Is a&e appropriate for this?

[buffoon56]

Chest pain that has been going on for a week or more? More like a tight ache than a stabbing pain. On the left hand side in the heart area. Slight breathlessness at times but no other symptoms. Online it says chest pain that has been going on for a week is unlikely to be an emergency which makes me think a&e is not the right place. Equally it's a nightmare to try and get a GP appointment and they may send me to a&e anyway.

I will get seen but just wondering the right course of action. I'm 90% sure it's a muscular injury and it's not debilitating at all but I feel like you have to be careful with these things.

Nope. I was walking around for a week with an undiagnosed pulmonary embolism.

No absolutely not, you’re working and fine. A&E isn’t a place for ‘niggles in the background’. You need a GP who can check you over or refer you for tests.

I also wouldn’t call 111 as with chest pain they will say a&e / ambulance.

Different part of the body but I was working with an infected gallbladder and pancreatitis! I thought I had bad indigestion so A&E can be the place for niggles in the background. If I'd listened to some of the crap on MN I could have died.

No one her can advise, seek medical advice.

I think go to A&E your leg doesn't have to be hanging off to go go A&E I'm not saying it's anything terribly serious but how do you know till you get checked ? I lost one family member to something that could easily of been treated had it been caught in time so I'm very much in the better safe than sorry camp

Big mixture of opinions here which reiterates my point that it's not a straightforward decision. The pain isn't sudden or stabbing or constant. I can go long periods of time without feeling anything then this sort of heavy ache twinges and reminds me. Similarly I can be sat still and just realise I maybe feel slightly out of breath than normal. It isn't made worse by exercise or breathing in deeply, if anything when I'm busy and distracted I don't seem to notice it at all. It's more when I'm sat still and actively thinking about it if that makes sense.

I have read all replies and understand it needs seeing one way or another but I don't think a&e on a Saturday night is the right move. If I'm still feeling it tomorrow I will go to a&e in the morning. I know it's still probably not at a&e issue technically but it will take me longer to see my GP and I do feel like there's a high chance they will signpost me there anyway.

FWIW I've had a really busy, stressful week at work and I'm not ruling out stress and anxiety. But I've also been on a plane recently ( short haul flight of only 2 hours) and I take hormonal contraception so I know there are other risk factors for clots etc. No point trying to second guess and diagnose myself, just trying to be aware and keep an open mind.

I seriously think the ONLY advice given by MNers on "should I go to A and E or not?" threads should be seek real life medical advice.

Strangers on the internet with zero knowledge of OP's history, no medical qualifications (and anyone on the internet can say they are qualified!), even people with similar symptoms in the past - the only "A and E or not?" responsible advice is to seek medical advice in real life. It's just so fucking irresponsible otherwise.

And on that note @buffoon56 - seek medical advice in real life, FFS.

Yes, 111 will no doubt say A and E but that's what happens when you leave stuff and don't even try to get a GP advice when they're open. The GP may well send you to A and E but they might have seen you face to face, but without asking you don't know and you're stuck in the situation of asking complete random strangers on the internet about fucking chest pain.

I hope you get sorted and are soon better, but please be responsible about your health. Good luck.

I waited a day almost 2 years ago. Ended up being hospitalised for pneumonia so yes it can really be serious. I’ve not been right since 😢

@StyleIsOnTrendNotFashion thank you, I get what you're saying and I know that nobody can diagnose me. It was more the ask of whether a&e is appropriate with these symptoms which I'm genuinely unsure of and I know from experience that 111 can be overkill about certain things. They once sent an ambulance for dc who had a rash (another red flag sign I know) which was completely OTT - even the paramedics said so.

But yes I will be responsible and get seen.

Essentially, you don't mess around with chest pain. A&e would far rather rule out cardiac issues at this stage than deal with you if it becomes serious. It could be muscular, but until you've been thoroughly checked out, you don't know.

I realise this however my options are limited. It's the weekend, the GP is closed. There is no walk in centre near me. 111 will send me to a&e based on experience. So I either go to a&e or wait. I don't feel it is an 'emergency' situation and don't want to sit in a&e on a Saturday night. But I am monitoring things and won't rule out going tomorrow if it feels bad still. Dh is with me keeping an eye. And if it's improved tomorrow I have the option of GP on Monday. I'm not in denial or asking for an internet diagnosis, simply advice on what others would do.

Appreciate all responses.

have had 10+ heart attacks, you have classic warning signs, sorry to be blunt but you need to get off to AE straight away, they will put you on an ECG, and possibly do a test for an enzyme that is produced if heart muscle has been damaged. Women present differently to men, they do not get as much pain, and a lot dismiss a heart attack as some other condition. If you spend an evening at AE, and they find no evidence, then you've wasted an evening, if however, they find a blocked or partially blocked artery, then you have potentially saved some heart muscle from being permanently damaged or worse. Its an absolute no brainer, you must take responsibility for your pain as the consequences could be very severe and life changing, you really do not want to be kicking yourself after.

Even if you get a good nights sleep and everything seems ok in the morning, a potentially blocked artery is a ticking time bomb, if you being under stress is causing it to react now, and the pain goes when you feel relaxed tomorrow, a simple physical exertion could bring on a heart attack when you least expect it. Your arteries are designed to deal with exertion and stress without making you get chest pain and breathlessness, simply waiting for it to go away with a good nights sleep is like driving a car with a blown head gasket at under 30mph and assuming everything is now ok.

Yes A&E. I’m not sure what this new thing is we’ve adopted post covid where we think we’re “wasting NHS resources” but I believe you pay your tax and nics - use the service. Sounds serious to me. Hope all is well OP.

Just ring 111. You're worried enough to be posting so seek medical advice in real life.

Part of the problem is the state of A&E. The idea of sitting in a busy hospital on a hard chair in a bright room for several hours when you're already feeling poorly really puts people off going.

I had a thread like this of my own only two days ago. I really, really didn't want to go there. It's such a horrible environment.

I wish they could have comfortable chairs and dim lights. If I had thought there would be somewhere I could have waited in comfort, it would have been a much easier decision.

This isn’t true. I could easily have waited, I wasn’t that breathless. Yet I had multiple blood clots in both lungs.

Similar for me, I was sent to a and e by gp after I'd gone for what I thought was the start of a chest infection that had been a niggle for a while, I stupidly went home before going to hospital because I was worried about looking like a time waster and pissing off busy staff. I kept telling myself I felt ok and the nhs is swamped and then I saw sense and went because I remembered I've been in this situation before and it was serious.

I went after I'd arranged someone to pick up my caring responsibilities, which was about an hour after my gp appointment and I'm pleased I did because despite feeling ok, I was had something seriously wrong with my chest and ended up admitted.

I'm autistic and im learning that it makes this stuff hard to navigate because I don't think I feel pain in a normal way. I've been very sick a few times in my life without knowing because I have such shit interpretation of what's happening in my body and my brain doesn't register the more serious symptoms a lot of the time until they're severe.

I've got family members who I think struggle with this too and have died or almost died as a result of not getting help they needed because they didn't feel too unwell and assumed they can wait. From what I've read, a lot of autistic and ND people struggle with interoception, and while I understand that a and e is very busy with limited resources, the idea that if you feel ok then you shouldn't be there, can be dangerous advice.

Your description falls within what is described for women having heart attacks. So A&E may indeed be the best bet.

Nope I wouldn't - I'd treat it like it was a 'muscular' incident and use ibuprofen gel and tabs, heat patches/'heatywheat', baths, wine (maybe). The breathlessness is most likely caused because you aren't breathing like you normally do because it hurts.

I do understand this but equally the NHS also says if it's been going on for days or weeks it's unlikely to be an emergency. I'm genuinely just trying to use the info I have to make a responsible decision.

Does anything make it worst?

I had chest pain and shortness of breath a few years ago, things like sneezing made it worst. It felt like my chest was splitting apart.

I did go to A&E as I worked myself up so much. They took it really seriously and i had loads of tests. Luckily nothing showed up and in the end I went to a physio who said it was a trapped nerve - felt like an idiot but it was so painful

What I'm trying to say is I'm sure it's nothing but best to get it checked

My hospital trust has a rapid access chest pain clinic where you don’t have to go through a&e. They do ecg’s and cardiac bloods as well as clot bloods to rule out anything serious. Might yours have similar? It runs every day of the week

Just go FFS.

That's right the NHS does say that, and it is unlikely to be an emergency (given that the majority of chest pains will be due to a non-serious cause like MSK/indigestion). However with the consequences of what could occur if it is that unlikely emergency presentation and you delay too long being so high that's where the abundance of caution comes in.

Essentially if you've got chest pain on a Saturday uncertain cause - you attend A&E and get told just muscular pain then no worries it was a "wasted" evening that's a bit annoying but no big deal. But if what's actually going on is a PE and you try and wait it out to Monday to see the GP (who may well just send you into A&E anyway if it's not an obvious cause), but actually now it's been left and you have a stroke or cardiac arrest then it's catastrophic.