Fobbed off at A and E

how do you manage frequent visits to A and E without the staff looking skyward when you appear. Then making stuff up to get you out of the door as fast as possible? I have brittle asthma and try very hard not to go to A and E but atm I am there about once a month /fortnight when 3 nebs don't do the trick. Yesterday I had a different problem palpitations and tachycardia 140, woozy and not with it, I sat down and started an asthma attack on top. my son called 999 but we had the asthma almost nailed but the heart thing wasn't. On admission the A and E staff were only interested in the asthma which was sorted by then......4 hours later my heart rate was still 112, my son can read ECG and he said it wasn't right, the charge nurse came and said I could go, my pf was fine and bloods fine. I said my heart was still racing. He said 'arnt you happy to go, do you want to stay.' I aid im not happy to go with my heart racing, my asthma s fine, he sighed and set up another ecg and revisited my bloods results. My BM was 15- i'm not diabetic-normal is about 8, and my heart rate was still 112 with a trace showing atrial fibrillation. what do I do next time I take poorly?????????

[yaf_user681_14340]

Hi Jay,

Sorry your having such a rubbish time! When did you last eat pre them doing your BM? If was more than 2hrs before then i think it is something that you should follow up with your gp....if you are on long term steroids or you are on frequent short courses , the high BM is probably because of this.

Can I a ask how old you are? Have you ever been told that you were in AF before, do you take any medications for you heart currently?

It is actually quite rare for young people to go into AF and I am very surprised that AnE would tell you were in AF and then not do anything about it!

Do you take anything to thin your blood at all?

Sorry i feel I'm asking you lots of questions (I'm a cardiac nurse, so this naturally gets my interest hehe)

My advice would be that if you don't take any blood thinners go back to AnE explain you have been told your in AF but they didn't do anything about it!

Let us know how you get on

Becca Xx

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Did they tell you you were in AF, or is that what the ECG bit of paper said? I only ask coz i had a mate who got really worried that he had an abnormal rhythm on his ECG and when he eventually asked the consultant he was like 'oh, no, dont worry about that the machine gets it wrong all the time'! I've had normal rhythms described as all sorts by the machine, and funny rhythms described as sinus tachy, so it all depends!

It might be helpful to have a note from the GP/Cons you usually see to explain your treatment to A&E staff, its hard when they wont take you seriously, maybe make a complaint if you really feel they handled it badly. You can make it as more of a comment than a complaint, which is what I would do, as then it all feels less official and scary!