Explanation Please

[Rosei]

Although I have some medical experience I find that all these abbreviations flumex me at times, could someone please provide a glossary of the said abbreviations .

[Shoshov]

Ha ha me too rosei

[Rosei in reply to Shoshov]

Thank goodness I am not on my own.

[MichaelJH Heart Star]

I have suggested that a pinned post is put up for this. If in the meantime you post anyones that are puzzling you at the moment in this thread I am sure someone will oblige!

[stevejb1810]

It’s so easy to slip into jargon that we forget that what we are doing is not common knowledge. I have the same issue as you - it’s one area where I do Google.

[Effiecat]

Technical terms often puzzle me too, but it would help lots to spell out the abbreviations. Please!

[laura_dropstitch Heart Star]

I think part of the problem is that some of the abbreviations are coming down to us patients via medical reports, or as official (or semi official) names for conditions/treatments. So I'll refer to my device as CRT-D because that's actually what it's called, but it probably makes no sense to someone who hasn't heard of it before. I've had a CRT-D in my chest for years and even I can't tell you exactly what those letters stand for!

A glossary in a pinned post sounds like a really good idea, I think. What would be the best way to compile a list of terms and their definitions? I'm happy to help with it.

[Hidden in reply to laura_dropstitch]

This is what I will most likely have to have, do they look big in yiur chest? Is it scary? X

[laura_dropstitch Heart Star in reply to Hidden]

Hi Nat. I have a small scar (maybe two inches long at the most?) and the bump from the main part of the device is not visible at all the majority of the time. You can see it if I stretch or when I'm lying down in certain positions, but going about my day-to-day business, nobody would know it was there. I was terrified to get mine at first but it's been great. It takes a while to settle in and feels a bit tender and jabby and heavy for a few months (nothing painful once your wound has healed, just an awareness that it's there) but it kind of settles in and becomes part of your body. I can sleep comfortably in any position and do all sorts of sports/activities without being aware of it at all. Having a defibrillator inside you can be scary at first. I was so anxious about it, but I gave myself time to get used to the idea (went to the cinema a lot to get used to being out on my own) and now very rarely think about it at all, other than to feel reassured. My heart function improved (albeit only slightly) after I got mine, which is the only time there has been any improvement. Some people notice a huge improvement in how they feel. There have been a couple of threads about this, will see if I can find them and send you the links x

[Hidden in reply to laura_dropstitch]

Thankyou so much for your reply, I really appreciate it x

[WeezeMcCheese]

I found this, any good?

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2...

[laura_dropstitch Heart Star in reply to WeezeMcCheese]

That looks like a pretty comprehensive list!

[WeezeMcCheese in reply to laura_dropstitch]

I’m assuming it’s relevant with it being a .gov website but whether it’s relevant to what folk here need is another matter. So many acronyms, wonder how many we can memorise?! Challenge of the week! 😊

[WeezeMcCheese in reply to WeezeMcCheese]

Abbreviations sorry, not acronyms!

[Nanne]

i looked on the BHF website and sent them a message to find out if there is such a thing

[Rosei in reply to Nanne]

Well done, I didn't think of that.

[Helen_BHF]

Hi everyone, just wanted to share this link to a glossary page of medical terms: bhf.org.uk/heart-matters-ma...

It's doesn't specifically focus on abbreviations but it's clear that there's a need for a pinned post on this. It's something that's been on our radar for a while so I'll look at putting that together! Please do keep this discussion going with any ideas or terms that you'd like to see included - I'm all ears! Thanks

[Rosei in reply to Helen_BHF]

For some reason a good number of my emails have landed in junk, so I have just seen your comment which I welcome. I was feeling a bit embarrassed about writing this post showing my ignorance but seeing the number of replies I see I am not alone. Thank you for your reply.