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Calling all heart specialists

Posted , 11 users are following.

diana06006
diana06006

Having found this site, I am quite shocked by how many sufferers there are all suffering with ectopic beats, me included.  A lot of you are very young, unlike me at 70!  It would be great if the heart specialists out there could read the cries for help on this site and maybe offer us some solutions instead of the flippant comments we get in the consulting room ie. "it's just something your heart likes to do", "it's benign", "it's like hiccups", "walk around your garden 3 times" bla bla bla.  Having read many articles in newspapers and magazines on the subject, a lot of them view ectopic beats as abnormal and need investigating - they can cause blood clots to form as blood backs up in the chambers of the heart and could lead to a stroke or heart attack.  So why do our consultants largely dismiss us.  Is it because it is too costly for the NHS to treat us in that offering us an operation is something our doctors could not afford from their budgets?  I am rather cynically suspecting this!

1 like, 25 replies

25 Replies

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  • kingclart69
    kingclart69 diana06006

    Posted

    It seems to me that we are all suffering from variations of a similar condition. My heart rate is normally around 60 ish at rest but will go slightly over a 100 when the ectopic beats kick in. I ain't advertising but for those who have an iPhone the " Cardiio" app is a good way to see your heart rhythm fluctuating in real time. 

    I also read somewhere that pinching your nostrils and breathing out hard causes pressure on the heart muscle which helps stabilise it. Might be rubbish but perhaps worth a try.

    • derek76
      derek76 kingclart69

      Posted

      I've heard that. Someone I once worked with was told to drink ice cold water and also to splash his face with cold water during an incident.
    • Chalky1991
      Chalky1991 derek76

      Posted

      Hi Derek,

      I have had many ecg's only one ever caught an ectopic. I have had two stress tests which were fine, and Echo cardio gram and and Echo cardio gram with contrast, I have had a 24, 48 and a week holster monitor. All say ectopics begnin, however one did catch a short burst of VT when my heart rate hit 236 for a five second period. Although a second opinion said it was just a "concert of 5 ectopics all together and not VT "

      What ever it is its electrical and it unsettles my everyday. I'm reluctant to exercise as I don't want to be out running and keel over or cause more issues when in a gym it's a life changer.

      I can highly recommend Proff Schilling ( London based) consultant if anyone can get to see him. This chap really knows his stuff and will help to reassure. Unfortunate I haven't seen him for 4 years and my reassurance has worn off.

      Re the cold water I was also told that along with drinking it and also to pinch your nose and blow out as if equalising popped ears. This is called the valsamic manoeuvre and immediately effects the heart rhythm by slowing it.

  • Chalky1991
    Chalky1991 diana06006

    Posted

    As for monitors I bought a MD100E personal hand held ECG monitor and it's great it records and I have taken it to the docs and he has been able to read the ecg off it. It's not cheap around £200 but for me has been a great investment. It also tells you what issues your suffering like PVC or tachy etc
  • katz31
    katz31 diana06006

    Posted

    This Is my mothers story (not intentionally

    Trying to scare anyone)

    On the 18th August 2013 my mum went to

    The doctor with abnormal beats and

    Nausea....was told it was stress/anxiety

    And was given sickness tablets.

    19 August I had a phone call that the

    Ambulance was at her house, I run round

    (I was 13 weeks pregnant) my mum was

    Having chest pains. Paramedics said

    There was nothing wrong so she goes up

    To bed and I go home.

    An hour later my dad phones in a panic

    Saying my mum had collapsed, again

    I sprint round (I don't drive) I found my

    Mum on the floor being de-fibbed.

    She passed away before getting to the

    Hospital she was 49 years old! At the

    Inquest it was said she had heart

    Failure.

    If her doctors had sent her to A&E when

    She went round she may still be here

    Watching her grand children grow up.

    I'm saying if you feel your doctor is

    Dismissive get a second/third/fourth

    Opinion! Its your life not theirs!

    I hope your doctors pull their fingers

    Out! Take care.

    • Merryl
      Merryl katz31

      Posted

      Hi, sorry to hear about your mam, and at such a young age. I have got abnormal beats and the cardiologist said there could be a problem with the AV node. I had to send for an ambulance on quite a few occassions and. I have to say I was taken to the hospital every time I called them. I had all the tests done before I was sent back home. I am now waiting to see an electrophysiologist to see if I can have an operation for the abnormal beats. As you said, If your Mam was taken to A&E she could have had tests which could have saved her life.

      Take care.  

    • katz31
      katz31 Merryl

      Posted

      Thankyou for your kind words.

      I wish you all the best and pray you

      Get the medical attention you so

      Rightly deserve.

      Take care

      Kate.

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