NervousNellie
01-12-08, 00:56
Hi everyone! I'm new here and I'm looking for some support - I suffer from terrible health anxiety. If I'm not worried about myself, I worry about everyone else! Last month, I ended up in the hospital after a visit to my GP. I went in because I was coming down with a virus, so I was hoping that I would get some antibiotics. When I first got there, my blood pressure was 142/82 (which is quite high for me) and I was having constant palpitations (from my fear of doctors)and when the nurse checked my pulse, she felt one. So she told me that she wanted to do an ecg - I got so worked up about this and thought something was terribly wrong, so I sent myself into a full panic attack. The ecg read my heartrate at 148, so the doctor sent me to the hospital from his office, by ambulance!
Once I got to the hospital, they ran another ecg and the heartrate went down a bit and the rhythm was normal. They did bloodwork and an student in training ran another ecg, however on the 2nd ecg, the rhythm was abnormal. So they ran another round of bloodwork. When the doctor came in, he told me that he couldn't understand why my 2nd ecg was abnormal when my bloodwork was so perfect! He told the nurse to run a 3rd ecg (this was the same nurse that ran the first one) and if that was normal, he was going to send me home. Before running the 3rd ecg, the nurse noticed that one of the leads was not connected properly and the 3rd ecg came out perfect with a heartrate of 94. The doctor sent me home with a diagnosis of anxiety.
My question is....do you think that I am OK? I have been to a cardiologist 3 times in the last year and he did ecg's, an echo and I wore a holter monitor for 24 hours. All results were normal and he said that whatever I was experiencing was not cardiac related and not to come back! I am 30 years old. I started to relax about my heart health until this episode with being sent to the hospital. Now the fact that I had an "abnormal" ecg is driving me nuts. I've heard that panic attacks and movement during an ecg can alter the results, but I'm still worried about it. I was panicking during that 2nd test and I also moved my head, but the doctor said that things like that won't affect the test. I know that it may have been an error with the 2nd test because the lead may not have been hooked up correctly, but I am absolutely panicked by the thought of having an abnormal ecg! The doctor at the hospital also mentioned that he has never seen such perfect bloodwork in a patient that came into the hospital in the same situation as me - he said it was textbook perfect. Do you think it's safe for me to believe that my ecg's were normal and I am OK? Please help me!:weep: I just need some reassurance!
Once I got to the hospital, they ran another ecg and the heartrate went down a bit and the rhythm was normal. They did bloodwork and an student in training ran another ecg, however on the 2nd ecg, the rhythm was abnormal. So they ran another round of bloodwork. When the doctor came in, he told me that he couldn't understand why my 2nd ecg was abnormal when my bloodwork was so perfect! He told the nurse to run a 3rd ecg (this was the same nurse that ran the first one) and if that was normal, he was going to send me home. Before running the 3rd ecg, the nurse noticed that one of the leads was not connected properly and the 3rd ecg came out perfect with a heartrate of 94. The doctor sent me home with a diagnosis of anxiety.
My question is....do you think that I am OK? I have been to a cardiologist 3 times in the last year and he did ecg's, an echo and I wore a holter monitor for 24 hours. All results were normal and he said that whatever I was experiencing was not cardiac related and not to come back! I am 30 years old. I started to relax about my heart health until this episode with being sent to the hospital. Now the fact that I had an "abnormal" ecg is driving me nuts. I've heard that panic attacks and movement during an ecg can alter the results, but I'm still worried about it. I was panicking during that 2nd test and I also moved my head, but the doctor said that things like that won't affect the test. I know that it may have been an error with the 2nd test because the lead may not have been hooked up correctly, but I am absolutely panicked by the thought of having an abnormal ecg! The doctor at the hospital also mentioned that he has never seen such perfect bloodwork in a patient that came into the hospital in the same situation as me - he said it was textbook perfect. Do you think it's safe for me to believe that my ecg's were normal and I am OK? Please help me!:weep: I just need some reassurance!