Home after an unexpected visict to Bristol Heart Institute

[Lotsirb]

Hello again. Thank you to those of you who sympathised with my situation. I was discharged last night with a revised prescription of Nebivolol. Reduced from 3.25mg daily to 1.25mg. So after 6 months of 4 professionals and me trying to see a cardiologist at Outpatients I ended up having an emergency 111 appointment, getting Blue Lighted into A&E, having the full "24hrs in A&E" treatment, being transferred to Bristol Heart Inst for an overnight stay, and finally seeing a Cardiologist who did the drug adjustment which could have been done 6 months ago at outpatients! Cost to tax payer this weekend - Maybe £10,000. OK. Rant over!

[Taviterry]

Glad you're OK and back home. I reckon that my two visits to A & E that I mentioned in your other thread could be costed at £3K if done privately. And with no other option that I can think of, I'm wondering if there'll be a further visit before my telephone appointment in early December. I'm very conscious of the strains affecting the NHS and that there are patients far worse off than me, but ...

[Oldforge73]

Very similar situation to myself, last September after being newly diagnosed with AF, I was concerned about both the diagnosis and the amount of Bisoprolol I was told I needed. No referral to a cardiologist was offered. While on holiday approx 5 weeks after starting the meds I passed out on the holiday cottage stone kitchen floor. Admitted to Dorchester County Hospital A&E where I received 5 star treatment. The outcome was my Bisoprolol had caused severe bradycardia and postural hypotension. I was told to immediately half the dose then after two weeks half it again, so now on 1.25mg for a year now with no repeat episodes. The lack of awareness from the average GP concerning the vagaries and permutations of AFib is very concerning. If like me you have fairly low rate AFib episodes it is pointless to over do the amount of beta blocker. I had tried to explain to my GP how the drug was making everything much worse but she said It was because I was on too low a dose so increased it. At the time with minimal knowledge I believed her and followed her advise. This forum has been a complete education for me as I was given minimal information on diagnosis. I wasn't even told that there were different types of AF. I still haven't been referred to a cardiologist as I guess we AFibbers are so unimportant on the scale of heart issues but this disregard is costing the health service money all the time as so many of us are ending up in A & E.

[Blearyeyed]

Good news is at least now you are getting the support you've needed for a while and should be better than ever soon. Rest and give yourself time to recover , take care , Bee