The doctor refused to help ..aibu here?

[sallybally335]

I've been having a irregular heartbeat since may.
I was getting around 50 extra heartbeats a day (PVCs) a day
Doctor sent me to cardiologist and they did a monitor (this only picked up 3 that day ) and heart scan which was normal.
Since then I'm now getting thousands a day and back and rib pain with them.
I went to doctors today and she said she wouldn't refer me back to cardio as I was only there July.
Aibu to complain to practice?

Why do you think I'm getting the back and rib burning and tightness?

Op you can ask to be tests for Addison’s disease. It’s very rare but easily diagnosed - a blood test would do it. I went back and forward to the gp for a year with chest pains and palpitations before being diagnosed. I now take daily hydrocortisone tablets and don’t have them at all anymore. For most people they’re not the usual symptoms but your situation sounds similar to mine so worth checking it out. But yes, anxiety can do utterly dreadful things to your body.

I remember you as a poster OP. You seemed to be doing well accepting the problem was severe anxiety and were on the road to get treatment for it.

It sounds like you're now hyper-focusing on your extra heart-beats again.

In my head I have a serous heart condition that is going to ruin my life and eventually kill me

This is severe anxiety talking. Your heart tests showed normal heart function. Ectopic beats, even multiple ones, are also normal.

Because they are also symptoms of anxiety, Sally

I have all of the symptoms you describe. I had investigations for them 12 years ago as I was convinced it was cardiac related. It wasn't. It's anxiety.

I've had a good few years without (or at least very short lived) but as we speak I'm completely overwhelmed by them again. Can't sleep. Feel faint. Feel like my head's going to explode. Can't swallow. Tight chest. Palpitations that shock me like an electric shock and mean I can't sleep. Short of breath. Constant burping. Trapped wind. etc etc. It's horrific and massively debilitating.

I'm just hoping that returning to work on Monday will take my mind off them else I'm going to have to go to the GP and I am a serial GP avoider.

My MIL has this condition. It took ages for them to discover because she'd go to the doctors and it would be normal and then it went up again. She feels her heart beat like you do. www.nhs.uk/conditions/atrial-fibrilla

@SillyBub yes these feel like electric shocks too!
It's impossible to ignore
I have heartburn and gas too
Lately I've felt like I wasn't breathing correctly and I wasn't getting enough air
So I've been deep breathing so much my lungs hurt

Sorry the link wasn't working www.nhs.uk/conditions/atrial-fibrillation/

Years n years ago I was acrophobic and worked so hard to get better
I can't accept I've allowed anxiety to creep back in :-(

@sallybally335

Do you use an ecig?

@iloveunicorns1977 (and others) Please stop feeding the OP's anxiety with suggestions that have already been eliminated by medical professionals. You're not helping her one bit (though I'm not suggesting that's your intention, more that you're not aware of all the times this has previously been posted about).

Ive had this. For years. Was diagnosed with SVR too. Given meds. Made no difference whatsoever.

Until I accepted Inhad anxiety. Unbelievably changed over night almost. Please do us a favour and at least explore the possibility of anxiety (dont just throw drugs at it, least lf all anti depressants). I never believed in mindfulness, but if i start feeling PVCs i find it immensley helpful. Was guided through mindfulness through 6 weeks of cbt. It has honestly changed my life.
Went to the cardiologist, had 48 hr tape and an echo. No evidence of svt, no structural issues. Taken off the meds.

I honestly suffered for years, pvcs waking me up in the night etc. If youre having chest pain and throat tightening tol that sounss like an anxiety/panic attack. I had those too. Its a chicken and egg thing, you feel a ovc then panic and get wound up which sets adrenaline through your body and bang...a load more pvc....which makes you panic.. rinse and repeat.

Please take the advice that i and many others have offered. Explore with your gp anxiety! Dont ask or take meds for it. And give it time and practise!!!

Hope you feel better soon.

(Ps, pvc are totally harmless and many people get them when tired, hungry, thirsty or stressed).

When I swallow it feels like something is stuck.
I can't swallow in public either for about a year as it was like I forgot how to swallow.

Sallbally, I also feel like I can't swallow, or even breather properly as my throat feels so blocked and swollen

Sometimes it feels like I'm not getting enough air

My fingers tingle and go numb

And on top of all this, I get those thudding erratic palpitations waking me up at night.

And it is ALL caused by anxiety.

Don't be dismissive about anxiety. YOu accuse your doctor of dismissing your concerns but actually you are dismissing their treatments!

Anxiety is a clinical condition. It's basically adrenaline poisoning. You can hyperventilate which causes they chemical make up of your blood to go awry. Your heart beat canbe erratic due to fluctuating stress hormone levels and this can interfere with your sleep and wake you repeatedly at night. You can be EXHAUSTED most of the time. You can suffer <a class="break-all" href="//globuswww.royalberkshire.nhs.uk/patient-information-leaflets/Head%20and%20Neck%20ENT%20Globus%20feeling%20of%20lump%20in%20the%20throat.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">globuswww.royalberkshire.nhs.uk/patient-information-leaflets/Head%20and%20Neck%20ENT%20Globus%20feeling%20of%20lump%20in%20the%20throat.htm sensations in the throat.

ALl due to anxiety.

Take your sertraline for 6 weeks and see how you feel then.

I can't accept I've allowed anxiety to creep back in :-(

It's nothing to be ashamed of, and if you don't accept it you're not going to allow yourself the opportunity to get better.

Go on Amazon and buy a Kardia. It's about 100 pounds. It records a clinically accurate ECG using sensors you put your finger tips on. It then uses you phone (pairs via Bluetooth) and a free app you download to give you a quick diagnosis. You can also save the recordings and show them to your doctor. Best device ever as heart rhythm irregularities are notorious for not occurring when you go to the doctor.

Then start take 100% of the recommended daily dose if magnesium. Take it before bed. Also take a iron supplements and 2000 units of Vit D.

Unicorns - atrial fibrillation isn't just ectopic beats - it's an irregular heartbeat - so it actually goes out of rhythm. My father has it.

3 weeks ago I stopped propranolol and told myself this was causing it and once I stoped taking it they would stop ...I had a week feeling great beginning of December only 1-2 a day
I went a whole day without 1 pvc then I knew it would start again .then it all began again.
Christmas night my dad walked over with me and I didn't get 1 pvc the whole walk.
It's crazy

Don't buy a Kardia, you'll never be able to leave it alone and your life will be a misery.

I get inflammation in the cartilage in my rib cage which causes pain - especially if I am anxious as I hold my breathe more often than I realise.

Addison's disease is a disorder of the adrenal glands, causes low blood pressure amongst other things and is treated with steroids. President Kennedy had it.

Doesn't sound as though you have it so forget it.

You can ask for blood tests to rule out thyroid disease.

The GP must think you have anxiety/depression if you've been given Sertraline (I don't blame you for not wanting to take it, I wouldn't, those drugs often do more harm than good). You might not be aware of it but certainly do sound very anxious about heart disease. The heart does race sometimes, you worrying about it will make it worse.

A cardiologist who has done extensive monitoring is not going to have missed AF ffs 🙄

Please stop feeding the OP's anxiety with suggestions that have already been eliminated by medical professionals. You're not helping her one bit (though I'm not suggesting that's your intention, more that you're not aware of all the times this has previously been posted about).

This.

It's well intentioned but all it will do is fuel OP's anxiety about illnesses she hasn't thought of.

Sally

Go and get your sertraline out of the cupboard, and take your prescribed dose.

Then tomorrow, do the same thing.

Go on, make a start towards getting better.

I have low blood pressure. Sometimes I can feel every single beat of my heart thumping through my body - in my head, my ankles, my wrists. There's nothing abnormal about it, though it can be a bit annoying, particularly because I often feel dizzy during these spells.

The cardiologist found nothing. If you want to make sure, perhaps go private to get a second opinion?