New Cardio Have Questions????

[Creed3]

Hi everyone!
I just had my yearly cardio appt today. It was with my new cardio. My old cardio moved out of the area.
Ever since the appt I have been constantly worrying. My family tells me that I should be happy and that I received good news that I am doing well. You have to understand that I am a worrier and that I analyze everything.
I went in and had my EKG as always. They never gave me a copy before. While the tech was trying to do the ekg she had to come back and tape down about three of the leads. I also don't think they hooked me up to as many leads this time. There were none on my legs this time. When the ekg printed out it said that I have normal sinus rhythm and rate. Normal P axis, rate and rhythm. The machine marked on the sheet that it was an abnormal ekg. It also stated probable LVH with ST-T abnormalities.......LVH voltage, ST-T negative.
I totally freaked out. My nurse came in to go over things with me and didn't even mention the ekg so I decided to ask her. She looked at it and told me oh, don't worry it was just the leads. That was the computer interpretation not the doctors. She looked over my ekg and said that my rate and rhythm were fine and that my ekg looked fine. She also told me that my ekg from last year indicated the same thing and it was interpreted as fine and that my echo after surgery didn't indicate LVH. She didn't seem concerned at all. She just said again that it was just the leads. I am freaking out that something is wrong and that they are missing something. My new cardio came in to see me and said that everything was fine and didn't want to see me again until next year. He didn't even mention the ekg at all. The only thing he did say is that he would like to get CT scans of my chest every once in awhile just to make sure everything stays fine. He specifically told me that there was nothing to indicate a problem and that he was just doing this as a precautionary measure because of the original dissection back in 2002. He said that it just makes sense to check on things to make sure nothing happens again. I haven't had an echo since a few months after my surgery in 2002. He told me there was no rush on it and said I could get it done in about six months since I had just had a CT scan done about five months ago on my abdominal and pelvic areas. I didn't want to have two scans within a year because of the radiation. I ended up making it for January of 2007 because I will have a different insurance and it will pay for the entire CT scan. I am terrified that something is going on and that the CT scan is going to show something wrong. Especially since the ekg said what it said. My family tells me to stop dwelling on it and that both things were explained to me and that everything is just fine. I hope that someone here can maybe shed some light on this. Let me know what you all think. Am I just over obsessing?

ps
I also remember one time when my daughter was having an ekg done that something similar occurred and I started to get upset. The nurse just told me that it was just the leads. Some reading I have done on this also seems to indicate that false LVH and lead problems are pretty common. What do you guys think?

Take Care!
Gail

 

[RandyL]

Well, your nurse said you were okay and your Doctor said you were okay. It's prolly time to sit down and have a glass of wine to celebrate you being okay and healthy.

 

[MikeHeim]

I will be the first to come along and say that there probably isn't something to worry about. The doctors and nurses are trained an paid to look at these test results and interpret them. If the machine could perform a diagnosis 100% correctly by iteself, they would be available in Wal-Mart (like blood pressure machines) and you would never have to go to a doctor at all.

You didn't mention any issues with how you're feeling. Is there any other reason or symptoms that would make you believe that something is wrong? I must admit that I sympathize with you somewhat in this issue. For the first few months after my surgery, I was constantly freaked out by every little pain or problem as it could only mean that something went wrong with my surgery and I wasn't fixed. If you don't believe me, look at the huge list of threads I started frantically looking for answers.

 

[Nancy]

I agree that it sounds like a very good appointment. And I also want to know how you are feelng.

I'm quite sure that if anything bad was going on, you would be getting further testing asap. Instead you are going to have a CT scan quite a few months from now. And your doctor tells you, "that he was just doing this as a precautionary measure because of the original dissection back in 2002", so I would expect that he's a cautious man and if he saw something, he would act on it.

 

[Creed3]

Fine

Fine

Thanks for the quick responses. I have been feeling just fine. Since eating better I actually have had more energy lately. The only things that ever seem to occur are the heavy clots and bleeding during my period, a few flutters here and there, the optical migraines every now and again and the shoulder muscle pain that I have had checked out in the past. No shortness of breath, no dizziness nothing like that. I really have been feeling pretty good. Just trying to lose some weight and it is slow going. Really slow going but I'll keep at it. My cardio's nurse told me that I should be getting at least a 20 minute walk in everyday. I'll have to be more consistant with the exercising.
My husband has been telling me all day that I am starting to fall back into my OCD mode with the worrying about the EKG and the CT scan.
My new cardio is actually the best I could get at UVA. He is the head of the cardiology dept as well as the head professor. He told me that he treats thousands of patients with mechanical heart valves. We also talked a little bit about having the uterine ablation done and he feels that I should come off coumadin and take lovenox injections if I ever decide to have the procedure done. That in itself is a whole different story.
Thanks again for your quick resposes and reassurance.

Take Care!
Gail

 

[Christina L]

Hi Gail -

Hi Gail -

Sorry to hear you are in the worry mode again. I can relate.

First off, I will give you the advice Karlynn has given to me many times - exercise-exercise-exercise!! Walking is good. I hope you will make it a habit. I am trying to exercise more.

I agree with all others here on your thread - that you should trust your doctors and nurses - if they say this is a common thing - abnormalities on EKGs that mean nothing, then believe them. Now if they did say that you had LVH and not to worry, then I could not tell you not to worry, BUT they have told you that you don't have LVH, so you don't need to worry. Hee.

As you know, I was told in November I had possible right heart enlargement and "not to worry and to come back in a year." Well, how could I not worry about heart enlargement? And thank goodness I did, because I have since found out that I desaturate at night and am now wearing oxygen and also I have found out I have mild asthma and hypothyroidism (all things which could potentially cause heart enlargement)!! All because I persisted in wanting more answers to that scary echo interpretation I got last November.

Anyway, back to YOU - YOU are fine. I know it. Relax and enjoy the coming spring and summer with your girls and your hubby.

Christina L

 

[Bryan B]

Hi Creed,

I can only relate my experiences to you, and I have also experienced the "abnormal" ekg after surgery. The doctor told me not to worry about it and that everything was fine. Just to show you how much credence (no pun intended) one should put on the "abnormal" ekg reading...before my surgery I had an ekg that said "normal" on it. And at the time I had an unrepaired VSD, a prolapsing and leaky aortic valve, and had just gotten over endocarditis. Three months after surgery the echo showed that everything was working perfectly but the ekg machine printed out "abnormal" on the report.

My cardio said my ekg was fine and not to worry...so that's what I did.

 

[Creed3]

Thanks!

Thanks!

I really appreciate all of the replies. It is nice to hear other people's experiences. I just have a tendency to analyze absolutely everything I find out. I always think the worst is going to occur because of the experience with the dissection/anuerysm and valve in 2002.
I am doing better today. Still worrying some but not quite as bad as yesterday. My mother told me today that I should be happy that I have a cardio that is cautious and thorough and I should feel more at ease. I am starting to realize that. It's just everytime they do any kind of test I feel like they are going to find something wrong because things are going so well right now. I went through the same thing back in the fall when I had to have a ct scan and cysto because of blood in my urine. Everything turned out to be fine but you couldn't convince me of that for quite awhile.
You guys are the best and I really appreciate your support and advice.

Y'all take care and God Bless!
Gail