chest pains

[uwila]

Originally Posted by dlegros

You were assessed, had an ECG recorded by the sounds of it - it showed no immediate life threatening condition - so you have to wait.

Spot on. Hang in there dlegros, some of us appreciate the work you do. After my bike accident the NHS were fantastic - the ambulance crew even took me to a local BP garage so I avoided cr@pping in my leathers (onset of shock). I was seen promptly in A&E, but not ahead of an elderly lady who was in worse condition than me.

[Jen]

Originally Posted by recurve

Exactly Jen, the page gives some excellent guidance about what to worry about, and conversely some pretty firm ideas about what constitutes non cardiac related chest pain.

The overriding message in the whole campain is to call 999 if you have chest pain. It doesn't say check our website, self-diagnose and then if you're sure you wont be wasting NHS resources go to the docs.

[MATTBIN]

Originally Posted by uwila

Spot on. Hang in there dlegros, some of us appreciate the work you do. After my bike accident the NHS were fantastic - the ambulance crew even took me to a local BP garage so I avoided cr@pping in my leathers (onset of shock). I was seen promptly in A&E, but not ahead of an elderly lady who was in worse condition than me.

I absolutely agree, Hemel sorted out my father-in-law brilliantly, we went there rather than L&D (for the reasons stated above - they are a shambles, I wont go into too much detail as I dont want to hijack this thread). Now the news is that Hemel A&E is to be closed, so we have to go to L&D or Watford both of which are diabolical, they have closed our local small hospital and St.Albans doesnt have any A&E. Meaning a major stretch of the M1 doesnt have a nearby hospital, during the period when that part of the M1 doesnt have a hard shoulder for Emergency Vehicle access.

The NHS is in crisis, we have contacted our PCT, which has just be re-amalgamated, so use the excuse "it was a decision made before we existed".

The frontline staff are (mainly) doing a great job, especially given the cuts etc, but appreciation of what they do wont stop the rot.

Matt

[SilvaFish]

Originally Posted by CotoChris

I am fortunate with my diet. I have fruit for breakfast and currently my orange trees are producing some juicy oranges. It's tough streching out of the window and picking an orange whenever I peckish!

lol, your diet sounds far better than mine! And trees outside your window beats going to the nearest overpriced place to buy 'fresh' produce that's been either frozen or gassed to give longer shelf-lifes!

Originally Posted by CotoChris

The stress is work related & having own business, some times it is hectic, sometimes less hectic! I could do with another set of hands but can't afford it yet.

Need to go back in the water. That should help

Amen to that!

[Mary]

Originally Posted by Jen

The overriding message in the whole campain is to call 999 if you have chest pain. It doesn't say check our website, self-diagnose and then if you're sure you wont be wasting NHS resources go to the docs.

Precisely! I'm sure pretty much every doctor who has worked in A&E or Acute Medicine has thier own horror stories of the heart attacks who didn't present to A&E / hospital until a couple of days later because they thought they knew better. Yes certain characteristics can help determine the cause of the pain but without an ECG and knowing your history (and possible some bloods) I wouldn't want to discharge you.

[recurve]

Originally Posted by Jen

The overriding message in the whole campain is to call 999 if you have chest pain. It doesn't say check our website, self-diagnose and then if you're sure you wont be wasting NHS resources go to the docs.

I'm sorry Jen, the message I get is 'be aware of the nature of chest pain, judge for yourself but if you have doubts call 999'. The site you chose to quote has a wealth of sensible guidance to allow sensible individuals to assess themselves.

I have gone out to SO many 'chest pain' calls from young fit individuals, with a history of overdoing exercise a week ago, and have had a sharp stabbing pain in their right lower ribs for the last four days as the result of pulling a muscle and whose mates have now told them to call 999 because it's 'chest pain' and you can never be too careful! Pathetic!

Instead of taking some common sense decisions about our own health and well being, we have to abrogate responsibility to someone else (to whit, an a&e doctor). We complain about a nanny state, but in some areas we can't actually accept that we CAN make decisions for ourselves.

As an aside, one of the BIG killers is the 'silent MI' where there is little or NO pain.

[CotoChris]

Originally Posted by recurve

I'm sorry Jen, the message I get is 'be aware of the nature of chest pain, judge for yourself but if you have doubts call 999'. The site you chose to quote has a wealth of sensible guidance to allow sensible individuals to assess themselves.

I have gone out to SO many 'chest pain' calls from young fit individuals, with a history of overdoing exercise a week ago, and have had a sharp stabbing pain in their right lower ribs for the last four days as the result of pulling a muscle and whose mates have now told them to call 999 because it's 'chest pain' and you can never be too careful! Pathetic!

Instead of taking some common sense decisions about our own health and well being, we have to abrogate responsibility to someone else (to whit, an a&e doctor). We complain about a nanny state, but in some areas we can't actually accept that we CAN make decisions for ourselves.

As an aside, one of the BIG killers is the 'silent MI' where there is little or NO pain.

In my case was I right to go to the doctor? As explained in earlier post in Portugal you can't go to A&E (unless you are in pieces-literally!), you have to go to local health center first as I did.
I didn't think it was 'heart attack' for a moment but the pain was getting nasty. My decision was either take a painkiller and self - medicate to something I had no idea what it was or to see a pro. I thought I did the right decision and YD'rs here convinced me to go where otherwise I may not have as I hesitated to bother a doc. On hindsite I feel I was right to go, if the doctor thought so or not I have no idea.

[Jen]

Chris, I think you were right to go to the doctors. To my mind your health is too important to take risks with.

Phil, I can see how you have been frustrated by healthy guys pulling a muscle have panicked and ran to A&E or called out an emergency doctor. Agreed the website I quoted does have some great advice on it but it was the posters from the campaign that brought it to my attention and I'm guessing it what has reached the most people. The posters are encouraging people (men mainly?) to call 999 when they get any chest pain.

My father died of a massive heart attack in hospital. He eventually went to the doctors after having chest pain for a couple of days. I don't know if this current campaign would have helped him but to my mind if it helps someone get help without hesitation then the extra load on NHS resources would be worth it.

[Steve S]

Originally Posted by recurve

I have gone out to SO many 'chest pain' calls from young fit individuals, with a history of overdoing exercise a week ago, and have had a sharp stabbing pain in their right lower ribs for the last four days as the result of pulling a muscle and whose mates have now told them to call 999 because it's 'chest pain' and you can never be too careful! Pathetic!

Hi Mate,

hope your on the mend, I can understand your frustration at these shouts and I know that when your bus is tied up with one of those, another emergency call could be delayed, but surely it would be better to see and discharge X amount of ''healthy'' people than have someone die as a result of not making a call.

My Mother in law died in A&E of an MI after keeping chest and neck pains to herself for 5 days as she didn't want to bother anyone.

Anything that can be done to reduce fatalities can't be a bad thing can it?

Safe diving,
Steve

[recurve]

Steve, I wouldn't be surprised if your mum managed to keep her symptoms well under wraps, despite them being clearly indicative of an MI, I have come accross that situation many times too, and I would never suggest THAT as a sensible approach. Note my last posting said 'in the case of doubt call 999.

As a nation, I would suggest that we are better informed about our health than generations that have passed before us. We are encouraged to be active participants in our medical treatment including when we are in hospitals. We have access to resources like the internet that can provide us with a wealth of information. We would scream like blue murder if we restricted to buying motor cars that would only do 30mph around town, personal choice, restriction of freedom, human rights et al, citing the fact that we are sensible enough to make decisions about driving for ourselves but we will happily turn over full responsibility for our health to some JHO down in a&e at the drop of a hat.

Every day we take decisions for ourselves that involve an analysis of risk and we try to decide likely outcomes. Mitigating bad outcomes by the sensible implementation of our knowledge, skills and information available to us (diving is a case in point). Even something as simple as 'do I cross the road NOW, or do I wait?' we analyse and come up with an answer because we have information in our brain that allows us to predict likely outcomes from the risk factors present.

For some reason (perhaps as a result of the homage paid to medics in the Victorian era), we are loathe to apply information about medical matters (chest pain included) to allow us to come to a sensible decision about what we should do.

No, I wouldn't want folks to go and trawl through the internet in an effort to self diagnose when they are being racked with pain, but is there any reason why ANY of us shouldn't go and look at the information available right now, before any crisis incident, to give us information that allows us to make a sensible informed decision in the future?

Cold, clammy, breathless, left sided chest pain, radiating into into left arm, neck and through into the back. Crushing sensation, feeling like a band is round your chest. Feeling of 'impending doom', blue lips and extremities, all tick boxes that would point me to a&e. However, sharp stabbing, right sided pain, history of strenuous exercise, pain directly aggravated by movement, flushed, hot to the touch, are all symptoms that would have me reaching for
the ibuprophen and a glass of malt. There is nothing special about me or what I have done in my past that makes me uniquely able to decide for myself, it is something ANY of us can do.

However, if you are in any doubt about your symptoms, or are the type of person who 'doesn't like to bother anyone' and are trying to ignore diagnostic symptoms then get your head out yer ar*e and make that call!