Mr. Anxiety (age 57) came in yesterday, for a Tilt-Table test and then to follow, an EP study trying to induce an arrhythmia. This fellow had experienced one solid episode of passing out while on a treadmill at his gym, with a trip to the ED, and then another “near miss” of pre-syncope. Unfortunately, there was no documented or recorded proof that he had an arrhythmia.

What I found to be more telling, was that he had experienced a major heart-attack at age 48, requiring a 5-vessel CABG, he was at least 70 pounds overweight, taking meds for Lipids, Hypertension and Metformin (while denying he was a Diabetic), had a major anxiety disorder and a job in Sales, which he and the wife claimed was “highly stressful”. And all that he talked about over the course of his ten hour stay, were the symptoms associated with his pre-hospital syncope and the Tilt Table test; over and over and over again.

Both tests were negative; I think he started worrying ten years ago, and instead of embracing life, he just worries about death.  


Shadow of Fright

Since his heart attack
At age forty-eight,
He has been a fearful man
Regarding his fate,

He takes Valium and Ativan
Bupropion and Xanax,
His wife calls him her baby
As he relives all of his panics,

He denies that he has Diabetes
Though he's a Metformin user,
Seventy pounds, overweight
He's a lifestyle abuser;

Quite frankly, it was crazy
Listening to his tale,
Regarding the Tilt-table test
And the EP-study fail,
He casts blame on the doctor
But he is blind to his plight,
For ten years he has been living
In a shadow of fright.

Fibril_late;
2/17/12