It's baaaaaack!
Hello vertigo! So nice of you to drop by again. Why not stay a while and have a cup of coffee? Some cake? Sure, I'll stay home from work and keep you company all week!
It's back with a vengence, folks. And this time, I'm finally doing something about it. Well, ok, this time, I was finally convinced by a caring friend and a worrying mother to do something about it.
After three days of spinning rooms, vomitting, meals consisting of toast and jelly, and literally going blind for a long second and almost passing out in the park, I went to a doctor. Truth be told, I spent 3 hours on Tuesday at Arlington Urgent Care just for them to tell me that I have a stomach bug. If I truly had a stomach bug, wouldn't I be vomitting after I eat and not at random points during the day and night, when there's nothing in my stomach to expel? Minus 5 points for Arlington Urgent Care.
Roz recommended her doctor, and an extra 10 points to them for taking a new patient on the same day. After detailing to the doc everything that had happened to me in February and this week, she asked me a few questions:
Doctor: Did the good doctors at the GW emergency room conduct any tests, such at a CT scan, MRI, or blood work?
Me: No. They just had me lie there until I felt better and sent me home with a prescription.
Doctor: There's no way they could have diagnosed you with loose calcium stones or anything of the sort without it.
Me: Minus 10 points for GW.
Doctor: Did you follow up with any doctor afterwards?
Me: Yes, but they told me there's nothing I could do and that it would pass after a few weeks.
Doctor: No follow-up tests, blood work, etc?
Me: No. Minus 10 points for the old doc.
You see where this is going.
So, after 10 minutes of discussing my symptoms, she checked my ears, my balance, my coordination, and is sending me to get an MRI to check if there are any growths or tumors on my brain causing the imbalance and vertigo. We talked more about the functions of the inner ear, and I learned that this could either be either a tumor, a virus, or just benign positional vertigo, which there is not much that can be done about it. After going over the MRI results and blood work, we'll re-evaluate my options.
Still the overarching question is how to go about my daily routine without letting this get in the way, at least until I have an answer. It's really not so much fun waking up in the middle of the night with the room spinning so fast all around me and then having to wait up to an hour and a half for relief after I throw up. It's not pretty, but I actually feel better afterwards. It's just getting to the point where my body is ready to throw up that takes so long.
So that's my story. With the promise and beauty of spring all around, I'm cooped up in my apartment for fear that I'll get sick outside and not be able to make it back home. Gotta get over that. Just don't yet know how.
It's back with a vengence, folks. And this time, I'm finally doing something about it. Well, ok, this time, I was finally convinced by a caring friend and a worrying mother to do something about it.
After three days of spinning rooms, vomitting, meals consisting of toast and jelly, and literally going blind for a long second and almost passing out in the park, I went to a doctor. Truth be told, I spent 3 hours on Tuesday at Arlington Urgent Care just for them to tell me that I have a stomach bug. If I truly had a stomach bug, wouldn't I be vomitting after I eat and not at random points during the day and night, when there's nothing in my stomach to expel? Minus 5 points for Arlington Urgent Care.
Roz recommended her doctor, and an extra 10 points to them for taking a new patient on the same day. After detailing to the doc everything that had happened to me in February and this week, she asked me a few questions:
Doctor: Did the good doctors at the GW emergency room conduct any tests, such at a CT scan, MRI, or blood work?
Me: No. They just had me lie there until I felt better and sent me home with a prescription.
Doctor: There's no way they could have diagnosed you with loose calcium stones or anything of the sort without it.
Me: Minus 10 points for GW.
Doctor: Did you follow up with any doctor afterwards?
Me: Yes, but they told me there's nothing I could do and that it would pass after a few weeks.
Doctor: No follow-up tests, blood work, etc?
Me: No. Minus 10 points for the old doc.
You see where this is going.
So, after 10 minutes of discussing my symptoms, she checked my ears, my balance, my coordination, and is sending me to get an MRI to check if there are any growths or tumors on my brain causing the imbalance and vertigo. We talked more about the functions of the inner ear, and I learned that this could either be either a tumor, a virus, or just benign positional vertigo, which there is not much that can be done about it. After going over the MRI results and blood work, we'll re-evaluate my options.
Still the overarching question is how to go about my daily routine without letting this get in the way, at least until I have an answer. It's really not so much fun waking up in the middle of the night with the room spinning so fast all around me and then having to wait up to an hour and a half for relief after I throw up. It's not pretty, but I actually feel better afterwards. It's just getting to the point where my body is ready to throw up that takes so long.
So that's my story. With the promise and beauty of spring all around, I'm cooped up in my apartment for fear that I'll get sick outside and not be able to make it back home. Gotta get over that. Just don't yet know how.
posted by elanit | 2:56 PM
6 Comments:
*hug*
Hey lady,
Sorry to hear about the vertigo nastiness. Let me know if there is any way I can help. Seriously. You know my digits :)
love,
Princezz
Wow, I'm sorry to hear that it's back, and GW's care sounds like it aspired to be merely crappy. At least you have a decent doctor now...
Let me know if there is anything we can do for you.
Ack! Oh my! I saw the away message on IM and was wondering. I'm really sorry to hear that it is this again. I think I am convinced again of the awful quality of care at GW's emergancy room.
Please let us know if there is anything that we can do to help (cook, keep you company, shop, etc.)
Bleah! Sorry to hear you're again not feeling right. Let us know how the various tests go.
BTW, another GW horror tale? How did these guys ever manage to save Reagan after Hinckley shot him? Or, perhaps they went downhill after their ER was renamed for Reagan. It worries me that GW is the closest hospital to my home.
One thing: try not to stay cooped up. If you have to, stay within a block or two, take a friend along that can assist you back home should you need it. I thought there was a priestly amphibian around that might want the job. ;-) Seriously, though, do get out, even if just to the corner BBQ area or the walk in front of your building. This weather is too delicious to skip entirely.
Thanks, all, for the well wishes. I'll update the blog as I learn more.
:)
Get well soon!
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