Roadblocks, ICU Nurse
Posted: Mon Feb 29, 2016 8:56 am
Hello,
I have to begin by saying that I am an ICU Nurse of 7 years and have rotated through Medical/Surgical/Trauma/Neuro ICUs at a level 1 hospital. I am not uneducated, but when it comes to myself, I tend to drop everything and just suffer through my symptoms. Also, a blessing and a curse is that I work closely with my physicians and can run any concern by them without an appt; however, the downside to this is that not one doctor knows all of my symptoms or has kept a timeline of my concerns.
My husband is in college and I am working two jobs to make ends meet for our family while he is not able to keep full time hours. I do not want to waste money that we do not have on testing and more roadblocks, so I felt like your experiences may help me.
My story is this... Throughout my childhood beginning at about 10 years old, I would experience syncopal episodes. These would occur infrequently ( maybe 4 times in my childhood). They would always begin with my face and arms going numb, then loss of vision and then hearing and ultimately I would collapse. My mom did not believe in running to the dr, so I did not receive any medical attention.
Finally, while I was in college I experienced another episode in which I fell in a bar ( I was DD and not drinking) and hit my head 3 times. The following day I drove to the ER because I had increased pressure in my head and was worried. CT scan was clean and I was discharged from the ER.
I frequently deal with dizziness/ loss of vision on standing to the point that I sometimes crouch down until it passes (which is a bit embarassing when at work).
At 16 years old, I went to my PCP complaining that my tongue felt like it had a weight on the back of it and it weakened my swallowing. He told me to go take an aspirin and that I would be fine. I still deal with this on/off and sometimes wake myself up choking, which usually marks the beginning to another flare-up of symptoms.
I followed-up with a cardiologist after my syncopal episode at the bar and did a tilt-table in which I failed and was subsequently diagnosed with Neurocardiogenic syncope. I guess my concern has always been that this is not what I really have.
In my 20s, my husband noticed that I grind my teeth when I do anything with fine motor movement of my fingers. I told him it was because my fingertips feel funny and he insisted I follow-up. I had an EMG that was not negative, but was not consistent with carpal tunnel as my PCP ordered the test for.
So basically, I dropped my effort there and haven't been back to the Dr. I had a neurologist test my reflexes and eyes because I feel slight spasms/tremors in my arms/legs at times and when I am writing/reading my eyes will dart off the paper and cause me to lose my spot.
About once every 2-3 months I will experience exhaustion and generalized achey pain as well as the return or worsening of the fingertip sensation and worsened dizziness. I work 2 jobs and flip back/forth between shifts, so no one takes this concern seriously, but I have previously had my thyroid/cbc/chem checked multiple times to rule out any deficiencies.
I obviously deal with alot of stress in my life, which has lead to me asking for an antidepressant prescription to help me get through life without the feelings of depression/ suicidal ideation. I also have always had blurred vision requiring glasses, but have been told that my left eye is fine whereas my right eye is really bad. The left eye compensates to a degree so I can get away with only using my glasses for reading.
So basically, do I shell out money to pursue a diagnosis or just accept the Neurocariogenic syncope diagnosis as the reason for all of my symptoms?
I have to begin by saying that I am an ICU Nurse of 7 years and have rotated through Medical/Surgical/Trauma/Neuro ICUs at a level 1 hospital. I am not uneducated, but when it comes to myself, I tend to drop everything and just suffer through my symptoms. Also, a blessing and a curse is that I work closely with my physicians and can run any concern by them without an appt; however, the downside to this is that not one doctor knows all of my symptoms or has kept a timeline of my concerns.
My husband is in college and I am working two jobs to make ends meet for our family while he is not able to keep full time hours. I do not want to waste money that we do not have on testing and more roadblocks, so I felt like your experiences may help me.
My story is this... Throughout my childhood beginning at about 10 years old, I would experience syncopal episodes. These would occur infrequently ( maybe 4 times in my childhood). They would always begin with my face and arms going numb, then loss of vision and then hearing and ultimately I would collapse. My mom did not believe in running to the dr, so I did not receive any medical attention.
Finally, while I was in college I experienced another episode in which I fell in a bar ( I was DD and not drinking) and hit my head 3 times. The following day I drove to the ER because I had increased pressure in my head and was worried. CT scan was clean and I was discharged from the ER.
I frequently deal with dizziness/ loss of vision on standing to the point that I sometimes crouch down until it passes (which is a bit embarassing when at work).
At 16 years old, I went to my PCP complaining that my tongue felt like it had a weight on the back of it and it weakened my swallowing. He told me to go take an aspirin and that I would be fine. I still deal with this on/off and sometimes wake myself up choking, which usually marks the beginning to another flare-up of symptoms.
I followed-up with a cardiologist after my syncopal episode at the bar and did a tilt-table in which I failed and was subsequently diagnosed with Neurocardiogenic syncope. I guess my concern has always been that this is not what I really have.
In my 20s, my husband noticed that I grind my teeth when I do anything with fine motor movement of my fingers. I told him it was because my fingertips feel funny and he insisted I follow-up. I had an EMG that was not negative, but was not consistent with carpal tunnel as my PCP ordered the test for.
So basically, I dropped my effort there and haven't been back to the Dr. I had a neurologist test my reflexes and eyes because I feel slight spasms/tremors in my arms/legs at times and when I am writing/reading my eyes will dart off the paper and cause me to lose my spot.
About once every 2-3 months I will experience exhaustion and generalized achey pain as well as the return or worsening of the fingertip sensation and worsened dizziness. I work 2 jobs and flip back/forth between shifts, so no one takes this concern seriously, but I have previously had my thyroid/cbc/chem checked multiple times to rule out any deficiencies.
I obviously deal with alot of stress in my life, which has lead to me asking for an antidepressant prescription to help me get through life without the feelings of depression/ suicidal ideation. I also have always had blurred vision requiring glasses, but have been told that my left eye is fine whereas my right eye is really bad. The left eye compensates to a degree so I can get away with only using my glasses for reading.
So basically, do I shell out money to pursue a diagnosis or just accept the Neurocariogenic syncope diagnosis as the reason for all of my symptoms?
