...but for a while there, I wasn't so sure.
I've had chest muscle pain before, what with being amply endowed and all, but this was different. Plus this time, aside from the chest pain, I had arm pain. And then tingly arm. And then numbish arm and tingly the rest of me. And moving around made me feel like I was going to pass out. Plus either the temperature dropped or I was having chills.
When the arm numbness and the tingly and the chills didn't go away, even though the chest pain had, I decided calling EMS was not a bad idea.
EMS was iffy. They said the little porta-EKG said I was fine aside from a too-high pulse (not unusual due to taking primatene) and BP... but that if I wanted a hospital trip, they would happily take me. Leaving those decisions up to me usually would result in me not going to the hospital, but in this case, because of the potential seriousness, I elected to go after dithering about it about 10 minutes watching my heart rate not drop.
Full-scale EKG showed no obvious problems, and by the time they got around to the slightly incompetent blood draw my heart rate was much lower, if still high-ish. Then there was a lot of sitting around, because that is what one does in the ER. They also took a chest x-ray. About 3 hours after I arrived I asked the RN if she had any idea how long it'd be, since my sweetie was with me and if it was going to be a while he should go home. She said it would depend on if they wanted to run a second set of blood tests, but went and found a doctor (shift change seems to have happened or something) who took a look at the lab work and chose to send me home, as it was also normal. She also said it was good that I came in anyhow, because it's better to be sure, which was the first time I didn't feel I was wasting people's time the whole night, really. Not that they weren't nice, but... even aside from the cost and lack of insurance issues, I don't like to go to the ER unless I'm like, dying.
Anyhow, I'm fine, and by the time I left, my heart rate and BP were really quite normal. No prescriptions except the one for Combivent I cadged so I had a better alternative to Primatene.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
Yikes...
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear it was nothing, Tina. That's the type of thing you don't want to mess around with, but is scary as hell no matter what the outcome.
Take care of yourself.
That is very scary! I'm really glad it turned out well, of course. Also, I hate ERs.
ReplyDeleteHere's hoping you feel better, and that the heart rate and BP stay normal!
Phew! I'm glad to hear you're ok. The doctor is quite right, of course. You should always check if you have the remotest suspicion of heart trouble.
ReplyDeleteI took a CPR course earlier this year, and they said that even though more men have heart attacks, more women who have them die, because 1) their symptoms often aren't the same as men's symptoms (they can be confused with indigestion, among other things); 2) doctors don't always take them as seriously as they should; and women dismiss their symptoms and wait too long to get help. And getting help is crucial! You can avoid so much misery if you get help early.
/TMI. Anyway, I'm glad you're ok, but by all means if you suspect any trouble, go ahead and bug them! That is what they are for.