conflicting ecg readings

[russell1968]

Any advice would be welcome! i went to my doctors last week because i was suffering from a panic attack, the doctor took my blood pressure listened to my heart and said it was all fine , she then suggested a ecg which i took, when i was called back into the office she said my ecg is showing that my heart had had a incident in the past , meaning minor heart attack! i was so shocked !she then pescribed me some beta blockers and baby asprin and told me she would refer me to a cardiologist, i went home in a complete state! when i sat down and thought about it i decided to go to the local emergency room claiming i had chest pains when my ecg came back it was completly normal so which one should i belive?? any advice would be of grat help??

[janeybaby25]

I would just take it for what it is at the min & wait to see what cardiologist says when you get an apot, I am sorry to hear all this has stressed you out. I hope you get your apot soon & see what they say. You can PM me if you want to talk, I suffer from a heart condition so I am an expert in apots with the cardiologist!

[RosieXXX]

Hi Russell,

I can imagine what a shock that must have been for you. My husband once had an ecg, which was showing he had a heart attack, it turned out the ecg hadn't been attached correctly, the next one they did was normal - this could be the same situation for you. It seems very odd that one should show abnormality and the other normal, could easily be some technical fault - I would feel encouraged that the second one showed normal. Anyway, it is a good thing you are seeing the specialist to get a thorough check, i am sure it will put your mind at rest.

[nickieb]

Russell Hiya.
I have had numerous experience of taking ECG's in my career and as much as they do there job well in diagnosis they can be very faulty if not carried out effectively.
Ecg's rely on their patient keeping very still & the skill of the nurse/Dr attaching the leads effectively & obviously the machine being calibrated regularly. If you had moved, the machine played up or the leads not attached effectively it can show up abnormality.

An example, my dad went to primary care recently with chest pain & had an ECG by a locum Dr who wasnt the most compotent with operating the machine....it showed that my dad had had an MI at some point. He was told to see his GP the following day. That following day the practice nurse repeated it, she couldn't see a problem with it (ex cardiac nurse with many years experince taking & reading ECG's) she took it to his Gp who agreed with her. Just to make sure they did bloods (cardiac enzymes) & referred him for an exercise test...ALL NORMAL!!!!

My advice as a nurse would be not to panic. A&E see ecg's a gazzilion times a day & have lots of experince reading them as have the emergency doctors who if at all were worried would have kept u in & sorted this out. However like the previous posts have said a cardiology review will clarify everything.

Try not to worry xxx

[russell1968]

Thanks to everyone for all your feedback! it really has helped

[russell1968]

Hi Nicola, thanks for your excellent advice, just heard from the local cardio clinic, they told me they it will be 3 weeks until they see me ! they have only seen the ecg from my gp , they obvioulsy dont think its to bad, they might not even gove me any further tests