Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | My weekend, from ER visit to bil's church!

Well, lets see, where to begin??!

I got up Saturday morning and felt as ok as I ever do, did my stretches and cleaned up my house, took a shower and Will and I went to Costco. I was supposed to be hosting beading lessons at my house Saturday afternoon at 2. So, when we got back from Costco, I was setting things up and Will went to the grocery store for me. I started to feel very hot and dizzy and just not right. I thought I'd probably just over did it so I sat down in my recliner for a minute. Then, just all the sudden, my jeans and especially my bra felt SUPER tight, like I just couldn't breath at all and my chest starting hurting REALLY bad. I managed to make it into my dressing room and changed into some sweat pants and a t-shirt. It was about 1:45 and I was expecting 6 girls in 15 minutes but I thought I'd lay on the bed for a couple of minutes and be fine. My chest kept getting worse, I was crying by this time and couldn't breath. I fell off the bed and poor Harley was whining and freaking out. I was trying to make it into the front room to get my phone to call for help and collapsed in the dinning room from the pain. I finally crawled to my phone in the next room but Will wasn't answering, he shops with the IPod and earplugs!! So, I called my girlfriend, who was coming anyways and just lives around the corner and asked her to come right away. I guess after that I passed out on the floor because the next thing I know she and another girl are standing over me with a cold wash rag, screaming my name.

They kept asking me what was wrong and all I could say was my chest hurt and I was crying hysterically and couldn't breath. By now, all 6 girls are there and I was really embarrassed, luckily my best friend, the one I called, booted everyone out and loaded my into her car and took me to the ER room a couple of miles away. They did an EKG right away but said my heart was ok. My pulse and heart rate were up from the pain but I wasn't having a heart attack. A dr did come in pretty quickly though and ordered a chest x-ray and some blood work. He finally decided that the RA had attacked the cartilage in my chest. He said I may have either had a delayed panic attack (was at COstco earlier and it was super busy and nervous about 6 girls coming over) or I had an adrenaline surge, either one would cause the pain in my chest to be amplified, make me dizzy and hot and nausea and everything else.

My chest has been hurting for about a month now but that was also the same time as I was diagnosed with the c. pneumonia and I thought it was from that. I actually took the last of a 30 day supply of antibiotics this morning for that. The chest x-ray they took in the ER showed that my lungs were clear so that wasn't the cause of the pain.

The ER dr was very nice but said there wasn't anything he could do for me, he did give me some Darvocet for the pain and told me to call my dr today and I have an appt with my primary care physician tomorrow but I'm sure she is just going to refer me back to the RA dr. I need to get some more Xanax anyways so I'll go see her but I doubt she can do anything either.

Today, my chest still hurts and I'm breathing very shallow but I'm not having the drop me to the floor pain like I was. I've been on the placquenil, which is a DMARD (disease modifying antirheumatic drug) for just about 3 months and 1 week. These types of drugs can take 3-6 months to work. I'm also on a very high dose of naproxen to try and help with the inflammation. However, my hands and feet are still very swollen, my knees and hips are getting worse, my ankles are even swollen and stiff and now its attacking my chest. When I saw the RA dr just a few weeks ago, he said the only other thing he can do is to put me on a daily dose of steroids. I really don't want to do that because of all the side effects. Apparently, there is another DMARD that may be a little stronger than the placquenil however, it also takes 3-6 months to begin working AND you have to stop it at least 3 months before you try and get pregnant because it causes severe birth defects.

I'm already doing physical therapy and everything else they have said so now what do I do???

Some of you may remember me saying that I had to go to Church Sunday for Wills brother confirmation or something for his missionary work. Well, obviously, I wasn't feeling well but I got up and went. It was a Presbyterian Church. Everyone seemed nice but a zillion people insisted on shaking my already swollen hand, so that made the swelling and pain even worse. The service was about an hour and I was very uncomfortable, not only from the pain I was in but I didn't agree with the sermon but I won't get into that now!

I was holding my own until they had all the little kids get up and sing a song, seeing all the proud parents and happy little kids, I started crying because I will probably never know those feelings of love for a child of my own. We then went back to the bil's house and had brunch and a lot of people were there so I just melted into the couch and petted Harley, who was being very protective of me! He knew I wasn't feeling well yet and stayed by my side. Once we left, I slept for the 45 minute ride home, then slept all afternoon and night.

I did go to my physical therapy this morning but am not feeling well at all. I'm trying to stay positive but I just feel so beat down. I'm tired of being sick. I'm tired of being in pain and trying to smile. I'm sad that my babies are gone. I'm just very overwhelmed and not coping too well today. Sorry this turned out to be a novel but I had to get it all off my chest! Thanks for listening.

--------------------
Taking it one day at a time.....

Print Remind Me Notify Moderator