Just Moved No A&E Nearby

[Meewah]

Hi

Just moved to north Wales to the country. Even though its a gerougeous place I feel very edgy about the move as I heard that the fatality rate is higher in the country because there are less medical facilities. I googled my nearest hospital and it is 10 mins away but it does not have an A&E Dept the closest is 40 mins away. They say in a emergency just call 999 and an ambulance will come. The problem is if I feel 70% Sure that I am dying I like to go down to A& E and get it checked out. I am worried that I will not call the ambulance out just in case it is a false alarm.

Does anyone else know what I mean???

Mee

[nomorepanic]

Don't they get annoyed with people turning up at A&E as well though

[Meewah]

Good to hear from you again Nicola.

I think they do get annoyed but it is not there job to Judge people. I would feel really guilty and terrible if I had called out a Ambulance and it turned out to be HA.


I feel even though living in the country has its stress relieving benefits the lack of City facilities like medical care scares me.

Mee

[nomorepanic]

Yes I can understand that. Our nearest A&E is about 25 minutes away but we have a local hospital 2 miles away that will see you if you call the out-of-hours doctor and they feel that they need to see you rather than send you to A&E. Let's face it - who wants to sit in A&E all night lol.

Have you ever been really ill though or was it all anxiety related?

What I am getting at is do you just worry cos next time there may be something really wrong and you need A&E for real if that makes sense?

When I had the heart attack it was the first time I had ever called 999 in my life and I didn't feel guilty cos I knew deep down that something was wrong and they were very good about it all saying it was best to get these things checked quickly etc. The paramedic arrived in 2 minutes and the ambulance about 5 minutes so pretty impressive really.

I don't think you should call 999 if you know deep down it is anxiety but do you have an out of hours doc you can call as well?

[Meewah]

Nicola

You make so much sense.

Yes I do have an out of hours urgent service, I feel the only problem is I have no experience of a Heart Attack. I have had friends who reported a continous pain under the breastbone. Others that have had two or three Heart attacks before they went to the doctors and found they had, had small heart attacks.

I do not know what I am looking for. I just know I sometimes get shap pains in my ribs/muscles surrounding my ribs. I get pains in the arm muscles, Tingling in the hand after sleeping. Strange feelings that come and go quickly ( 1 second) in my chest and so I feel like I will need to be on guard all the time.

Mee

[Meewah]

Nicola

I think the problem is the fear of fear. I fear feeling fear. I feel I talk symptoms down just so I dont scare myself silly.

The anticipation of having an Heart attack is what is wearing me down. The fear of exercising yet the feeling of being unfit also. The feeling of what life would be like post Heart attack that is assuming I lived. The loss of freedom. The fact that I cannot climb Everest even though I probably never would. All these ifs and Buts.

How my kids would feel. How they would be anxious about losing me.

I feel my fathers small Heart attack caused all this worry.

Just typing this is making me feel wierd...

Mee

[nomorepanic]

Ok let me try and reassure you somewhat here.

My next door neighbour had a heart attack in August 2007 and had to have triple by-pass surgery.

I was talking to him the other day as he knew that I had a stent put in too.

He goes to the gym twice a week and he is in his 60's. He said he has never felt so well!

My uncle had a triple by-pass op 2 months ago and he is doing fine too.

I am fine a year on as well. They acted quickly and put the stent in and now I am able to do whatever I want to.

I get chest pain too and of course it scares me silly cos I worry that I am having another heart attack but I know the difference between the pain.

I get pain in the middle of the chest and that scares me but I do not get the aching right arm I had when I had the actual heart attack. I am seeing doc on Monday as I am not sure if I am supposed to use my GTN spray on these occasions or not!

I went to see a cardiac rehab guy in August at the hospital and I asked if I should be careful of not lifting heavy things now cos they tell you to stop this following the heart attack and he said "No - as long as you remember to breathe when lifting".

I asked what else I can't do and he said "nothing - you can live a normal life again".

So there you go - it is not the end of your life.

As for the arm tingling - I still get this and numbness too. It could be carpal tunnel syndrome as I have that in my right hand though it doesn't bother me much nowadays. My left hand is numb every morning in bed.

Hope that helps just a bit anyway

[nomorepanic]

Ok I guess I have said something wrong as you didn't reply - sorry!

[Meewah]

Sorry Nicola

I took the youngest to bed and fell asleep with him. Now its 1am.

Thanks for the reassurance.

I know anything can become my focal point. I feel I live incredibly healthy, Because of this fear I have stopped drinking as it makes my HA worse, I eat plenty Oily fish 2-3 times a week. I dont smoke. I try to exercise daily. I feel that even though I do all this this has no gurantee that I wont get a heart attack. My friend just had one and he is a triathlon athlete and is very very fit. When they put the dye in his heart to see what was blocked they could not find anything and so have told him it was a contraction of a blood vessel that caused his as they cannot find any blockages.

I feel I am not in control. Waking at 1am lying there and then thinking thinking about all sorts of life stressing stuff causes me to focus on this again.

Any how I am rambling. Thanks for the reassurance. I am sure when/if this happens to me I should be able to make the call.

Take care. I hope you feel a little better since we last spoke.

Mee xx

[Cell block H fan]

Its the same for me, there is a hospital 10 minutes away, but they closed the A & E part, the next one is about half hour away.
To be honest though, touch wood, ive never needed to use it, apart from when my daughter decided to blow in a tub of Vanish for some unknown bizarre reason & some went in her eyes. I probably shouldn't of said all this as i'm tempting fate! lol
But it doesn't overly worry me. If the statistics were that bad, they would make sure they had a closer A & E, or re open the one they closed? There are certain guidlines each area has to obide by x

[nomorepanic]

I was worried I had made you worse - glad I didn't.

I guess we all know someone that has had this illness and that illness and it can make us worse at times but try to remember we are all individual and have different bodies etc.

I am doing ok thanks - still having nightmares but waiting to see a counsellor.

[Meewah]

Nicola I digress

Buy a little cheap (Asda £5) Personal Radio with headphones. If like me you can fall asleep easily when the TV is on then try tuning in to your favorite talk radio (mine is Radio 4) I am partial to the shipping forecast. keep it very low and leave them in all night. If you can stretch the budget and my first option works then buy yourself one of them pillows with a speaker in. Trust me if you sleep with somone they cannot hear it and you can leave it on all night. I find I do dream but about things on the radio. I feel if you do this enough you will train your mind chemicals to redress the problem. Also My wife treat me to a Digital alarm clock with digital (DAB) radio built in. There is a station called birdsong on there which is just the sounds of a rural wood and it is great at keeping the mind under control.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you give it a try.

Mee