My emotions are in a constant state of flux at the moment; one minute I think I’m going to die from a deadly illness and the next minute I’m relieved to find out that I’m going to live… long enough to discover that I’m dying from a different deadly illness.
There are three little words that no one ever wants to have to say or hear: "pea sized lump". I found one of those in my armpit the other week, and although I tried desperately to convince Mr Man (and myself) that it was nothing more than a swollen lymph node, I couldn’t help thinking to myself “What if…” I’d decided it would be best to get it checked out, but it was the start of the weekend so the doctors surgery was closed… then of course we had the bank holiday… then I was actually too ill to go to the doctors, and by the time I felt well enough to make an appointment it had gone – just as the results of my Google searches had predicted. Phew.
That was a couple of days ago.
Tonight I had a “funny turn”. (Why do people call it that? Has anyone ever actually had a “turn” that was funny?) It wasn’t funny, although I was laughing my head off just before it happened. The next minute I was crying and saying “I don’t feel well”. Everyone was asking me what was wrong and all I could say was “I don’t know, I just don’t feel well”. I wasn’t really aware of what was going on around me, and once I came “out of it” I found it really hard to explain what had happened. I’d experienced some numbness and tingling at the time, so probably due to that and my confusion, Mr Man thought I might have had a mini Stroke. I felt fine afterwards though - if a bit stupid - apart from the head ache it had left me with. Still, I decided to call the "out of hours doctor" service for a bit of advice to put Mr Mans (and my own) mind at rest, and they asked me to “pop along” (as if it was just down the road - it’s actually in the next town) to get checked out. I felt so incredibly stupid driving myself there; there’s obviously not a lot wrong with me if I can drive myself to the next town to get checked out! It was decided that I wasn’t in need of an emergency hospital admission (no, really?) but I was advised to make an appointment to see my GP tomorrow to have some investigations done.
I still feel really stupid about the whole thing, probably because I can’t even explain very well what happened. I’m just really glad that I never did go to the doctors about my death dealing “pea sized lump” because with my “mini Stroke” as well I think the diagnosis would definitely be: “a severe case of hypochondria”.
Do you think I could get a sick note for that?
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7 comments:
aww hun.. sorry you feel "up and down".
I had a "funny turn" the other day. As I turned around, my son had a scary mask on.. made me jump.. made the kids giggle.. hehe my definition of funny turn!
Hehehe, now that's what I call a funny turn!
Thank you TP and Aiders. Actually the Nurse Practitioner that I saw was really nice; she didn't make me feel stupid at all, and of course she must think it's worth getting it checked out because she advised me to get some tests done, so that helped me feel a little less stupid.
I did finally manage to explain what happened, and she seemed to understand what I was saying, even though it sounded so bizarre, so that was a relief as well.
Look after yourself, and I'm glad you saw your nurse practitioner. I think if you're questioning whether you sound a little like a hypocondriac then it's probably safe to say you aren't! I'm a firm believer in never dismissing things as insignificant (though Id ont' always follow my own advice!), there are a multitude of services we can use to seek advice that don't require us to dial 999!
Thank you for your concern Angela.
Yes I agree, 999 is definitely for imminent death situations only! (or if an injured person needs to be "professionally" moved) I really don't understand the reasoning behind some of the calls that emergency services receive. I'm always really worried about wasting the valuable and often limited time of our health care professionals. These days I usually book to see a nurse practitioner first. If it's out of hours I call our local (which isn't that local) out of hours service. I never ring saying I need to see a doctor because I'm paranoid that I'll be told I'm a hypochondriac! So I just ring "for advice", and if they think I need to be seen then it's their decision! Having a nurse practitioner at the out of hours centre must be a new(ish) thing because I've never seen one there before.
I still haven't managed to see a doctor yet. Monday the computers were down and they were only seeing emergencies, and today my usual doctor wasn't in, although he was supposed to be. Apparently he'll be in tomorrow.
We have a lot of Walk In Centres springing up around London now, and we often try to stream patients who attend A&E over to them if it's inappropriate attendance. These are all nurse led services now; advanced nurse practitioners. They have good opening hours enabling people to go before or after work, or if unable to get a GP appointment, also a bonus is that antibiotic treatment is free as they are unable to prescribe but use Patient Group Directives (I think that's what they're called) which means you just get given the medication without a script for pharmacy, therefore free of charge.
Whilst I have had mixed experiences of them (great treatment of tonsilitis once, on another occasion the early signs of mumps was misdiagnosed as my having a mouth ulcer - even I knew it wasn't that, confirmed the next day when my face swelled up) on the whole I think they are a great service and I wouldn't hesitate to use them if I couldn't see my GP.
I had a very funny turn like yours a couple of years back (I am in my late 30's) and I recommend you get it checked out.
Mini stroke or TIA I think they call it (trans ischemic attack). It is in simple terms caused by a clot of blood in the brain. Now if it lodges there or is a big clot a full on stroke occurs. However it can, if smaller pass through I guess.
I say this because I went through the whole works ecg, mrsa scan and although they could not detect signs of having had a TIA they were quite insistent that it could and sounds like that what it was.
What the tests threw up were my high blood pressure and high cholesterol, active ingredients for stroke or heart attack. The episode changed my life with regard to my eating and drinking and taking care of myself habits etc.
Scarily, when it happend I was not fat but not as slim as someone 20 years youger, very active with lots of outdoor activities on a regular basis, now I am slim (just by changing diet and drinking habits, not a concious effort to lose wieght) and still just as active. Just do all you can to stay healthy and hope the reaper doesn't come for you too soon.
Get it checked out anyway. Life is too short to miss.
Thank you for your comments Anonymous.
I finally got to see my GP on Wednesday.
When I saw the nurse practitioner she asked me loads of questions and the conclusion was that it wasn't a TIA, but she hinted at epilepsy and suggested I have blood tests and some cranial something or others done (which I can't remember). She must have written loads of notes as my GP spent ages reading them.
He checked my blood pressure (as did the nurse practitioner) and he also felt my neck - I'm not sure what he was feeling for, I suppose I should have asked, but I trusted that he knew what he was doing. And that was it.
I told him that everytime I laugh now Mr Man gets worried and says "Alright settle down, you don't want to have another funny turn", and he said that "funny turn" would be how he would describe it himself - I just had a "funny turn". He concluded by saying I could tell Mr Man that I was safe to laugh again!
What I find funny is when doctors say "it's nothing to worry about but come back if it happens again"!
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