Posted 10/28/2017 11:11 PM (GMT 0)
Hello, I came across this website and I decided to register and post about my worries that I've had for the past three months. Maybe I will get some insight from some of you that have gone through a similar situation.
Some background on myself. I am male in my twenties with no real life threatening health problems. The only health issue I really have is an endocrine problem that I've had since my early teens and will require medication for the rest of my life. I also have a weird asthma / shortness of breath and chest tightness that I've had since I was a child. This problem is not constant and happens when the weather changes or if I over exert myself.
The endocrine issue is controlled with medicine and is not a problem. The asthma, I always thought, was due to allergies so me, my parents and doctors never really looked into it. And it's not like it happened daily, maybe four or five episodes a year.
Everything has changed in the past three months. It all started one day in July. I was sitting at home watching television / using my phone. I felt a bubbly feeling in my lower right rib cage. I thought nothing of this since I felt this feeling before and it always went away on its own. When I stood up I felt a tear/ pop feeling that brought with it the worst pain I ever felt. This tear made my chest feel tight and I had trouble breathing. It felt like my right lung was not expanding fully as every time I inhaled, it hurt quite a lot. My heart was also POUNDING when this happened. I did not go to the emergency room because I experienced something similar but not as bad two weeks before. I thought it was going to go on its own like the last time. I eventually figured if a lay on my stomach the pain was not as bad and I could also breath better if I did that.
By the next day I could breath fine, but I still had a bit of chest pressure pain. On the third day I was breathing fine and just had a little pain when I lifted my arms. At around 10pm on this third day after the initial pain/shortness of breath. I stood up and felt a weird lightheaded feeling that I've never felt before. My heart was also beating really fast, I could actually feel it on my neck. I got really concerned so I went to the emergency room.
At the hospital, they took blood samples and did a chest x ray. The conclusion was that I had Gerd, heart palpitations and anxiety so they sent me home with a prescription for the Gerd. I still did not feel well as every time I walked or stood up I felt lightheaded and my heart felt fast like if I'd been exercising. Two days after my emergency room visit, I started a new job. I managed to go to the orientations and started the actual work a week after my Er visit.
It was a night job so I was not getting enough sleep. I started the job at midnight and on my third day of the actual work I got a pretty bad allergic reaction while I was trying to sleep before going to work. I Went to the emergency room again with my neck swelled up, trouble breathing and hives on my back. They treated me with prednisone and IV benadryl. They sent me home and told me to rest, but I decided to go to work since it was only my second day on the job. At work I felt like I was going to die as my heart was pounding out of my chest. I left work an hour early and I quit the job the next day.
That was all in early July. From July to mid September I've been to the emergency room 10 times because I was on a wait list to get a primarily care doctor from my insurance. All of the Er visits were due to chest pain and my heart racing with light-headedness. They took x rays and every time they showed that everything was fine. I finally got a CT scan of my head that showed I had Mastoiditis. They prescribed me antibiotics and sent me home. I still did not feel good after taking the medicine and thought that was not my problem. A few weeks after this I finally got a primary care doctor who ordered a sleep study, holter monitor, echo of the heart and some blood tests/ stool test. The blood and stool tests were fine, but the sleep test center has no appointments until next year since they are backed up.
I had the holter and echo appointments in late October and early November. Early this month I got sick with the flu. This made my asthma symptoms come back. I had an inhailer but I did not use it because I was really feeling the side effects of a racing heart which the inhailer causes. I had the flu for two days when I went to the Er with a chest pain under my lower right rib cage similar to the one I got in early July. They eventually discharged me with an upper respiratory infection. I went home, but my chest pain got worse by the next night so I went to the Er again. This time they did a chest Ct scan with contrast and found that I had Pneumomediastinum(Air in the chest cavity that contains the heart and lungs) and a bit of pneumonia in my lungs.
I was hospitalized because they wanted to find out where the air in my chest was coming from. They ruled out a hole in my esophagus with a swallow test. They eventually said it could have been a ruptured bleb in my lung because of my asthma symptoms. I stayed at the hospital for three days because they were puzzled as to why my heart was beating fast for no apparent reason. They did not want to discharge me because of this. I had my first real panic attack at this hospital I thought my life was over and that I was going to die. I eventually left against medical advice because I was not happy with the way things were going at this hospital. As soon as I left my family took me straight to stanford hospital( we live in the area). I was still wearing the gown from the previous hospital and when I got there and they took my pulse it was 195bpm the nurse looked scared so I got scared. They started telling me to breath in and out. It eventually settled back to a lower number.
I was admitted to this hospital after another Ct showed I did have Pneumomediastinum. I was given IV antibiotics and stayed there for two days while they tried to figure out why I have air in my chest and why my heart rate increases dramatically on minimum effort I also had my blood oxygen level drop a couple of times.
I was discharged with a holter monitor that I have to wear for 14 days and several antibiotics and antifungal Medicines since they are concerned about my chest organs getting infected. I was also given an inhailer that does not have the same side effects as the last one.
I have since had three episodes were I felt like I was going to faint and very short of breath with my heart racing. I don't know if what I experience is actual symptoms of something terrible, or if I have developed some anxiety because of everything that has happened. I constantly check my pulse and I get worried when I feel any chest aches now. I also wear a face mask as I am scared of getting any allergies that will potentially make my chest tight with wheezing. I am also concerned that I got so many x rays and three Ct scans. The radiation exposure I had was a lot so I am concerned about getting cancer from all this. The Ct scan at stanford did show a benign tumor on one of my bones. They said they are common and nothing to be concerned about.
I am currently waiting to turn the holter monitor in and an appointment I have in less than a week with the thoracic doctor and my primary care doctor.
I apologize for the long post and for any grammar or spelling errors I am typing this on my phone.