DH health anxiety driving me to distraction

[MyGhastIsFlabbered]

DH has always been very fit and active (doing ultramarathons etc). About a month ago he ran a marathon, then three weeks later he did a 100 mile race.

He’s been getting arrhythmia so last week went to A&E. They did some blood tests and ECGs and recommended an echo and longer ECG but he was discharged the same day. Unfortunately he is working away from home and went to A&E near his work so the referral wasn’t made internally.

I sent the discharge summary to our GP who have arranged a further blood test and ECG next week and an appointment with the GP 2 weeks after that.

Since then all I’ve heard from him is how his heart is bad and he’s going to drop dead and that nobody seems to care. I work in a non-clinical NHS role and have tried to explain that if anything urgent had been picked up in A&E they wouldn’t have let him go, that his GP is also not that concerned as they are not seeing him urgently. The discharge summary from the hospital wants these investigations to rule out paroxysmal AF which in itself isn’t immediately life threatening and can be treated.

But he’s just wallowing in self-pity and I’m rapidly running out of patience. Is there anything I can tell him that might sink in? I hope I don’t sound horribly unsympathetic. I do get that he’s worried and I am sorry for that, but he’s just jumping to worst case scenarios and not listening.

Your last sentence pretty much sums up what he needs to hear, backed up with the logical points you’ve raised about A&E and GP dealing with him urgently if he had needed it.
Whilst he is away, is he exercising? If he is, perhaps he could do it more gently than usual?
Is it possible to make a GP appointment for when he returns from his trip? Then they can review the data & future investigations in a structured, professional manner.
Probably best if he stays away from diagnosing himself via the internet too, at least whilst he is away!

Is he getting any chest pains? If not, you could point out to him that that in itself indicates that not much is wrong with him.

That is a dangerous generalisation. I know this because My DF had a silent heart attack a couple of years ago: not a jot of pain but still plenty of damage.

I have a friend who had such a terrible time waiting for her heart issues to be sorted she went private and needed to have 3 procedures, thank goodness she could go private as she was told she was very close to having a heart attack.

Bad advice about nothing being wrong unless you have pains, this is simply no not true.

I imagine he's worried and quite rightly so. The waiting list for cardiac referrals is ridiculous on the NHS.

The waiting times are horrendous and I’ve told him to go back to A&E if things get worse. But he could afford to see someone privately (even if just the initial consultation which would hopefully set his mind at rest) but he won’t spend the money.

How is he, @MyGhastIsFlabbered

He’s still the same, worrying about it, saying he’s going to die but nothing has worsened so who knows?

Good news that he is still with us!
Has he decided to / could he yet be persuaded to make a GPs appointment?

He’s got an appointment for an ECG and blood test tomorrow and is seeing the GP in 2 weeks

Would monitoring it himself would make his health anxiety better or worse do you think? It can reasssure some people to know things are OK but make others anxious and obsessive.

Depending on whether or not you think it would be a good thing, there is a device you can buy to monitor atrial fibrillation. It doesn’t assess all heart rhythms or conditions, but will determine AF vs a normal rhythm. look at Kardia mobile if you think it could help.

Hes not that worried then

Although I disagree with your premise that a GP will always follow up quickly should the results dictate urgency.

I no longer think that's regularly true

For goodness sake don’t tell @MyGhastIsFlabbered ‘s DH - he’ll be setting up camp in A&E!