Just before Christmas I woke up with a pain in my upper back/chest, shortness of breath and generally anxious feeling. I have had heartburn to varying degrees my whole life but it had been particularly bad in the preceding weeks. Andy gently suggested that I needed to see my doctor as soon as possible to which I, of course, brushed him and the symptoms off. But a few hours later while sitting in my office I picked up the phone to make an appointment with my GP. Even after explaining to the admin person what my symptoms were, I couldn't get an appointment for two more days. My next call was to the BC Nurses Help Line...
Skip forward an hour and I found myself laying on a hospital bed in the emerg, hooked up to an ECG, tears running down my cheeks. It turns out that I wasn't having a stroke, but rather "gastrointestinal reflux disease" (aka GERD).
I've learned two lessons through this experience: the Nurses Help Line is an invaluable resource. The nurse on the other end of the line was calm, confident and reassuring even as she told me to call an ambulance and get to emergency. For those of you who don't know about it, they can be reached 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 1-866-215-4700.
The other lesson is that serious GERD symptoms feel just like a stroke. After it had been determined that I wasn't having a stroke and it was "just" heartburn, I was feeling a little sheepish for taking up everyone's time in emergency. The doctor very sternly told me that if I ever experienced the same symptoms again in the future, I was to go to emerg again. He said that people will die at home from a stroke because they think they're just having heartburn.
Wake up call? I think so.
Wake up call? I think so.
No comments:
Post a Comment