giraffesCantDanceOnAllThisSnow ·
20/12/2010 17:03
Before I start can I state if you are suffereing mental health problems please get checked out and get some support, do not let this thread put you off in any way!
Ok first of all if I had posted this "I am having chest tightness, pains when breathe in, bad wheezing when laughing, some mild wheezing other times, feel spaced out, dizzy when bend down/stand up, palpatations and inhaler helped wheezyness but not other symptoms. And have been seeing a cardiologist for on going tachycardia and been diagnosed with asthma and last month was admitted to hosp twice due to heart rate" Would you have told me to see a Dr? So aibu for having gone to GP today with those symptoms? I woke up like it this morning, so went back to bed, then tried eating and none of that helped me feel any better. (I was most worried about the spaceyness feeling tbh)
Ok so go to Dr and see one I have never met. She immediately says well you look fine. You are not having a heart attack - I didnt suggest for one minute I was, and if I did I would have gone to A&E. Was just wanting to check not another chest infection, and some advice on when/how often to use inhaler as still waiting for asthma clinic appointment.
She said my pulse very fast (well yes...) and said it was probably because I was at Dr, I explained no its always like that and has been recorded on monitors as being fast even when asleep. She looked at me like this 
Then she asked if I was on drugs - some drugs can make heart fast. I said no! I told her yesterday I was working at a Christening and then on evening shift as a counsellor, not out partying! Then she asked if I had taken any drugs like (something begining with T, one of those drugs that relax you)as she said that could be making me spacey. Then she asked if I had been drinking recently, christmas party season, maybe too much alcohol. No I dont drink at all. She looked like this again.
Then she made me blow in the asthma thing and after each blow I had a chest cough fit that was sore. So she heard that. (you cant fake a chesty cough it sounds different!)
Then she asked me if I was anxious about anything in life maybe thats why I was ill. I told her no I was actually quite chilled out and happy, nothing out of ordinary, and had just woke up this morning like this,, have been fine for weeks, apart from when go from being in cold to hot air then I get pain breathing in and feel tight chested.
She then started quizzing me on that, hot to cold air or cold to hot? which is it? thats unusual usually its hot to cold that catches breath and looked again like this with a smirk. Its defiently when I am out in cold then come in to house/shop I feel worse. I thought it was odd and posted on asthma thread - many agreed with me that although medical literature says other way they feel same.
I felt like she was dismissing the way I feel and trying to constantly pass me off as being anxious. Oh she also said with a smirk "you have had quite a few Dr visits about this" err yes! And on a few occasions have been admitted to hosp and been kept in becaus eof symptoms - because I have visable and recordable symptoms. Not because I am anxious!
I have a history of depression, which is fine just now. Honestly 100% fine. I feel normal, appropriate responces to every day situations. Not low/depressed and weepy AT ALL. (note I do not even have a history of anxiety! I just more got low, lethargic and found it difficult to function, but got counselling and meds and it helped hugely.)
I feel like because she has seen this she has decided thats what my chest pain/pulse is about. In that case I must be anxious all the time as in gym my pulse goes crazy high, when watching tv I still get pain breathing in! Oh and coughing up green phlem - I suppose thats anxiety coming out my body is it?!
I am not denying people have chest pain etc because of anxiety - my firend does. But she seemed unable to take my word that no I am not stressed. She sent me home to relax. She says I maybe dont have asthma - 3 hosp Drs and a cardiologist have said they think I do, and that was after being in hosp with them monitoring me lots, she saw me for 5 mins.
So AIBU to think in some cases a diagnosis of mental health probs, whether current or in my case past, on medical records can cause Drs to assume any symptoms as psychosomatic (if thats the right word?)