I’ve been sitting on this for a while whilst things progressed.
I’ve been having some weird chest heaviness with pins and needles down my left arm, so I went to see the office’s on-site GP (we have a private GP who visits the office once a week). My employer pays for this.
She referred me to a cardiologist, so I went and booked that. A few weeks later, I had the appointment. The cardiologist decided to send me for some tests, as he, in his own words felt “I was worth investigating further”
He booked me in for:
- Blood Tests
- Echocardiogram
- Cardiac Stress Test
- CT
They didn’t find the reason for my symptoms, but did find I had a myocardial bridge where the heart muscle goes over an artery instead of under it, causing it to compress the artery. In my case, it was more a pinch rather than full cover-over but that wouldn’t explain the symptoms I was having.
All in all the symptoms have faded without any action from myself or the doc but we’ll keep an eye on it.
Doc wants me to come back in a year and they’ll re-scan to see if the bridge is any worse.
And since this was under private, not state healthcare, this costs. I have insurance through my employer, but still, it was a hefty amount.
Consult, £175.68 Blood Test, £406.51 Echo Cardiogram + Cardiac Stress Test, £876.11 CT Scan, £536 Consult, £115
Total: £2109.30
So if I’d did all of this out of my own pocket, I’d be £2K+ out of pocket with no answers to my problems