My initial episode occurred two weeks after having chicken pox. I am 42 and was taking care of a woman with shingles. I recovered fine from the chicken pox but 14 days later when my two year old presented with his blisters and fever I myself got a fever again that night and felt crappy. The date was December 23. I went to work on the 25th and just felt bad but no unusual signs or symptoms. After that I was off work until the 29th. That day I had nothing to eat until lunch. At lunch I had a hamburger and potato and leek soup. Immediately after eating I got a headrush and felt like I needed to lay down. Within one hour I was symptomatic I was first sitting and got a wave of light headedness that made me feel I would pass out. After that passed I tried to stand up and walk. Right away I got a scent of ammonia and told the people standing across from me to go get a nurse that I was going to pass out. I got myself into a recliner and elevated the foot rest. The nurses came and called a squad right away and put oxygen on me. I could not feel it at all. Had tightness in the chest they said my heart rate was 140. I they stated was changing in front of them and got pale and clammy. I was very frightened. I had a feeling that I was "going to go" I did not know where. I had difficulty talking and spoke in only one and two word sentences. The squad came and I could not stand up I told them if they did I would go, so they lifted me onto the gurney. Before they came I could feel my whole body almost losing function and I felt as if I was going to have a bowel movement. Once again I had this sensation in the squad but did not. They did an EKG which was normal, vital signs were normal by that point, could not start an IV, it was like my veins disappeared into no where land. Chemstick was 124 which is normal.
I basically recovered in the ER and felt whiped out, looked like crap and noticed blood pressure was going up and down with the lowest there being 80/30 and 70/40. They ended up letting me go and discharging me to the care of a outpatient physician an internist.
When I went to him he put me on a holter monitor and from looking at my labs said I was in viral syndrome.
The week between my ER trip and my trip to the internest whenever I ate a normal meal my blood pressure seemed to drop, I had to lay down and my heart would race. The holter monitor showed a heartrate of 148 twice which he said was concerning and I did have symptoms both times this occurred.
He said he would see me in one month.
On the way to his office and for the week following I had midsternal chest pain and was having it my second trip to ER when they did more blood work, an EKG, a CAT scan and a chest xray. They could not find anything wrong and suggested it was anxiety. After the pain in my chest I went for days with an intense discomfort that I would get around my upper left shoulder and into the neck. It was a very scary feeling. The neck pain was on the left front lower side and was so intense it felt as if a mass would eventually bulge out from my neck. This is something I told them about while in ER the second visit but continued on after that visit.
My vitality is slowly increasing. I am not feeling the intense pressure that I did feel in my neck. I can feel it lightly at times but it is nothing like it was.
It seems my only remaining symptoms at this time involve an activity intolerance in which I just feel as if I am not getting any oxygen and my heart rate increases.
Other symptoms that I have missed are after my first visit to ER I did have an uncomfortable feeling in my torso the next day that moved down and then had smelly bm for about 4 days or so.
Also I had to miss more time from work the first week of January. I developed a fever again low grade and just felt really poorly. I think the activity intolerance was more pronounced at that point and it was difficult to imagine that I would ever feel better.
So far this is a mystery illness. On my second trip to ER the doctor said my WBC's were in normal range so I should be out of the viral syndrome at this point.
Other people at work are starting to experience the muscle pain that I did. One other girl also had the tightness in the chest and went to ER. She was told she had a pinched nerve and put on prednisone and flexeril. The other person's pain was in the right arm istead of the left but she said was so intense that she almost cried. She ended up with uncontrollable diarrhea right after.
It is reassuring me that others are experiencing these things, although I have to tell you I heard a very scary story from the one who had the chest pain. She said when she told her mother about it she said her mom told her that an hour west of us a virus went through a hospital and many of the staff got sick and missed work. One very young girl was feeling poorly, got checked out in ER they found nothing and sent her home. Her supervisor had told her she'd call and check on her later, she did and when she did the girl's son answered the phone. He said he couldn't get his mommy to wake up, and so help was sent. The 24 year old woman with two children had died in her bed. When I hear these stories it makes me have anxiety to the core because I was feeling so close myself. The pressure was so intense in my left chest neck shoulder area that it was all I could do to maintain my respirations, calm myself and try to get myself positioned. For nearly a week there I felt that the only place I would be safe was in ER, where I could be given life saving efforts if I collapsed.
Part of me thinks I will never know what caused this.
I have been told I should go to a cardiologist but I'm not sure my heart is the source of the problem. I think something else is putting the strain and pressure there.
I really should have kept a diary of my experiences.
For a while there it was one day at a time and trying to stay focused.
