Chest pains, at A&E, handhold please

[WilsonMilson]

Posted about a week ago regarding heart palpitations. Been having them almost a month, daily and really hundreds of missed beats, thuds, weird rhythms etc every day. Tachycardia at times too. I’m mid forties.

Had an ECG and bloods done at GP, on Monday the results of those were ‘normal’. Typically at the time of ECG, my heart was behaving itself, but I don’t really know if that’s meaningful or not. Due to get a 24 hour holter monitor fitted in 2 weeks time.

Anyway, the last 2 days I’ve been having left arm pain, upper left chest pain and pain around my heart area. Phoned GP this morning and he has sent me straight to A&E where I’m now sitting. I’ve had a blood test and ECG here and now waiting to see a doctor, don’t have any more info at present.

Shitting myself. Keep worrying about my DS and DH, if anything happened to me I don’t think they would cope and I feel like I’m more worried about that than anything else, which is perhaps strange, but I need to be there for them and not dropping dead!

Just posting for a handhold really.

@CocoSims thanks so much, that’s incredibly reassuring. I’m still here but have now had tea and toast. Still waiting for a cardiologist to grace me with his presence, and I’m absolutely dying for a pee but hooked up to a cardiac monitor and can’t really go anywhere.

I saw an ectopic on the monitor a minute ago - looked quite dramatic and I felt it too. My bloody heart rate won’t come down below 100 because I’m so amped up with adrenaline. Someone asked a couple of messages ago if I had been for a chest x-ray, yes I have around 3pm today. That was the last time I actually saw a doctor. Just been having obs done since. Just want to go home.

I’m not sure if this will reassure you but I had very similar symptoms to you and went back and forwards to A and E quite a few times. They did every available test known to man and didn’t find anything except a few ectopic beats. But - I later went on to be diagnosed with Addison’s disease and lupus and once I started medication for these my chest pains more or less completely stopped and my heart rate became normal. What I’m trying to say is it may be nothing to do with your heart, lots of conditions can cause your whole body to do funny things. I hope you get some answers soon and are able to get home to your family.

Did the GP check your iron levels? I had a similar experience a few years ago (chest pain, achy left arm, feeling generally ill, heart rate all over) and it turned out to be severe anaemia.

I hope you're okay.

@Bunnyfuller thanks for that info. So that’s encouraging to hear. Sorry about your heart issues, you have my entire sympathy and hope things are much improved.

My pain wasn’t terrible, it felt gripping, heavy - ish. In left upper arm too. Comes and goes. No nausea at all, no shortness of breath either. ECG was ok, don’t know about X-ray. They were concerned that my pain seemed to go after being given nitroglycerin - although it was coming and going anyway so it was hard to tell to be honest. That, along with the high heart rate and X-ray is what they are waiting for the cardiologist for. Beginning to think I’m going to be here all night!

Had bloods at GP at start of week due to palps, results were apparently ‘normal’ but I don’t know exactly what was checked for. I know he was doing thyroid and assuming iron/ferritin was checked too. I’d started taking Spatone this week on the off chance it helped. I’ve been reading that certain types of Magnesium help, and maybe B12 too.

I’m convinced I won’t be home tonight now. Surely I can’t be left in A&E all night?!

They should move you to a emergency assessment ward if you're staying in.

My iron was very low and once I got it back up the pain and heart palpitations went away. Also had reflux which didn't help!

I went through this recently, it was anxiety

I used to get anticipatory anxiety before each round of chemotherapy. Once my heart rate was 180bpm. I was absolutely astounded, but the doctor was very reassuring that it was anxiety.

Awful vicious circle. Hope you get some reassurance. And food! X

How old are you op?

I very menopausal and get a lot of this heart rate and anxiety etc
Hope all is well

I get many fewer palpitations since I went on HRT.

It's so scary isn't it? Wishing you a bit of rest and some easily solvable answers x

I had lots of trips to a&e a few years ago with very similar symptoms and eventually was referred to cardiologist who said it was most likely to be the menopause! The anxiety has been horrendous but is calming now as I’ve started HRT.

My ecg result was always abnormal but always the same so she said it was normal for me.

Hopefully you will see the doctor soon and can go home. It’s a good sign the your ecg results are ok and they don’t seem to be too worried about you which is a good sign.

I was admitted with the same, it turned out to be stress related & I was prescribed betablockers. It has never happened again.

I had chest pain and a racing heart and it turned out to be blood clots in my lungs. I had a second episode of it and it was nothing more than anxiety. Anxiety can feel pretty scary and serious so I hope it’s just that. But if it’s anything else you’re in the best place.

Finally home! I have to go back to have a 48 hour monitor fitted as an outpatient. My ECG result was sinus tachycardia, no ectopics on that, but wasn’t feeling them at the time. I saw a load of PVCs on the cardiac monitor afterwards, not constant maybe evert 10 mins, but the cardiologist wants to catch them on a holster monitor. The X-ray was fine, chest pains not indicative of anything, bloods fine and I get the distinct feeling that anxiety is playing the biggest role here, though the doctor didn’t say that.
I’m so so glad to finally be back home. Exhausted and ready for bed. Thanks all.

Holter, not holster!!

I’m 44, so I’m really wondering how much this might be the start of peri, combined with stress and anxiety. At least that would be a less scary answer.

Really appreciated the handhold today, thank you all.

Morning, didn’t sleep well. Can’t seem get get out of flight or fight mode as my heart is still racing. I do feel very anxious, so I’m sure it’s that. Does anyone have any tips on how to sooth my nerves and try to get back some equilibrium? I feel like a total wreck.

Mindfulness can be very helpful in panic situations. I used it when my two children were (separately) in hospital with life threatening conditions during the same year.

There are various online ones you can try (eg on youtube) but I would begin by just lying still, closing my eyes and noticing my breathing, slowing it down to a count of 5 for each in and out breath. Then do a body scan. This is where you focus on a part of your body and just notice and accept how it feels, not worrying about it at this moment but just listening. I start on my left foot, work up the left side of body, over my head and down my right side. Then focus on breath again for 5 mins. Whole thing takes about 15 mins. Really was very helpful for me when I was in a (justified) severe anxiety state but needed to be able to cope.

I experienced my first panic attack at 44. I thought I was dying. It was horrible, so scary. Heart all over the place.

My GP kept telling me it was anxiety which I thought was nonsense as I’d never suffered from anxiety.

It took a few more of them to finally accept it was the perimenopause. It got easier once I accepted it. There were still very unpleasant but I could reassure myself I wasn’t dying and it would pass. These attacks stopped completely once I hit the full menopause a couple of years later.

Try and focus on your breathing, take long deep breaths and exhale slowly this will send signals to your brain that everything is ok and should start to reduce all the adrenaline going round your body as a result of all the worry and will hopefully help you to feel calmer. Then tryYoutube for a guided meditation once you feel able to focus on this. It’s also useful to engage in activities that require your brain to focus, such as reading when you’re feeling anxious, tv etc doesn’t engage your brain in quite the same way. I ended up in A and E last year with chest pains, a high heart rate and raised blood pressure and it appeared to be largely anxiety related. The chest pain wasn’t anything serious but my anxiety about it all seemed to cause the other symptoms. You’re exactly where you need to be and you’re being thoroughly checked out so you’re in good hands. I hope you get some answers soon and a little bit of sleep too.

The Calm app is really good if you can afford a few pounds for it past the free week trial.

It has some instant calming breathing methods on where you just focus on a circle and breath in and out as it moves. Really simple.

It also has great introduction courses on meditation, music to rest or sleep to etc.

I've been using it a month and it's really helped with 10Mins calming my mind in the morning before getting up for the day.

So good that you are home now at least! I know from experience how frightening it is to be in the A&E for chest pains and heart issues. I didn’t realise how common it was with anxiety causing this.

I can recommend:

gentle yoga. For me this is almost like meditation as I try to empty my mind whilst doing certain, gentle yoga poses.

a complete absence of caffeine. This includes all coffee, tea and Diet Coke. It was awful to give it up in the beginning .

I used to have almost 20% extra heartbeats but now that is down to below 5% with the help of medication, yoga and no-caffeine. If I could get my silly heart to behave (and avoid an operation!!) there is a good chance that you can !

Tbh a lot of women get fobbed off with anxiety by the medical profession. How many men are told they are anxious when they present with the same symptoms ? Women are failed by the medical
profession when it relates to cardiac issues, they present differently with heart attacks and have a higher death rate than men with regards to cardiac disease post menopause. Not saying your symptoms aren’t anxiety related but if you feel unwell don’t ignore your instincts !

I find something cold on my face helps with anxiety (normally soak a washcloth in cold water and drape it over my face)

I spent a night in a&e a few years ago with sinus tachycardia. I went into a&e because my heart was racing after a pre op assessment (for non cardiac related issue) picked up... a racing heart beat . It was sort of circular because I was so anxious iyswim.

Anyway, after all tests were fine, got referred back to gp and put on 80mg of slow release beta blockers. Which really steady my anxiety and help my heart rate, which would cause me more anxiety and so on.