than not. Did they give you any advice on follow up at the hoist

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Continued, stupid thing wouldn't let me scroll down to edit, sorry

hospital other than sleeping?

Hope you get some answers or it gets better!

Xx

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Hi S-LIZZIE,

i went AnE when had really bad chest pains and my heart rate was fast.

They new i was asthmatic as on my notes.

I wad ecg and wired up a bit ,had xrays and had a blood test from my wrist for my oxygen in blood.

I had a ultra sound scan on my heart few days later and did have a problem with my heart

but still with in normal boundry only just but not the couse of my breathing problems.

i WAS KEPT IN AnE along time as had lots of pain in chest and had a few ecgs and monitored.

Then under cardiology for few months till they did more tests and discharged me when they

were happy to let me go.

if the AnE were worried they would also send you see cardiology as out patient xxx

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Hiya,

Sorry you've had a scary time.

I'm afraid my feeling on this is that it would be wrong to try and guess whether your pain was cardiac or asthma related. If you are concerned you really should consult a doctor.

If you should be poorly again don't hesitate to summon help....especially if you are having chest pain and even if you don't think it's cardiac. Also, remember you are totally entitled to ask the doctors for a provisional diagnosis in A+E if you are having problems like this. Your GP can probably access your A+E records too which might help.

Take care

Feejay

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silly me

forgot to mention the most important thing lol!

already an outpatient with cardiology and my first test with them was the 24 ECG test which I WAS WEARING DURING MY A & E visit and only just returned this morning. so guess it will be visible on there what exactly was going on while i was feeling the pain.

so no worries in the sense that I am already seing someone about it. it is just that the results from that test are likely to take weeks to come out so not sure what to do about the pain till deffinate answers. havent tried pain killers yet because since yesterday pain has gone/and or come back but not as bad.

what is interesting is i took my inhaler today to see if it would ease.

the first time i took it, it deffinately helped a lot. in fact the pain pretty much dissapeared. the second time i tried that however this evening it made the pain worse!

not sure what to do really. the pain is not bad enough i feel to be bohering emergency services as I am ok with my breathing etc. however it is bad enough to make me worried and make me feel not myself and fatigued as a result. i dont know what to do next as i am already under cardiology care, already under asthma care and no one has really worked out what is causing it- YET.

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Hi lizzie,

I get a lot of pain in the centre of my chest and my gb says it a broncho spasm of the bigger lung sacks and when I take ventolin it usually goes away.

I'm not a doctor so can't say it's the same with you and when I first got these pains a year ago I had tests done that showed there was fluid on the lungs.

I would get yourself checked over.

Love lydia x

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Hi Lizzie,

Just to say that if they find anything significant on the ECG they will probably be in touch sooner - if it didn't show anything you won't hear about it for weeks probably!

Not that this helps with your pain much and if it persists you might want to go to GP or whatever anyway but I would think that if there's anything that needs prompt action they should be in touch sooner.

Hope it gets better! xx