Thorax. Spontaneous Pneumothorax. I was told today that I don't have one, which is good. Because if you're a medical person/went through basic CLS training in the army you would know what it is. And if you're googling it right now, you just found out. And if you're too lazy to go look it up, its basically a partially collapsed lung. YIKES! Yeah, so the background story is last night after dinner, I thought I was having some indigestion cause I felt this sharp pain in my ribs, mostly on the right side. I fell asleep with it and woke up to it, but I thought maybe it was hunger pains... but after I ate breakfast the sharp pains were still there and sometimes they would move around to my back. Weird. So I decided to go to the TMC after lunch and see what was up. In the mean time though, of course I googled "reasons for chest pains." I got a lot of stuff about heart attacks, but I knew that wasn't my issue because my heart happens to be situated on the left side of my body and the pain is coming from the right... Then I read about the spontaneous phneumothorax and I was like "woah that could be me!" ... Needless to say I was a little nervous going to the TMC. Of course I got flustered as like eight super bored medics came out of no where to see what was going on with the girl complaining of chest pains. So my face got red as I took off my jacket and still had my sweater on from the morning (Its cold at night here!) and they kept asking about my symptoms while checking my vitals and for some reason I got even more nervous and then my pulse registered at like 120/something and I got even more flustered about that. I felt a hot mess. In fact, I was hot. I was sweating. The doctor even asked me if I'd ever been checked for hyperthyroid. I was thinking, "No... I think all these symptoms are just a series of unfortunate events + the fact that I'm naturally thin." It was a treat.
So I got my chest X-rayed and they commented on how my bones looked like a 12 year olds but they didn't see anything pneumothoraxish sooo I got the old army prescription of "Drink water, don't do PT and take Ibuprofen." They think maybe I strained some muscles when I was working out... that makes sense cause I've been a gym rat for the past three weeks. However, I have to take a break for 3 or 4 days until this gets better and I'm kind of bummed about it.
I'm still a little worried though... I was told if I still had the pains after a few days, I should go back. One guy in my unit had a spontaneous pneumothorax a few weeks before we left Ft. Hood and it had gone undiscovered for three weeks until he finally HAD to go to the doctor. And I did take some Ibuprofen. Three to be exact. They did absolutely nothing to help... and I'm concerned that this doesn't feel like muscle pain. It doesn't hurt with the same consistency that muscles hurt when you strain or pull them. It's sharper when I'm walking around and carrying my weapon. I still notice it, but its duller when I'm sitting and it doesn't necessarily hurt every time I move. I guess only time will tell. But if I end up writing my next blog or so in Germany... everyone will know why.
Oh. Hi, Spontaneous Pneumothorax, I hope to never meet you.
So I got my chest X-rayed and they commented on how my bones looked like a 12 year olds but they didn't see anything pneumothoraxish sooo I got the old army prescription of "Drink water, don't do PT and take Ibuprofen." They think maybe I strained some muscles when I was working out... that makes sense cause I've been a gym rat for the past three weeks. However, I have to take a break for 3 or 4 days until this gets better and I'm kind of bummed about it.
I'm still a little worried though... I was told if I still had the pains after a few days, I should go back. One guy in my unit had a spontaneous pneumothorax a few weeks before we left Ft. Hood and it had gone undiscovered for three weeks until he finally HAD to go to the doctor. And I did take some Ibuprofen. Three to be exact. They did absolutely nothing to help... and I'm concerned that this doesn't feel like muscle pain. It doesn't hurt with the same consistency that muscles hurt when you strain or pull them. It's sharper when I'm walking around and carrying my weapon. I still notice it, but its duller when I'm sitting and it doesn't necessarily hurt every time I move. I guess only time will tell. But if I end up writing my next blog or so in Germany... everyone will know why.
Oh. Hi, Spontaneous Pneumothorax, I hope to never meet you.
Please update frequently until you're well! I'm paranoid now, but still chuckling about your x-ray looking like a 12-year-old boy. There are lots of jokes to make about that, but I won't right now. ;) Feel better soon! Sending you hugs and prayers!
ReplyDeleteI hate to hear this Catie. I had a pain in my side 2 weeks ago and I swore it was appendicitis except it was on the wrong side. It went away after about 3 days. Never did figure out what it was but I'm thinking it was a pulled muscle or something. Hang in there girl and feel better. And please keep us posted. Lots of prayers to you. Love you!
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