To feel really afraid?

[SpidersareTapdancing]

I got a taxi to a&e this morning( no ambulances), because I had a heart rate of 180. Straight in for an ecg which confirmed it. Then directly into resus.

I was in resus for 6 hours and they had to use adenosine to reset my rhythm. That was horrendous as I felt like I was dying during it (I know that's normal)

Then about an hour later I went back into super ventricular tachycardia so had to have cardio version.

Then it settled, still sinus tachycardia but not svt anymore and I was told to come back if It happened again because there were no beds.

They also did some bloods and told me my thyroid hormone was 105 so extremely toxic. The dr couldn't find the medication I was prescribed because there wasn't any in the hospital (not even in the emergency drug cupboard)

So I've been given some propranolol and I have to go back tomorrow to get carbimazole? Apparently it's my thyroid hormone causing the svt and palpitations?

Aibu to feel scared it's going to do it again and there will still be no beds, no medication to stop it happening ?

@Lismoa

I'm really sorry to hijack this thread but there seem to be a lot of people who know about this stuff on here-

I have been having heart palpitations for a while. Went to GP and they did an ECG and said everything was fine. I've been getting really bad anxiety so put it down to that.
I was just on holiday and while away I had them come on really strong and thought I might pass out. Someone gave me sugar water and it calmed down so I thought it was anxiety or maybe a panic attack (although I don't get these usually). I went to the doctor while abroad anyway and they took my bloods. I received the blood work via email after Id come home and it has flagged me up as having a vitamin d deficiency and my TSH levels as being too high. However I can't make sense of the levels. My GP was closed today but I will contact them again tomorrow. Is there anyone on here that might be able to help me make sense of them though so I'm not sitting up all night worrying?

You are vitamin D deficient and the bottom one is right at the very bottom of what they consider normal. The middle one is fine

@Sodullincomparison

Glad to hear you’re getting the right treatment OP and hope you get some sleep and rest tonight.

@Squiff70 Well done! 👏

When people comment “why ask strangers on the internet?” on posts, this is why! Personal experience can give insight and information and support.

^ THIS ^

SpidersareTapdancing thinking of you and wishing you well.

@SpidersareTapdancing how very scary for you - glad you are in hospital and hopefully resting a bit. SVT can be scary without the thyroid storm.
Hope things settle soon x

@Squiff70 right place, right time. I love MN for this :)

@Lismoa

I'm really sorry to hijack this thread but there seem to be a lot of people who know about this stuff on here-

I have been having heart palpitations for a while. Went to GP and they did an ECG and said everything was fine. I've been getting really bad anxiety so put it down to that.
I was just on holiday and while away I had them come on really strong and thought I might pass out. Someone gave me sugar water and it calmed down so I thought it was anxiety or maybe a panic attack (although I don't get these usually). I went to the doctor while abroad anyway and they took my bloods. I received the blood work via email after Id come home and it has flagged me up as having a vitamin d deficiency and my TSH levels as being too high. However I can't make sense of the levels. My GP was closed today but I will contact them again tomorrow. Is there anyone on here that might be able to help me make sense of them though so I'm not sitting up all night worrying?

Your TSH result means you may have a thyroid problem and should see your GP for blood tests.

That was scary and I can't believe they sent you home. Thank god for Squiff70

Goodness OP that's horrendous. Did your GP even bother to check your thyroid levels. Losing 2 stone in 3 weeks isn't normal! . Must have been so frightening for you, glad you went to a different hospital and got treated .

@Fluffycloudland77 - your post about GPS was frankly offensive to a group who are largely hard working professionals who are now doing more work than prepandemic to mop up all the problems that were untreated for two years in the face of colleagues retiring early/ leaving due to over work and abuse.

If you have worked in an emergency department of a hospital you will see how awful it is to have patients stacking up, and not be able to deliver decent care due to lack of physical space, nurses, medicines, resources, beds etc.

The OP should have been kept in hospital but the doctor was probably faced between sending them home and having them lie on a trolley for 2 days. Bank holidays are simply the worst. In my hospital, we received a ‘home for Easter’ email from management suggesting we send as many people as possible home over the bank holiday weekend putting pressure on us to discharge people we would normally deem not fit for discharge. Please blame the government for underfunding the NHS and not the individual doctor/ and nurses struggling to work in this system. It is broken .

No, their really bad at their jobs. It’s a very long retirement for them.

Truth hurts.

Our gp said my dh breathing problems was anxiety, it was in fact a goitre strangling him internally & he had emergency surgery to remove it that week after i took him to a+e. He’s still there 3 weeks later. So I guess he had his anxiety removed 😂 in a 5hr operation. Can’t talk, can’t eat. Vocal chords paralysed.

All the gp cared about was not catching covid in his little paper suit, mask, gloves, visor. All in fat bastard size.

Thank goodness you went to another hospital op! All the best

I had the same in January, knew I had overactive thyroid from blood tests but GP wouldn’t prescribe carbimazole until I’d seen endo. I was supposed to have an emergency appt same day but it didn’t materialise. FT3 was 43. I ended up passing out in A&E as heart rate was jumping between 50 and 210. Spent 4hrs in resus but they gave me carbimazole there and I started to feel better pretty quickly. Can’t believe the hospital had no medication and sent you home. Am glad you’re getting some help now. I’ve been diagnosed with Graves’ disease which was triggered by a cold. It’s the most common cause of overactive thyroid. Good luck op

GPs are a mixed bag. No disrespect to the many good ones but I've experienced some terrible ones.

Our GP failed to spot my premature baby's severe bronchiolitis and was dismissive of her clear signs of work of breathing. I kid you not. Same GP has on other occasions: misdiagnosed my severe tonsillitis as oral thrush, missed DH having a peritonsillar abscess (thank God his friend, a much better GP, spotted it immediately and insisted on driving him straight to A&E).

It's important these things get reported as there are GPs out there who simply need more training & and are not practising safely.

So glad you’re finally getting treatment OP. This thread was bloody terrifying to read, I must be honest. I have issues with my thyroid myself and never even heard of this. Take care 🙏

My husband developed hyperthyroidism and was very very ill. Lost 3 in a month, racing heart, sweating, shakes, exhausted etc etc. The GP put it down is just anxiety but I looked it up and had diagnosed him myself and made him insist he got a blood test. They quickly called once they got the results and he indeed had a hyper active thyroid. Keep pushing it’s often brushed off by GPs, he was told he couldn’t get it because men didn’t.

A GP repeatedly told my grandmother that her very painful hip that kept giving out was "one of the prices we pay for still being alive after 65." And that her persistent shakiness and high temperatures were due to anxiety. She's just had an emergency hip replacement after it slipped out of place and wouldn't go back- turned out some sort of localised infection had eaten away the entire ball part of the joint.

I recently saw a female GP who replaced my recently retired male GP. She has immediately put me on iron, tranexamic acid and the mini pill to raise my ferritin level and control the heavy periods I've been begging to have sorted for the last three years. The same shitty male GP also told me once that I needed cranberry juice and a good long walk when I went in with a persistent UTI and a painful lower back and sides. Two days later I was rushed into hospital where I stayed for two weeks with a severe kidney infection.

Some GPs are good and remember they are doctors there to help people. Many are just not bothered at all. Sit in their rooms like little monarchs being visited by the peasants to ask for their favour.

I find this thread really alarming. So glad you got the treatment you needed OP but it's terrible that people are having to get diagnosis on the internet. It sounds like the symptoms were potentially very serious and I can't believe the first hospital just sent you home. We can't continue with a health service that's so underfunded it's actually no longer safe. I've always thought that we might not get top treatment for minor issues but that we'd be okay in an emergency, but that no longer seems to be the case.

Lismoa your vitamin d level is very low your go should have prescribed you a high dose of vitamin d, your Tsh level is above what it should be as well, don't worry to much but both are possible causing your palpatations.

@Yellownightmare . You are right. The NHS is no longer reliably safe. ambulance response times are the worst ever due to them sitting outside emergency departments unable to unload patients into already full departments unable to send patients to wards as they are full. This means heart attacks , strokes and other emergency problems like OP are receiving worse care.

Two weeks ago as a consultant, I had no registrar on call over night, no junior doctors ( off sick with covid) and 50% of my patients with covid ( some really sick) . My daily ward round took 5 hours and I left hours late every day. There were absolutely no locum staff available.

The patients we are seeing are presenting really late with major problems which could have been solved if we had seen them earlier but they can not get appointments in clinics or with GPs because they are also full.
The whole system is at breaking point - and healthcare professionals are demoralised.

Lismoa

Yes, your TSH is well above the normal range and you should see your GP. They'll probably give you some thyroxine to compensate for your levels being low (TSH = Thyroid stimulating hormone: it's high because it's trying to get you to produce more thyroxine as the current level isn't enough)

In the meantime, healthunlocked.com/thyroiduk is a brilliant site for all things thyroid-related, full of experienced people like Squiff

Dhs hodgkins at 16 was dismissed as “just another YTS boy who doesn’t want to work”, correct answer was stage 3 hodgkins.

His paroxysmal atrial fibrillation with atrial flutter was dismissed for years as normal, correct answer was radiotherapy damage to the heart. Even then we had to request blood thinners to reduce the risk of strokes.

His under active thyroid was “don’t know” even when he had every symptom except coldness, a low thyroid result was on his bloods. 14 years with an untreated under active thyroid, constant headaches, exhaustion, weight gain. Finally put on 100mg thyroxine by the consultant.

One of his chest infections was “diagnosed” as a post nasal drip “that’s why you only cough in the morning” after we’d told her he was coughing all day “no, you only cough in the morning” then she stood up to indicate the appointment was over.

The only thing they got right was diabetes because the fasting blood test was a simple 7.1 diabetic but the lab helpfully tell you to recall the patient. Don’t know how they’d manage if the lab didn’t get the crayons out.

The sister in hospital tried to tell me his malodorous, blood stained pus, raised blood sugar and raised temp was normal healing. I had to insist on a culture and sensitivity test and I had to collect the sample out of his tracheotomy tube. Night sister agreed with me and sent it to the lab where shockingly an infection was found. This is what happens when asplenic patients aren’t given their daily antibiotics. They get infections.

I grew up in a very affluent area and the drs surgery was great. Then I moved at 28 to be with dh and very quickly realised why people complain about Gp services. It is a postcode lottery.

I’m looking for another job, doubt dh will work again & I need to get us into a better area.

Absolutely shocking treatment by first hospital! You should have been transferred to another hospital for observation and medication…carbimasole should have been sourced ASAP!
This would never have happened when I worked in AE ….NHS a disgrace!
Hope you feel better soon 💐

[quote olympicsrock]@Yellownightmare . You are right. The NHS is no longer reliably safe. ambulance response times are the worst ever due to them sitting outside emergency departments unable to unload patients into already full departments unable to send patients to wards as they are full. This means heart attacks , strokes and other emergency problems like OP are receiving worse care.

Two weeks ago as a consultant, I had no registrar on call over night, no junior doctors ( off sick with covid) and 50% of my patients with covid ( some really sick) . My daily ward round took 5 hours and I left hours late every day. There were absolutely no locum staff available.

The patients we are seeing are presenting really late with major problems which could have been solved if we had seen them earlier but they can not get appointments in clinics or with GPs because they are also full.
The whole system is at breaking point - and healthcare professionals are demoralised.[/quote]
I'm so sorry @olympicsrock. It must be incredibly hard for the vast majority of you that are dedicated professionals trying to do their jobs. I know a student nurse who worked during the pandemic and hasn't registered because she was so traumatised from working on the wards under such ridiculous pressure.

People continue to vote for the party that continues to underfund the NHS and public services, and seemingly not care about the outcomes because they (the politicians) are not personally affected - let's face it, Boris Johnson will either go private or jump the queue because no-one's going to let the PM die on their watch, are they?

It just sounds incredibly stressful for you and I'm really sorry that you're being so let down.

the hospitals are just fire fighting,
best wishes op

You are in safe hands now. I hope you will get well soon op. Well done for ignoring the advice to stay at home, my friend was also sent home (after a heart attack) as there were no beds. It is dangerous.