cardio visit update

[breakingwaves]

Well first visit came and went and he gave me about 20 minutes. the main thing that got accomplsihed is he seems to understand that there is a problem. At first he was very laiid back and then after he took my blood pressure about 4 times he got a sense of urgency about him. He said it was sky high. So I am due to wear a heart monitor in the next couple of weeks, scheduled for another echo as well. He said he did hear severe stenosis. He talked about a surgeon briefly, someone new from our local hospital which going to that hospital will not be to my liking. We will address that at our next appointment which is in three weeks. I just hope I have the courage to speak my mind about the surgery location at that time.

 

[gijanet]

Ummmmmmmmmm........

Ummmmmmmmmm........

I just hope I have the courage to speak my mind about the surgery location at that time.

Just a thought, but you might want to have it somewhere in the vacinity of your heart!

Seriously, though, I am so glad that your card got a wake-up call and realized that there was a problem. The heart monitor and more thorough echo sounds great, but is he doing anything about your blood pressure in the meantime? Three weeks can be a long time. Please let us know how your tests go. I just know that you will find the courage to speak up about your surgeon and hospital preferences as you will have many people on here rallying you on. Besides, you have got to be your own advocate in this matter - this is YOUR life we are talking about. You're being added to my prayer list right now. Sending hugs.

Take care and God bless, Janet

 

[epstns]

Yes. . . some good progress has been made. Be sure to continue to pursue the blood pressure issue, though. My first cardio didn't think my 160/100 BP was serious enough to treat. My second cardio (after summarily dismissing the first) is treating it carefully.

Good luck, but ya gotta keep after them, otherwise they don't realize what's important to us patients!

 

[ALCapshaw2]

I recommend telling your Cardiologist that you want to go to a hospital and surgeon that does LOTS of VALVE Surgeries and not someone who just does VALVE surgery every once in a while.

My local hospital has an excellent track record for Bypass Surgeries but when it came time for my VALVE replacement, my cardio recommended that I go to UAB, which is a major teaching hospital in my state with a good national rating. You can check out hospital ratings BY PROCEDURE and Location at www.healthgrades.com

'AL'

 

[tobagotwo]

Smart lady! You choose the surgeon and the facility, not your doctor. Of course, if you happen to like his choice, great. However, that doesn't seem to be the case right now.

It's good to get him to expect a different standard for you than his other patients right up front. Cardiologists become used to frightened, docile, easily directed patients. It is no more rude for you to speak up about this than it would be for you to tell him to get his size 13 mukluks out of your geraniums. Be bold for your heart's sake.

Sounds like he'll try you on an ambulatory blood pressure monitor, to see if your blood pressure is always that high, or just when you go to see him. That is a good thing. No one should ever accept a blood pressure medication prescription based solely on readings taken in the cardio's or GP's office, unless their own home readings agree with the office readings. If they don't agree, or you don't have home readings, you should demand a 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitor before accepting the prescription.

While the nurses and doctors are perfectly capable of taking accurate blood pressures, the pressures you present at their offices may not actually be your normal blood pressure. My blood pressure is atrocious in the cardiologist's office; actually alarming. However, 24-hour monitoring has shown that my blood pressure stays consistently in the normal range, as long as I stay away from cardiologisits.

He may also try you on a Holter monitor for a day, to see if you're arrhythmic, or to see how badly arrhythmic you may be. That's worth knowing, too.

Best wishes,

 

[breakingwaves]

gijanet

gijanet

Thanks for the info, I have had so many things to think about lately but the soaring blood pressure has been a problem. I purchased a home blood pressure monitor over the weekend, because on Friday I felt I was getting flu like symptoms and wanted to check if it was due to that, but fortunely most of the symptoms passed by Sat. Must have been a 24 hour bug.

 

[breakingwaves]

epstns

epstns

I hope this cardio works out but if he doesn't I am prepared to go to another, although they all come out of the same office it seems. He put me on some new pills, which I am hoping will bring the pressure down.

 

[breakingwaves]

ALCapshaw2

ALCapshaw2

thank you Al, I am going to practice being more assertive about what is good for me!

 

[breakingwaves]

tobagotwo

tobagotwo

Evidently it was so alarming that he took it four times but it was part of what brought him to think maybe this could be serious. I thought it was interesting that when finally he listened for himself, he said in almost a disbelieving tone, well I do think I hear severe stenosis. So more tests to give him a little more to go on.

 

[tobagotwo]

You did the right thing, getting a home blood pressure testing unit.

My son had a school physical. His blood pressure was high, so they insisted he see a pediatrician.

The pediatrician went right to it and took his blood pressure. It was high, indeed, and he insisted we go to a pediatric cardiologist.

The pediatric cardiologist lashed him to a table, took his blood pressure, listened for blockages in his legs and all over. His blood pressure was now incredibly high, and the cardiologist was debating openly over whether to send him to the emergency room or put him immediately on a high dose of a very strong blood pressure prescription. He was almost certain that there was a blockage that he wasn't finding.

Meanwhile, I had been watching my son's nervousness ratchet higher and higher with each step further into the wonderful world of modern medicine. That's when I took him back and said, "No thank you." The Pediatric Cardiologist actually said that he could not be responsible for my son's safetey if I took him home. I said, "thank you. That's fine." He told me I was being completely irresponsible and endangering my child. I said, "I don't think so at all." I left with my son, shaking my head.

Twenty minutes later we arrived home and I took his blood pressure on my home machine, an AND 767 model (from A&D) which was approved by and checked with my GP's readings. Pressure just slightly above normal. Two hours later: normal.

Why this long story? Well, because all of my stories are long...

No, wait: I had a point...

It's just that we should not take for granted that what we see at a given moment is true for the rest of the time. If you don't know about your blood pressure, find out before simply accepting a prescription.

I have so-called "white coat syndrome," where my blood pressure goes up dramatically at the doctor's. I looked at my son getting more and more nervous, watched his BP go up right along with the level of the specialist he was seeing, and knew what it had to be. He could have been hospitalized and put on high doses of drugs he did not need, drugs which could have had dangerous effects on him. And the doctors were all adamant and in agreement.

If you go to any doctor with any problem, and you believe you know the cause or the diagnosis, and the doctor doesn't listen or give you any good reason why you can't be correct, be careful about what you let him give you. You can be worse off with the wrong thing. I just have to wonder how many people have prescriptions given or dosages raised because they were nervous, rather than increasingly hypertensive.

All that said, if you find that you do need blood pressure medication, then by all means, get it.

Best wishes,

 

[breakingwaves]

tobagotwo

tobagotwo

Thanks so much for the advice, long stories are just fine with me! I have to work on my fear of white coats and work on speaking my mind. It comes with being raised at a time where voices of authority weren't spoken back to. Even though I am well beyond that young girl stage, its a hard habit to break.

 

[Bryan B]

I have found my home BP monitor to be invaluable. I bought a Lumiscope wrist model on sale at CVS for 29.00 after my surgery. I have WCS too (white coat syndrome ), so I used to take a Xanax 1 hour before going to the doctor. Now I take my BP right before I leave for any doctor's appointment. If it's normal at home I am less apt to get overly nervous about it when they take it at the doctor's office. The fact that I've been hospitalized twice, had two surgeries, and had to give myself IV antibiotics at home for 7 weeks within the last year has also desensitized me somewhat to the WCS effect. My mom suffers from the same problem, so she takes her BP daily for a couple of weeks before going to see her PCP and records it for her. She has hypertension, so this gives her doctors a better feel for what her "normal" BP is over time. This way they are less likely to adjust her BP medication due to one high reading at the office.

 

[breakingwaves]

Bryan B

Bryan B

I do think it will come in handy, it is a Reli On automatic one I got at WalMart and I think it will also keep me from pushing the panic button by keping a watch on what's up with the pressure, so I think it will pay for its self in anxiety in no tme.