In the 2 weeks leading up to it, I started having difficulties drawing a full breath, heart palpitations, dizziness and fatigue. On top of that, I had sharp, piercing pains that appeared in random spots around my body and vanished within seconds.
All in all, pretty mysterious symptoms.
However, I had gut feeling that it may have been a small blood clot, which fit the symptoms and was fully plausible as I had recently started the contraceptive pill again, which carries blood clots as a side effect.
I started panicking as I was due to fly to Melbourne in 1.5 weeks and I didn't want to die from deep vein thrombosis on the plane ride there (come on la I waited for this holiday for more than a year, at least die on the way back can?)
Day -1
On Tuesday night, my right palm swelled up, started pounding and became red and warm to the touch. The pain was quite bad but tolerable.
Tolerable enough to play Sniper that night, anyway. hoho haha
Day 1
So, anyway on Wednesday I took the day off and raised my concerns to the company panel doctor who was extremely sarcastic and filled my referral with " " marks and basically implied that I was whining about nothing.
That was bad enough, but she insisted that she couldn't refer me to a relevant doctor or even a path lab, and that I had to go back to my gynae who prescribed me the pills (???)
So after a very rude and traumatic phone call where the gynae's receptionist yelled at me for not having an appointment, off to gynae I went.
The gynae was equally unhelpful, brushing off any concerns I had with the pill, which was fine, until she latched on to a comment my mother made about my diet, and insisted on diagnosing me with Hyperthyroidism, which didn't even fit my symptoms. She just cherry-picked the few that supported her theory that my horrible lifestyle was slowly killing me, despite the fact that even if I had Hyperthyroidism, it was probably hereditary (half my family has it). AND she ignored my main complaint, which was aches, pains and weakness mainly in my limbs.
So blablabla, she tapped my elbow and instantly declared that because I was so skinny from my junk food addiction (? ikr,) it was impossible to find a vein, so she had to draw blood from the back of my hand which hurt like a motherfucker although she used a fine needle.
THEN, I had to sit through a 10 minute lecture on my horrible life choices which included skipping breakfast (I don't), living off fried food only (I don't), and not eating vegetables (okay I really don't).
So anyway that's all I did on Day 1, which made me quite upset because all I did the entire day was get yelled and lectured at, and I felt I was nowhere near solving my problem.
However, the dissatisfaction did nothing to prepare me for the pain that came that night.
My right arm and leg were feeling increasingly weak and tingly when I went to bed, but I managed to fall asleep.
I woke 2 hours later with a horrible, burning and pulsating pain that ran from my right chest to the fingertips of my right hand. I don't even know how to describe it.
It felt kind of like when you've slept on your arm and cut off your circulation, and it feels a little tingly when you move.
Add on a slow, rolling pain that alternated between a fiery burn and an icy chill that intensified whenever I moved. I was in complete agony.
When I stood up to go to the bathroom to wash the snot off my tear-soaked face, a sharp pain shot through my left calf, but I tried my best to ignore it and go back to sleep.
I slept very little that night.
Day 2
After raging and crying the entire night before, I woke to a mild throbbing pain in my arm. My mom called the gynae to tell her that my 'pain' had grown into 'severe fucking unbearable pain' overnight.
THEN the gynae conceded and said 'oh, pain? Can't be thyroid problems then.'
I was like OH MY FUCKING GOD HOLY SHIT I came to see for PAIN and you tell me it's my fucking thyroid, and now you say that 'OH YOU HAVE PAIN, IT CAN'T BE YOUR THYROID?'
Were you even fucking listening to me yesterday? Or were you too focused on extolling the virtues of juicing?
So anyway, she said she couldn't help me (after charging me more than 300 bucks for a useless diagnosis and unjustified pain for a useless blood test).
I don't know why the fuck people love to dismiss me when I say I'm in pain. Do you really think I'm making it up? I have a fucking high pain tolerance, and if I say I'm in pain, YOU'D BETTER FUCKING BELIEVE IT.
- I tore a chunk of flesh off my hip in a bike accident and I watched them clean the open wound with alcohol, strings of flesh hanging out and all.
- I had my wrist cut open to take out an enormous ganglion cyst, and I never ate a single painkiller through the entire recovery process. I even went back to work the next day.
- I used to tear open closed piercings with my earrings because I was too lazy to have them re-pierced.
And only when I'm rolling on the ground crying you will believe me that I'm actually in pain. >_> Shouldn't my word be enough? Listen to your fucking patients man.
Some of us already have a hard enough time coming to the doctor in fear of getting our concerns dismissed and scoffed at, yet doctors seem to do this all the time.
Anyway, I went to another panel doctor who was very nice and listened to me from start to end without judging me, and agreed to run a full blood test.
She referred me to an orthopaedic surgeon, as she suspected that my spine may be pinching a nerve (I have very mild scoliosis which I had physiotherapy before).
I didn't think that was it, but it was better than listening to people telling me that I should really drink juice for breakfast.
(By the way, the nurse spent less than 1 minute locating the vein in the crook of my elbow, and tsktsk-ed the handiwork of the gynae, saying that drawing blood from the back of the hand was more painful and highly unnecessary. UGH.)
Day 3
I woke up with 0 pain, only a residual tingling and weakness in my limbs. I went to see the orthopaedic surgeon, Dr. Chin, anyway.
He's my sister's father-in-law.
It's interesting because he treated my mom's and my back before his son and my sister got to know each other.
When I was in secondary school, I had chronic back pain that bothered me to the point of seeking treatment.
I remember seeing another bone doctor before him. I remember waiting in the lobby for 1.5 hours despite having an appointment. I remember him refusing to even read my file. He just took one look at me and said that it's my fault that I was too tall - 'the world wasn't built for tall people like me.'
And apparently that explained my back pain.
Another couple hundred bucks for 5 minutes of sarcasm and completely useless information.
So anyway, I sought a second opinion with Dr. Chin. With just a single glance, you could almost see the lightbulb popping up above his head. He immediately told me to lie down and let him measure my legs.
I was 17 years old when I discovered my left leg was 2 inches longer than my right.
It was my unfortunate asymmetry that caused my scoliosis and resulting back pain, not my gaming habit, which was the conclusion that everyone else had jumped to - doctor or not.
So I think you can understand why I like him a lot. Anyway, this time he told me he couldn't help me since the pain had vanished before he could examine me, and that I shouldn't worry - some people have pain that they never could explain, and it never recurs, leaving as mysteriously as it came.
My body probably fixed itself before doctors could pinpoint the cause.
Thanks body, for destroying the evidence. /eyeroll
He sent me off with a reassurance that his son would be there to treat me in Melbourne (yes my brother-in-law is also a doctor) should my pain return, and that to see him again if it DOES come back.
So there, that's how I spent my 3 days off work - dealing with a mystery ailment that seemed to resolve itself the moment I started hanging around doctors.
Stupid fucking disease/virus probably got scared shitless from all the needles that went into my body.
Yeah, so anyway I just wanted to rant and get this horrible experience off my chest, hence the wall of text. Congrats if you made it this far, you're very patient indeed.
