Paramedics Misdiagnosed Me With A Panic Attack

We had spent a stressful three years looking for a house. This is surprising because I was a full time real estate agent. However, we had particular wants and needs and these were not easy to find in a location and price we were willing to settle for. But we finally found one!

The day before the movers were to arrive at our rental, I was driving across town when suddenly I was having a hard time catching my breath. I pulled into a large shopping center parking lot, tried to breathe deeply but it just wasn’t happening. I couldn’t believe it was the stress of the move, because we had moved 7 times in the previous 10 years, a side effect of being in real estate and looking at lots and lots of houses.

I was looking forward to this move because instead of planning to buy, we had actually bought a house we were both very excited to move into. It was the size we wanted in a location close to my husband’s work (obviously not an issue for my job). Regardless, I still couldn’t catch my breath.

After phoning my husband and leaving a quick and rather distressful message on his voicemail, I dialed 911 and explained my symptoms. Then I told them were I was. Within 10 minutes the paramedics arrived. They asked me a few questions, took some basic vital signs and told me I wasn’t having a heart attack. They thought I was having an anxiety attack. I thought they were ridiculous and I told them so. Nonetheless, they transported me to the nearest emergency room, ONE MILE AWAY.

Was I mad at having to pay for an ambulance ride for one mile? You bet I was, however, I realized if I had just shown up to the ER, I may have died in the waiting room.

So the ER took more vitals after the paramedics shared their findings and their ambulance diagnosis. The ER nurse said she too didn’t believe I was having a heart attack. At that point I stated that if I was truly just having a panic attack, I believed it would pass and I was leaving. I went to stand up and couldn’t stand for more than 1 second. Immediately, I sat back down.

Noting I was literally white as a sheet, the doctor ordered blood tests and an EKG. The results were NO, I wasn’t having a heart attack but I also had almost no iron in my blood. Apparently that’s important.

You need to have 12–150mg per liter of blood for it to be normal. Mine was 5 and dropping. If I had waited much longer, I literally would have died either in my car or sitting on the ER triage gurney.

A couple of units of blood transfusions later, I announced I was leaving. I wanted them to stop looking for a bed for me because I wasn’t staying. My iron count was stabilizing, so I was out of there. I’d go to my doctor in a couple of days. Against doctors orders, I checked myself out, got a cab back to my car and went home.

Needless to say, I had a variety of tests and a number of ferritin infusions (which hurt by the way), and now my blood is back to being normal all by itself. By the way, I have been a bit anemic for years, but they never did figure out why my iron dropped like a stone.

The important factor is Paramedics are great for stabilizing you, and may even save your life from a heart attack or bleeding to death, but they are not equipped to diagnose you. So if you need them for stabilizing your condition and transporting you to the nearest hospital, you should absolutely rely on them. However, they are not equipped to diagnose you and really should refrain from offering you their opinions.

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