My head
First of all, I suppose I shall speak of my health problems. About a month and a half ago, I went to my doctor to tell her that, even though I am against medications for such, my depression/anxiety/panic problems were making it difficult to function outside of my personal space and it was starting to affect my job. That being said, I was put on a medication that helped the above-mentioned problems. Gotta say it really helped! I had no more days where all I felt like doing was crying, and no more random heart-racing attack that come out of nowhere for no reason! I felt on top of the world and unstoppable! What a great feeling!
Well, out of nowhere, I started getting the random racing heartbeat that made me feel really weak and dizzy and cause a lack of movement/motivation to move. And, of course, they would always happen at work. Great. I had just told everyone at work how happy I was that nothing was affecting my ability to perform my job, then this happens. The first day it happened, I went home shortly after my first break. Leaving work really hurts your dependability (everything is tracked), so one must try to stay at work as long as possible.
Last Friday (9/5/08), I was on my lunch break. Tropical Storm Hanna was just starting to make it rain. I was sitting at my desk and was yawning and yawning, so I decided to rest my head. My breathing kept getting heavier and heavier and faster and faster. I decided to check my heart rate and it was beating at 136 beats per minute! I slowly got up and wandered over to windows and leaned against a column to try to calm myself down. I felt really dizzy and found it really hard to even move an arm. Once I realized that I wasn't going to be able to make it back to my desk to sign back in from break and start working again, I called my supervisor and told her where I was. I told her I wanted an ambulance because it was freaking me out, but she asked if I had someone who could pick me up because ambulances are too expensive.
My brother picked me up and my car stayed at work all weekend. My brother is a hard-ass and told me to suck it up. I tried to be social and whatnot, but I was still walking way slower than I normally do, and even misjudged the distance between two objects to pass through and walked a couple feet more to the left than I should have. All these things are very weird to me. I feel absent-minded and slow. I feel disoriented.
Saturday night/Sunday morning, around 4:30am, after sleeping all weekend, I decided I REALLY needed a shower and thought I would be feeling better since I rested all weekend. Got up to get my slippers on and walk to the bathroom and just stood there with my arms out to the sides a little bit... For balance. I am sure I am not the only one in the world who, if they feel dizzy or disoriented, just kind of stand there with their arms slightly out to the side for balance, and just look around trying to assess the situation. But that's what I did. I turned to face my bed and put my slippers on and turned back around to walk toward the door. Nope. I had to sit on my bed!
At that point, my eyes got a little teary, but I decided to go anyway. Felt dizzy the entire time I was in there, and it took longer than normal to shower. After my shower, I sent a text to two of my friends who are normally or possibly awake at 5am. I wanted someone to take me to the hospital. Luckily Lisa was awake and was nice enough to take me to the hospital.
She took the way long way to get there and I arrived around 6:15-6:30ish. I went through triage and after triage had some blood drawn for tests (and yes, as I said before, the phlebotomist was frickin hot). Then I proceeded to wait until around 9am before I was seen again. Typical.
The doctor came in the room and recapped what I told the triage nurse. He had me do some drunk tests, lol. "Find a line in the tile and try to walk along it," and "Stand at attention and close your eyes. I won't let you fall, but keep your eyes closed."
The walk along the line in the floor part was easy, but not as easy as normal. But the standing at attention with my eyes closed part was creepy. He had his hands on my shoulders and lifted them off. I felt wobbly and immediately started to fall backward and he grabbed my shoulders so I wouldn't fall. He asked me to do it again, so I did, and this time I didn't start to fall back as quickly because I knew I would, but I am sure he saw my toes working really hard to keep my balance before I finally did start to fall backward again.
He had me sit back down and proceeded to tell me his thoughts. He first informed me that all of my blood work and vitals looked fine (Blood pressure: 118/60 and temperature 98.6, lol). He went on to tell me that it could be an inner ear problem and explained that the inner ear is what keeps our balance and sometimes a virus or something could temporarily throw that off. He said he wanted me to try some medicine for the next few days to see how I am feeling after 3 or 4 days.
He also mentioned the possibility of it being a problem with my cerebellum. We wouldn't know that without a cat scan or MRI, but didn't want to do either of those without trying the medicine first to see if that is the main cause. Also that he didn't want me to be exposed to so much radiation if it wasn't completely necessary.
He also mentioned that he didn't believe it had anything to do with my anti-depressant I mentioned above, so that's good.
So here I am. He gave me Meclizine for Vertigo and Fioricet for pain. He didn't want me to work for the next 3 days because the medicines impair judgment and cause drowsiness/dizziness. I thought it was rather funny for him to "see how I feel with the medicine" if they cause the same kind of sensations I currently feel.
I need to contact my personal doctor to let her know what's going on, but I keep sleeping too much! I put in Kamikaze Girls shortly after midnight last night and didn't even make it halfway through the movie. And I did not wake up, not even to use the bathroom, until I heard my brother and his wife leave at 5:30pm!!! Now, those of you who know me know that sleeping a long time is not uncommon for me, but not waking up to a text or to use the bathroom is weird!
On the somewhat bright side of that, I woke up and didn't feel dizzy! Went to the restroom, wandered around the house a little bit, got online, etc...
Yeah, that was short-lived. I almost fell over in the living room when I went to see why there were police at the neighbor's house. I don't feel like the dizziness is getting better. I almost feel like it's getting worse! I know the medicine causes those kind of sensations as well, but I believe they are supposed to be different kind than what I feel without them. And the feelings I have now are still the same as before, only heightened.
I suppose we shall see what will happen when I have my follow-up with my doctor and go back to work.
Well, out of nowhere, I started getting the random racing heartbeat that made me feel really weak and dizzy and cause a lack of movement/motivation to move. And, of course, they would always happen at work. Great. I had just told everyone at work how happy I was that nothing was affecting my ability to perform my job, then this happens. The first day it happened, I went home shortly after my first break. Leaving work really hurts your dependability (everything is tracked), so one must try to stay at work as long as possible.
Last Friday (9/5/08), I was on my lunch break. Tropical Storm Hanna was just starting to make it rain. I was sitting at my desk and was yawning and yawning, so I decided to rest my head. My breathing kept getting heavier and heavier and faster and faster. I decided to check my heart rate and it was beating at 136 beats per minute! I slowly got up and wandered over to windows and leaned against a column to try to calm myself down. I felt really dizzy and found it really hard to even move an arm. Once I realized that I wasn't going to be able to make it back to my desk to sign back in from break and start working again, I called my supervisor and told her where I was. I told her I wanted an ambulance because it was freaking me out, but she asked if I had someone who could pick me up because ambulances are too expensive.
My brother picked me up and my car stayed at work all weekend. My brother is a hard-ass and told me to suck it up. I tried to be social and whatnot, but I was still walking way slower than I normally do, and even misjudged the distance between two objects to pass through and walked a couple feet more to the left than I should have. All these things are very weird to me. I feel absent-minded and slow. I feel disoriented.
Saturday night/Sunday morning, around 4:30am, after sleeping all weekend, I decided I REALLY needed a shower and thought I would be feeling better since I rested all weekend. Got up to get my slippers on and walk to the bathroom and just stood there with my arms out to the sides a little bit... For balance. I am sure I am not the only one in the world who, if they feel dizzy or disoriented, just kind of stand there with their arms slightly out to the side for balance, and just look around trying to assess the situation. But that's what I did. I turned to face my bed and put my slippers on and turned back around to walk toward the door. Nope. I had to sit on my bed!
At that point, my eyes got a little teary, but I decided to go anyway. Felt dizzy the entire time I was in there, and it took longer than normal to shower. After my shower, I sent a text to two of my friends who are normally or possibly awake at 5am. I wanted someone to take me to the hospital. Luckily Lisa was awake and was nice enough to take me to the hospital.
She took the way long way to get there and I arrived around 6:15-6:30ish. I went through triage and after triage had some blood drawn for tests (and yes, as I said before, the phlebotomist was frickin hot). Then I proceeded to wait until around 9am before I was seen again. Typical.
The doctor came in the room and recapped what I told the triage nurse. He had me do some drunk tests, lol. "Find a line in the tile and try to walk along it," and "Stand at attention and close your eyes. I won't let you fall, but keep your eyes closed."
The walk along the line in the floor part was easy, but not as easy as normal. But the standing at attention with my eyes closed part was creepy. He had his hands on my shoulders and lifted them off. I felt wobbly and immediately started to fall backward and he grabbed my shoulders so I wouldn't fall. He asked me to do it again, so I did, and this time I didn't start to fall back as quickly because I knew I would, but I am sure he saw my toes working really hard to keep my balance before I finally did start to fall backward again.
He had me sit back down and proceeded to tell me his thoughts. He first informed me that all of my blood work and vitals looked fine (Blood pressure: 118/60 and temperature 98.6, lol). He went on to tell me that it could be an inner ear problem and explained that the inner ear is what keeps our balance and sometimes a virus or something could temporarily throw that off. He said he wanted me to try some medicine for the next few days to see how I am feeling after 3 or 4 days.
He also mentioned the possibility of it being a problem with my cerebellum. We wouldn't know that without a cat scan or MRI, but didn't want to do either of those without trying the medicine first to see if that is the main cause. Also that he didn't want me to be exposed to so much radiation if it wasn't completely necessary.
He also mentioned that he didn't believe it had anything to do with my anti-depressant I mentioned above, so that's good.
So here I am. He gave me Meclizine for Vertigo and Fioricet for pain. He didn't want me to work for the next 3 days because the medicines impair judgment and cause drowsiness/dizziness. I thought it was rather funny for him to "see how I feel with the medicine" if they cause the same kind of sensations I currently feel.
I need to contact my personal doctor to let her know what's going on, but I keep sleeping too much! I put in Kamikaze Girls shortly after midnight last night and didn't even make it halfway through the movie. And I did not wake up, not even to use the bathroom, until I heard my brother and his wife leave at 5:30pm!!! Now, those of you who know me know that sleeping a long time is not uncommon for me, but not waking up to a text or to use the bathroom is weird!
On the somewhat bright side of that, I woke up and didn't feel dizzy! Went to the restroom, wandered around the house a little bit, got online, etc...
Yeah, that was short-lived. I almost fell over in the living room when I went to see why there were police at the neighbor's house. I don't feel like the dizziness is getting better. I almost feel like it's getting worse! I know the medicine causes those kind of sensations as well, but I believe they are supposed to be different kind than what I feel without them. And the feelings I have now are still the same as before, only heightened.
I suppose we shall see what will happen when I have my follow-up with my doctor and go back to work.