Not so simple...

[ChessPasty]

Hi all - I'm a 38 year old Male in the South East. Following a health check/MOT facility at work, I discovered that I had an elevated diastolic blood pressure - readings around 133/115. Obviously the bottom number was too high, so I contacted my GP around April . They were very proactive in arranging me to have 24 hour BP monitoring for the following week.

Well, I would like to say I'm a proactive, pragmatic person but that week was horrendous in the anticipation of it all. By the Friday before (appointment set for the following Wednesday) my BP was climbing and climbing, until it reached around 190/120 when I presented to ED. A quick EGC (sinus tachy) and I was given an amlodipine prescription to go home with.

I attended my appointment the following Wednesday and the practice nurse was very prompt to escalate to the GP, who sent me referrals to my local hospital cardiology department to have an echocardiogram and an ultrasound of my kidneys. I was then started on a prescription of ramipril as a less invasive alternative.

The echo showed a mild Left Ventricular obstruction, and no indication on the kidney ultrasound. I waited five weeks between procedure and follow up call, which wasn't with the consultant as indicated but a clinical fellow. She indicated that the best treatment for LVOT was a beta blocker and that she would arrange a new prescription. This took another three to four weeks to actually reach my GP, my copy of the referral letter never arrived.

I picked up my new prescription and vowed not to look it up and doom scroll as my health anxiety was already spiraling. This felt like a mistake. I had been put on Doxazosin so they could give me blood tests to assess my endocrine levels. The idea was to put up with this for a month to create a clean sample, have a blood test, and then I could resume my current treatment.

Doxazosin was miserable. It made my heart race and pulse, and gave me mood swings which compromised me personally and professionally. It was an incredibly difficult month, and to make things worse I had been given no instruction for the blood test at the end, and had to make my own way. It took three presentations to get done as they needed to be first thing in the morning, yet prebooked appointments are weeks behind.

I tried to contact my cardiology team for answers but no avail. I went to my GP to get the referral letter they had sent, as I had never been contacted. I explained my position to the pharmacist and rather than being reassuring, he sounded alarmed. My only recourse was to contact the cardiology secretaries and ask to be passed on to them. I followed up frequently, only for that to take another A&E presentation, and repeat GP calls some five weeks later to hear from the fellow again who filled in the blanks...

Appreciate this is probably a boring ramble but is this what it's like for everybody? It seems like madness. It makes me almost regret my proactivity as getting stressed out and having an arrest seems like the only dice roll to actually see these buggers! What should I do? I'm certain the strain is doing worse than whatever underlying condition I have, and if there's no arterial stenosis and good heart function surely i'm just making already high BP pump faster around? Any advice greatly recieved.

[Hidden]

Your post raises a number of issues none of which are easy to answer. However it does provide an illustration of an NHS apparently operating close to its dysfunctional worst and I am sure your experiences are not unique, although that will be of little consolation to you. If you feel you need help in trying to get your hospital services working better for you, you could try the PALS facility. Other than that do not give up on being pro-active. If you do, my guess is the service you receive will be comparatively lessened. I hope things come together for you.

[devonian186 in reply to Hidden]

This is a difficult one. I suspect anxiety makes things much worse for many people, often aided and abetted by DR Google and various monitoring watches. We all have a duty to try to live healthier lives and then not so many people would overwhelm the system, but Doctors seem reluctant to tell you directly to make lifestyle changes, (not suggesting you have not lived a healthy life just that it is an increasing factor)

Once you are in the 'system' with something serious it seems to work quite well but getting in the system is often difficult which then means the patient deteriorates.

The NHS is often a wonderful place with many fine individuals, but it is often dysfunctional; and inefficient One of the lessons is that you need to be persistent. The NHS needs root and branch reform but no government is brave enough to do this

[Goldstar45]

Hi there unfortunately you have discovered how disjointed the NHS is however you should keep up the proactive approach there are some very professional and committed people in the system and I am sure with perseverance you will get one of them to own your course of treatment as for the local GP practice perseverance is the key

Hope you soon get your condition stabilised

[Hidden]

I contacted PALS after weeks of being pushed between cardiology specialties. Within 2 daysI had a response and an appointment booked for necessary treatment. This was a while back and things seemed to have got a lot worse. I think, as suggested by LowerField, this could be a good move. Good luck

[ChessPasty]

Thank you very much all for your comments - it can feel a very lonely crusade! Slightly anxious that I actually work at the very trust I am having treatment at, but perhaps PALS is an ideal route forward.