Is this condition honestly considered anxiety/attention seeking/dramatic by healthcare workers?

[GladMoose]

Bit of a random one and quite niche, but hoping it reaches some healthcare posters who can help!

I have AVNRT, I understand it affects people differently but unfortunately I get it quite badly and usually have to get shocked for it. I've had ablations/EPS etc in the past which were only partially successful but cannot get another without almost definitely needing a pacemaker and that is NOT something I want so I don't want to ever get another ablation again unless there's no other option. Thankfully with the right combination of medication it seems to be under control now. At one point I was at a&e multiple times a week for cardioversions so it’s a relief to have it better controlled now.

But at a previous admission recently I overheard a nurse telling a new student nurse that avnrt is just a glorified panic attack and that nobody can be bothered with the drama of it because it's not serious and basically discussing how it was just attention seeking young girls who get it

It got me wondering and it's played on my mind ever since- is that how it's viewed by healthcare professionals? That it's just anxiety and it's not serious? Everytime I've had to go to hospital, is that what they've been thinking about me?

I've had friends with conditions which are notoriously seen as being anxiety related and they have awful stories about being disbelieved and fobbed off (like IBS etc) but I didn't think this would be seen as that because they can quite literally see it on the ECG?

I mean sure, anxiety doesn't help it, but it's not caused by that. I've had episodes where my heart was 220+ for over 10 hours and it was utterly horrendous. Obviously it's not as serious as some heart conditions but it's still very unpleasant and absolutely not just a glorified panic attack or attention seeking. but ever since hearing that it's just been in the back of my mind that I'm sort of wary to seek help with it again if it happens in the future in case that's how it's seen?

It doesn't really make a difference because either way if you need to go to hospital then you need to go, but it's just been in the back of my mind, is it just that individual who was ignorant or is that generally the consensus about it and that's how the condition is seen?

Anyone who thinks a heart rate of 220+ for 10 hours is just anxiety is a fucking idiot. She doesn't know what she's talking about 🙄 don't let it put you off going to hospital if you have it happen again. There are idiots in all professions

The doctors would not shock a patient having a panic attack

However it can be triggered by stress or panic.

I would make a complaint against the nurse, personally. To voice that toxic nonsense within earshot of a patient is shocking; to teach it to an impressionable student is inexcusable.

I’m currently being investigated for endometriosis after years (over a decade) of pleading with doctors because of my horrific periods and endless symptoms.

So many healthcare professionals, including gynaecologists have told me it’s anxiety, IBS, “it’s all in your head”.

There seems to be a current theme within women’s health and doctors telling us it’s “anxiety”. 🙄

I was in for a brain tumour removal, it was about 5 cm in size, If left it have grown and been life threatening, but when I had the operation it was elective surgery.
I over heard nurse questioning why it was being removed because it was only elective surgery. It does make you wonder about nurse training.

Nurses think everything is attention seeking all you hear in hospital is nurses slagging everyone off its like they don't realise how thin the walls are. Just ignore them and don't take it personally they slag each other of to

There is stupid in every profession unfortunately. You saw it first hand.

Why are you so against having a pacemaker though?

I think it's very unlikely the nurse actually understood what AVNRT is and was just talking out of her arse.

I have none epileptic seizures and fibromyalgia and some of the stuff I have heard from medical professionals has been awful. One made a comment about me obviously wanting to get out of work outside my curtain in A and E.
i tore a stripe off him as at the time I worked full time.

having one
of the conditions that’s some people see as attention seeking is bad but having 2 is awful.

This

@GladMoose you say you overheard it. Could you tell conclusively who said it? Even if you can't, I would make a complaint to the hospital but it obviously helps if you can identify the nurse.

That is an alarming level of stupidity.

We don't carry out cardiac ablations or cardiovert people for anxiety ! It's too late now as in guessing you don't know who they were but they need some training.

I'm happy with the service overall I've received from the NHS (always feel weird seeing Americans talk about how they have to factor health insurance into their lives), however unfortunately I do have to agree with this.

Quite a few times I've had this, absolutely horrible when you are feeling vulnerable . I almost refused to get seen sometimes as the service was so bad.

Oddly enough the clinics which "should" be stressful like the STD ones normally have really nice people there so I don't have a phobia of opening my legs, it's the other ones which can potentially be awful.

For the record I don't need someone to be exceptionally "nice" to me...I had a few scans and the consultants didn't say a word and just peered at them. Happy with that.

Also HCPs talking down to me, cystitis = "you should wash and keep the area clean", "scolding" me for things. This is when I was feeling vulnerable. I'm not verbally aggressive and I don't have a record of just turning up for attention!

You do you OP, do your research, take care of your health, put yourself first, get the treatments and scans you need.

When my baby was diagnosed with SVT the triage nurse thought I had anxiety and was just making it up. She soon has to apologise

Fuck that nurse, it’s hell. I was in a&e a dozen times when I was pregnant and they kept having to give me adenosine (hell) to reset my heart. Panic attack my arse, she doesn’t know what she’s talking about and I’d be worried about her capabilities

My son couldn't breathe due to an infection, pneumonia, and asthma once. And I mean literally couldn't breathe, he kept passing out. A&E thought he was having anxiety, told him to name 3 things in the room whilst he physically could not breathe. The nurses are all attention-seeking fucking morons who will have blood on their hands if they don't shape up. Another time, he was having an allergic reaction to a medication and they thought he was 'putting it on'. His eyes were literally rolling to the back of his head like something out of the Exorcist or something.

Last weekend I called 111 because I was getting pain around the area where I had had surgery 3 weeks earlier. I made it clear that I was probably just being a baby, and that I just wanted to know if I could safely ignore the pain. (I have dealt with chronic illness long enough that I have become an expert in gaslighting myself into believing that most things are a figment of my imagination.)

Anyway, I was admitted for some tests, and at midnight I was discharged after being told it was "probably nothing".
I spent the night trying to convince myself that I was imagining the pain...only to be called by the hospital the next morning. Nobody had bothered to look at my test results before discharging me, and my white blood count and inflammatory markers were raised. A scan showed that I had an abscess around the place where I had had surgery!

Had a nurse try and have me assessed under the mental capacity act for being worried about DS, and said I overexaggerated his symptoms.

He had meningitis, and we spent 2 weeks in hospital and 2 weeks with home transfusions.

Honestly OP there are some shite nurses but they're not all like that. Definitely complain and please dont let it put you off seeking medical care in the future.

There are terrible people in every profession, unfortunately some terrible people at their jobs in health like to put a lot of stuff down to anxiety, I have had issues with this. Ignore them, or complain but don’t let it stop you from getting the treatment you need in the future, as I felt nervous of oh what if they say it’s anxiety again type thing.

I'm being treated for cancer at the moment and the shite I've heard from nurses is jaw dropping. Really inaccurate stuff, I'm actually quite shocked,. It's not just the occasional bad apple either.
I shouldn't be surprised really, I have a grown up child with asthma, I've lost count of the A&E visits with him as a child, wheezing away and some nurse saying O2 is 100% it can't be asthma, being stuck I'm a corner for hours, until a doctor deigns to listen to son's chest and suddenly it's all hands on deck.
Won't even go into my symptoms which have been brushed off for months actually being stage 4 cancer.

I've got Fibromyalgia & ME/CFS, I could go to the doctors with my leg hanging off & they would say it's either or both of them causing it. I started with pain & numbness in my feet that travelled up both legs, I can't feel anything below my knees & am numb right up the inside of both thighs, my balance is terrible & I have falls, the doctor refused to do any tests & told me "it's part of my condition". It took me 9 months to get someone to even do a blood test, I'd had to go private to see a neurologist who told me he was 99% sure I had MS, after blood tests & MRI scans it turned out my Vitamin B12 levels were unreadable, thanks to the lack of care the nerve damage is permanent, I'm now housebound & badly disabled even though I have B12 injections every week.

FFS. No, nobody in healthcare who actually knows what AVNRT is thinks it is a glorified panic attack. That speaks more to the lack of knowledge of the nurses saying that.
Sorry you had to hear this bullshit.

DOI - Doctor and congenital cardiac disaster patient

I’m sorry you’ve had this experience OP. I would contact PALS (or the equivalent in this your trust) and talk it through with them. It doesn’t matter that you don’t know who it was, they’ll have a record of who was on shift and a paper trail (or computer trail!) of who was nursing which patients. These comments need addressing.

For transparency, I’m a nurse. I love my job and genuinely believe that the vast majority of patients do not turn up ‘attention seeking’, for the very small handful that do they also deserve care and compassion too, there is a reason they are turning up at A&E’s door.

I hope you come across more kindness than negativity moving forward with your care. Please address this issue so the rotten apples can be reprimanded.

Acquaintance of mines fiance was going to the doctors for 3 years with her migraines. Kept getting told it's anxiety induced. She kept going back, because the migraines were really bad. Eventually she started passing out. Long story short, she had a brain tumour. It was killing her, they had to remove it, but by then it had grown so big that the operation was very dangerous. They had to try anyway, but sadly she died on the table, leaving her fiancé and 6 year old son.

Women's health issues are very often passed off as just "anxiety". It's criminal at this point.