Worried about long qt syndrome

[bagels22]

Hi all,

New to this board and thought I'd post my story hoping for some advice. I started having anxiety and panic attacks about 2 months ago when I went off of birth control. Not sure why I started having them but I do have a family history of them. Since then, I have been having lots of health anxiety. The first time I had a panic attack I went to urgent care and had an EKG which printed out "borderline prolonged qt". I have been to the ER 3 times with panic attacks and had 3 other EKG's done, all of which has been normal. I have seen my family doctor who said the first EKG he is not worried about becaues they somehow did a pediatric ekg on me and he does not think it was done right. I have also had ct scans and x rays showing my heart is fine.

The doctor wants me to take Lexapro, but the past few days I have been feeling better and would really prefer not to be medicated if I don't need to be. However, I am still worried about having long qt. After doing much reading on it, it can cause sudden death. Most people experience symptoms in their childhood and have family history. I am 26 with no family history or symptoms. My family doc does not want to send me to a Cardiologist because he thinks it would be totally unneseccary and that the one abnormal EKG can basically be thrown out. I am scared I will suddenly drop dead even though I have had 4 doctors tell me this is not the case. The last ER doctor told me I should have my fmaily doc refer me to a cardio just to ease my mind, but my family doc will not do this because he thinks it is just feeding into my fears. What does everyone think!? Thanks for any help. Panic attacks and anxiety are scary!

[Em84]

This is difficult because part of a health anxiety means that we could be told 1000 times we are ok by the doctor but in our minds theres always something they have missed etc etc....
As you have had 2 normal set of results after the first i think that you will be fine...im not sure what a qt is so i cant comment on that but i have major scares about my heart all the time...i can hear my heartbeat and feel it palping in my next left side...doctor says thats ok??? Dr Google says blocked arterie...see my point? lol

If you feel this is making your anxiety worse, then theres no harm in trying to speak to your doctor again and say how it is effecting you and you feel it will be beneficial to have the test so you move on...

Remember though GP's are incharge of their sugerys budget these days so he may need pursuading.

Im sure your ok hun

x

[bagels22]

Thank you for the advice. I don't think the doctor will recommend me for a cardiologist because he is already going to be furious that I am not taking the anxiety medication. It would not hurt talking to him again, and I was wondering if maybe I could call a cardiologist office, explain the situation, and see if they think it would be prudent for me to come in for extra testing. Dr. google is very bad for me. I googled that 10-30% of people with this syndrome have no evidence on their EKG's. I also googled that if you have one EKG that says prolonged it is enough for a diagnosis. I should not rely on this information but it is hard to know what to believe and what not to. I wish I could just trust my doctor!