Hospitals are no fun

Well yesterday was an interesting day. I spent 5 hours in the emergency department of our local hospital. I wasn't rushed there or anything like that, actually I drove myself there. The problem was that I had been having weird chest pain/discomfort with an added bonus of pressure and numbness in my left arm, jawline and neck. All very suspecting of heart troubles. It started Monday night, continued on during Tuesday (coming and going as it pleased) and finally Wednesday morning I bit the bullet and decided maybe I should go seek medical attention. Well I promptly was lectured by my nurse about waiting so long to seek help. She was very sweet and you could tell her concern was sincere. So I promised that if this ever happened again I would come in right away.

So anyway, I was given a ECG and hooked up to a heart monitor. Everything came back clean, no trouble with the heart. Then they did a bunch of blood tests to check for heart damage, still everything came like perfect. So the resident doctor was all ready to let me go home but the jaw/arm pain thing was making them second guess themselves. So they decided to give me a shot of nitroglycerin to see if my chest discomfort would go away. So first they ask me what the discomfort level is on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the worst pain I have felt, and I responded maybe a 1. Well they give me the nitro and ask me if I feel better, I am like well, I guess so. It wasn't that bad so it was kind of hard to tell. So they run off again to chat amongst themselves. I wait and wait, and wait. Nothing to read or do so I started experimenting with how much I could affect my heart rate, making it go faster or slower. I got my heart rate down to 47 beats per minute and I think the highest was 120 or something like that. What else could I do???? I was attached to oxygen, heart monitor and such... I had to do something to entertain myself...*Grin*. So after a bit the doctor comes in and says they are considering keeping me overnight for observation. Then he goes away again. Next he comes back and says he has spoken with a cardiologist and they have decided I should have a heart test done. So that should be in about a months time and I go see the cardiologist next week. They gave me 3 prescriptions to take home 1-a nitro bottle * just in case, 2-aspirin, and 3- a medication that will slow down my heart so it won't work too hard and lower my blood pressure. I asked the doctor if he really thought it was a good idea to put me on this and he said it is better to prevent than treat so he said yes. Well I did more research this morning on the drug and I have decided I am not going to take it. You see I already have a slow heart rate (50-60 bpm) and my blood pressure is always pressure is always low as well (95/50) so for me to take this medicine would be highly dangerous in my opinion ESPECIALLY when they don't think it is a heart problem but are treating it as one until after the test I take in a months time. Sometimes I have to really wonder about doctors. This is why a person has to be their own advocate when it comes to their health, educate themselves on their conditions and drugs prescribed.

So in summary, I feel fine today. My chest still feels a bit funny but I am guessing it has to do with my back/neck being out and I am going to go and see my chiropractor about it. The doctor also mentioned that I may have a viral infection in the cartilage of my chest (which I have had before) which would also explain some of the chest discomfort.

So that was my exciting day yesterday.