Paying for private ECG

[afromom]

I am having some health issues at the moment, resulting in being taken to hospital in an ambulance a few weeks ago and fairly regular but less critical issues since then. The issues are relating to my heart, with my heart rate increasing rapidly at rest (to 170/160bpm) and the taking hours to go back down to a normal rate. The GP is stumped, I've had 4 ECGs, a chest xray, full body MRI and an ultrasound in my legs to ensure it's not due to a DVT.

The GP has now said the next step is a 24 hour ECG, but that our health trust is denying referrals a lot recently and discussed the option of paying privately which would be quicker and obviously avoid the fight if my referral is rejected.

Has anyone had experience of a 24hr ECG through the private route and can give an idea of cost? I have emailed both local private hospitals in my area but just planning ahead to see if it's feasible for me.

The not knowing and randomness of the incidents is making me quite stressed and starting to mean I'm a bit scared to go out, which is unavoidable due to work and life but is causing me a lot of anxiety, so getting it done quicker privately would be good if affordable.

Are the ecgs normal when they are done in hospital? Are they showing fast heart rate? I have been recently diagnosed with atrial fibrillation with fast heart rate. Last time it was 140 to 180 bpm at rest for 12 hours.
I don't know anything about a private ecg but I have bought a kardia mobile ecg device so I can do ecgs at home but I think it only detects Afib not other heart rhythm issues.

www.fairfield.org.uk/tests/electrocardiogram-ecg-monitoring/

www.londoncardiologyclinics.co.uk/24hr-ecg

Thanks @ellerby83 the ECGs so far have been normal with no concerns, 2 at the GO whilst no issues present, one with the paramedics and one in the hospital. They say they have no idea what it is but as I have something most days hopefully the 24hr ECG will show the changes and what is going on. Next step after that may be an echocardiogram.

Thanks @Newpillow they don't have that info on my local private hospital webpages, but useful to see the comparisons. I'll compare with what comes back from them, the second link looks very reasonable.

This has been happening to my daughter for 3 months and she's only 17. She went to the docs for an unrelated issue and they sent her to a and e. Her resting hr was 174. They gave her fluids. Took bloods. Yested urine. All clear. Hr went down. They just said go to your GP. It's been ongoing a while now and she sometimes has laboured breathing. She went to docs again last week they sent her to a and e again. Ecg clear. Chest x ray clear. They said go to your GP for a 24 ecg monitor. We went to gp Wednesday. She had an appointment letter for the hospital by Friday for first week in October. Maybe because she is young? I dont know. My husband also has AF and has had his heart restarted which didn't work. I'm hearing a lot about this lately. Very worrying for us.

Having been through a work up recently cardiologists actually prefer a 7 day ecg now rather than 24 hr. They like to combine it with a 24 hour blood pressure monitor. Those two with interpretation cost my health insurance about £400.

I'm sorry to hear your daughter is suffering @Willyoushutthefrontdoor. It sounds very similar to my issues. Very scary when it happens, I'm quite a bit older than your daughter (in my 40s), I can't imagine how scary it must feel for a teenager. I hope that you manage to get it sorted for her

@Needanadultgapyear I did wonder if 24hrs wasn't long enough, whilst I have some kind of issue most days it's not every day, it would be sods law that I'm fine for the whole 24hrs and wasted the test. A few days would be more likely to see some issues. I'll ask about that too.

My 19 year old daughter had an echocardiogram which was clear, she’s due to have a 24 hr ECG in a few weeks, she was referred months ago. She all of a sudden just before Christmas started to have chest pain, dizziness and a fast heart rate and she was convinced she’d got a heart condition but doctors have said it’s likely to be anxiety which took us and her by surprise as she’s never really been an anxious person and we couldn’t believe that alone could cause such physical symptoms - she’s had therapy which seems to have helped and she’s a lot better now thankfully as she became bit of a recluse. Hopefully the ECG will further rule out a heart problem and put her mind at rest even more. I was with her when they carried out the echocardiogram which took about 40 minutes and it was very thorough.
Sorry I can’t help you with the cost of going private and I know it’s frustrating waiting on the NHS, her echocardiogram was in February and it’s taken all this time for her to get the 24 hour ECG appointment. You’d like to think an ECG wouldn’t be too costly privately but who knows. Best of luck

Ive been going through the exact same thing these past few months, gone from a resting HR of 56 to 70 and peaking and not settling for an hour or more at 170

Ive had the 24hr test as well and whilst they can see the rise with nothing causing it, its regular , not erratic so dont think there is anything serious happening - Ive had every test know to man so far

So the last suggestion was cut the caffeine, did nothing and in the end I asked to go on beta blockers ( they were holding back to see if they could get to the bottom of it all ) but I have a life to lead and I was feeling seriously unwell and struggling.

I wear my Garmin 24/7 and its been calibrated with the Gps equipment and its within 1 point so they are happy to take its readings.

Beta blockers have stabilised it and now I feel back to myself. I can do what I was doing before it all went tits up - I did a marathon and came in at 227 of over a thousand just a month previous, so its not like I wasn't fit ) and Ive got to be honest, the investigations were making things worse for me. They would say we are testing for this that and the other and my stress levels were rising, more so every time they came back negative

Have a friend who is a retired ITU nurse and she in her caring way, knowing me so well has said I made the right choice, drop the stress of testing and take the bloody tablet.

I can now walk the dog again without huffing and puffing

Sometimes there is no reason other then stress, even if we cant put the finger on the stress factor,

Thanks for sharing your daughter's experience @Canwehavesunshineplease. I am sorry to hear she has been suffering too. One part of me thinks it's anxiety related too, like your daughter I'm not an anxious person, but I feel panicked when it's happening (although not stressed before hand) and I seem to be able to breath it down again most times, which makes me think it's more in my head. That's useful to know the time frames also, I was worried about that. I work a 1hr commute away and need to be quite active and mobile for my job, but I'm starting to become a bit scared about going out too, so really need to get this sorted soon before it affects work, perhaps private is the answer.
I hope your daughter gets answers soon and is able to get back to her self again.

Thanks @Suki1964, my GP did mention that beta blockers may be the answer but like your experience wants to check things out first. I complete agree with your thoughts regarding the extended testing making things worse, I feel like I'm in limbo wondering when it will happen again and will next time end up as a heart attack or something. It's so stressful not knowing what is going on and every time they say everything looks fine and they have no clue what it is I'm back to square one worrying again. It could be stress, I have started a new job this year, promotion and more responsibility, but I don't feel overwhelmed by it, it's still comfortably within my capabilities. But perhaps I don't realise that it's stressing me out more than I think?
Thanks everyone for sharing your/your children's experiences, it's helpful to know what other people have gone through that is similar. I do hope everyone still in the thick of it all gets some help soon and starts to feel better x

Has anyone mentioned SVT to you - Supraventricular Tachycardia. Symptoms are similar to yours. It is not life threatening and doesn't always need treatment.

A seven day Holter monitor (ecg) is better at catching it than a 24 hour one.

I hope I don't sound overbearing or a know all, it's just that I had all the tests for similar symptoms to yours, and in the end it was Atrial Fibrillation like a pp has.

SVT has similar treatment options but is a bit different to AFib.

Hope you'll be ok, it is very scary when the heart rate goes up so fast.

Yes I thought of SVT it commonly starts age 20 to 40

Thanks @halava they haven't mentioned SVT, but on reading up on it, it does sound just like my symptoms. I have two good options now for a private ECG (which for anyone looking at this and wondering the same as my original question is around £600 for the ECG and subsequent consultations), so hopefully I will have that in a couple of weeks. I'm going to phone and ask about an option for longer than 24hr as a few people have mentioned 24hrs may not be long enough and I am concerned about that as it doesn't happen everyday.

I'm 43 so not far outside of the 20-40 age range and although overweight to this point I've been very healthy.