When do you need a cardiologist?
You should contact us if you have pain and discomfort in the chest, shortness of breath on exertion, interruptions and rapid heartbeat, swelling of the legs, fainting and persistent increase in blood pressure. A separate task is routine risk assessment: after 40 years, with a family history of heart attacks and strokes, high cholesterol, diabetes and smoking, the cardiologist calculates cardiovascular risk and determines the need for preventive therapy. It is this technique that determines what studies are needed: ECG, echocardiography, Holter monitoring, stress test or lipid spectrum.
Primary and repeat appointment: what is the difference?
At the initial appointment, the doctor gets to know the patient: collects a detailed history, conducts a full examination, analyzes previously performed studies and builds a diagnostic hypothesis. This is the longest visit, and it is it that determines the entire further route.
A repeat appointment is shorter and solves another problem: to evaluate the results of prescribed studies, the effect of treatment and adjust therapy. You should not skip it - without control it is impossible to understand whether the assigned scheme is working.
How to prepare for your appointment
- collect the results of analyzes and studies, even old ones - dynamics are important
- write down the medications you are taking with doses
- formulate complaints: when did they start, what intensifies and what alleviates
- write down the questions you want to ask
What does the patient get as a result?
Conclusion with a diagnosis or preliminary diagnosis, examination plan, prescriptions with dosages and timing, as well as a guideline for the date of the follow-up visit. If the help of another specialist is required, the doctor gives a referral.