I will be honest....I haven't been feeling well for some time. I've been sick, who hasn't since it had been going around for a while. But this was different. I would have these, what I called episodes, and to be blunt, they were scaring the shit outta me. I'd feel this fluttery feeling in my chest, and I would also feel like I had been holding my breath, then finally taking a breath. That sort of tired out, short of breath feeling. This would go on for 2-3 hours, then it would fade and I'd be fine again. As a Mom of an Autistic child, my biggest fear is not being around for him, or my other son either. These episodes just made me wonder what sort of underlying health issues I was having. On Tuesday I finally decided to make myself a doctor appt. I don't do this very often. I am not one who will just simply skip going to the doctor altogether, but I am not the type to run to the doctor for every little thing either. I was just there to see my doctor 3 weeks ago for a never ending cough, so to be going in again this soon was odd to me. I made the appt actually for a different problem. My appt was for my elbow. I was pretty sure I had tendonitis (I was right) so I had made the appt after an email conversation with my doc. Going in for my elbow was good, but given my current rash of "episodes", I was glad to have an appt! Once my doctor came in, we started the conversation and I just jumped away from the elbow to what I felt was the more pressing issue, my "episodes". He listened to my heart, sounded good. It's like when you take your car into the repair shop and say, "it's making this noise" but now the noise is gone and there seems to be nothing wrong with the car? Yeah...no episodes while there. But, my doctor is awesome and listened to me describe them and how they felt. He didn't have answers, but said that we could go through a series of weeding out possibilities. He ordered more blood tests, this time to check my thyroid and also my blood count. He asked me how much coffee I drink, and then of course, I got that deer in the headlights look. Lucky for me though, I'm probably drinking less coffee now than ever. Since I had the flu, I just haven't been the coffee addict I usually am. I didn't drink coffee at all while I was sick, then since I have been better, I just usually have the 1 cup (granted it is a BIG cup) in the morning and that's usually it. Occasionally on the weekends we might stop at Starbucks, but we haven't even been doing that as much as usual. His response was that it was good that I had cut back. He didn't know that my problem was due to too much caffeine, but it was a possibility. Odd to me since I haven't had this problem in the past. So, then he mentions that word that brings on fear, Cardiology. I'm 41 yrs old and overall, pretty healthy! Hearing the term Cardiology just feels scary and odd. Cardiology is for old people, I'm not that old! So he brought up Cardiology because he wants me to wear what is called an Event Monitor. This is hopefully to catch and record the episodes. (which by the way, I am having one of right now as I type) Not sure when I will get this monitor thing, but while scary, it would be nice to know what was going on. My doctor assured me he didn't think I had much to worry about. He said the fact I was having symptoms and all was a good thing, meaning it was likely that it was just my body reacting to something being off. He said with something much more serious such as cardiac failure or cardiac arrest, those are things that come out of the blue, without warning and don't end well. Mine? Likely just more of an annoyance than dangerous, I guess.
Back to my elbow. I have a flare up case of "tennis elbow" or tendonitis. Meh...no big deal, right? It sucks because it hurts. I walked out of the office with a brand new wrist brace (yay.....note the sarcasm). At least this one is on the left wrist! I've had plenty of them for my right wrist, my left apparently felt lonely. The wrist brace is to stabilize my wrist and therefore rest the tendons that run from my wrist, up my arm and to the elbow. This getting old crap is for the birds!
So, there ya have it. I'll soon get to visit Cardiology AND I have tennis elbow! Fun, fun wacky crazy stuff! ;) But in all seriousness, this is just a reminder that it's always important to listen to your body and take care of yourself. What I am going through right now is a little scary, but I'm taking the steps to make sure I am healthy and around for my kids and husband for a long time!
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