... that hurts

[mykell]

so i just finished my sunday morning fix on CD.com and moseyed down to the kitchen to fix some breakfast, but something didnt feel right, get things cooked up and sat down to eat, just didnt feel right, moseyed around the house trying to releave the pressure in my chest, after some time i ask the mrs. to drive me to the hospital, she asks and i explain and we drive over, were real close...
check in, tests, some waiting, then more waiting, (this is good news to me i wasnt being rushed anywhere), and they ask that i stay for observation (great wont be able to check in on the site) but i agree hesitantly....

late in the day...wheeled into my room...meet my roomy and prepare for what i know will be a terrible night of sleep (no disappointments)

next day doctors make rounds...all tests negative, signed releases and the mrs. picks me up and we get home...time to reacquaint myself with the shower...heeellloww shower.....ohh? whats this.....EKG tabs, teased the nurses that my wife will enjoy taking these off....should i call her, naw the nurse really struggled with the catheter....ill just do it, rrrrrriiiippp, that hurts....11 more to go.......

got me second guessing my leg waxing, was going to have my back done someday too....i'll be trimming the rest of the chest off for my scheduled stress test.....

[Khora]

This is funny because I just went for my very first waxing today. I had my back and shoulders done and it really wasn't that bad.

But glad you're OK.

[Melody A]

I hope everything turns out ok. Scary stuff.

Big hugs,

Mel

[Allisa]

Wow scary stuff that chest pressure. Agida?I get that a lot when at work with these kids they send my way(dummies).Blood pressure acts up for me first thing in the mornings, learned to wake and get out of bed slowly. Hope all is well after your tests.

[Rileyaz]

Reminds me of a joke. The doctor asks "Do you have acute angina?" "No, but my wife does!"
Glad to hear everything is ok.

[Paula_Femme]

Good call on the chest pains Mikell, that's definitely something you don't want to ignore! :)

As for the waxing, you may want to consider Sugaring (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugaring_(epilation)), it's less harsh on the skin - doesn't rip the top layer off with the hair! - and is able to take finer/shorter hairs than waxing, but it's typically more expensive than waxing at salon prices.

A couple of years ago I had my back/neck, butt, and full legs done before an en femme visit to the Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco, and the results were wonderful; apart from the inner thigh - natch!!! :heehee: - what hurt the most were my shins and knees!

It's a good idea is to take a double dose of your OTC painkiller of choice 30-60mins before your session begins, and depending on how long things will take, perhaps have a second dose with you for when the first one starts to wear off! :battingeyelashes:

All the best
Paula

[Leah Lynn]

By now, I think I've pulled off a thousand of those things. It even hurts when there's just stubble underneath. Superclean is the only way.

Leah

[Christispanties]

Glad your ok, remember fast pulls! I have done waxing myself, it hurts but it's not as bad as an epilator

[Hell on Heels]

Hell-o Milell,
I couldn't help but get concerned while reading your post.
I guess I'm happy to hear everything tested negative. ( I hate that
test result, NEGATIVE, why can't they be positive?)
Anyway, glad to hear they are doing further testing. Stress test?
Any chance they could do it twice? Once in guy mode, and once in girl?
I hope all turns out well.
Much Love,
Kristyn

[Victoria Demeanor]

Ya I bet it did hurt, but over all I'm just glad you are okay. Pressure in the chest is nothing to be ignored and I am so glad that you did not ignore it like many people do. Alright good story and I am truly glad you are doing okay.

[Christen]

Just glad to know all is well, Mikell. Keep it that way, eh!

xx

[Suzie Petersen]

Glad it wasn't anything serious Mikell!

Hugs
Suzie

[MelanieAnne]

I went to the doctor with chest pains. He said I only had six weeks to live. I said I couldn't pay him. He said, OK, I'll give you a year. :D

[Danitgirl1]

So, I don't want to scare you, but I do want to share my story.
For years I had undiagnosed chest pain combined with flu like symptoms. I went to the doctor, each time he did an ekg/ecg test and it was fine my heart was perfect. He said I probably had a lung infection... It would go away eventually but would always return. Eventually I was getting sick for 4 days every week...
Then I ended up in the emergency room at 3 am with SEVERE chest pain. They did all the tests all negative. But I was in severe pain. Stayed in hospital for a few days. All rests negative still severe pain. Doctor did a cat scan (these as well as mri scans are a big deal in SA because of the cost and they are only used when doctors are confused). Half way through the scan the radiologist starts panicking and before I know it I am in ICU being stabilised, then I have an emergency thoracotomy to drain over 3 liters of fluid from my heart and lung. I had nearly died...
Basically I had pericarditis caused by an overactive immune system.
Pericarditis can be seen on the ekg test but it needs to be looked for. Failing that it can be seen using sonar or a cat scan, but it is rare, very rare.
All the usual tests (heart attack, erratic beats, murmurs etc) were negative, but that doesn't mean that they are testing for the right things!
If you don't feel right go see a cardiologist and ask him to check for EVERYTHING. My heart is perfectly healthy so it looked fine, turns out I was on the verge of a major problem...
Hope you get this figured out!

[Allison Chaynes]

Like Dani, I too went through a rough patch with my heart last year. I have not gone into full detail here, but I had three EKGs, three Echocardiograms and my blood was checked six times over five months- nothing suggested anything was wrong. I kept feeling like an elephant was standing on my chest so I finally got my cardiologist to set me up with a stress test, which showed something wasn't right. I had a cath a week later, and was told the front of my heart was 80% blocked, the right side was 80%, and the back was 100%. I had weeks left to live. I ended up with a quadruple bypass. That was September. Two months later, I was having what I thought was asthma and irregular heartbeat, one night in December it go so bad I ended up in the ER. I spent the weekend there for the idiot doctor to tell me he could find nothing. I saw my cardiologist Monday, and got ANOTHER cath, this time they placed a stent in a blockage they did not address during the bypass. I'm 35 years old and have been active most of my life, unfortunately this all stems from a rare disease I had as a kid that apparently comes back with a vengeance once survivors hit their late 20s/thirties.

So, you were right to get checked out, but stay on them until they figure you out!!!!

[Katey888]

Mikell, Allison, Dani.. (and anyone I've missed..) glad you're all OK... :hugs:

Somehow the other 'underdressed to annual physical' threads pale a little in significance when there are some really scary conditions to be addressed...

Makes you want to embrace every day with a more positive feeling - you never know how many you have left...

Katey x

[charlenesomeone]

Glad all of you are ok, it goes without saying, don't wait
to see a doctor and not just one.

[mykell]

morning, thanks for the well wishes,
katey sitting in my "gown" (not what i think of when i intently look at ones i wish too wear) i wondered if i had took the leap and removed my leg hair how comfortable (or most likely awkwark) i would have felt while on my stay, visits from my doctor, some i never met, throngs of nurses and professionals, (think that i would of had a major panic attack) and the cardiologist there lives around the block, and how about my roommate, so i still have some trepidations about how folks will react even while i feel at peace with myself i dont share that with society as a whole....kudos to all of those that trek out to there appointments without this fear.....

kristyn, when i heard negative i thought positive although i know im not out of the woods yet, i guess its kind of like accounting, debit, credit, asset, liability, expense, and the one im now dreading payable, the hospital bill, talk about stress......

[Dianne S]

mikell,

This might be a long shot but you might have a condition called costochondritis (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costochondritis). I went to the hospital and saw a few doctors for chest pain before being diagnosed.

It's really easy to rule it out:

1: Press fairly hard on your ribs on one side, at the point where the bone is highest. It shouldn't hurt too much.

2: Now press fairly hard between the ribs, also on the side. If that hurts like hell, you might have costochondritis. The bad news is there's nothing you can do about it... you just have to put up with it. The good news is that apart from the pain, it's not serious.

If pressing between the ribs doesn't hurt any more than pressing on them, then it's probably not costochondritis.

Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor. Don't believe anything I say any more than you'd believe a horoscope! Consult a medical professional for real advice.

[MsVal]

Oh, no! Mikell, please say that they found the cause, it is benign, and not likely to return. We've all got to go sometime, but not you - not now!

Two of my high school classmates died last week, leaving me a little anxious and introspective.

Dani and Allison, your stories are scary and should be taken seriously by everyone with undiagnosed chest pain. "Negative" should not be interpreted as "good", rather "not detected". Thankfully, your stories have a happy-ish ending.

<obligatory CD reference>
I wear panties.

Best wishes
MsVal

[flatlander_48]

i'll be trimming the rest of the chest off for my scheduled stress test.....

Good! Otherwise it's sort of like separating Velcro, only with pain...


Reminds me of a joke. The doctor asks "Do you have acute angina?" "No, but my wife does!"
Glad to hear everything is ok.


I went to the doctor with chest pains. He said I only had six weeks to live. I said I couldn't pay him. He said, OK, I'll give you a year. :D

Ought to be some Rim Shots in there, SOMEWHERE!!!

Better Days and Good Health to All,

DeeAnn

[Beverley Sims]

You won't worry about waxing after you get those electrodes removed.

[sometimes_miss]

Pericarditis can be seen on the ekg test but it needs to be looked for. Failing that it can be seen using sonar or a cat scan, but it is rare, very rare.
Uh, no. We see a case every three months or so, and that's in one hospital. But it doesn't always show up on standard ekg, catscan, ultrasound or blood tests. But it's not rare.


I spent the weekend there for the idiot doctor to tell me he could find nothing. !
Cardiac catheterization is the 'gold standard', which means that it's the one test that will show positive when all else turns up nothing. We used to see patients regularly that had every other test come back normal, and yet have >90% blockage in main coronary arteries.
If you're having pain, and one doc doesn't figure it out, go to someone else. It doesn't mean your doc is an idiot, it just means that you need another opinion. Nobody knows everything, but that's where experience comes in handy; if you've seen something once, you're more likely to recognize it the next time around. Of course, it doesn't hurt to be really smart (and wide awake; tired doctors miss things, which is why you need a second opinion when you can't figure out what's wrong) in the first place.

You won't worry about waxing after you get those electrodes removed.

Anyone who thinks removing the electrodes is more painful than, say, a momentary 4 out of 10, has very little pain tolerance. Even the removal of temporary pacemaker wires only hurts for a minute or so.

[flatlander_48]

If we want to discuss pain threshold, we can start with having arthritis for 60 years...

DeeAnn

[Danitgirl1]

Uh, no. We see a case every three months or so, and that's in one hospital. But it doesn't always show up on standard ekg, catscan, ultrasound or blood tests. But it's not rare.
Ok, so I don't know where you are from, and of course I am not a medical professional, but I can confirm that in South Africa it is relatively rare, and was especially unexpected in my case as I had ZERO of the normal associated risk factors that are associated with it in SA. They are still not sure what caused it, basically they are guessing.
It is not unheard of, but my cardiologist hadn't seen a case in the last 2 years, if not longer... And he works in 3 hospitals.

[JessicaMann]

REALLY SCARY SHIT!!!!!!I had the Chest Pains and Shortness of Breath last July!!!!! mine was for real!!! would up getting a Stent in my LAD the Widow Maker!!!! brought on from work stress and anxiety. talk about a life changer!!! now I enjoy life and living, and being Jessica gives me peace!!! take it easy on the stress dear!!! and when it gets tough..... remember this "Don't Sweat the Petty Things....... Pet the Sweaty Things"!!!! at the very least you'll smile!!!!

[Jean 103]

Hope they find what it is and you get better. As for waxing go for it. A year ago I broke my leg on the job. I spent a week in the hospital. I am completely smooth, no hair, waxed. No one cares. I did have a doctor ask if I ride a bike. The nurses wear great, the food they tried, the bed I thought was comfortable till after a few days when I quit taking the pain meds. Actually one person did care, my wife was pissed.

[Stephanie47]

Funny about those EKG tabs. The last time I had an EKG test the clinician used a razor to shave the areas where the tabs were going to be placed. The clinician was a guy, so maybe he knows first hand about potential discomfort. He used a 'pink' razor. It was a VA hospital.

[Ally 2112]

Happy to hear everthing is ok and as far as the waxing just do it :)

[vickim]

Laser it. Best money I ever spent :). Glad you are ok. Scary moments like that can get you reassessing all your life's priorities

[mykell]

You won't worry about waxing after you get those electrodes removed.

thus the thread bev, i removed them when i got home before the shower, aye ca-rumba !!!! fast pulls, seeing my FP today....

steph the last time i had the EKG they shaved the hair and it wasnt an issue....was not impressed with the ER staff AT all....the overnight staff was much better ....

[KARI AN]

My story is Iam a very active person working around the house lots of meetings you know the kind, well I go to my doctor every 3 months and I told him last year I dont have the energy like I use to. Sent me for a stress test and after it they didnt tell me anything so the next day I flew to DC for meetings came back and was called by the doctor that there needs to be more tests done in the Cath Lab. It only took a few minutes to find 3 partial blocks and a few days later they opened my chest and found 4 partial blocks, it does take a long time for the chest to heal and I had it done in July lucky to have found out what it was before it caused any damage.