Saturday, April 15, 2006

La Malade Imaginaire

I sometimes suppose I ought to have a capital H on my forehead for Hypochondriac (not hologram) as I have found myself in the emergency room twice this week, the first when I looked in the mirror and saw an eye full of blood, the second when I had a re-occurrence of irregular heart beats.

That turned out to be ectopic beats and not life threatening

http://www.yourheart.org.uk/arrhythmias04.php

This has happened to me before but the last time I went to emergency with it, it had calmed down by the time I got to see the Doctor, and by the time I had been sent by my GP for an ECG it did not show up either (I tried to convince him I should be put on 24hr monitoring as it was not there all the time) Well it did show up on the ECG this time and was apparent on taking my pulse too, so at least I have the proof this time.

Whether the other thing was related I don't know, that turned out to be a subconjunctival hemorrhage which is not uncommon (just has never happened to me before). My blood pressure was not raised on either occasion so there is no surface reason for supposing a connection, however with me it tends to take years for anyone to recongnise a medical problem that is there because they are always reluctant to send me for tests.

Right now I am awaiting a series of operations for carpal tunnel syndrome in both wrists and the equivalent in my elbows. It showed up on the tests, but why am I always dismissed when I describe symptoms I know I have when the tests will either prove or disprove it. Economics I suppose.

Anyway I don't want to end up like this Woman:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4906992.stm

Cos I am too scared to summon an ambulance when I really need one.

What was it Spike Milligan had on his tombstone? "Told you I was ill"

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