Spent most of yesterday in the ER with shortness of breath and tightness in my chest. I was released last night after a battery of tests at around 9, but I’m still finding it difficult to breathe deeply. When I yawn, for instance, I can’t seem to complete the yawn — that good deep party where your entire chest rattles and hummmms. I’ve never had asthma, but I feel like I imagine an asthmatic might feel.
The difficulty I’m having breathing is causing me to feel very anxious, which only further exascerbates the breathing problem. Right now, I’m having a hard time sitting still. On the plus side, though, I got to ride in an ambulance for the first time — and with a group of EMT who thought John Kerry a pampered blowhard who looks like a greyhound.
I have a follow-up appointment this morning with my GP. I’m also scheduled for an echocardiogram, but the earliest they can see me is next Tuesday.
Blogging will resume when I feel better. If.
update: Thanks for all the well wishes. The doctors in the ER yesterday ruled out pulmonary embolism and heart attack. All my bloodwork looked good. This morning, my GP took a look at my chest films from the ER visit (the first, an xray, was done with a portable machine, and made my heart look big on the left side; the CT scan, though, looked normal). He also gave me a pulmonary capacity test, the results of which were normal. He says my lungs sound good. So evidently I’m getting plenty of air, even if I don’t always feel it.
As I’ve mentioned here a couple of times before, I’m adopted, so family medical histories and the like are unavailable to me (though I may see if I can change that with a little detective work); and as anxiety disorders tend to run along hereditary lines, perhaps we’ll explore that avenue, too, once we see the results from the echocardiogram. But my doctor seems to the think the echo-gram is completely precautionary, and will simply complete one aspect of the diagnosis.
Meantime I’ll throw up some posts as I feel better.
DO feel better soon!
It’s that Atkins diet I bet.
Did you get checked for spontaneous pneumothorax (i.e. collapsed lung?). Happened to me earlier in my life. Wouldn’t wish that on Ted Kennedy… Well, maybe.
Take care of yourself Jeff. Also, enjoy the health care while it’s still not “free”.
Jeff, I hope you’re feeling better and breathing deep soon.
That used to happen to me quite a bit… I never did find out what was causing it, so I’ll be curious to hear what the docs say for you, if you post it. Good luck, man… not being able to breathe is one of the scariest things ever.
Good luck, Jeff. I hope you feel better soon, or–at least–get some very good drugs in the meantime.
Jeff,
I wish you the best. Your Deadbeat Neighbor and McIntosh Apple send their regards too.
Seriously, hoping it’s no big deal.
I blame Halliburton and the reverse vampire conspiracy. They probably slipped something into your morning cup of hot, steaming bile.
Get well soon.
it’s always a bad day when a blog king ends up on the DL. Get well soon, man.
…and yeah, it’s probably halliburton. Or DARPA. Or something.
Hope you feel better soon Jeff, I’m sure I speak for everyone in saying that.
As much of a part of my daily reading that your blog is, it is of course secondary to your health and well being. All the apples or tacos in the world don’t mean anything next to your health.
Don’t worry about the blog. Just get better soon.
If you need anything, you know where to reach us….
Take care of yourself, Jeff. We’ll get by, maybe…
Found this in the Flint and Manhattan classifieds, it could be a clue to your discomfort:
Jeff Goldstein voodoo doll wanted. Any condition but must be working. Will pay up to 5 (oops, 4) canned hams and 16 tickets to Fahrenheit 9/11. Email me at .
Hope it’s nothing serious, and you’re back in good health soon. We’ll hold down the fort for ya.
Hope you are better soon; I’m gonna miss the smell of roasted Moore-fat in the morning.
Seriously, though, keep your head up; we’re with ya’.
Is that your echocardiogram?
Yes, that echocardiogram belongs to me.
no “if” about it, brother. let’s go back to “when”. however temporary your absence from PW may be, your blogging presence will be sorely missed. best wishes and get well soon!
Hope you get to feeling better soon. We expect many movie reviews while you’re recovering…and the Girls Gone Wild series doesn’t count.
Will pray for your health and that it will be revealed what is causing this and how to effectively treat it.
Rest.
Get well, Jeff.
Are you sure Michael Moore didn’t sneak into your bedroom under the cloak of darkness and sit on your chest as payback? That could cause some considerable damage, you know. Check your pantry and refrigerator for footprints in the Butter and Peanut Butter. From what I’ve heard, that’s a tell-tale sign that you’ve had Michael Moore break into your house.
Hope you feel better soon!
Badger
I hope you feel better soon. Been there and done that with the shortness of breath with my husband. He ruptured his spleen—it was the internal bleeding that caused it. Haven’t been snowboarding, have you?
Naaah. You blog too much for it to be that sort of thing. It’s very scary and I remember well how panicked he was at the time—and he rarely panics, which made it even scarier. The only thing I can recommend is to get pushy with the doctors. If you want the echocardiogram today, insist on it happening today. Don’t take no for an answer.
Take care of yourself and your family—as much as you can. I’ve got my fingers crossed that it’s nothing serious.
I suspect food poisoning from that spoiled McIntosh apple that went uneaten for weeks on end.
Get better soon, hope it’s nothing serious.
Get better soon. I’m starting to forget lines from cheesy 80’s movies already.
Yikes!!!
When I moved here 5 years ago that stuff started to happen to me, but I never ended up in the hospital like you did. It was apparently less acute, but it just dragged on and on and was horrible. After going through a bout of it (sometimes lasting for days) my ribs would feel sore and I would be exhausted from fighting so hard for so little air. And I hated that anxious, panicked feeling you describe and I was always trying to yawn, fighting tooth and nail for a decent breath. On the rare occasion my body rewarded me with one it was like manna from heaven. It took me awhile, but I was finally able to manage it and get it under control.
I hope you are feeling better, Jeff. I’m happy to give you some management tips if you ask for them (as it’s horribly annoying having to fend off unsolicitied advice when you’re feeling shitty.)
In the meantime, get well soon!
Get well Jeff and don’t let those hospital jokers put you in one of those ass exposing outfits, it’s a sham. I mean, unless you’re in to that sort of thing. Once again, get well soon.
“Blogging will resume when I feel better. If.”
“If” my ass. Just take care of yourself. You’ll be up and back to anti-Semitism pimping in no time
Harumph. I almost missed the comment about the EMTs thinking John Kerry is a pampered blowhard.
That comforts me somewhat.
Good for you for getting to the ER instead of shrugging it off – feel better.
Does clapping my hands work for you like it did with Tinkerbell?
Don’t die, Jeff!
Don’t die, Jeff!
Yeah, it makes me look like an idiot. Hey, so what’s new about that?
Jeff – did they check for a pulmonary embolism? Your symptoms sound like my wife’s after our first baby, and that’s what they found, it can happen during childbirth sometimes. A pulmonary emoblism is a blood clot in the lungs, and is potentially fatal; make sure this has been ruled out. Hope you feel better soon!
Feel better soon, dude.
I hope you’ll feel better soon.
I’ll bet it’s just the Kennesaw Mountain wrapped in bacon and served covered with melted blue cheese crumbles.
Jeff,
As part of your Atkins diet did you consume an illegal alien with TB?
Just wondering…
Get well soon!
In the time it takes me to write this comment, Jeff will be back and yawning at full…uh…yawn.
Whenever my wife has a tightness in her chest, she just tells me to let go. Try it.
Shortness of breath is one of those symptoms, like fever, that could have lots of (very curable) causes. A good diagnostician who keeps up with the latest research, like a doctor affiliated with a teaching hospital would probably be able to figure it out. At least that
I was troubled by exactly those symptoms and they scared the hell out of me. They got worse and worse so finally I checked into the hospital. After extensive poking and prodding the diagnois was panic/anxiety disorder; there was nothing physically wrong. Drugs were prescribed and they worked but for me, even more effective was to ease up on drinking.
I certainly don’t mean to suggest that’s your problem, just want to make you aware of what helped me. Whatever’s ailing you, please get better.Your blog is the highlight of my day (never have I encountered such literate acid wit) but it can wait. Your good health is far more important.
Be well Jeff. I’m sure many will join me in praying for your good health.
Missing you already … your friend, Newzilla
Get well, and the sooner the better. We all need more Moore. Take care, really…
Jeff,
Get well soonest—but agree with Jeff Brokaw. Had 2x blood clots in lungs—42-yo at the time—felt like you describe.
Jeff, I’m very sorry to hear about the difficulty, and very much hope its all fine soon.
Talking back to ‘80s music, Special Commemorative Medical Edition:
Not sure I’ve got this straight. Are you saying you’ve got a bad case of loving your doctor? Or is it just that whole second-person/third-person thing tripping you up again?
Jeff, that sounds scary as hell. I hope you have someone who can pitch in with the childrearing and housekeeping so you can just rest. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for you, buddy.
Get well soon. Gotta be there for the little pw.
And anyway, I don’t think you’re finished yet with Michael Moore.
Get well soon, Jeff.
Weird. I just had an EKG myself last week, and I’ll taking a treadmill test next week. I’ve had some of the same symptoms, plus a little angina occasionally. The doc is all worried about my heart, but the EKG was fine and stuff. So it’s probably allergies in my case because they have all this disgusting nature around here (Pacific Northwest) that’s nice to look at but makes people sick and crazy (Tonya Harding is one of my neighbors.)
So take it easy, drink heavily, quit smoking, get healthy, and all that crap.
Focus on your health, man, and fuck the blog. it’ll be here when you’re ready. Peace.
Well, if you want some happy news, this doesn’t sound anything like the heart attack I had. Good thing, too, ‘cause that open-heart surgery hurt like a mother …
I just want to add my voice to the chorus wishing you the best, Jeff, and praying for an accurate diagnosis and speedy recovery. As a chronic, but successfully treated, asthmatic myself, well do I know how sobering it is to have to think about breathing. Blessings.
Thanks for the update from your doc. But you didn’t address the important question that I always aks when I go to the doctor: Will he prescribe any Percocet?
Now that we’ve got that pesky health question out of the way, I’d like to request some more Talkin’ Back to 80s Music. Duran Duran seems ripe for the pummelling, methinks…
I’m having that problem too, but mind is more due to the fact that the slight movements of breathing hurt my GODDAMN ROTTEN TOOTH WHERE ARE MY PLIERS–
Heh heh. Okay, better now. The throbbing has died down. Anyway, hope you feel better soon! And hey, you’re a member of the Adopted Club too? Yay! I always love the look of utter frustration that always crosses a doctor’s face when I tell them that my medical history starts with the day of my birth. I don’t know why, extra tests mean more money, but doctors need leisure time just like other people.
That should read ”mine is more due to the fact…” A mine is a terrible thing to waste.
Are you sure you’re getting enough tequila? I can bring you a bottle if you’re running low.
Hope you are feeling much better, and get a clear answer to the medical mystery ASAP.
Take care of yourself there chief.
Here’s a question to ask yourself/relatives/doctors about, now that some of the big-ticket health items have been settled….
Ribs. Have you done anything extra-active lately? Do you have any kind of arthritis?
Inflammation in the rib joints is one thing tjat can cause your symptoms.
I’ve had costochondritis (as part of a mild case of ankylosing spondylitis) a couple of times.
I had some pain in the sternum, with chest tightness and hard to breath deeply feeling.
Had to have an EKG and all of that…but it was my arthritis.
I have a theory that Michael Moore is lodged in your trachea, stealing all your air.
Hang in there big man. I would check the family history, it’s really good info for the doctors to know.
Get well!
A friend had a similar problem, and with my mother it was chronic. Their doctor (same guy) prescribed oxygen.
What happens is (according to the doc) something causes shortness of breath, which causes anxiety, which makes the breath shorter. Positive feedback, the worst kind.
A short breath of oxygen relieves the tension of not getting enough air, and relieves the anxiety. The muscles of the chest can then loosen up, and the person can breathe more easily. It doesn’t say what the actual problem is, but it can alleviate the symptoms while they’re finding out the cause.
Sounded reasonable to me, and it worked for both of the people I knew. Ask the doc about it, or, if it seems right to you and the doc won’t go for it, aviation oxygen is as good or better, cheap, and doesn’t require a prescription.
Regards,
Ric Locke
Get better, Jeff!
Oh sure. Like I don’t feel inadequate enough. Now your vomit is better than my best stuff. Sheesh.
Seriously, I hope you get to feeling better soon. Gotta take care of yourself. Pace, man. Pace.
The yawning irregularity suggests a neurological element, but simple anxiety (secondary to some unknown cause) could be behind that. But I’m sure you’re in capable hands.
Of course, now you’ve got me going. All I’ve been trying to do for the last ten minutes is yawn…
Seriously, though, take care of yourself.
I used to wake up in the middle of the night with a tight chest and difficulty breathing. I just shoo the cats away. Or push the the husband off. (He’s gotten quite heavy lately.)
Like you need another comment. However, I experienced this many years ago. In my case, and I suspect in yours, it was “air hunger syndrome.” It feels like you cannot completely fill your lungs, resulting in repeated attempts. It is caused by stress and exacerbated by stress.
You’ll know that’s what the problem is if you find that it goes away when you’re very busy or after a couple drinks. No kidding.
Yikes, dude. Nice to hear they ruled out the embolism or heart attack options. Take care o’ yourself.
May your health be soon restored, Jeff, and may you be happy, peaceful, and free.
All the best to you, Jeff.