Trust me-I'm a patient

[Dickyticker26]

This time last year I presented at A&E with chest pains and was in the Resuscitation Unit for 5 hours

At the time I was on no medication though the surgery had already picked up on an irregular heart beat and 2 years earlier I had had an echo cardiogram

The hospital prescribed Bisoprolol 7.5 mg betablockers and Apixaban 5mg x2 bloodthinners

The chest pain has never returned and I voluntarily gave up all caffeine which got rid of my night episodes of rapid heart beats (SVT= supra ventricular tachycardia)

After an Angiogram in December a Joint Cardiology Conference recommended a quadruple heart bypass and by then my prescription had been increased to include Clopidogrel 75 mg anti clotting, Atorvastatin to reduce cholesterol, and Isosorbide Mononitrates 60 mg to open blood vessels

I then developed constant diarrhoea for all January and February which I found totally demoralising

I asked a doctor at the surgery if the prescription could be changed His reaction was to refer me to the hospital for colorectal surgery! He all but clicked his heels together as he showed me the door

Fortunately the very day I was given for a colonoscopy I already had an appointment at another hospital to see a heart surgeon

I explained my position and he very sympathetically and kindly indicated that I should drop the medication which I thought was causing the problem

I therefore went back to taking the original prescription and the diarrhoea miraculously disappeared overnight

Recently the surgery have picked up on my getting repeat prescriptions just for the Bisoprolol and Apixaban and I was required to phone in about it

This led to a "tense" discussion with the most senior doctor in the practice

As a result I now have the Bisoprolol and Apixaban and Clopidogrel and then Lansoprazole 30 mg which I believe gives a protective coating to the stomach and then Rosuvastatin instead of Atorvastatin and no Nitrates

So far so good with the medication It looks as if it was the Nitrates causing the diarrhoea though nothing has been said officially

I did mention that the Bisoprolol at 7.5 mg seems a bit high compared with other prescriptions I have heard of-such as 2.5 mg or even lower and I believe 10 mg is the maximum

However this suggestion was brushed aside rather like Melania getting rid of Donald Trump's hand that time

All in all a useful exercise in learning how the system works

[Dolphin14]

Stopping meds one at a time and watching symptoms may have been a better idea versus cutting them all out at once.

Glad things are better now.

[Dickyticker26 in reply to Dolphin14]

Thanks for you response

I always suspected either the statins or the nitrates and did have it in mind to do you as you suggested and cut out one at a time and watch the results

I have had a GTN spray from the beginning but have never used it

Things are more or less ok at the moment and the current arrangement seems the best for me