After all, how could an inner ear problem cause chest pains and shortness of breath?” “Chest pain and shortness of breath? You didn’t say anything about that. Then I began to get nauseous and dizzy. Besides, I still hadn’t recovered from the ovary surgery, and my wounds weren’t healing right, so my gynecologist said that I could wait before having another operation. She said I needed to have an operation to remove it.” “Why a neurologist?” “I’d read an article that said the three most common symptoms of brain tumors were headaches, nausea and dizziness, so I asked her to send me to a specialist.” “An Ears, Nose and Throat doctor?” “That’s right.” Emma hunched over, and began to well up. “Whenever I try to explain my symptoms to a doctor, he just rolls his eyes, and tells me it’s nothing to worry about. . He examined me and said he wasn’t sure what was going on, but that I needed an operation to get to the bottom of it. He did a bunch of scans and electrical tests, and said everything was okay. “Why did she send you to me?” “I told her I didn’t think I had an inner ear problem, and that it had to be some kind of a heart condition.” “What did she find?” “A cyst on my ovary.” I explained that there are several causes for chest discomfort, and each has a telltale set of characteristics. Medications are the fifth leading cause of preventable death in the United States. When the pounding started, in addition to becoming dizzy and nauseous, my hands would begin to tingle and become numb. She had unwittingly fallen into the maze of modern medicine. “What was your first symptom?” “One night, about three years ago, I woke up with a pounding sensation in my chest. After a while, the numbness spread to my face.” “What seems to be bothering you, Emma?” “Bothering me?
My problems aren’t just bothering me, they’re killing me. The whole area around my mouth would lose all feeling, except for a wired tingling sensation. It was nothing serious, but after the operation, the pounding and the dizziness became more frequent, so she sent me to a neurologist. She thought my dizziness might be due to an inner ear problem. Cahill, my family doctor who’s also my gynecologist, and when I went in to see her the next day, she found a tumor in my tummy. He prescribed a tranquilizer, but I knew that wasn’t going industrial shower curtain rod to solve my problem. Those other doctors keep saying that my symptoms are all in my head.”There is nothing to fear except the persistent refusal to find out the truth. My heart was racing so fast, I thought it was going to jump out of my chest. Each specialist viewed her symptoms through the prism of his own specialty, ordered the inevitable battery of tests, and treated her with a pill or a procedure without having a diagnosis. “Let’s figure out how we can help you. Cahill referred me to an ENT doctor. I just know it. “I don’t know where to begin,” she said. I called Dr. In patients with blocked coronary arteries, the discomfort occurs during physical activity, like walking or climbing stairs.
All these possibilities and more needed to be carefully explored by delving into the nuances of Emma’s chest pain, as well as her palpitations and shortness of breath. With an inflammation of the sac around the heart, called pericarditis, the pain increases when a patient lies down, and improves when they sit up and lean forward. I reached for the box of tissues on my desk and handed them to Emma.” “Did the tranquilizer help?” “A little at first, but then my symptoms got worse. That’s when Dr. A bulging or tear in the aorta, the main artery in the body, also has characteristic features.” Emma’s story made me wince. For example, in patients with pleurisy, an inflammation of the lining of the lungs, pain occurs with deep breaths. How about starting at the beginning?” I said.” “What kind of symptoms are you having?” Heaving a huge sigh, Emma shifted uncomfortably in her chair.” – Dorothy Thompson One of the chapters in my recent book, “Courageous Confrontations,” describes my experience with a patient named Emma Jorgenson. But I was too scared. I was sure I going to have a stroke. Shortly after sitting down in my consultation room, she said, “I hope you can help me, Doctor. If you don’t do something to help me, I am going to die.
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