ECG done by the nurse practitioner

[MorriseysGladioli]

Is it enough to rule out a heart problem, when coupled with a normal chest xray, please?

Yeah an ECG monitors how you're heart works throughout your body, if you were to have any conditions it would show up in an ECG

Thank you.

Depends what the problem is tbh. Will show an acute MI, irregular heart rhythm, amongst other things but not everything. Other tests like echo, treadmill, angiogram may be more specific and exclude other things. In other words you can have a normal ecg and there still be issues.

I had a normal ECG and x-ray but a CT scan has now shown that I have a compressed right ventricle.

Not always. Dd had to have a 48 hour ecg. The abnormal rhythms she was getting weren’t picked up by a standard ecg…so I think it depends on the issue.

Depends on your symptoms.

Ideally you should have a consultation to discuss the results and the next steps- this all depends on your symptoms

No not necessarily.

I have hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and it wasn’t picked up until I developed the flu which attacked my heart and caused me a few more heart issues into the bargain. And even then, although it was picked up on an echo I had to have an MRI to verify it.

All the issues which show up on my ECG relate to the problems with my left ventricle/my atrial fibrillation/ectopic beats/right heart block, um, there’s more but I can’t remember all of it. but if all those were normal the HCM would never show up.

This is why people often experience sudden cardiac death or collapse, e.g. as often happens with athletes etc, without it ever having been picked up.

I was a-symptomatic for 43 years, and if I hadn’t developed other issues I might never have known and may have stayed a-symptomatic, or not found out until it was too late.

Do you know what they’re looking for?

@AlternativePerspective sorry to here that but good they've discovered it.
On the plus side you can have an abnormal ecg and nothing is wrong too. Some people have abnormal t waves, can be serious but also mean nothing

@AlternativePerspective

They were doing it to rule heart issues out, at my insistence, because I've felt so ill for what seems like an eternity.
I have horrible symptoms which could be any number of things, but it felt as if nobody was/ is listening.

I still don't feel entirely convinced, but have to accept it I suppose.

You need an echo or MRI to rule out things like cardiomyopathy. They won't show up on an ECG.

Will a rheumatologist check these things?
I can't even walk faster for the bus, let alone run.
A treadmill would kill me I think!

Not always....I had an echo cardio gram after ecg and that showed far more than the ecg

I agree with others, you need an echo and then maybe an MRI. I recently had an ecg at the GP's by nurse but mine was abnormal so I was sent for echo and now waiting for an MRI, I've since been researching and apparently ecg can be normal for things that can be picked up on echo or mri. Keep pushing with your GP.
ECG's can also be abnormal and echo and mri be normal, which I am hoping is the case for me; I had abnormal ecg but chest X-ray and echo was normal, still awaiting further investigation.

A chest x-ray would show if your heart was grossly abnormal in size, or if there was fluid in your lungs, which can arise from pumping problems in the heart.

An ECG checks the electrical function of your heart. Each beat of the heart is triggered by an electrical impulse that travels in a particular pattern within the heart. If there is something wrong in the heart, e.g. part of the muscle has died, then the impulse travels through a different route, or takes longer to get through. That changes the pattern printed on the ECG.

Thank you all.