My dear father had a Coronary Thrombosis major heart attack and passed away one saturday evening in October.
What I cannot get passed is that he went to his GP on the Thursday due to shoulder pain, and was sent to the hospital for an xray on the Friday to check if the shoulder pain was muscular.
I am struggling to accept whether or not the GP should have acted with a bit more urgency/checked out his heart. My Dad was only 61, he did have high blood pressure/cholesterol (and was on medications for this) but was otherwise healthy and fit. I'm thinking maybe should he of been sent to hospital that day for heart investigations? Does this even happen? I have no experience of heart problems myself.
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Galaxygirl93
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GP should have sent your Dad to hospital urgently. It’s a classic symptom for heart attack!
My Dad had same symptom, same cholesterol issues but low blood pressure usually..On that day he just felt weird and his arm was sore. Mum urged him to go to his doctor and he sent him to hospital straight away. He had stent fitted, his cardiologist did regular check ups- it was almost a decade ago and his heart is in really good shape at 62years old..Smoking and drinking!
But my parents were living in Germany back then-way better healthcare! In UK my Mum got sent back home from A&E after an hour wait for an ambulance and told she had panic attack. SHE HAD AN ISCHAEMIC STROKE.
I’m sorry for your loss, it’s beyond any words to see how horribly NHS is failing to provide healthcare on basic level 😔
Shoulder pain is not a classic symptom of heart failure! Can I ask where you got that information from? Heart attacks and heart failure are 2 completely different medical conditions.
Arm, back, shoulder and neck pain in patient with high blood pressure and cholesterol is always a worrying sign, especially when no traumatic injury happened. Pain in arm in heart attack doesn’t go away with rest, muscle pain does, knowing the difference means a lot.
But the op hasn't given any indication of anything other than her dad presented at the surgery with shoulder pain. I personally dont think the GP could have known any different & we're not privy to any conversation the GP might have had with op's dad about causes etc. Incidentally my husband did attend A&E with shoulder pain & there was nothing to indicate he was having a heart attack, ECG, bloods etc were all fine. His pain was put down to a muscle strain until he went into cardiac arrest.
Hi. My husband's heart attack started with shoulder/back pain. Unfortunately it's very hard for any Dr to diagnose a heart attack just from shoulder pain if there are no other symptoms present, even allowing for high cholesterol or high blood pressure, which presumably he was on medication for. Sometimes a pain in your leg can be the start of a heart attack, some people have heart attacks with no pain at all. I really am very sorry that your dad has passed away, I think when we lose a loved one so unexpectedly we look for ways to understand how this could happen, sadly often there is no understanding.
Hello, I am so sorry for your loss. It is a really difficult situation for you. I have not got any other input to add apart from saying I hope you get some answers. Shoulder pain can indicate so many things. The one thing I would say is please try not to let this thinking take over your life. My daughter in law lost her dad to cancer and for a long time she wanted answers as to why the treatment didn’t start earlier. I sincerely hope that in time you are able to celebrate your dads life with some wonderful memories, Take care x
I understand that there are a whole host of shoulder pains out there UNrelated to a heart attack. And I gather even if a further heart related test was done at GP, he would have been likely referred to the Urgent Cardic Unit, of which the wait time is up to 2 weeks anyway.
A musician in Bellowhead the folk big band, died from a heart attack recently. He’d been complaining of a frozen shoulder for two days. I think shoulder pain with no other symptoms in relatively young patients is a tricky one.
I saw the sad news about his death but hadn't realised they had confirmed the cause of death as a heart attack. I last chatted with him at a festival last year and the conversation at one point turned to my 2020 heart attack.
Thinking about our ages and how either of us would look to a random GP I don't think either of us would have made their thoughts turn straight to a heart attack if we turned to them with just one symptom. Since my HA I've had upper body aches and pains that have convinced me on a couple of occassion that I was having another. Fears that hours in A&E, bloods tests, and ECGs have proved false. If I, who has already had a HA, can't tell the difference (when I'm talking about my own body!), I have a lot of sympathy for GPs trying to make the call.
The pain was clearly bad enough for your father to see a GP. If it was in the left shoulder as a precaution, CHD seems a possibility so checking in A&E might have been sensible. I know that my GP practice would have sent me via ambulance to A&E which they did as a result of a telephone consultation.
I am surprised they did not at least do an ecg and a troponin blood test. That said, I don't know how exactly what the patient said to his GP. Still, I think a little more due diligence was in order. I feel really bad for you, Galaxygirl93 , as this might have been avoided.
Sorry for your loss, please don’t dwell on what ifs, remember the good times you had with your dad, keep thinking about what ifs will not bring him back just cause you a whole lot of stress, think of the last time you had a good laugh with him, or when he teased you or something. Nice memories are better than negative ones♥️♥️
Same here just indigestion -- until vague arm and neck tingling. I'd been going to the GP for over a year about being short of breath; never asked family history- all 12 of grandad's siblings died before 50 of heart failure; breathlessness always put down to my spinal problems. After HA my GP apologised for not even considering heart. They can only go off symptoms and only shoulder pain wouldn't scream heart attack.
I am sorry for your loss. My brother died unexpectedly a year ago and knowing anything now won't bring him back. I would say try to move away from 'what ifs' and forward into the life he would have wished for you. 💐
Chest arm pains - saw GP Weds pm suggested arrange ECG. Arranged for following Monday by reception. Later that evening pains got worse - around midnight 999 - amazing paramedic did ECG and based on results called in to regional heart centre - they said go to local A+E. In and out of A+E in less than 10 minutes Blue light for 40 miles to regional centre. Straight in to lab, 2 stents and prof said "We nearly lost you tonight" 3 more stents later in week and sent home. still here 10 years on but HF kicked in several years ago.
So sorry for your loss. I had severe neck pains and right shoulder and right arm pains and thought it cannot be a heart attack as all the wrong side. I went up to bed as feeling a bit rough and told my son do not phone the doctors or 911. luckily for me he knew better and he did. - paramedics confirmed I was in the middle of a heart attack. Blue lighted to papworth and on the operating table within 5 minutes of arrival. and stents fitted. I was so lucky that my son did not accept that my very different symptoms and not the classic ones needed looking at.
Thanks everyone for your responses which have been most helpful.
I totally get that it would have depended on what my Dad told the GP. From speaking to my Mum, he felt otherwise fine in himself, no breathlessness/pain elsewhere so I can understand why the GP would not have immediately thought heart problem.
I'm starting to come to peace with the events and it simply just happened too quickly (the Coronary Thrombosis) and if he had a more gradual blockage he would have likely displayed more typical symptoms ie chest and arm pains.
I also note from posters that if the GP had have done referrals that this would have still taken days (most likely past the weekend!) So it was simply bad bad luck. x
He absolutely should have been seen urgently as others have said....you don't have to chest pains to be having a heart attck, I cannot understand why some GP s are not getting this - my story starts with a GP neglecting to refer me ...long story , but ended up with me in A and E, heart bypass 8 months later ...again I had no chest pain. It's exhausting and stressful but I hope you can find the strength and courage to pursue this...I did...my MP got involved ...
I am so sorry that you have lost your Dad in such awful circumstance and send you my condolences , hoping you can find a place of peace one day about this xxxx
I am slowly getting used to all this and as previous posters have suggested, focusing on the good times
I do have one final question which google is not very clear. My dad had been taking Zapain for his shoulder (painkiller) which was helping him. I am wondering, do painkillers even help pain from early angina type symptoms? I guess it would be easier for me to move forward if the pain in his shoulder was likely to be muscular/joint related and not related to the impending heart attack.....
I am wondering, if the pain was early Angina then would the pain killers have an effect or no effect at all?
I'm sorry you haven't had any replies. I'm not totally sure but I would doubt pain killers would have helped with the pain. They might have taken the edge off it but to get any real relief your dad would have needed to use a GTN spray to open his arteries to allow the blood to flow through them more effectively, though I stand to be corrected if someone with more experience knows better . Xx
I see, so (and I'm not taking your reply as gospel don't worry!) As the painkillers were helping his shoulder, it is most likely the shoulder pain was separate and it was all just very bad luck xx
I would think so but why don't you phone the BHf nurses, their phone number is on this site & they are very helpful. Would you mind me saying that I can totally understand you wanting some answers but 1 question invariably leads to another & sometimes there are no answers. I watched my husband going into cardiac arrest & had absolutely no idea this was happening, for years I questioned myself as to why I didn't recognise it (not only is CA nothing like it's portrayed on TV, film etc) but I joined a CA support group some years ago & I've never yet found anyone who's CA was the same as my husband's, similarities yes but vast differences also. I do hope you can find some peace, you obviously loved your dad very much, he was lucky to such a caring daughter xx
Thank you for your kind words and the phone number, I think I will give them a call and maybe look into some grief counselling of some sort. x It is a struggle, especially when my father was only 61 and had still so many plans and enthusiasm for life. I mourn the future that we would have all had, spending so much time with the grandkids. x
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