After feeling frustrated at my last Echo at poor result, I eventually got the real results via my GP (letter telling me to stop aspirin which I hadn't been on since May). I went for a chat and got to read consultants letter about me.
I have been discharged from Cardiology as my HF (LVD) has gone down from severe to mild with the surmised cause being stress! No surprise there! Continue taking the bisoprolol - if tolerated! Cheek since hospital knew from 3 visits I wasn't managing to take the meds because of side effects.
I took myself off on holiday (with expensive insurance) to sort my head out and was absolutely fine, walking miles every day (13.5 in first 2 days) even climbing from cable car to top of Mount Calamorro (pic attached) with only mild breathlessness.
I felt great... then I came home!
Since getting home last week I have tried to put my life in order, dealing with people/problems that needed sorting and agreeing to go back to my part time job, unfortunately all the old stresses have built to chest pain last night, something I hadn't had in months. Seems like this will never fully go away.
I now just need to try forget about the HF, to not stress myself over anything/anyone and hope it all stays on an even keel but did want to thank all the wonderful people on here who helped me through this awful year. Keep up the good work supporting each other.
Take care.
Avril x
Written by
CraftyGirl72
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This is easily said but harder to apply. You need a coping mechanism. The triggers rarely go away. Best we can do is find a coping mechanism that works for you. Still looking for mine but a do find getting out for a walk helps me. Best of luck I think most of the stuff we get wound up over is best let go.
I have a stressful job and it sometimes involves angry heated arguments conducted around the table in various languages. After my HA I am slowly learning not to rise to the provocation and be calm. Meeting much better and I am happier. But and I say this through gritted teeth some people are far from easy.
Unfortunately people much the same as some other things that stress us cannot simply be vanished.
I used a good book called SUMO short for shut up and move on! Help me let go some rubbish.
Oh, my stress triggers are gone... caring for my mum, she passed away and my partner, sorry ex partner! I left him and that's when stress hit peak level but 10 months on it's minor things and slight pain so not worrying. When I calm down I'll be fine.
I work with public in a stressful situation and have to go back soon... if it's like last attempt in June then I will quit, again! Boss ignored last resignation attempt!
when a doctor or consultant get it into their heads that it is stress related then getting further treatment can be hard as i found out and it nearly cost me my life! i ended up loosing an organ.
i hate it when i see stuff like this been spurted from so called professional well paid people and it is the easy route out.
i saw a cardiologist when i was younger who sent a letter to my doctors only claiming i was looking it all up on the net a few years after i had an angiogram and echo scan which showed some left narrowing, fatty tissue and regurgitation so from been made up it wasn't!
if you think something is wrong then stick to your guns don't let people like this get away with claiming it is all ways stress related and any way how would they know as they don't live with you so they wouldn't know what goes on in your household.
my dad got put off from seeing doctors and went with a sudden heart attack, he died because no one was there to help him.
Thanks, but mine definitely was stress related! I was under immense stress all through 2017 and it came to a head at start of year, HF found at a pre op assessment for something else.
I knew it wasn't artery issues but they insisted on a battery of tests & drugs making me sicker. Been ok for months but sorting some issues in my life this week has raised stress levels again, anxious and upset ergo more pain.
Can only speak for myself but with mild exercise and medication my Heart Ejection Fraction has gone from 30% to 55%,i felt stress was involved,but the Consultant said it was idiopathic.On diagnosis i was in a very dark place,not knowing what the future held.The latest Consultant statement was ,the Heart is stable,proceed with the medication
I got a complete evaluation of life,work related stress doesnt work for me anymore,my health comes first,personal tradegy is the most important for me,everything else takes a back seat.Doesnt mean i have become impersonal,just means i know what means most
Ejection fraction is what the Cardiolgists determine as the percentage of which the Heart is effectively pumping blood to the rest of the body,55% to 70% is deemed normal.My intial prognosis was poor,i decided there and then,health,family and close friends come first.Anything else comes a long second.You need to look after yourself and then have the strength to do whats necessary.Medication can be changed,you need to ideally speak to your Cardiologist first or GP about this
I know what it is just was never given a number. Meds were changed 4 times then abandoned when angio was clear and after my last Echo I don't have a cardiologist! I was discharged as mild...
That is a pretty decent climb young lady - well done! We don't have any hills that high in Australia - if England had been a bit kinder you would have sent all of us convicts to New Zealand which is much hillier and prettier! Good luck on your journey - one day, one step at a time.
Lol The best part of it was done in an ear popping cable car.... I just finished off the last bit on foot, in flip flops - I didn't realise there was option to climb higher!
I did so much walking in a hilly town though I came back from Spain energised. There is a hill affectionately known by all as cardiac hill (old dears usually found resting on a wall mid way up) which I took with ease. Next time I'll try down under if its flat! 😉
The GP referred me to the hospital and I had 2 admissions and 2 visits to the operating theatre
I was told that I had cancer of the bladder
I told the consultant urologist (curiously named Mr Dick) that I thought it resulted from my addiction to Beecham Powders-a mix of caffeine and aspirin and that the bleeding came from my stomach and not the bladder
He said that was nonsense and it was more likely the result of my mother smoking when she was pregnant
In the event the consultant came to the ward, sat on the bed and told me that the biopsy confirmed there was no cancer
One of the "learners" trailing behind the consultant told me that they could open up almost any middle-aged male and find tumors in the bladder which were not necessarily malignant
After that I had years of periodic checkups at the hospital-cystoscopies which were not very pleasant
In the end I gave up attending to the annoyance of the consultant
I had given up the Beecham Powders after I left hospital and the bleeding has never returned though "carcinoma in 1992" still appears in my hospital records
Now I have an issue with caffeine which I feel was responsible for something called "super ventricular hypercardia" which I experienced for some years on and off but I have only recently recognised the symptoms from a posting on the forum-I put it down to indigestion or my lungs and never mentioned it to the GP
Fortunately that has not reappeared since I gave up caffeine and gone on medication following my visit to A & E last July
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HF diagnosis due to 2 leaky heart valves 
High Potassium Levels
Anti inflammatory for pain 
Thank you
Good news for me.
