The difference between EPs and heart surgeons and LJ's post

[Guest guest]

LJ,

I'm curious to know what state you live in, where you have recieved

such uniformily bad care.

Please forgive me, but something about your story sounds possibly

just a little bit off the wall?

I had thought that you were doing very well with the magnesium. What

changed for you? Sounds like something to do with your pacemaker.

I hope that your new cardiologist will be able to assist you with

this. I don't know much about pacemakers, but its very clear that you

are currently going through a bad time with yours. I hope that your

new cardiologist will be able to sort this all out for you.

For the benefit of the new people, I can only say that EPs are not

heart surgeons. They are cardiologists with quite a bit of extra

training in electrophysiology. That is, treating patients with

problems with arrythmias and other related disorders, and they do

install pacemakers and defibrilators, and care for patients who have

those appliances. Cardio-thoracic surgeons do a different job

entirely, although they do do surgery on afib patients as well, such

as the Maze and the new mini-mazes. Where I live, the interventional

cardiologists do angioplasties and installation of stents to open up

blocked arteries, and I am sure, many other procedures. But they are

not cardio-thoracic surgeons, either.

So, I think that your characterization of EPs as being surgeons, is

not accurate.

I was diagnosed with afib in 2001. My GP immediately referred me to

my EP. I have never seen any other cardiologist. My own EP is up on

all the drugs, all the treatments specifically for afib. But afib is

not the only arrythmia he treats. I have never had any of the

problems that you describe, either with him or his staff. Instead, he

has been pretty my rock through my own afib journey.

I wish for you the best, LJ. I hope that having your family there

with you will help you when you go to talk to your new cardio.

>

> Thanks Lynda for the support.

>

> When I first passed out and discovered I had heart problems, I had

no idea to whom they had referred me. It was not until the EP

actually fired me and told me never to make another appt with him

because he IS a surgeon, that I started to figure it out.

>

> I have been told by 2 medical groups that I could not be sent to a

cardiologist physician. They said because there was an apparent

electrical problem, I could only have an EP -- and EPs didd not want

to " waste " their time on me.

>

> I have fought a long, lonely, isolated battle against heart pain.

I hope this can be turned around. I hope I will soon achieve PM

settings that do NOT exceed the manufacturers default settings.

>

> I cannot understand why the system put me up against surgeons who

don't care a fig about the PM settings -- but that didn't stop them

from exceeding the manufacturers settings by 200%.

>

> Looking forward to no more pain.

> Even when my heart was going crazy pre-PM, I did not experience

heart pain.

>

> I feel compassion for every human who has to deal with critical

decisions without full medical information, and at a very frightening

time of their lives.

>

> I was actually refused any opinion from outside the practice I

landed in -- the 27 member large cardio group with the operating

rooms available.

>

> I have battled for fair treatment -- and until I brought in my

family, my insurer, and the authorities, the cardiologists were not

moved. It took lots of pressure to make this happen. I was not a

victim. I was not angry. I was appropriately frightened, in need

of answers that weren't forth-coming.

>

> I have had the help of a doctor or 2, a nurse or 2, lots of

clerical staff, lots of support staff. My appt results from the

cooperation of the cardiac practice manager (non medical staff).

>

> I have taken nasty comments from a few doctors and a nurse.

Personally, I believe they were quite unprofessional and

inappropriate.

>

> People learning about heart disorders need all the support and

answers possible. People with unanswered questions and problems

should not be belittled.

>

> If I had been on the AFsupport board BEFORE all 11

procedures/tests, I know I'd have made different choices because this

has a learning experience. Toni in CA made a huge contribution -

suggesting magnesium.

>

> There are some poor medical people out there, as there some

good. It was my participation in a broken system in my state that

caused the real confusions. It's like driving in the dark: you can

only see that which appears in your headlights -- not everything

around you.

> Heart problems are like driving in the dark.

>

> I hope I can get back to pain-free heart.

> LJ

>

>

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