[Susie]

Hi~I want to share this little story with you, it happened to me in 2007, and to this day, I am still afraid now of going to the ER.

It was in April of 2007, I woke up with very bad back spasms, well, I called my boy friend and had him take me to the ER, I was so scared it was a heart attack. He took me, they did some exam and said I could go home. Well, smart-#@@ me, asked for an EKG as it had been awhile. They obliged, and I am sorry they did. Aftey they took it, they told me to stay where I was, then, a nurse comes in, puts me on oxygen, gives me an aspirin, and starts some other heart attack protocol. I was scared out of my wits. They said the EKG showed a little abnormality and they might admit me over night. Well, after waiting for awhile, they come in, say they are taking me to the ICU for observation!!! I was petrified. They kept me there for 14 hours, they did another EKG, some troponin levels and other heart attack risk test, this time, the EKG was good and all the blood work that they did was great. They said I was a low risk after all and sent me home.

It seems the first EKG that night said "ST abnormalities, possible digitalis effects" well, I do not take that drug. The next EKG said, "Normal EKG", if it had not, they were going to send me to the hospital either in Seattle or Yakima for more work. Phew, what a scare.

I think the first one was "abnormal" due to my extreme fright of being in the ER at 2 in the morning. My boyfriend said he thinks the machine was not calibrated, and, the biggest reason, there was not a patient in the hospital, not one, until they admitted me. He said they needed the work. What do you all think? It was weird, when they said I could go home, the ICU was full as was the rest of the hospital. Who knows.

I do know this, I will never get over that fear, and to this day, every time I have an EKG, I am petrified that it will be bad again and I will be admittled again, even though it was in 2007, the fear has stayed with me.

I have since had 2 echos, (0ne in 2008 and one 2011), some holters (same years), and a carotid scan which says no plaque or any arterial disease, one done in 2008 and again 2011 last month, been told my heart is in good shape, and all is well, wish I could believe them.

So, that is my story. I do have to say, some of my EKG's are "borderline normal" one was because I was in sinus tachy, otherwise, it was normal, the other due to "Borderline Repolarization Abnormality", but, that day, my heart rate was over 120, so, they said not to worry about that, it was too fast for the machine to pick up, and one that said Inferior Nondiagnostic "T" abnormalities, otherwise, normal EKG" back in 2004. The others have been "Normal" though. I guess this is why I worry so much, due to some of the off beat EKGs.

So, out of 5 EKG's in my life, only one has been abnormal, but, I fear everytime, that another one will show up.

At least my latest echo and holter were good.

Oh, I want to add, since I wrote this, I have been feeling more "skips" I got my self scared all over again and am very nervous.

[Susie]

I forgot to add.

The back spasms turned out to be due to herniated discs in my upper back and neck, some in mid back too. So, I still have them, they may be getting worse too, I may have to have more tests. It is difficult to even type right now due to the neck pain and pain in my shoulder.

At least it is not heart related, but, it sure can hurt and be scary.

[CMoore416]

I swear talking and thinking about the heart causes me to have them. I used to go on a thyroid chat board and everyone there was so doom and gloom and accepted their disease. They all had no hope of getting well. I stopped reading it when I would find myself crying about the "maybes" and now I'm free of thyroid disease for over 1 year. I wish j could say the same with the heart issues. I'm reading a very eye opening book right now. It's called "Deadly Emotions" by Don Colbert MD. It's all on the Mind-Body-spirit connection and how it can heal or destroy you. It's biblical based and very informative and a bit shocking. I am definitely going to try to work on my toxic emotions! Before it does more damage. Please check it out! I know it's on eBook too

[dr461]

Susie, are you talking what it says on the digital EKG printout, or what a cardiologist says. after reading it? There is a huge difference--according to my family doctor and cardiologist, the algorithm used for the machine to read cardiograms is less than 40% effective--both of them said that only an experienced medical person can read a cardiogram accurately. The digital printout where it spouts some diagnosis is so often wrong that doctors disregard it, and read the cardiogram themselves, based on years of experience.

[Susie]

Originally Posted by dr461

Susie, are you talking what it says on the digital EKG printout, or what a cardiologist says. after reading it? There is a huge difference--according to my family doctor and cardiologist, the algorithm used for the machine to read cardiograms is less than 40% effective--both of them said that only an experienced medical person can read a cardiogram accurately. The digital printout where it spouts some diagnosis is so often wrong that doctors disregard it, and read the cardiogram themselves, based on years of experience.

It was what it said on the digital EKG printout. The doctor on call said it did not look abnormal, but, they admitted me anyway. I showed it to another doctor a few days later and he said it was "normal" I am beginning to not trust those EKG machines at all.

Everything I wrote that was "diagnosed" was only a digital, machine version, on all 5, from 2004 to 2011, the cardiologist/MD, never said anything about any of my "borderline" EKG's.

[dr461]

Originally Posted by Susie

It was what it said on the digital EKG printout. The doctor on call said it did not look abnormal, but, they admitted me anyway. I showed it to another doctor a few days later and he said it was "normal" I am beginning to not trust those EKG machines at all.

Everything I wrote that was "diagnosed" was only a digital, machine version, on all 5, from 2004 to 2011, the cardiologist/MD, never said anything about any of my "borderline" EKG's.

Always trust the doctor and NOT the machine. My cardio doc says he's read over 50,000 cardiograms in his practice, and can spot a bad one in seconds. He said the digital ones are worthless, and tend to scare everybody, especially inexperienced doctors and nervous patients. He said that the nurses in the office are instructed to look only at the cardiogram, and NOT the alleged digital diagnosis, as it is wrong most of the time, and the cardiograms designated as "abnormal" most of the time are not.

[Susie]

Originally Posted by dr461

Always trust the doctor and NOT the machine. My cardio doc says he's read over 50,000 cardiograms in his practice, and can spot a bad one in seconds. He said the digital ones are worthless, and tend to scare everybody, especially inexperienced doctors and nervous patients. He said that the nurses in the office are instructed to look only at the cardiogram, and NOT the alleged digital diagnosis, as it is wrong most of the time, and the cardiograms designated as "abnormal" most of the time are not.

That is comforting to know. I must admit that the staff that night seemed very nervous and not sure of themselves, I still say I was admitted due to the very low census. Anyway, I feel better, even though it was 4 years ago, it has always been in the back of my mind.

Believe it or not, it was a chiropractor that I showed it to, he was a medic in the navy, and he said not to worry, that it was "normal". Since we are friends, he said that the ER staff that was so nervous and admitted me, could "piss up a rope" LOL, that made me laugh.

[dr461]

EVERY single one of my cardiograms for the past 8 years comes back "abnormal--off axis." That is because I have had a leg injury to my left leg, when I tore my quadriceps tendon, and the ankle pulse is a millisecond late, so that ankle lead fires slightly late, and gives a -22 axis degree reading to the cardiogram. MRIs have confirmed my injury, and no circulatory problems apparent, but it definitely confuses the computer diagnosis. By the way, -20 degrees is normal, so even if it were "off axis." it would be so slight as to be irrelevant. So, don't believe digital cardiograms--trust the experienced physician who reads them.

[Chaoticdopey]

Only about 20% of my ekgs come back normal. Always have the "non-specific t wave abnormality" and after they read it i apparently have flat t wave which i guess ia no big deal, i also have lower back inflamation in L5 on S1 i think its called spondilitis

[CMoore416]

Weird because I have never even seen results of any of my ekgs and I have had a ton. They just look at them and say all is good. Guess I should ask to see them? Lol I'm probably better off not knowing. I was monitored for a couple hours in ER too