Finally!

[rpowell01]

Well, well, well, I finally found out what is causing my chest pains, shortness of breath and blood pressure to elevate. I really thought I was going crazy.. I have had the constant chest pains since last April 2010, every day. Well it got to the point I felt myself going downhill and to be honest I didn't think I was going to make it to the end of the year last year. On August 6,2010 I ended up at the ER thinking I was having a heart attack. I explained what I thought was everything to the Doctor. Of course he see's you for the max of 2 minutes then orders all these tests which btw is another topic by itself. They put me on a EKG and did some lab work. For 3 hours they monitored me and then came back to say "Oh you had an Anxiety Attack"...I kept telling myself noway was this Anxiety. I know some of you remember me posting it a few times on hadit.

Then in February a new private MRI found the herniated disc at C5-6. So then a couple of us was thinking okay it is radiculopathy because of the disc herniation. Well here is where things became a little bizarre. Two weeks ago I had a epidural cortisone injection at C6 which btw did help take the tingling away but not the numbess and now my neck is in a lot of pain. It has been a roller coaster of a two weeks, up one day and feel really good only to be down the next day feeling really bad. All in my arms as I speak. BUT, onething that didn't change was the chest pains and the shortness of breath and the elevated blood pressure. Anyway, yesterday I was over in Sarasota for a Voc Rehab appt. and my kids were with me, thank God they were. Well, right after my appointment we jumped in the car and as soon as I got on the road I had this pain to the right of my diaghragm which lasted about a good 30-60 seconds. I never felt this pain before. Remember I only had chest pains 24/7 and some shortness of breath. Well I told my daughter I do not feel good at all and then my face turned pink red she said. It felt like I was dying. I quickly pulled into a 7elevan and handed her the phone. I said if anything happens to me dial 911. We were 1.5 hours away from our house. As soon as I got out of the car I starting feeling a little better. All the way home I just didn't feel good. As soon as I got home i started feeling stick again. Well, I jumped into the car and went to my Doctor who in turn sent me to the ER. At the ER they once again put me on EKG and Vitals, checked my blood but this time there was a good Doctor from Polland there. He did good. He asked me exactly what happened and has I explained to him the details he pushed on the spot where it was hurting for 30-60 seconds but it didn't hurt whenever he did that. Well he ordered a ultrasound on that area and come to find out I have SLUDGE in my GALLBLADDER and that is what is causing all my chest pains, shortness of breath and blood pressure to jump sky high. Just Friday of last week my blood pressure was 120/78...<-----Good dont you think? This is the way it use to be all my life. Anyway after another 3-4 hour stay he told me to go see a Vascular Surgeon to probably have it removed because that is what is causing all my problems in my chest.

Please tell me I am not crazy!!!!! LOL I knew I wasn't and I knew it was a matter of time before the truth came out. Dead or alive the answer would have been found....Seriously though I wrote all of this because my step mother's mother died from the exact same thing but back then they didn't have much to go on. So her gallbladder poisoned her and killed her. I just hope he takes this thing out really soon because 2 days of really bad episodes do it it.

BTW one last symptom I would get after the attack was I would be real gassy and whenever I explained all of this to the nurse over at the vascular place she said Yep that is your gallbladder and DO NOT EAT FATTY FOODS....And come to think about it I ate some homemade TACOS Sunday evening, NICE!!!! Today I ate chicken fried rice========= not good she said....

I learned that everbody's symptoms on the gallbladder is different for some reason, they are kind of grouped but might have one from the other group. An officer at work has the same problem and will have surgery next week and her symptoms are the exact same as mine where others were bent over and was in pain. Weird huh....

[Pete53]

Sorry I did not mean I had gallbladder problems. Anxiety is usually associated with something that happened that changed the wiring in your flight of fight part of your brain.

[rpowell01]

My mistake. I want to explain this correctly. The Doctor told me that whenever a Doctor can't diagnosed something they turn to Anxiety. What may seem to be Anxiety really isn't but something else. Anxiety has many symptoms and so whenever they can't find the cause they turn to Anxiety which in honest opinion is being overused. It gives the ER doctors a way out from not doing extensive testing for a diagnosis. Just my opinion because I have seen th is many times myself in the ER. What I felt was from the gallbladder not Anxiety. This is what the surgeon told me today. I don't blame the doctors I just blame the system on how they give up diagnosing whenever there should be extensive testing than just lab work or EKG.

[john999]

If you get the proper workup at the ER they can identify what is wrong. What happens is that if they don't think your insurance will pay they don't do the CT scan or MRI. My wife had a pain in her stomach. I thought it was probably the spicy wings she ate and the fact she did have some acid reflux. I took her to the ER anyway because she was really hurting. We have good insurance so they did the tests. It turnd out to be she had a very serious case of diverticulitus and she was in surgery within 4 hours. If they had sent her home with a bottle of malox the thing would have ruptured and the contents of her intestine would have drained into her body cavity and she might have died. Just a few days could have meant life or death. If a gall bladder ruptures the same thing happens. The infection drains into the body cavity and you get peritonitus and you die. Before anti-biotics these sorts of things killed people all the time. The humble appendix was a killer of thousands. We trust our lives to people who might skip a test because someone is trying to save a buck (the VA or an insurance company).

[rpowell01]

Instead of using "medical doctors" in the ER they are using intern residents. Yes the VA does it also. It's cheap and convenient.

[john999]

I think using residents in the ER is a crime. They are playing with people's lives. I know it is just about money. That statement on the wall at the VA about "taking care of those who have borne the battle" is just hogwash. Of course, you go to a private hospital and the first thing they want to know is what kind of insurance you have. No insurance you better be bleeding to death, or they send you down the road. We don't have a medical system in the USA. We just have a bunch of doctors and hospitals trying to make money.

[rpowell01]

It's done!!!! I feel a lot better overall. Some soreness from the insertion area but overall I feel a lot better. I never thought i would ever feel like this again. It has been awhile.

God Bless,

rpowell