Apologies for the long post. I was referred to the Rapid Access Chest Pain clinic by my GP as she is unsure if my chest pain and breathlessness is down to my lung conditions or if I have angina. I attended the clinic 2 weeks ago and was referred for a heart CT angiogram where they inject a contrast dye into an artery in your arm.
On arriving I was fitted with a cannula in my arm and given 4 doses of a liquid beta blocker and a GTN tablet as they want your heart rate to be as near 65 as possible. My BP was very high and it wouldn't come down past 68.
Everything seemed to be going OK on the scan but after the second injection of contrast I had a horrible feeling of being suffocated and couldn't breathe. It was very frightening and I signalled I had a problem so the 2 radiographers got me out and brought the cardiac nurse in to check me over.
Once I was out of the scanner it got better and they decided I didn't need oxygen but needed to stay in the department for a while to make sure I was fit to drive home. Bless - they even made me a cuppa!
Brilliant staff but a very scary experience. Thankfully they'd just finished scanning so now have to wait for the results. Felt ropey all day and slept a lot.
Crikey - it just goes on!
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Roxdale
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Hi, I to was referred by my GP to RACPC during the first lockdown, my consultation was over the phone and then referred for ct scan with contrast as it was the middle of Covid I had to wear a mask when in the machine this is where we found out that I should not a mask as I collapsed while in the ct scan and they had to pull me out quickly and revive me and then mask free we started again. I was in there a while as my HR was very high and so had the tab and had to wait for it to go down . It was 90 were as my normal HR is 70 they said I was suffering from “white coat syndrome “. It was a bit scary as I had to be on my own because of Covid, I usually have my wife(carer) with me as I have mobility issues. Any ho have 30% chance of heart attack so put on statins ( that’s another story), but also found that I have an enlarged and leaky aorta so now under a cardiac surgeon and reviewed regularly to see if it grows as at the moment it twice the size and various members of my family have had a aortic aneurysms ( very dangerous). I to find now days I suffer the following day after a scan just can’t get out of bed. Hope your results are ok, good luck for the future. Kevin
Thanks Kevin. Yes they said to me 'white coat syndrome' for my very high BP. Didn't really get that as I didn't feel stressed and was doing my yoga breathing when it all kicked off. It was literally just after the second flush of contrast. A couple of weeks ago I'd rushed into the chest pain clinic as I was running late and panicking I'd miss my appointment and my BP was 120 over 80!
I saw my GP last May 2023 who thought I had angina and referred me to our RACC and told me to cancel our holiday abroad in case I had a heart attack, really scared me! I had all the usual tests and a CT scan then a CT scan with dye 3 weeks ago. They tried to do a dye scan last year but couldn’t access good enough veins as previous radiotherapy had mucked them up. Luckily I was fine with the dye and beta blocker. Turns out my heart is in good condition but I have emphysema. Bit of a shock I’ll admit but will learn to deal with it. Good luck with your results xx
Thank you. Pleased your CT results eventually showed everything OK with your heart. Like you I've been shocked by the emphysema diagnosis plus lung scarring as well now - all in a couple of months. Fingers crossed the respiratory clinic with have some positive news when I eventually get to see them.
I’ve had a first appointment with chest clinic in February and all they did was weigh me, take my blood pressure and oxygen, confirm emphysema was spotted on my ct scan and I’d have lung function tests in a few months! Was told I didn’t need pulmonary exercise as not bad enough and they don’t know if I’ll ever need an inhaler. Found that a bit strange. Good luck with your results and it may be better than you think. Keep exercising and breathing the correct way x
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