My last post was 09/04. Two days later, I ended up going to the hospital with dizziness, legs like jello, shortness of breath, bad calf pain, shakiness, and the thought that I maybe I wasn’t going to come back home.
I had never felt like this in my entire life. My arms and hands were heavy, I couldn’t talk without being out of breath and my body was unsteady and in loads of pain.
They took me right away and did an EKG which was normal. I then tried to give all my symptoms to the assistant, trying to tie it back to May when my problems started but he was only interested in what my symptoms were that day. Fine, I told him as best I could and they did bloodwork, and checked my thyroid just in case. The doctor then came for 3 seconds just to tell me they were going to check my veins in an ultrasound just in case, but didn’t let me get a word in to ask them to check the calcified blood clots in my pelvis.
Fortunately the ultrasound showed no blood clots, and all my bloodwork was fine which was great, but didn’t explain the dizzy spells or heaviness in my arms, legs, calves…everywhere. The doctor who took over the shift told me I was fine, and when asked what it could possibly be, he said it could be a couple of reasons, maybe it could be claudication which according to John Hopkins Medicine is pain in your thigh, calf, or buttocks that happens when you walk. It can make you limp. It may be a symptom of peripheral artery disease (PAD). This is when narrowed or blocked arteries reduce the blood flow to your legs and should be checked by a doctor. I told him how all I do is sit and the injuries that sidelined me and he mentioned that it could be something called deconditioning which he explained is when the body has been inactive for soo long, causing functional losses and muscle strength decline.
Fortunately, I was able to score an earlier appointment with the vascular surgeon. I went and I don’t know how I was able to go with how I was feeling but I managed to get there. He pressed my legs to check my pulse and listened to my veins with his stethoscope and said my pulse as well as said that my pulse is great and that what I may have is deconditioning which the ER doctor mentioned. He went further into detail stating that essentially what happens is you lose muscle mass, and it reduces your cardio fitness while increasing fatigue and weakness. The fix is whole body physical therapy.
He didn’t feel the need to check those phleboliths (calcified blood clots) in my pelvis (even though I did tell him these didn’t show up on my CT scan) because he says everyone gets them at some point.
After this appointment, I went to my primary doctor which was fortunately the same day, and he told me that since all the tests came back negative, maybe it’s time to start thinking that this is a mental issue. My face said it all. I mean I do get it, maybe the shortness of breath and palpitations initially were a full on panic attack which makes sense and led me to realize that I have never had one. All I have ever had was anxiety because this is gradual and a panic attack comes on suddenly and with more severe physical symptoms. However I asked him, what of the pain in my calves? The exhaustion? The legs feeling heavy and like jello? He recommended the pain medication Cymbalta which I hadn’t taken when he prescribed them because I didn’t want to risk any side effects that from experience I always get with meds after I got IBS and even more so now with gastritis.
Fast forward to Saturday and I figured let me go outside and try to walk the mile that my physical therapist recommended I do. After 3 blocks I was winded and had pain on my calves and hamstrings as if I had walked 3 miles. I kept going to get the blood going and kept stopping every few blocks. Then I started getting dizzy. After 7 blocks I told my mom and brother I wanted to go back. My legs felt like they were going to give out and I honestly felt like those 7 blocks back home were a whole country away. My heart was pounding and the dizziness, heaviness in my whole body and pain are like nothing I have felt. All I could think of was (but this is mental, come on Ylia keep going it’s all in your head like he said.) I came back home and crashed on the bed because I was just wiped out.
On Sunday I was thinking of all the things I have done, if anything I did was different and then I remembered, that my primary doctor had subscribed D2 because my levels were a bit below the normal low. This was in July so imagine all this time of not taking it and all the stress. Maybe my levels dropped even lower. Soo many things were going on and I forgot all about them. This is definitely not something I usually do. I have always taken care of myself when it comes to taking supplements or something like this that is essential to my health.
I looked up Vitamin D deficiency and all the symptoms I had fit, but I’m not a doctor so I will discuss this with him on my virtual appointment on Friday. He won’t be too happy with me for not taking them, but this may just be the answer to what is going on with my body right now that even typing is laborious. (Thank goodness for voice dictation)
For now I started supplementing with regular Vitamin D gummies since I have no idea where the prescription bottle is or if it was thrown out by mistake.
For now, at least today, the dizziness is low, and to give myself energy instead of walking, I’m bouncing a little ball off the wall for about 5 minutes a day to get the blood going. Something now is better than nothing.
Until next time my phoenixes. Keep going!
Mind Body Synergylia 