The full works. ECG machine, blue lights and sirens into the Acute Cardiac Unit at Manchester Royal.
It seems that if you add the words ’44yr old male’ with the words ‘chest pains’ you get the full cardiac protocol even when your subject is sat up and telling you he’s short of breath!

I’ve had a tight chest and difficulty breathing for that last two weeks but had a dizzy spell today at work and the whole thing kicked off. Good news is that my heart is fine, my lungs are spotless and i’ve no infection in my bloodstream – repeatedly asked if i knew that my HR was very low though 🙂
It seems that the large doses of ibuprofen i’m on my be contributing to my symptoms but all else is good.

Quote of the day :-

“Have you recently had any panic attacks?”

“What, apart from when you strapped that damn machine to me and it said i was having a heart attack?”

The ambulance machine told the paramedics i was having heart problems, but the acute unit did all the fancy tests and gave me the all clear with the words :-

“he’s not presenting with anything, we’re not interested in him now…” 😆

Even got a free corned beef butty.

I love the NHS.

They’re not the most comfy of places IMO.

I had my first and hopefully only ride in one 6 weeks ago. ?Hated the fact that i was on a spine board and with the blocks either side of my head!

But lucky you!

At least you passed the MOT 🙂

Good news – your sense of humour seems to be working fine as well!

Yeah 🙂

Was a bit of a worry when the machine spat out its verdict and the sirens/lights went on – my first thought was “am i going to have to sell my bikes?” 😆

hmm, I’m not questioning anyones judgement in other ambulance services, but I prefer to treat the patient rather than the machine, and 9/10 when the machine says heart attack, I say different!

Good to hear all is ok though, slow pulse means you exercise too much, regular beer intake will sort that out!

They have protocols to follow, and all suspected cardiothorassic patients are taken to the new acute unit at Manchester Royal for inspection. OK, i was a ‘false positive’ but nice to know the procedures are in place!

i’m glad you are ok 🙂

A few years ago I was doing a 100km walk, 76km in I fell and knocked myself out for a few seconds, upshot was I was taken to hospital for a check. Very soon I was wired up to every machine imaginable; they then decided I’d had a ‘silent’ heart attack. I was given streptokinase and transferred to the cardiac care unit, they didn’t believe me when I said I felt alright did not have chest pains etc. The whole thing was a mistake, they had misread the ECG results and I was telling the truth. Phone call to the wife was interesting, “you’ll never guess where I am?”. My diet that day had mostly been ibuprofen and bananas, lesson learnt on that, don’t mix drugs with bananas! The nurses in the hospital loved me though; I was the only sober one in casualty at midnight 😀

Glad you got the all clear though, despite what you think, it is a major worry when they are all looking/poking you around.

great news.. hopefully you ll never have to repeat the trip

‘pig – strangely enough, i’m on a large dosage of ibuprofen and i’d just eaten a banana when i fell ill! 😯

Hmmm, coincidence?

out of curiosity what constitutes a large dose of Ibuprofen?

Hmmm, coincidence?

I’m not sure, think chemically there is something in it, something to do with potassium, but then I didn’t pay enough attention in bio-chemistry.

out of curiosity what constitutes a large dose of Ibuprofen?

I was eating bananas to mask the rattling noise of the brufen I was shovelling down like smarties, had a knackered ankle and shin-splints, so took the drug as opposed to the stop option…….

1800mgs – 600mgs 3 times a day for my bollixed elbows. I’ve been taking it for well over a year and it may have had a cumulative effect.

glad someone has had a good experience with the nhs recently

At 35 I must be below the age where the NHS get all excitable about males with chest pains. A few weeks ago I had some serious pains in my chest, arm, neck, jaw and ear (right side luckily) so I did the little questionnaire on NHS direct and twice in big red letters it told me to immediately call an ambulance. Not wanting to cause too much trouble I decided to give them a ring just to make sure, a nice reassuring Geordie nurse told me not to worry as it didn’t sound like I was going to die straight away and to pop to the doctor in the morning. All turned out fine in the end.

1800mgs – 600mgs 3 times a day for my bollixed elbows. I’ve been taking it for well over a year and it may have had a cumulative effect.

jeez, has that not eaten up your stomach ?

I take quite a lot of Diclofenac for knee/back/foot pain, but if taking for more than a few days on the trot take imoprezole at same time to protect the guts

Well, i was at work so the first-aider and then the occupational health nurse were involved. They made the decision to call the ambulance and it kind of snowballed from there.
I suspect there was a case of ‘get the little sod out of the factory afore he keels over!’ 🙂

iainc – that is a concern of the medics i spoke to today. I’ve raised this with my doc in the past and he assured me that level of dosage was ok for long term use 😯 now i’m not too sure.
If the ibuprofen is causing problems in the thorax area then that could explain the symptoms i’ve been having. I’m no medical professional though.

muddydwarf,
You should take some time off work now and go for a ride, just to confirm the diagnosis is correct 🙂

Kill or cure? 😆

md – I started on ibuprofen, then diclofenac as easier on the guts and just the other week Naproxen, which is meant to be less harmful again.

maybe worth checking out – my GP seemes quite switched on, but probs as he takes them too as a knackered knee roadie. Don’t think I have ever taken for more than 3 weeks constantly though, or 6 months out of 12

I went into the local quack recently with my ITB prob and he showed me his ‘big boys book of medicine’. It said 2400mg per day of Brufen is the limit – with food though.

I occasionaly take it as a preventative (multi day events etc) at 400mg morning and night with food and I rarely get joint probs (excepting the ITB issue).

Dunno about bananas though, can’t get them on prescription round here 🙂

<edit> Iainc, I got some of that there Naproxin. Is it betterer than Brufen or just doesn’t rot the stomache?

I’m seeing my doc tomorrow, i’ll mention the diclofenac and naproxen.

Been there done that at 26 with severed chest pains. I was too tired and sore to be scared at the time. My missus was more scared as she had to drive me to the hospital 🙂 Not quite sure what caused it but painkillers, anti-inflammatorys and some enforced rest (read waiting for docs) seemed to sort it. Got about 1 hrs sleep and went to work feeling like i’d been kicked in the chest 🙂

Only ridden in an ambulance once, but i was either unconscious or on gas/air so memory of it is waking up, laughing, and then nothing..repeatedly 🙂

Pottasium does affect the heart, my Mother was told to eat more of them after she had a heart attack.

Also I’m pretty certain Pottasium is used alot in emergency medicine to control the heart.

Mrs FD is an ortho surgeon and she questions people who say they are on tablets long term from problems, solve the problem, dont mask it?

Mrs FD is an ortho surgeon and she questions people who say they are on tablets long term from problems, solve the problem, dont mask it?

I was once given some advice about ortho surgeons that went along the lines of “under no circumstances let an ortho surgeon anywhere near any of your joints.”

The bloke in question was an ortho surgeon.

gonefishin – Member
Mrs FD is an ortho surgeon and she questions people who say they are on tablets long term from problems, solve the problem, dont mask it?
I was once given some advice about ortho surgeons that went along the lines of “under no circumstances let an ortho surgeon anywhere near any of your joints.”

The bloke in question was an ortho surgeon.
MrsT has psoriahic arthritis and takes a handfull of tablets twice a day. Nothing surgery can do till her joints are knackered and they have to start removing limbs 😯
Will mention the Naproxen alternative to her btw 🙂

Seen the doc (different one to the chap who prescribed the ‘brufen). He told me to stop the ibuprofen immediately, said he hated to see people being prescribed stuff like that long term.
Given me a scrip for superstrength antacids to heal my stomach and we’ll see how the elbows get on without the ‘brufen.

Hope i can still use my arms this time next week…

Your elbows probably hurt from getting the Brufen out of the packet 🙂

They are bloody big pills thats for sure! 😆

MD
Whatever the cause, I’m glad you’re ok.

…as for the big pills – better ask which end you’re supposed to administer 😉

Best wishes for a speedy recovery,
Chris

I believe (after a number of ambulance man conversations) most of us will, at some point in our lives, black out at least once. There will be nothing wrong with us, but we will just stop for a bit.

I quite like that . As long as I’m not driving or making a lady feel good about herself at the time.

Eyy oop Chris, you still riding then? Not seen you out for ages.

1800mgs – 600mgs 3 times a day for my bollixed elbows. I’ve been taking it for well over a year and it may have had a cumulative effect.

Jeeesus! Have you Googled the side -effects of Ibuprofen? It’s a nasty drug to take long-term.

Thats just what the doc said yesterday…. 🙁

I had my first and hopefully only ride in one 6 weeks ago. ?Hated the fact that i was on a spine board and with the blocks either side of my head!

Was I the only one who read this and winced having mentally substituted “bollocks” for blocks