Hi I went to my doctors with blurred vision and real bad pain in the back of my head he did my bp and it was 226/126 he sent me straight to the hospital where they did ct scans n chest X-rays n bloods every thing came back ok they sent me home with Ramipril and had to go back week later and have urine sample done and my bp took this time was 197/110 the doctor arranged for me to have echocardiogram done this was 2 and a half weeks ago and not heard anything since should I have had my result back by now
I am 26 years old
Have you asked the surgery if your doctor has had the result back?
It's conslutant at the hospital they said they would write to me
That always takes a long time. Some are dictated and sent electronically to India for typing and sent bck electronically to be printed and posted. I live in Sussex and some letters that I get are postmarked Bristol.
Those actually typed in a hospital can sit in a doctors in tray for ages to be checked and signed.
I would still check at the surgery as your doctor will often get his long before you as his do not come in the post. Or phone or E-Mail the consultants secretary.
Hi Dean. Very similar thing happened to me last year. Went to docs with chest pain. Sent to Hosp for check up and sent home. Put on ramipril. Back to Hosp for further tests but where my experience differs is that the consultant talked me through the tests she did so I knew there and then what she was finding. She then promised to look at further test results and said if there was anything wrong her secretary would call me otherwise I would get an all clear letter from surgery which is what I got. I think you would have got a phone call if anything was wrong. Don't leave it any longer though. Call your surgery now, not the Hosp, and ask them to let you know the results and at the same time book another appointment with your GP to talk about your high bp. I am afraid in today's world you have to have a loud voice to get things done at the doctors! Good luck. Keep us posted Dean.
I agree with you Derek, Deans first port of call should be his own GP's surgery. As I told him in my reply, it's those who shout loudest who get the attention I'm afraid. Well it is at our surgery.
Hi thanks for reply I will give my doctors a call later today an see what they say
As it's been so long I'm guessing the result will be all ok or I would of heard by now
Dean, I agree with the others that you should ring your GP and ask for results, although hopefully no news is good news.
Importantly, though, has the blurred vision and pain in the back of your head resolved?
About 15 years ago when a GP could not get a 26 week appointment brought forward for me to less than 21 weeks he told me 'Patient Power' Phone the consultants secretary or write to him direct he said as they don't like that.
I phoned the cosultants secretary on a Friday and repeated the symptoms my doctor had referred me with and asked why I should be kept in pain for so long. She said that she would speak to him. She later phoned me back offering the first appointment on the Tuesday morning.
Since then I have followed that path. One I wrote to angrily phoned me as soon as he got my letter. He found that I could shout just as loudly as him.
Thanks guys I finally got my results back yesterday from my echo and my heart is enlarged on the left hand side due to my bp being high.
I am now waiting for another appointment to come through from the hospital to see what happens next.
Does any one else have an enlarged heart due to bp and if so what happened next and sorting it out?
Dean, I had an echo test some years ago and was told that my heart muscle was larger than usual, probably as a result of high BP. Nothing has been done apart from trying me on many different BP meds, without much luck to date unfortunately.
I wonder how many patients BP does not respond to treatment.
An interesting question, Derek. Can we Google it?! Really busy right now with aftermath of a big support group meeting, so will give it some more thought in a few days.
Something that doctors and drug manufactuers would not admit to.
Cheers guys
Was back at doctors Friday to have my medication upped to 10mg of ramipril still waiting for my appointment from the endocrine department at hospital it's been 7 weeks since I had echo done and 4 weeks since I had results back have any of you guys been to see the endocrine consultant and how long was it befor you had appointment my doctor has wrote off to the hospital as he said I am waiting far to long In-between appointments
You should be able to get average (usually optimistic) waiting times from the hospital web site.
Hi Dean. Yes, you are waiting too long. You could try Derek's approach, namely call the consultants secretary at Hosp but be warned that they HATE having to talk to patients about appointments!! Be prepared for a verbal tussle to try and pin them down to a date! Alternatively you could try your surgery again but many people, including staff at GP practice's are in awe of hospital consultants. Years ago bankers and head teachers were held in the same high regard and look what's happened to them!!!! Seriously though Dean, you need to chase up the appointment. Be firm, never rude, and be very very tenacious. You'll get there! Good luck!
You need to chat the secretary up and soon she will be telling you all of her troubles and how difficult her job is but getting you seen.
It sometimes helps to phone the appointments office to see where you are on the list and tell them that you can accept a cancellation at a moments notice.
Consultants go on holiday without writing letters and mostly letters are sitting in their in trays waiting to be signed.The secretary will often send you an unsigned one.
The typical treatment for an enlagred heart due to high blood preassure is to reduce the blood preassure, then over time in many patients the heart will reduce in size. Assuming you and your Gp/specialist have found a drug combination to reduce your blood preassure there is little more they can do other than to monitor you.