I woke up in the night with stabbing pains in my chest. I assumed it was a torn intercostal muscle, took some paracetamol, and went back to (fitful) sleep. At 7.30, in agony, I checked the NHS online self-help guide under chest pain, which told me to ring 111 (the non-emergency NHS Direct helpline). By 8.00am they had ordered an ambulance, which turned up about 20 minutes later, along with a paramedic. They assessed me quickly and efficiently, hitched me up to an ECG machine, put a cannula in, dosed me with Aspirin and sprayed something under my tongue which gave me an almost instant headache. Off in the ambulance before 9.00am, having told me that I had an abnormal ECG trace, and they sent my ECG readouts ahead to the hospital. When we arrived at Colchester General Hospital I was handed over by the ambulance team, quickly assessed by an emergency team and hooked up to a monitor. I was then moved to the Majors department in Accident and Emergency, where my blood pressure was taken every quarter of an hour along with all my other vital signs, and blood was taken for a series of tests.
I spent the rest of the morning having endless tests, plus a chest X Ray (less than 5 minutes after it was ordered by the Duty Doctor), and snatching some sleep where I could. The cardiac specialist looked at me at some point. By 2.00pm they had all the results. Instead of heart problems, I had a lung infection, and I was sent home with some antibiotics and some painkillers, an email was sent to my GP describing the events of the day, and an appointment made in 5 weeks time for a follow up chest X ray to be sure the infection had cleared up. The abnormal ECG was "an athletes heart", according to the cardiologists, who also said that they tend not to worry so much when a patient has a resting heart rate of 50 and a BP of 120 over 65.
All this cost not a single penny (at the point of delivery.........I pay my taxes, before anyone points that out). It will have no impact on my future access to health services. Brought in at the same time as me were a guy on benefits having life saving treatment for an enormous infection all over his psoriasis-infected skin, and a young (teenage) girl who had just collapsed with a suspected tumour, presumably neither of whom pay tax. Thank goodness for the wonderful NHS, and I pity those on this planet, and of this forum in particular, who don't live under such a good system.
I spent the rest of the morning having endless tests, plus a chest X Ray (less than 5 minutes after it was ordered by the Duty Doctor), and snatching some sleep where I could. The cardiac specialist looked at me at some point. By 2.00pm they had all the results. Instead of heart problems, I had a lung infection, and I was sent home with some antibiotics and some painkillers, an email was sent to my GP describing the events of the day, and an appointment made in 5 weeks time for a follow up chest X ray to be sure the infection had cleared up. The abnormal ECG was "an athletes heart", according to the cardiologists, who also said that they tend not to worry so much when a patient has a resting heart rate of 50 and a BP of 120 over 65.
All this cost not a single penny (at the point of delivery.........I pay my taxes, before anyone points that out). It will have no impact on my future access to health services. Brought in at the same time as me were a guy on benefits having life saving treatment for an enormous infection all over his psoriasis-infected skin, and a young (teenage) girl who had just collapsed with a suspected tumour, presumably neither of whom pay tax. Thank goodness for the wonderful NHS, and I pity those on this planet, and of this forum in particular, who don't live under such a good system.
via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/1Ur67WK
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