Another medical update

What do you know, I've been back to the hospital once again. This time I was sure I was going to have a heart attack, or something very similar, as my heart rate settled on 125 bpm, and I made Øyvind drive me to the emergency room. I didn't have to wait long before I was allowed to come in to be examined by a doctor, a very nice one too, and even though she couldn't find anything wrong with me apart from the rapid heart rate, she understood my concern. I was then admitted, asked a whole lot of questions, blood was drawn once again, and they did the third electrocardiography in one month. I also got some of the results from the blood work I had done on December 1st, and everything was normal. They chose to keep me there for observation through the night, while wearing a telemetry apparatus - I have no idea what it's called in English, I'm sorry. My heart is working just fine, no abnormalities and I have a normal sinus rhythm.

Yes, I was honestly hoping they would find something on at least one of my tests, but on the other hand I'm now said to be at least 97% healthy. They have checked just about everything, apart from doing a CT scan or an MRI - both tests too expensive to perform unless there's something else indicating the need of having one done. The doctor sent me back home yesterday with the following orders: "There's nothing wrong with you, so you don't have to worry unless you spike a fever. Do not think about it, just ignore it.". I'm still awaiting the results of my hormonal test, which I'll hopefully get on Monday.

I think I'm having some kind of psychological problem, maybe anxiety of some sort. I honestly think that the fact that I'm scared senseless to experience something bad health-wise is making me really pay attention to any sign of abnormalities in my body, and that I'm maybe producing all these symptoms as I'm go. The mind is a powerful tool, so when I get scared and think about all kinds of scary scenarios I scare myself even more, and naturally my heart rate goes up. I then release adrenaline, which cause me to shake and feel even worse, and there you have it.
Late last night I spoke to a friend of mine who's a doctor, and she told me it's quite usual that psychological problems like these manifest themselves physically without having to actually feeling scared or anxious at all. Knowing that kinda calmed me down a little, so thank you Hilde - I really appreciate it.

And once again a great big thanks to my dearest Øyvind who's taking the very best care of me, loving me even though I'm acting like an idiot, dragging him to the emergency room in the middle of the night for absolutely no good reason - and to all the doctors and nurses who actually care enough to understand that I'm scared and bewildered by how I'm feeling. And also to Pinchy and Fieran for being the best friends a girl could ever want in her life.

Medical update

I woke up yesterday morning feeling so bad that I had a hard time getting out of bed. I measured my heart rate to be about 120 bpm, going a little down and then back up. So exhausting! I decided to try to ignore my dizziness, nausea and everything else that made me feel like a dying old woman, and went to St. Olavs Hospital to have the already mentioned blood work done. The longer I waited, the longer it would take for me to get the results, right? Even though I hate needles and blood tests I didn't die, and I actually think the nurse did a decent job although she had to prick me twice to find a vein. I think she understood that I'm not very far from becoming desperate, so she was even nice enough to put a red sticker on my paperwork to have it analyzed quicker. So now I'm hoping that it'll have reached my doctor tomorrow, with some kind of result that can be easily treated.

I'm not feeling as bad today as yesterday, but I'm all drained of strength. It's exhausting to eat and drink, to go to the toilet, and even to sit here and blog. And every time I think about doing something, no matter what, my heart rate starts bouncing up and down. We called the emergency room again yesterday to ask if there exists some kind of medicine to slow down the heart rate a little, but the woman on the phone practically refused to listen, and answered just about everything but the thing we wanted to know. She said I could come in, and some doctor would take a look at me and maybe check my CRP, but apart from that there was nothing that could be done about it - even though she asked a little later if I was on any medication to lower my heart rate.. Completely useless.

Oh well, I'll be back with updates when I know more.

Not hospitalized anymore!

After having spent the last five days in the hospital I'm finally back home, not much wiser than I was last Thursday when I suddenly experienced trouble breathing. I have no idea what happened, but naturally I panicked and had Øyvind call 113 (emergency number) to have them come pick me up. An ambulance came and brought me to the emergency room where they drew my blood, did numbers of other tests, checked for blood clots, gave me an EKG, found absolutely nothing wrong and sent me back home. Friday came.. and went, and I still felt like I had some weight on my chest making it hard to breath.

Late that night we decided to call 113 again as I was afraid it could have something to do with my heart or lungs, and I was told that I could come back in on Saturday for another checkup and an x-ray of my chest. I decided to spend the night at home and go back to the emergency room next morning, and so I did. Another ambulance ride, a lot of waiting, more tests, and finally they admitted me. I lost count of all the different tests they performed on me, but at least I know that I'm healthy. Because they found absolutely nothing wrong. Not a thing.

I have to praise St. Olavs Hospital for doing a phenomenal job. I felt safe during the whole ordeal, and I never doubted that I was being heard and taken good care of. Now I know I have nothing to dread when I'm going in for my annual checkups, and I know I'll be in good hands should something worse happen another time. So a great big thanks to all of those who were involved in taking care of me from October 28th through November 4th - you know who you are!

Oh, and I still have the best boyfriend in the world.

Hospitalized

I just wanted to let you know that I'm in the hospital, and will hopefully be back home on Wednesday (unless something else happens).