Yes, I have been sick for about seven months now. I learned in July 2011 that something that was wrong, but the doctors couldn't put their finger on it.
In November I had a small stroke in my right eye and after seeing the doctor and believe me he wasn't intentionally trying to do this, but I panicked with his demands of trying to get more testing. The eye doctor said I had a symptom that indicated "transient blindness." He said, what happens is the plaque goes up through the retinal artery that creates blindness. Sometimes it is temporary and if it lasts long enough it can cause permanent blindness. He immediately asked for an echo cardiogram. The echo shown that I had a hole in my heart which needed further investigation.
Off to the cardiologist. By this point I had gone off any rheumatoid medicine for fear that it was causing some of the problems. Going off the medicine created major pain everywhere. I had pain from the tip of my toes to the top of my head. Unbelievable headaches, and chest pains. He did a 24 hour heart monitor, and a stress test done. The cardiologist reassured me that I wasn't going to have a heart attack and probably wouldn't have a massive stroke, but we just needed to do all the testing before we would know more. Both of them eventually came out with no problems.
I then had to go for an MRI. I remembered the first MRI I had done and it was on my neck and it was really sick to look at your own films. It wouldn't have been a problem if I was looking at someone's elses, but for someone that is not use to looking at people's insides, it is seriously sick. So in going to do this, it was scary. I was afraid of what I would find, but on the other hand I was more anxious to get answers.
I just happen to go to the sleep doctor that day and I thought I had another mini stroke because when I woke I didn't seem to have any problems, 15 minutes I am in massive headache. All he had to do was look at me, and he immediately sent me to the Emergency Room. When you go for an MRI you must outweigh, am I claustrophobic or am I not, because once you are in that machine, it truly feels like you are in a coffin. Beyond the feeling then you have the noise, it's ear piercing. They told me either find a driver for us to knock you out, or be brave and get in the D___ machine. No they didn't say that, I said that to myself, and myself finally said, get in the machine it is not going to kill you.
Then off to the neurologist to read the films. The ER told me there was nothing wrong and my MRI came out clear. When I got into the neurologist I had another melt down when she corrected the ER and said no there is definitely something on your films. When and how did it happen she had no idea. As soon as I checked in with her I knew I was in trouble. It took 6 hours of consulting and testing. Another test took another day off from work. And then the final consult. She said that the hole in the heart was medium size but didn't seem to be a problem and that she was going to put me on medicine for the rest of my life.
After being first scared to death with a mini-stroke in the eye, how many doctor appointments, testing, hospitals, and for her to tell me that it was not going to be a problem, was probably one of the happiest days of my life.
Now the pain must be treated somehow, but at least I wasn't having heart surgery, or even close to that. HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORAY
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