Iron and Heart Failure

[Prada47]

Hello I have been told by Heart Failure Clinic that my Iron levels are Low and that I would benefit from an Iron Infusion, My GP says my in her opinion my Iron levels are OK and she has spoken to the Heart Clinic.

My Infusion is booked for next week, GP says don't go until she has spoken with my Cardiologist !

Heart Nurse told me they have different guidelines for Iron levels for people with Heart Failure and mine are at absolute bottom of the scale, curious if anyone else has had this .

Regards

[Lezzers]

When Kevin's oncologist asked his GP to prescribe him iron tablets the GP told me she didn't agree but would prescribe them anyway!! Both the oncologist & GP were not aware that iron deficiency is different for those who have HF & neither of them took any notice of the fact Kevin was on the iron tablets for nearly a year without any improvement in his iron levels!! Can you get your nurse (who is the more experienced of the two!) to contact your GP to discuss it, you may wait ages for the cardiologist to reply!

[Lezzers in reply to Lezzers]

Ps: Kevin's cardiologist gets really cross if his GP starts interfering with his treatment. His previous GP caused a lot of problems because she reduced his candesartan drastically as she didn't agree with him taking it because he didn't have high BP! She used to argue with his nurse about it & each time his nurse said he's not taking it for blood pressure he's taking it to help his heart! The moment he was discharged from the nurse his GP stopped a lot of his meds!! His cardiologist was furious & said if she ever did that again to contact him & he'll sort it. Now if ever he's had a change of meds, dosages etc, his cardiologist always asked who made the change, GP or the nurse, he's always happy when we say the nurse!! Sadly people, especially GP's, don't really understand HF, it's so much more complicated than people realise!

[Prada47 in reply to Lezzers]

Hello Lesley

Nurse has spoken with GP and GP is adamant that Cardiologist sanctions the Infusion !

I hate this S*** of being in the middle between Clinic and GP hope to hear from Cardiologist before next Tuesday, but don't hold out much hope over Easter.

Regards

[Lezzers in reply to Prada47]

Kevin's first nurse & GP used to have some right ding dongs over Kevin's care & meds, the nurse always won but yeah it's not great being in the middle of it!! I'm not sure who sanctioned Kevin's infusions, he had 2, but as the dr's only communication with us is by text I'm guessing the nurse went to a cardiologist, albeit not Kevin's own cardiologist as he works in a different health authority area. Any chance you could contact your cardiologist, maybe via the secretary so that the appt can be kept?

[Pollypuss]

Hello Pravda 47. I was really shocked that I was told in hospital that I needed an infusion because my iron levels were so low pre bypass . In fact I had two . They also gave me extensive tests including my colon and also a gastroscopy but they didn’t find the source so they just gave me infusions.All this delayed my operation but I can understand they needed my iron levels to be right before they could proceed with the bypass .