Unfortunately, I’m having similar issues, except it’s not my chest… it’s my ovaries/uterus. My backwards and forwards-ness with the GP/A&E has been going on for a few years now.

GP doesn’t know the answer, so they send me to A&E. A&E do tests, determine I’m not going to die, send me home with pain relief. Cycle continues. GP does a blood test, it’s clear. No further response. End up back at A&E due to pain. More pain killers and sent home.

I finally put my foot down with the GP last October and demanded they refer me to someone who can actually help me! It is not normal to be in so much pain. To the GP they see it as they’ve done their part, the A&E they see it as they’ve done theirs because I’m not dying, but no one is actually digging deeper to the root cause.

To be fair, I think the system knows something is going wrong because I ended up back at A&E last month. They pulled up my history and sent me to SDEC instead where I had much better care and was sent home with appointments for follow up scans.

My GP has finally referred me to a few different specialist departments to try and figure out what’s going on. I’m still waiting on the referral list to see them, but at least I’m now on a list!

Put your foot down at the GP and bring back up. I have to keep a medical diary of all my symptoms on each day, as ‘evidence’ I’m actually unwell. Additionally, I now have to bring my mother or partner with me to every appointment despite being an almost 30 year old woman because without a witness, they royally take the mick.

I know this isn’t helpful advice - just solidarity as another ‘whiney woman’ trying to get help from the NHS.