Simple question is for someone who has had no experience of medical professionals , can you trust your advisor/ consultant to really tell you truth or do you still need to have your wits about you? I had a poor / unusual experience with my angiogram which proved to be extremely painful despite being told it wouldn't be.
That's left me mistrusting and fearful.
There are risks with any medical procedure especially with an intervention like an angiogram. No doubt the risks were fully explained to you when you signed the consent form to allow the procedure to go ahead. Nonetheless it's unfortunate that you were one of those who suffered much discomfort during your angiogram, although I am sure you are in a minority. I have had two angiograms and both went ahead as planned without any discomfort and that seems to be the case feom anecdotal evidence from the majority of posters on here although like you a few do report problems. So although it may be difficult I suggest you just put your experience behind you. It would be unfortunate if you let it harm your relationships with medical professionals who you may have good reason to rely on for your wellbeing. Certainly they should always have your best interests at the fore, but unfortunately are not completely foolproof and cannot always successfully predict outcomes, which is not saying they are negligent, just that occasionally things don't work out as intended.
Thanks for the reply, the consent form and contextual.ingo from the consultant did not refer to pain intact I was told the opposite. Despite being in pain,during it,( considerable) they continued. Pain relief was administered but too late and ineffective
to add to the amazingly helpful reply you’ve had.
If you can take someone with you when you see a medical person to metaphorically hold your hand, take notes, remind you of what you need to say and so on, you might find this reassuring
I know your feelings exactly. I was exactly the same. My GP sent me to hospital with chest pain and breathing problems for the first time in my life!
They kept me for several days, then came the angiogram, even though my name came up on the screen, I doubted it was my heart activity??? After the angiogram I doubted the results!!!
I even asked the visiting doctors if they had actually seen my scans, could they show them to me? Of course the doctors had seen and knew, that's why they were advising me and planning my triple bypass operation.
(Then I came across the medical notes of the scan on the clipper board on my bed, I was not convinced until then... It was all true!!!).
However that scarred me so much (my Mrs had this) that I researched it a lot online and went with my consultant for stents.
My angiogram was painful too. Not all the time but intensly so for a few minutes. They bruised the artery at my elbow. However they inserted a stent shortly afterwards and I think I would be dead without it so I wasn't too bothered but will remind them if I ever need it done again.
It took months to get over the insetion of the stent and the damage done by the angina that was happening before it was inserted. My trust was strained because no one could tell me what was going on. I am fine now and expecting to return to work soon.
I also had bad reactions to statins and another drug but they kept pushing them on me. These things do shake your confidence. I generlly research any treatments before and after having them and sometimes turn them down if I find good reason too.
Angiograms usually don't hurt but sonetimes they do. Have they told you what caused the pain in your case?
Interesting thanks for the info. I'm quite small build for a guy, very lean , carrying no weight so I'd assume they d make allowance for this when shoving things up your arm but none whatsoever. They said afterwards that they'd prob pressed against the main nerve to the hand . I now have pain when tensing the arm so let's hope it's not permanently damaged.
Hi my angiogram was the worst thing ever, I am very small and thin and they just kept pushing it in the pain was horrendous and not only that it was going to bleed and they had to bandage it so tight that if it wasn't for 12 hours on morphine I would have jumped out the window, what a state my arm was in for weeks later. After all that my arteries are fine. I have no idea what I would do if they suggested another one.It did not make me lose faith in the rest of my cardiac team and I have had every other test going, through my neck and groin all was fine and when I had to have a transplant I trusted them impeccably, I wasn't wrong. Char
You seem to have had a great outcome though, that's what matters, excellent. I've yet to meet the team who will be doing surgery ..they re remote from here as n Wales uses Liverpool for a lot of heart related stuff certainly the bigger issues.
i am sorry that this bad experience has left you feeling this way
as a retired health professional i know that we try to give patients the best information we can, but everyone is different - we all have different pain thresholds, take in information differently and have anatomical variations which doctors cannot predict
in your case it must have been very distressing that the staff proceeded with the angiogram despite you reporting the pain - telling you that i'm sure they had good reasons for proceeding does not absolve them of failing to acknowledge your pain and trying to help you with it at the time
i hope you are now getting some advice and support with the after effects of all this and that there is no permanent dammage from the procedure
Thanks for your message, it s rather unfortunate but is not surprising I guess. I do now have considerable trust issues though. Bu the time they administered fentanyl, the process was very nearly complete so perhaps you can see that providing pain relief wasn't their over riding concern which is not very respectful of thr patient. The final process of flattening the entry wound hours later was excruciating too, again no warning other than " I hate doing this bit" from the nurse who was very good by the way. Never felt pain like it. Never again.
Hi, Nugen,
I think that you always want to have your wits about you when meeting a new doctor for the first time.
I always try to assess the doctor’s knowledge level of the issue being discussed. I like a bright doctor. I also like to determine whether s/he seems to be familiar with the latest research. Does s/he seem to actually listen to what you have to say? Does s/he have some level of humor? I have criteria that I use to determine whether a doctor might be a good fit for me.
On the other hand, when I had my colonoscopy after a nine-month wait, I never got to even see my doctor. I was already out when he got there, and he left the room before I was awake. That turned out fine!
For my GP, I need a deeper relationship. That doctor should be working with me to improve my overall health. We have to be a team with a common goal.
Having said all of this, we also have to remember that doctors are just human like all of us. They sometimes do make mistakes.
I hope that you can regain some trust in your doctors as appropriate, but I would likely not see the doctor again who gave you these feelings of mistrust.
Have a lovely holiday! ❤️
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