Health update
Hello people,
it's been more than a month now that I posted on here...I guess my health and general life didn't leave much time for this blog lately.
In case you don't follow my Instagram (@pessimisticwalrus), you probably didn't get the latest news about my health so here's an update :)
Okay so after my GP tried to tell me that she had done "everything" and that I was somehow imagining most of my symptoms, I was furious and tried to find a new GP, my family wasn't very supportive in the beginning and at the same time I just wanted to go back to school, so there was some fighting and doing nothing. Then, we finally found someone else after I almost fainted many times due to blood pressure fluctuations and a high heart rate. This someone was a dude in his 50s, very arrogant, always grinning and with the attitude of "young people can't truly be sick". After telling him about my blood pressure problems, a persistent fever and thyroid issues in the past, he decided to do a 24 hour blood pressure surveillance and some blood work. He completely ignored the persistent fever. Fine, I let them do all that stuff, which in the end included 2 failed attempts at drawing blood (burst veins and not even hitting a vein).
We went back to get the results after a few days, and the first thing Grinning Man looked at was the blood pressure stuff, he agreed it fluctuated a lot and also told me my heart rate was constantly elevated (more than 100 bpm) even when I was sleeping, followed by "just make sure you drink enough and relax some more". Lol. Thanks for nothing. Next we discussed my blood work, it showed that I most likely have some bleeding somewhere in my body, but according to him I shouldn't be concerned. Okay, wow. He claimed to have checked my thyroid stuff but he didn't and still ignored my persistent fever. Bottom line: bad doctor who tried to tell me I'm making up my symptoms and who I'll never see again.
We were devastated at this point but decided not to pursue the search for another GP since my grandparents were supposed to come by, take me with them and then I wanted to go back to school. Well, unfortunately my mom got very sick so we weren't sure if they could come and then last Saturday my eye started playing up again. I had issues with the left eye multiple times before, and after googling a bit I found out it was most likely due to optic nerve inflammation, part of the reason why I was in hospital in January for suspected multiple sclerosis (they *magically* didn't find anything despite a lot of signs pointing in that direction but then again this hospital has a very bad reputation...). When it didn't go away for 3 days (it usually disappeared after that time) we did look for another GP and found one. He's young, insecure and doesn't understand everything I tell him (I live close to the border of another country and we have many doctors from there- they are amazing most of the time but barely speak our language sometimes). He argues it's a migraine but agrees to get me seen by outpatient neurology in the same hospital from January. I went there, they measured my optic nerve function, mom and I sit back down into the waiting room. After some time the receptionist asked us what we are waiting for.
"To see the doctor."
"You don't have an appointment. We'll send the results to your GP".
Needless to say I was fuming. Since my new GP was close by, I decided to go back and ask him if that was what he intended. The receptionist there told me it would take a week to have the results from the clinic but when I told her I have suspected optic neuritis she was like "nope, not an option". I saw my GP again, he was confused and desperate and on top of that had to bring his 1 year old child to work with him that day. He sent me back to the hospital but forgot to write on the paper where I should go. The lady at the central patient information sent me to the eye clinic where I spent a good 4 hours getting my eyes checked by the same doctors like in January. I was lucky to have them again because they are really nice. At some point the younger one felt so sorry for causing me more eye pain and making me wait he just send me to have some lunch and come back in an hour. We did that, he consulted the second, more experienced doctor and at some point I could really see how sorry he was that he couldn't help me and had to send me back to neurology because he also thought it was optic neuritis. Back to neurology it was, got checked by 2 neurologists who took me very seriously, listened to me and wrote down everything. I was given an appointment for the next morning to measure my optic nerve function again and then decide what to do. I was so exhausted after almost 10 hours in hospital I just wanted to cry.
I went back the next morning, and voila I have a declined function in BOTH optic nerves. It's as unpleasant as it sounds. They decided I need high dose cortisone via IV for 3 days, I get to be an outpatient and they'll check afterwards if my optic nerves are functioning well again. If not, I'll be admitted and given more cortisone.
So far the IVs are going well, today was day 2 already and I do have terrible side effects but I know it could be worse. The anti thrombosis shots are much more annoying tbh. Wish me good luck for all that is to come.
The Walrus
it's been more than a month now that I posted on here...I guess my health and general life didn't leave much time for this blog lately.
In case you don't follow my Instagram (@pessimisticwalrus), you probably didn't get the latest news about my health so here's an update :)
Okay so after my GP tried to tell me that she had done "everything" and that I was somehow imagining most of my symptoms, I was furious and tried to find a new GP, my family wasn't very supportive in the beginning and at the same time I just wanted to go back to school, so there was some fighting and doing nothing. Then, we finally found someone else after I almost fainted many times due to blood pressure fluctuations and a high heart rate. This someone was a dude in his 50s, very arrogant, always grinning and with the attitude of "young people can't truly be sick". After telling him about my blood pressure problems, a persistent fever and thyroid issues in the past, he decided to do a 24 hour blood pressure surveillance and some blood work. He completely ignored the persistent fever. Fine, I let them do all that stuff, which in the end included 2 failed attempts at drawing blood (burst veins and not even hitting a vein).
We went back to get the results after a few days, and the first thing Grinning Man looked at was the blood pressure stuff, he agreed it fluctuated a lot and also told me my heart rate was constantly elevated (more than 100 bpm) even when I was sleeping, followed by "just make sure you drink enough and relax some more". Lol. Thanks for nothing. Next we discussed my blood work, it showed that I most likely have some bleeding somewhere in my body, but according to him I shouldn't be concerned. Okay, wow. He claimed to have checked my thyroid stuff but he didn't and still ignored my persistent fever. Bottom line: bad doctor who tried to tell me I'm making up my symptoms and who I'll never see again.
We were devastated at this point but decided not to pursue the search for another GP since my grandparents were supposed to come by, take me with them and then I wanted to go back to school. Well, unfortunately my mom got very sick so we weren't sure if they could come and then last Saturday my eye started playing up again. I had issues with the left eye multiple times before, and after googling a bit I found out it was most likely due to optic nerve inflammation, part of the reason why I was in hospital in January for suspected multiple sclerosis (they *magically* didn't find anything despite a lot of signs pointing in that direction but then again this hospital has a very bad reputation...). When it didn't go away for 3 days (it usually disappeared after that time) we did look for another GP and found one. He's young, insecure and doesn't understand everything I tell him (I live close to the border of another country and we have many doctors from there- they are amazing most of the time but barely speak our language sometimes). He argues it's a migraine but agrees to get me seen by outpatient neurology in the same hospital from January. I went there, they measured my optic nerve function, mom and I sit back down into the waiting room. After some time the receptionist asked us what we are waiting for.
"To see the doctor."
"You don't have an appointment. We'll send the results to your GP".
Needless to say I was fuming. Since my new GP was close by, I decided to go back and ask him if that was what he intended. The receptionist there told me it would take a week to have the results from the clinic but when I told her I have suspected optic neuritis she was like "nope, not an option". I saw my GP again, he was confused and desperate and on top of that had to bring his 1 year old child to work with him that day. He sent me back to the hospital but forgot to write on the paper where I should go. The lady at the central patient information sent me to the eye clinic where I spent a good 4 hours getting my eyes checked by the same doctors like in January. I was lucky to have them again because they are really nice. At some point the younger one felt so sorry for causing me more eye pain and making me wait he just send me to have some lunch and come back in an hour. We did that, he consulted the second, more experienced doctor and at some point I could really see how sorry he was that he couldn't help me and had to send me back to neurology because he also thought it was optic neuritis. Back to neurology it was, got checked by 2 neurologists who took me very seriously, listened to me and wrote down everything. I was given an appointment for the next morning to measure my optic nerve function again and then decide what to do. I was so exhausted after almost 10 hours in hospital I just wanted to cry.
I went back the next morning, and voila I have a declined function in BOTH optic nerves. It's as unpleasant as it sounds. They decided I need high dose cortisone via IV for 3 days, I get to be an outpatient and they'll check afterwards if my optic nerves are functioning well again. If not, I'll be admitted and given more cortisone.
So far the IVs are going well, today was day 2 already and I do have terrible side effects but I know it could be worse. The anti thrombosis shots are much more annoying tbh. Wish me good luck for all that is to come.
The Walrus
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