Have You Ever Been Sick Or Have An Illness--And Didn't Know It?
By pyewacket
@pyewacket (43903)
United States
July 7, 2007 2:34am CST
You might be scratching your heads wondering...how can one be sick or ill and not know it
This is actually a two parter in a way:
Have you ever been sick or have an illness and didn't know it, and two,
did something prompt you to seek medical help anyway
Okay let me explain
I'll confess that I used to be one of those women who would get painful cysts in my breasts, thank goodness I no longer do. These cysts would come and go, come and go. Then one time,and this was exactly twenty-seven years ago, I got one of those cysts and it was horribly painful but I waited it out as they normally went away eventually...well this one wasn't going away and getting more painful...So as much as it scared me to do so, decided to go to my doctor..but when I got to his office he wasn't there...he was on vacation...and the sign said he'd be back August 6th...and this was around July 22nd.. On his door it said if there was an emergency to go to the hospital that he was affiliated with.
Okay go home and figure, well I'll just wait until he comes back...So I came home and changed my clothes into my leotards as I had a whole yoga routine of exercise that I did--so I'm laying on the floor in a nice relaxed meditative state with my eyes closed. All of a sudden, a voice said inside my head..."You need help now." Uh, no I'm not in the habit of hearing voices, but it didn't freak me out either...but I put two and two together and figured, gee, I think this is in relation to that cyst in my breast. So I had to wait it out until my then still living mother and grandmother came home from work...didn't think it would DO to just leave a note saying "Gone to hospital."
They come home and we all took a taxi to the hospital....once there, I had so many blood tests that it was a wonder I had any blood left...I wasn't nervous, actually very calm throughout all the tests and they then admitted me in and hooked me up right away with IV antibiotics ...I had the IV for about a full week, and then I was scheduled for an operation which was to amount to draining the cyst...It turned out that somehow this cyst had become highly infected.
So everything went smoothly, wasn't scared or afraid and took things very matter of factly. I was there in the hospital for a total of two weeks, then discharged, but before I was discharged, one of the nurses came up to me and asked, "Do you know what your temperature was when you were admitted?" Nope I didn't in fact, I really didn't ask about anything cause everything seemed to be pretty much routine so to say. Well when she told me, I nearly passed out..LOL She said my temperature was a whopping 106.5 I couldn't believe it...like yeesh, I felt worse with a 101 temperature with the flu--I had absolutely NO symptoms of a fever, no chills, no delirium for such a high fever, nothing, zilch, nada. Sometime later while talking to a friend of mine about this she nearly had a heart attack when I told her how high my temperature had been, and said I probably could have died from that infection as it was no doubt running throughout my system...Looking back all I can think of...sure glad I had that voice tell me that I needed help.
So...share your stories...have you experienced anything like having an illness or sickness and not be aware of maybe how serious it was...and did you have something prompt you to seek help anyway?
8 people like this
15 responses
@brokentia (10389)
• United States
8 Jul 07
Well, even though you say you were not scared...that sounded pretty scary to me!!!
OK, I am in a sharing mood. ha ha So, here is my story.
I had just had my 3rd child. I did try to have an epidural during the labor, but it didn't work and so they removed it. I didn't think anything of it because during my first labor/delivery, they tried an epidural then too and it didn't work. (Mind you, after this...I decided to do all natural all the other times. ha ha)
Anyways, labor and delivery went well. Baby and I were good. I had a lot of back pain that the doctor gave me pain meds for and sent me home.
Well, but the end of the week, I was out of pain meds and in a terrible amount of pain. My back hurt so bad I could barely stand! I went back to the doctor and he gave me more pain meds and said I was fine.
Well, come two weeks after my son was born, I was in so much pain I didn't even want to crawl out of bed to feed my son. I begged and begged my husband to help me and then the fever came. Be each time my husband took my temp, it was during a cold chill and my temp was below normal.
Finally, I had to drag myself out of bed and take my temp, call the doctor, and ask my brother-in-law to take me to the hospital because my husband refused to.
Well...what was wrong? Kidney failure!
They wanted to take my left kidney because it was so infected it was failing and they feared my right kidney would be infected by my left.
Well, I refused to let them take my kidney. Stayed on IV meds for just over a week in the hospital. And to this day I have to be careful when I feel back pain to get medication for a kidney infection right away.
So, yes, I have been very ill knowing there was something wrong but no one listened to me until it was almost too late.
2 people like this
@GnosticGoddess (5626)
• United States
12 Jul 07
Oh my goodness! Thank the Gods you got the treatment and diagnosis you needed!
I'm with pye on this - why don't docs take us more seriously?? Especially the male ones?
@GnosticGoddess (5626)
• United States
12 Jul 07
WOW! That is one incredible story! I am so glad that you listened to that voice! Thanks for sharing that!
Personally I haven't ever had anything like this happen. Though I am very in tune with my body especially when it comes to my pregnancies. I know when they're is something wrong. Even when the doctors or ER docs I should say - tell me nothing is wrong and not to worry. And I'm always right.
1 person likes this
@GnosticGoddess (5626)
• United States
12 Jul 07
Exactly...but I know too docs have to deal with hypochondriac's too. So I try to keep that in mind when they don't want to listen to me the first time and only if they don't know me.
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
13 Jul 07
I think a lot of doctors are prejudiced to women thinking we're all a bunch of hypochondriacs
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
12 Jul 07
I think everyone should listen to what their bodies are telling them after all I think we have a better sense when something is wrong
1 person likes this
@texasclassygal (5305)
• United States
7 Jul 07
Wow, that is amazing that you survived to tell about it, 106.5 is terribly high, I am surprised you did not know. I have had many surgeries (mostly female) when I was in my 20's and now that I am in my late 40's realize that alot of them were unnecessary, but I have never had a illness (knock on wood) that was something worse I didn't know it. One time, about 2 weeks after I gave birth to my first born I was very dizzy, almost fainting several times a day, most thought or even said "that dizty blonde" but it was true, no one believed me, of course, but my Mother did, who took me to the doctor and then checked me into the hospital to run tests, they released me a week later saying it was all in my head and to go home to my new baby. I left the hospital feeling horrible and thinking how could I have made up the dizzy spells. Depressed I went home to ignore my dizziness. The next day I received an urgent call from the doctor that told me it was all in my head to tell me to rush to his office that one of my tests results had come back and I was extremely low on potassim and that was causing my dizzy spells, ha ha, I knew it wasn't in my head, good to see him eat crow after telling me, dang doctors, I never believe half a word that comes out of their mouth these days!
1 person likes this
@texasclassygal (5305)
• United States
8 Jul 07
Your grandmother was a very smart person, I practice medical malpractice law and after a few months of doing that you begin to believe that all doctors are idiots and never should be trusted.
Be well, my friend!
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
8 Jul 07
No--I didn't know about how high my temperature was as I had no symptoms of such a high fever...with the exception of feeling drained, but I had chaulked that up that it was the summer and not exactly full of energy then anyway--LOL
As for doctors in general..yes, they can help us, but lots of times they will have an attitude that it's all in our heads...and I think they seem to have this attitude more toward women in general...my great-grandmother who was a nurse thought all docs were idiots...LOL
1 person likes this
@lisado (1227)
• United States
8 Jul 07
Actually I was sick last year and didn't know it. I had had our son via c-section the end of April. 4 weeks later, Memorial Day weekend, I was having a sharp pain in my left, upper chest/shoulder area. I thought I had pulled a muscle. By the end of the day I hurt pretty badly, so I had a friend run me to the ER while my husband (he had just had laser eye correction surgery a couple of days prior and still couldn't see well) stayed home with our sons. Next thing I know they're putting me in an ambulance to transfer me to the Naval Hospital (I went to a civilian ER but because I needed to be admitted I had to be transferred to the local military hospital 15 miles away). It took them over an hour to get me "stable" enough to transfer. Why? I had walking pneumonia. The reason my chest hurt was because 35% of my left lung wasn't working. My blood pressure was around 70s/40s and my pulse was about twice what it should have been. I had a temperature of 103. I had no idea I was even sick! Well, once they started IV fluids and pumping me with antibiotics I felt like crud. I ended up in the ICU when just the day before I thought I had pulled a muscle! I couldn't believe it!!
I'm glad that things worked out for you and that you listened to your "little voice". I hate going to the doctor unless I'm really sick, so unless my body screams to me that something is wrong I hope it goes away on it's own. :)
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
8 Jul 07
I'm not much of a doctor person myself...my great-grandmother who was a nurse, and into alternative and natural cures thought all docs were idiots.....LOL...she never took anything stronger than aspirin---and a few shots of whiskey in all her life--hehe--and lived to be 98
My mom used to get walking pneumonia a lot and like you didn't even know she had it until next thing you know she's in the ER--glad you got help when you did!!
@Debs_place (10520)
• United States
8 Jul 07
Whoa, your brain was cooking, 106.5??? You are lucky to be here.
Well, I didn't have an illness but I have something called Trigeminal Neuralgia, May I think it was 1999, maybe 1998, I started having severe, intolerable pain on the left side of my face, for no reason, I thought it just started.
But then a friend of mine pointed out that some 6 months earlier, we had gone out to dinner and I complained of my teeth being sensitive and I remember taking medications for months for headache and sinus pain and facial pain.
I just blew the whole thing off, thinking I had a cold, a headache, sinus infection etc for maybe 8 months until it got to painful, then I still would not go to the hospital. I waited to get a doctors appointment, then a neurologist appt. I did go to a dentist who gave me hydrocodone, then stronger hydrocodone which did not even touch the pain.
The body is amazing.
1 person likes this
@Debs_place (10520)
• United States
8 Jul 07
No, not my teeth at all, an artery in my brain had dropped down onto a nerve, the insulation around the nerve had broken down and every beat of my heart was causing pain like someone had jammed a live electrical wire onto my face.
I had surgery, they wrapped teflon around the nerve and put sponges between the nerve and the artery.
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
8 Jul 07
I guess that is a good way of saying it...my brain was cooking..LOL So what you went through was tied with your teeth?? Wow..wouldn't think there could be such problems there
@scarlet_woman (23465)
• United States
7 Jul 07
i have that problem too,pyewacket..i know how miserable those infections can be.
but as far as not knowing-the first time i had pneumonia.i just thought i had a really bad flu.
i coughed when i laid down,so i started sleeping elevated in bed.then i started coughing like that too,and felt i was being drowned in spit.
i was like hwa?
so i went to the doctor-turns out i had double pneumonia-both lungs.he's all "how could you not know?"
ah,well..never had it.
@scarlet_woman (23465)
• United States
8 Jul 07
..and yet if we diagnose it ourselves,we get "when did you become a doctor?"
LOL you can't win ;)
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
8 Jul 07
That's funny in a way...like we, who aren't doctors are supposed to know what is wrong with us...yeesh--how can one know what's wrong if one never had the problem before?
1 person likes this
@Withoutwings (6992)
• United States
13 Jul 07
Last winter for a period of about 9 weeks I was feeling nauseous off and on. Smells could really set me off. I think I actually threw up about four differnt times during this period. I threw up so hard that I burst blood vessels in my face. The first time I thought maybe I was sick because we had just been in Mexico. The second time I thought it was food poisoning. Then my mom suggested that maybe I was pregnant. We scheduled a doctors appointment and the night before I went I started getting hot flashes and mom saidI had a fever (all of this during finals week too). When I went to the doctor they told me that I had some kind of weird sinus infection and that the reason I was throwing up was because it was dripping into my stomach (::gag::). It's took about 10 days of antibiotics to get over that one.
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
22 Jul 07
Wow I never heard something as "simple" as a sinus infection to trigger all those symptoms...I know since I have rotten sinuses...LOL--How horrible!!
@dragonstar13 (1465)
• United States
7 Jul 07
I used to live in a constant funk. I was tired all the time no matter how much sleep I got. I couldn't focus, I was forgetful, people would try to explain things to me or teach me something new but it just didn't make sense. Sometimes I would get home from work -- a 60 mile drive -- and couldn't remember driving home.
For years the doctors told me it was because I am overweight, because I was over 40, because I was mildly depressed.
So I went for years thinking I was just lazy.
But things got worse, when I would start to go to sleep, I would snort, gasp and make horrible noises, I was falling asleep at work. I went to yet another doctor and within 5 minutes he had a preliminary diagnosis of sleep apnea.
After an overnight sleep study, the diagnosis was confirmed. Sleep apnea is a condition in which you stop breathing in your sleep, your brain then wakes you up, sometimes not to full consciousness but enough to distrurb your rest and then you breathe again and go back to sleep. This can happen multiple times each hour all night long so no matter how much you sleep, you never get any rest.
This causes you to be tired all the time and the lack of oxygen can cause you to become confused and forgetful.
Since getting treatment, my symptoms have disappeared and I am able to function again.
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
8 Jul 07
Well it's good you went to another doctor then...the way some doctors treat their patients makes a person feel that whatever symptom they have is all in their minds. I've heard about that sleep apnea, and I'm glad you got the treatments and are able to function again
@lecanis (16647)
• Murfreesboro, Tennessee
8 Jul 07
Wow, that's quite an experience you had, pyewacket! Thanks for sharing that story! It's amazing how you were prompted to get the help you needed in such a way! =)
When I was a kid, I was often sicker than I or anyone around me thought because serious lung infections kept getting written off as "just her asthma" and I would often wind up in the hospital over things that could have been less dangerous if treated early. Over the years I've had to learn the difference in how it feels to be "a little sick" and "need to go in", but I think I've finally gotten it down these days.
Recently I went through something with my son where we found out he had an ear infection while he was at the doctor for something else. I felt bad about it because he hadn't shown any signs of an ear infection, he'd never had one before, and I just wished I had known somehow!
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
9 Jul 07
I hope your son is better now...and I guess he didn't have any symptoms either...good thing the doctor caught it though--I hear ear infections in children can be painful
1 person likes this
@LittleMel (8742)
• Canada
8 Jul 07
I didn't know I have allergy. I started coughing and sneezing years before marrying my husband. I found out I have allergy to dust mites and so we use less and less carpets, now I don't sneeze and cough much anymore.
But in terms of sickness, the worst time was when I had infection. I thought it was cold, but I kept sneezing, coughing continuously, my eyes were red and I was dehydrated I couldn't even leave the bed. But I got there before it got even worse. It was last year and the worst illness I've ever had.
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
8 Jul 07
Infections of any kind can be horrible...glad you got help when you did!!
@ElicBxn (63235)
• United States
7 Jul 07
I had the flu, & was running 102ยบ & my only clue was it was August & I was cold. Understand, August in Texas is high 90's to low 100's. I was wearing a jacket. But I really didn't feel that bad until the next day.
The real kicker is that I've felt so bad for so many years & no body could figure out what was wrong with me. Took me finding a book that showed me & taking it to the doctor to finally get my fibromyalgia diagnois. Pretty bad when you have something that makes you feel AWFUL for 20 years & you have to figure it out yourself!
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
8 Jul 07
Shows you what a bunch of idiots doctors can be at time...you actually diagnosed yourself..right?
@susieq223 (3742)
• United States
8 Jul 07
Sounds like your guardian angel was working overtime for you that time. I have never had an experience like that, thank goodness. So far I have always known when I am sick and about how sick I am. The trouble is getting the doctors to listen to me sometimes. I had a sinus infection for six weeks one time and went throughy four different antibiotics before a doctor finally put me on Prednisone after I had begged and begged. I was well in a week.
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
8 Jul 07
Do you think it's a case that a lot of doctors just don't take women's health complaints seriously enough? Real glad to know you finally got better :)
@teapotmommommerced (10359)
• United States
8 Jul 07
I think it was your gardian angel or God telling you to get help. With a temp that high you could have fried your brain. I am glad you heard the voice and your are here today to talk about it.
I had hyperthyroidism while I was in the RN program and working full time, I had two children in school, and a husband and I was taking 18 units of college and had very little money. I was a nervous wreck. Well of course I was a nervous wreck with all that going on. Well I got out of school passed the RN boards, got a big raise and got more and more nervous. I thought I was having a nervous break down. In the mean time my face was changing, I could not tell what was wrong but I looked different. It turend out my eyes where bulging out. I was hungry all the time, my heart rate was running about 200 beats a minute just walking down the hallway. I had horrible headaches but whats new. I went to the doctor complaining of not feeling good and guess what I was having a thyroid storm. The bad part of it was the insurance would not cover a specialist except I could not get into see him until October 31 and it was May. My doctor did not know what to do, I could not focus, my legs where so weak I could not hardly walk, I was still working in our local hospital. One day I sat up traction on a patient and croutched behind a bed to tie the weights up and literlay had to call someone to pull me out of there. I could not get myself out of the cornor. I felt so bad. I had to work because I did not have a doctors excuse to stay home.
I finally called my doctor and told her I needed help I was getting sicker and sicker, I have seen people literly loose their minds becuse of hyperthyroidism. I felt I was going their. I could not sleep I was loosing weight, I was jumping from one task to another, I could not think, I was crying, I was a basket case.
I finally got in to see the specialist out of town and had radioactive iodine on my thyroid which killed my thyroid. I now have to take thyroid replacement. Don't even get me started on what happedn when the pharmancy filled the wrong thyroid perscirption.
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
9 Jul 07
Well being that you were a RN then I think you have a sense what a bunch of a**holes doctors can be...my own great-grandmother was a nurse and had no real respect for doctors...nurses get to see the errors that docs can make..under prescribe... over prescribe medications or give literally lethal combinations...so gee, wonderful...your specialist gave you radioactive iodine to "help" your thyroid...and killed it...gee..how wonderful...and no,...I can just imagine about the pharmacy...what did they give you...medication for low thyroid problems??
@student7 (1002)
• United States
7 Jul 07
I had walking pnemonia. I didn't know it until I went into the emergency room with breating difficulties. They took x-rays and told me about it and I just about fell through the floor. They gave a strong antiboitic and some cough medicine with an inhaler and told me not to go to work for like two weeks and told me to sleep in a chair. I just thought I was having an asthma attack.
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
7 Jul 07
A lot of people can actually have that...my own mother often got it and she just thought it either a bad cold or bronchitis...that is until she to go and be admitted to the hospital!!
@gabs8513 (48686)
• United Kingdom
13 Jul 07
Yes Sweetie I have and it is the Illness that I suffer with now
I had it apparently 4 years before it was detected what made me go 6 years ago was the bad Pains I was getting and the Problems I started having breathing
I thought it was just the Chronic Bronchitis playing up again but I got a shock a big Shock when the X rays returned and showed what was wrong
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
13 Jul 07
OMG--I almost hate to ask but what was it? Would you care to share here or rather e-mail me?
1 person likes this
