englishrose1

Hi guys

I really need your advice now, and if there are any doctors on here could sure us your help.

I have had to give my GP a letter from the medical to provide any details they have of any investigations in relation to a heart murmur. As a matter of precautions I booked a GP appointment for today just in case anything came up.

My GP said he would review my notes and get back to me in 1 week.

If I need an ECG it will 7-10 weeks after looking through the NHS hospital database, offered to pay but my GP said he wont let me go private.

What do I do now! this rollercoaster is just insane.

Does anyone know if I can be refused on this???

chumley

I so feel for you and wish you the very best we are also going through meds trauma at the moment with husbands dodgy x ray

first of all why wont your gp let you go private whats the reason for this you have every right to go private surely?secondly im no medic but try to be reassured if it was anything seriuos you would not be waiting 7 to 10 weeks for an ecg

secondly have you had any kind of problem related to this before? if not what has the gp got to review??

I know of others on here who have got PR with no problem with heart murmers they are common

Its agonsing stressful etc Im totally with you keep in touch feel free to pm anytime

the process is enough to make anyones health go downhill

you have my total suppport we have a 3 month wait before we can do anything we are already in canada so its s***te it really is

much love and look after yourself

Sleeping_Beauty45

Oh no, I hope everything is OK. My daughter had a systolic heart murmer and on second examination (another doctor) they concluded it was absolutely nothing, the next time we went to the doctors I asked them to check and they couldn't hear anything. Periodically something picks up but she has had many heart tests (she is very small but nothing wrong they just wanted to make sure). Once they said the same thing about my other daughter too but again nothing has ever showed up and periodically if the doctors are listening to her chest I do ask them to double triple (ok 200th time) check.

I can't reassure you because I'm not medical, I just thought I would let you know that I have had this with both daughters and basically both were just one off things on the day. I don't know whether we were just lucky or if it the way things go with this?

Why on earth wouldn't your doctor let you go privately, that is pure madness?

If you are worried you could always go to A&E and ask them to have a listen - tell them that you had a medical and that you were worried by the results and don't want to just sit it out with a potential time bomb(!) A bit of highly charged emotional blackmail meltdown can work wonders sometimes

Wishing you all the best.

Jim Humphries

It seems likely that you will be asked to get a cardiologists report for your daughter.

snowshoveller

Not sure that is very good advice,
1) A&E is for emergency treatment only, and for people who are actually sick or injured
2) A&E docs are not usually cardiologists
3) The cardiologist is not going to be happy to be paged for this query in A&E, he might be busy dealing with a more pressing case
4) Time spent on a non urgent enquiry might be time that could have been spent dealing with someone who is sick, not just waiting to leave the country

Gets off soap box!

Hope it all works out for you, and the heart murmur in deemed insignificant.

Sleeping_Beauty45

Yeh you are right, but she could try a walk in center though, especially if her doctor isn't being very helpful.

destinationnovascotia

Your doctor cannot stop you going private. You could just book into a clinic for a health check (such as BUPA) that includes and ECG. They will send the results to your GP and will offer you private follow up for any abnormalities.

It may be worth asking what the GP plans to do it you need an ECG. Some GP's have their own machine and it is just an appointment with a practice nurse - no wait.

Just one thing. You say that you booked an appointment just in case. Did you know that you had this problem? Is there already info in your medical notes about it.

Coffeepot

Not sure where you are, a friend of ours runs a Bupa hospital you can just call up and go private don't need a referal from your GP,

Hope it all goes well and it was just a glitch,

Just saw your time line my goodness you moved quickly on the meds didn't you, where did you go ?

debbiem

I was diagnosed with a juvenile heart murmur way back when, on and off some docs say they can hear it, others can't hear a thing - I joined the RAF without even a query about it lol. Civilian dentists like to give me anti-b's if they are doing invasive work, (because it was on my notes once) but no-one else cares (and military dentists didn't bother). There have been a few threads about similar I think but no-one has been refused afaik... (standard disclaimer lol)
Hope the follow-up is ok and it just takes a couple of weeks to get the admin sorted - although I would be tempted to get a private referral if you think it would be quicker. Another vote for avoiding A&E though - really not what it's designed for!
Good luck!

tilly1626

Hi englishrose1

My daughter had a heart valve replaced a number of years ago and still has a heart murmur.

We were already here on a WP and for PR I had letters from her Uk and Canadian consultant to say she only needs yearly checkups otherwise she is fit and well and not on any meds.

We got PR without any further investigations.
Good luck

snoopdawg

Firstly do not go to A&E- that is not what it's for as the previous poster says!!

Secondly- I find it incredibly that your GP hasn't got an ECG machine so you could at least have an ECG this week, however...

Thirdly, not sure an ECG on it's own would help!. There is no reason at all why you can't see a private cardiologist and get a report asap. That's what I would do! As a GP, I really don't think your GP can stop you from seeing a cardiologist privately- on the NHS-yes, they could refuse if there were no clinical reason for referral. However I would think a loud systolic murmur would justify an ECG and an ECHO (a scan of your heart) on the NHS at least.

englishrose1

Thank you for your responses.

I whilst it is human to think about presenting at A&E as the poster sugguested, I would not do it cos I dont want to stop someone else from getting treatment.

I booked the doctors appointment as a fallback, I notice recently from the posters that have been to Leeds, that they are passed back to thier GP for further information. I was just trying to make sure that I did not have to wait a week for an appointment. Plus late night appointments are Monday's which was a bonus.

A heart murmur was dectected in pregnancy nearly 18 years ago when I was pregnant with twins. However I was told it was a result of the pressure of having 2 babies.

It has never caused me any problems since, and it has not been pick up in other routine health checks, when my chest has been listened to with the "scope"

I had a really quick medical, and tomorrow I will ring around for a private appoinment. So we will see how long it will take. On reflection I need to go with the flow and things will happen in the relevant time.

If it is meant to be, then it will happen.