Useless Conversation

[Selby]

If I hadn't been fighting sinus problems for two weeks now, I'd probably be more worried.

If you were fighting sinus problems due to an infection, that actually is time to worry.  Getting an infection can actually make your heart weaker and more susceptible to damage\heart attack.  I started having problems after standing up too fast and getting extremely light headed and dizzy and was worried about it.  Had the EKG and tests, just turns out to be low blood pressure due to my exercise regimen and medication I'm taking.  And of course my insurance though the tests were a waste of time so I got to pay full price for "unneeded medical procedures" ;-)

[Hammond]

You people that are all into politics (due to job or what have you) amaze me.  I'd shoot myself if I had to deal with it that much.

I find copious amounts of alcohol help me deal with it.  My 15 year Jameson is treating me fairly well :)

[IainC]

If I hadn't been fighting sinus problems for two weeks now, I'd probably be more worried.

If you were fighting sinus problems due to an infection, that actually is time to worry.  Getting an infection can actually make your heart weaker and more susceptible to damage\heart attack.  I started having problems after standing up too fast and getting extremely light headed and dizzy and was worried about it.  Had the EKG and tests, just turns out to be low blood pressure due to my exercise regimen and medication I'm taking.  And of course my insurance though the tests were a waste of time so I got to pay full price for "unneeded medical procedures" ;-)

This is correct. I ended up with perimyocarditis which almost killed me after a sinus infection a couple of years ago. I ended up going to hospital in an ambulance because the doctor thought I was having a heart attack and then spent the next 8 weeks in enforced bed rest unable to even walk around my apartment.

[Signe]

Hope things get better soon, Morat.  Please don't die. 

[Ironwood]

*Stress is nothing to fuck around with.

This can't be stressed enough.

[Morat20]

Hope things get better soon, Morat.  Please don't die. 

I think I'm okay. Going to the doctor in a few hours (when they open). Didn't get much sleep -- didn't get any after about 1:00. (Not elections. Tuned that shit out at 9:30 Texas time and went to bed). Managed about two or three hours, work up from a weird dream, realized I was freezing my ass off. Wife woke up, told me I was running a temperature.

My entire body ached. All my muscles, everywhere -- leaden, stiff. My head was pounding from pressure. Went and took tylenol, about two hours later got hot as the fever went down. Felt less achy.

I'm assuming at this point I have either a cold our outright flu. The reason i was originally worried about my heart was the lack of any signs of infection but sinus pressure. My dad's first heart attack (admittedly he was twenty years older than I am now) started with general fatigue and lack of energy. I felt sick, I feel even sicker now -- I feel tired because I feel sick.

Elevated heart rate from moving around when sick? That's normal. When you're just suffering from some allergies? Not so much.

Still, better safe than sorry. So off to the doctor I go. As soon as they're open. And then maybe sleep.

[Ironwood]

Let me know if you need some socialised medicine.

[Signe]

I got the flu for the first time that I can remember two days before I was scheduled to get my flu jab.  Socialised medicine failed me.  Or maybe I failed it.  Don't care, I still got the flu!  If you have a temperature then it's likely to be an infection or the flu.  I don't think colds generally come with temperatures.   On a happier note:  SOUP!

[ghost]

My entire body ached. All my muscles, everywhere -- leaden, stiff. My head was pounding from pressure.

You have the flu.  It's not a panic attack or a heart attack.

[Morat20]

It's a startling statement to say "I hope I have the flu". But I mean it. :)

[RhyssaFireheart]

It's a startling statement to say "I hope I have the flu". But I mean it. :)

Hope you get better quickly.  General fatigue from anything is actually worse than outright being sick, IMO. 

[ghost]

Entire body achiness and fever is pretty much pathognomonic. 

[Reg]

I really think I need a series of pics that illustrate the word "pathognomonic." I think it has the makings of a meme.

[rattran]

Imagine an mspaint featuring a sidewalk, and a small man in a pointy hat. Better yet, make one yourself!

[Yegolev]

[Sky]

[Miasma]

Good name for a gnome.

[Ironwood]

I can't pronounce that.

I know HOW to pronounce that, but when I try, I can't.

[Yegolev]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FFRoYhTJQQ

[Reg]

Yeaa, that's what I was looking for! Thanks!

[ghost]

This guy actually looks just like the guy I bought part of my practice from.   

[Der Helm]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FFRoYhTJQQ

[Morat20]

So back from the doc's. Not flu (by the way, the quick test for that sucks. Apparently they need some of your brain they shove a swab so far up your nose). Not a cold either.

Acute sinus infection, just like the nice minute clinic person thought. (In all fairness, I wasn't running a temperature there). The doc suggested having an EKG done just to be on the safe side -- apparently if I've been wandering around for two weeks with a sinus infection just waiting to go from 'annoying headache' to 'raging infection' -- my body has been, you know, busy.

So the general view is, well, my heart was beating like I was doing moderate exercise (climbing stairs at a walking pace, three or four flights) because apparently when you're immune system is busy enough, that's kinda what it takes. It was moderate exercise, because I should be in bed asleep.

Resting EKG is clean, she suggested a cardio one at a later date (and some fasting blood work just to make sure my cholesteral, blood sugar, and everything else hadn't changed) if I was still worried, given my family history. So I'll do that when i do the blood work, probably next week. (I can't see Cigna okaying it before then). On the bright side, my heart is at least mostly working as intended. :) It beats regularly and isn't all swollen and being weird.

Fever's not too bad, but I ache all over the place. I'm eating something, then going to bed for a few hours. Thanks for the support. It's not being sick that bugs me...it's the whole "Wait, is my heart about to get bad on me?" stuff -- the big question marks over integral parts of my body that I've sorta gotten used to having work correctly.

[Reg]

You'll know you're on the mend when you wake up with your eyes glued shut by a quarter inch of goo. 

[Signe]

I'm relieved you're not dead.  Phew!  That was a close call!

You'll know you're on the mend when you wake up with your eyes glued shut by a quarter inch of goo. 

What a charming description!  Mending with eye goo. 

[Signe]

Some man, directly outside my window, is having a conversation with someone.  He's saying, "Actually, I'm only parked here to deliver something to a building that is actually around the corner but I couldn't actually find a parking space."  He sounds like he has a south London accent but with all those "actuallys" , he MUST be from Norway.   

[ghost]

So back from the doc's. Not flu (by the way, the quick test for that sucks.

It's also a screening test that is only has about 50% sensitivity so it's not particularly good for ruling out the flu.  It's got good specificity, however, so a positive means you've probably got it.

[rattran]

Sinus infections suck. Had one for a few weeks in Maryland, used a neti pot for the first time (ugh) and knocked the shit out of it with some antibiotics. Then lots of yogurt to get extra l acidophilus back to recolonize.

Seems to have worked, at least so far.

[Yegolev]

Some man, directly outside my window, is having a conversation with someone.  He's saying, "Actually, I'm only parked here to deliver something to a building that is actually around the corner but I couldn't actually find a parking space."  He sounds like he has a south London accent but with all those "actuallys" , he MUST be from Norway.   

terrist

[Morat20]

So back from the doc's. Not flu (by the way, the quick test for that sucks.

It's also a screening test that is only has about 50% sensitivity so it's not particularly good for ruling out the flu.  It's got good specificity, however, so a positive means you've probably got it.

I'm not vomiting, my appetite is good, and four hours of sleep has made me vaguely more human. Also, hot eggdrop soup. :)

[Minvaren]

Bah, hot and sour > all. 

[ghost]

If you think it's sinuses you ought to go see an ENT and make sure nothing funky is growing in there.  If you've got a plugged outflow for some reason it could lead to you getting infections. 

[Morat20]

If you think it's sinuses you ought to go see an ENT and make sure nothing funky is growing in there.  If you've got a plugged outflow for some reason it could lead to you getting infections. 

I'm considering it. I seem to be very sensitive to changes in weather, although it's hard to tell if that's allergies or what. (Houston has godawful pollen problems).

I do know that when I've visited New Mexico and Colorado -- up in the mountains -- I felt fabulous, just from total lack of congestion and pressure.

[Evildrider]

Bah, hot and sour > all. 

 

[ghost]

Yeah, I had that same experience when I moved from Kentucky to San Antonio.  I used to have terrible asthma problems, now I have no issues at all.  It was worth moving for, even if it's not my ideal locale.