A few weeks ago, on a Thursday evening, I started having heart palpitations. It only lasted a few minutes, but it felt so weird, and when it happened again I got quite worried. I spent a couple of days hoping it would just go away, and trying to decide what to do. The following Monday morning, I went on to my GP practice’s website to see if I could book an appointment – the new appointments come up on Monday morning, and you have to be quick to get one. I got a phone appointment for 9:40 this morning, and now I am wondering what I’m going to say when the doctor calls.
The palpitations are still happening, probably three or four times a day, for a few minutes each time, but I’ve got used to them. I’ve got a history of suddenly developing weird symptoms which then lead to investigations (sometimes quite nasty, invasive ones, like gastroscopy and colonoscopy) that don’t come up with any answers – except referrals for counselling and once, a prescription for amitriptyline, which made me feel like a zombie and was followed by two months of double vision which meant I could only see by closing one eye (no proof that there was a causal relationship, but it was enough to make me stop taking them after three weeks and swear never to touch them again).
The background to the palpitations is that in late 2019 I had a senior patient health check (or some words to that effect) at my GP surgery, which among other things tested my cholesterol and found it was quite high. So I was prescribed statins and went back after about six weeks – last January – for a check-up. I’d been noticing palpitations after I started the pills, and mentioned it, but all the tests were good, I had an ECG which was normal, and my cholesterol was down. The doctor wasn’t concerned about the palpitations but reduced the dose of the statins just in case and told me to come back for another check-up in three months.
Well, that didn’t happen of course. I kept taking the pills, the palpitations went away, the prescription was renewed every month. I tried to cut down my cholesterol intake (not going out for breakfast two or three times a week probably helped). But I didn’t have any way of checking any of this.
And then the palpitations came back. I couldn’t find any suggestion online that they might relate to Covid, but I’d had a recurring cough for a few weeks after Christmas, so I got a home test kit (which came back negative) and made this doctor’s appointment. I know she probably won’t be able to say much over the phone without repeating the tests I had last year. She’ll probably tell me – as my daughter did – that palpitations are often caused by stress and worry. At least I’ll be waving a flag and saying: ‘I’m still here, don’t forget about me!’
A couple of years ago, prior to an op, the appointed anaesthetist insisted that I take blood thinning tablets before the op because I had an irregular heartbeat. The surgeon assured me that if you have an irregular heartbeat you were born with it. I didn’t argue, after all he was going to make a hole in my body, but the numerous health checks, which included pulse rate records, whilst I was in the army (34 years) had never disclosed an irregular heartbeat.
After the successful op I chucked the blood thinners away, the potential side effects were, to me, unacceptable.
I have a skin problem which the dermatologist that I visited said is largely caused, or at least, what was originally a tendency has been aggravated by by the constant, ongoing stress of trying to deal with/help our youngest son who is alcoholic. I think that stress is what caused the heartbeat irregularity.
Who am I to doubt the surgeon? well, I’ve lived in this body for eighty years so I have a bit of experience of its ups and downs and anyway… it’s mine!