They Told Me It Was All in My Head | Heart Failure Unfiltered

Katie spent over a year on antidepressants and diazepam. She had two blood clots in her lungs, one in her left ventricle, and failing kidneys and liver. So what does it take to be believed?

In this third episode of a four-part series, Nick Hartshorne-Evans - founder and CEO of the Pumping Marvellous Foundation - sits down with Katie, Sarah-Jane and Corinne for what he calls the most provocative conversation of the series. A GP made Katie run around the car park and come back so he could show her that her oxygen levels had not changed. Corinne was told to stop recording her own blood pressure because she was making herself anxious. Sarah-Jane woke at 38 weeks pregnant unable to breathe and was worked up for a pulmonary embolism, a chest infection and childhood asthma before anyone looked at her heart.

They talk about how one line in your notes follows you from doctor to doctor, why no patient ever walks into a surgery and says they think they have heart failure, and what to say at the next appointment when you have already been told you are fine. Sarah-Jane is a heart failure nurse now. She makes extra time for her younger patients.

No white coats. No jargon. Just people who've lived it.

In this episode:

00:00: Welcome and what this episode covers

01:17: Meet Katie, Sarah-Jane and Corinne

03:13: When you first know something is genuinely wrong

05:05: Waking up at 38 weeks pregnant unable to breathe

06:36: Cold after cold, and sleeping sat up

08:23: "I don't know how to tell you this, but it's in your head"

10:06: What the symptoms actually turned out to be

13:44: When you start to doubt yourself

15:34: The emergency section nobody expected her to survive

17:00: Marvellous myth buster, do you have to manage this alone?

21:10: Why young people get overlooked

26:20: Why nobody walks in saying "I think I've got heart failure"

33:36: What to say when you are told everything is fine

36:36: Nick at the GP in his pyjamas and slippers

🫀 If heart failure is part of your life, you don't have to face it alone.

The Pumping Marvellous Foundation is the UK's leading heart failure charity, patient-led, trusted, and here for you.

⚡ B.E.A.T. Breathlessness, Exhaustion, Ankle swelling, Time to tell your GP or nurse. If you have a combination of these, speak to your GP surgery. Heart failure is diagnosed with a simple blood test.

🔗 Visit: www.pumpingmarvellous.org

💬 Peer support, search "Help for Hearts" on Facebook and apply to join

💛 Donate £5 today and help someone feel less alone

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