I was jogging along, happy as can be, when I got a pain in my right leg and my foot started to tingle. OK. Nothing new there. It was just like my shin splints that I'd had a week before. I kept jogging.
Then my right arm had a pain in it, and my hand started to tingle. That was new! I stopped jogging and walked the rest of the way back to the car. The pain and the tingling disappeared on my way.
When I got home, I e-mailed my father in law (a family doctor) to see what he thought about it. While waiting for his reply, I set up an appointment with my doctor and went on with my day. Not long after, my hand started tingling again, and it didn't stop. The pins and needles spread up my arm as well, and occasionally it was back in my foot too. Nothing too painful, just annoying.
My father in law thought that it was just over use type injuries. I hadn't told him about the persistent tingling. I thought I would just sleep on it and see if it went away. Other then the pins and needles, I felt perfectly fine. It even subsided during the night.
Tuesday morning, I decided to go swimming. I wasn't likely to have any over-use symptoms there. I've been swimming for years, after all. Well, turns out the elevation in my heart rate set the pins and needles going stronger.
I was getting worried. I called up my doctor's office to see if I could get an earlier appointment. When the receptionist found out why, she put me on the line with a nurse. When the nurse found out that my Mom had heart surgery at a "young age", she told me to go to the ER, and not to drive myself.
Panic attack! When I was done crying, Seth and I took our kids over to a friend's house and went to the hospital. They checked me for a heart attack. None. Pregnancy? None. Stroke? None. My physical came out all clear. They couldn't find out what was wrong with me, so I got to go home and was told to come back if it got worse.
Things seemed to be getting better, but Wednesday night I figured my father in law ought to be told what was happening. His response, go see a neurologist. My doctor concurred. So, now I get to go in for an MRI, have more blood work done, and talk to a neurologist to see if they can figure it all out. It will take about a month to go through all of these steps. Hopefully, it's just a one time trauma.
When I got home, I e-mailed my father in law (a family doctor) to see what he thought about it. While waiting for his reply, I set up an appointment with my doctor and went on with my day. Not long after, my hand started tingling again, and it didn't stop. The pins and needles spread up my arm as well, and occasionally it was back in my foot too. Nothing too painful, just annoying.
My father in law thought that it was just over use type injuries. I hadn't told him about the persistent tingling. I thought I would just sleep on it and see if it went away. Other then the pins and needles, I felt perfectly fine. It even subsided during the night.
Tuesday morning, I decided to go swimming. I wasn't likely to have any over-use symptoms there. I've been swimming for years, after all. Well, turns out the elevation in my heart rate set the pins and needles going stronger.
I was getting worried. I called up my doctor's office to see if I could get an earlier appointment. When the receptionist found out why, she put me on the line with a nurse. When the nurse found out that my Mom had heart surgery at a "young age", she told me to go to the ER, and not to drive myself.
Panic attack! When I was done crying, Seth and I took our kids over to a friend's house and went to the hospital. They checked me for a heart attack. None. Pregnancy? None. Stroke? None. My physical came out all clear. They couldn't find out what was wrong with me, so I got to go home and was told to come back if it got worse.
Things seemed to be getting better, but Wednesday night I figured my father in law ought to be told what was happening. His response, go see a neurologist. My doctor concurred. So, now I get to go in for an MRI, have more blood work done, and talk to a neurologist to see if they can figure it all out. It will take about a month to go through all of these steps. Hopefully, it's just a one time trauma.
In the mean time, I still have homeschooling with my kids, something that's not easy to do when I'm stressing out. Sierra knows something is going on that's making me stressed, and it stresses her, sending her into unnecessary panic attacks. We both had a total melt down yesterday. Bailey only finished half of her school work before I called it quits. Sierra, bless her, stuck it out and finished her morning work while I cried my eyes out in my room.
I'm slowly feeling better though. I've been taking it "easy" for the last few days, and my symptoms are almost unnoticeable now. Today we took off of school, and we cleaned up the house. Cleaning always makes me feel better. I should be able to cope with school by Monday, and then we leave for vacation on Friday. Life will go on.
But, I'm afraid to go running again. I don't want to cause another episode. I'm even leery of biking because I've put my foot to sleep while peddling and have even tweaked my wrist before. So much for my Triathlon Training! I've decided to pull out of the competition. I only had a little over a month to finish getting ready, and it will be a few weeks before I have any firm idea as to what's going on. The worry would stress me out too much. I'm getting close to my limit.
All is not lost, however. Walking and swimming I'm OK with. I've been doing those for years, and the ER doctor told me to keep exercising. I just need to keep it low key for now. One step at a time.
