PE symptoms for 6 days, ER doesn't take seriously.
Posted , 10 users are following.
Hello. I'm 18 years old male. I have been experiencing PE symptoms for 6 days now. It all started on monday with very bad leg pain. It felt like there was a belt tied around my calf. This was also associated with feeling dizzy. Fortunately the pain went away. But like 30mins after I started to feel like I had shortness of breath. It got worse over the day and I couldn't sleep at night because of it. Shortness of breath was much worse when lying down. Also started to develope some pretty bad back pain. I do get some sharp feelings when I breath deep. I have seen 2 doctors and I have gone to the ER 2 times.
Doctors think I don't have PE. The second doctor also said that my leg and chest symptoms are "seperate things". in ER I had my vitals taken, blood pressure is good and heart rate is around 70-80. But It has been once over 100. It might have been because I'm so anxous about this. Oxygen saturation is at 99%. Chest x-ray and ECG are normal. After xray and ecg ER doctor said that "ECG didn't indicate any sings of PE and xray was normal too" "we can rule out PE".
I'm not getting any help. I have still all the symptoms. It hurts to breath, Impossible to sleep because of shortness of breath, back pain.... It's a nightmare. My own doctor comes back to duty on monday, so I have to wait and call him. Maybe he can do D-dimer blood test for me. I'm scared because I think I might not make it to monday. This has been going on already for 6 days. Also the tight feeling in my leg is back. Hurts mostly when climbing stairs.
I know this post is just a mess, but I'm so anxious. Sorry guys.
1 like, 31 replies
carrie27300 anton75712
Edited
Glad your d diner test came back negative. Look after yourself and hope u feel better soon
Cocochanel2910 anton75712
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good luck, please let us know how everything goes ! much luck
brucegt anton75712
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Hi. For what it's worth I had 2 doctors say I 'only' had a sprained calf muscle. Turned out I had DVT in both calves. I ended up in ER with multiple PE's.
Ask your doctor/s for a ultrasound on your calf and a CT scan on your lungs. As far as I know these two tests are what saved my life. They aren't cheap tests. (Long story but at the time we didn't think we were covered so that money was an added worry).
Good luck.
anton75712
Posted
I was a little bit worried so I called ER again. They said that I should let go of the thought about PE. I apparently don't need a CT scan. They said that doctors put patients in a risk group. Apparently I was pretty low cause they only did d-dimer. So I guess I have to call my doctor tomorrow and ask him about CT.
moon53540 anton75712
Posted
Do you mind me asking where you found out all the symptoms for a PE to start with to think that this may be what you had? Have any of your family members suffered with PEs at a young age? If not, sometimes we can convince ourselves we have an illness just from reading about the symptoms, your mind is a very powerful thing. You are an 18 year old male who has had a negative d-dimer and I am assuming the doctor looked at your leg for a dvt which must have been ok, which puts you in a very low risk group. I have heard that Finland has very good healthcare and doctors will always try and avoid the risk of very high radiation in someone very young if they don't think it necessary. Do you know the risk factors for PEs and do any of those apply to you? Your blood pressure is normal, your heart rate is normal and you mentioned it only once went over 100. Before I was diagnosed my pulse was constantly going up above 150 a few times a day along with very bad breathing and stabbing chest pains. I had my symptoms for ages before I was diagnosed, but one thing I had from the start, was very bad palpitations, a cough and bad chest pain.
anton75712 moon53540
Posted
I thought the symptoms were identical to PE. Right leg pain, chest tightness, shortness of breath (worst when lying down), back pain etc. My doctor says that my vitals are just too good for a PE. And also negative d-dimer, normal ECG. They just don't want to do a CT. No matter how I try to push it. If I end up dying from this, it's pretty bad luck.
moon53540 anton75712
Posted
Chest tightness could be allergies or asthma. Or maybe even acid reflux that can cause a lot of chest pain. It would be good to explore all other options as all the tests you have had done so far are coming back fine. There are other things related to your heart that could be causing you pain or even inflammation of the cartilage of your ribcage, costochondritis. Ask to see a pulmonologist first, if you are getting breathing problems and chest pain. Try not to focus on PEs as all your stats are normal and you have a low d-dimer and you are so very low risk being male and so young and there are so many other things that can cause your symptoms. You are clearly having problems with pain and breathing which you need to get to the bottom of, so you need to get to get some other tests done.
marie48074 anton75712
Posted
That drives me crazy because they won't do the one test that will give you peace. So sorry. Hopefully all will be fine but it still makes me mad!
moon53540 marie48074
Posted
It could also give him a tumour, so if all his tests have come back fine and he is in such a low risk group for getting a PE, is it worth taking that risk? If you had a teenage son with health anxiety, would you want to give him a sizeable risk of a tumour just to put his mind at rest? If you convince yourself you have an illness, when all your vital statistics are coming back ok and you have had all of the tests except a very risky one which would put your mind at rest for a bit, would that be a reason to have it. Say he got that CT with contrast and everything came back ok, he would then be worrying about a potential tumour risk. You said you had no symptoms, but you had a cough so bad you were originally misdiagnosed with bronchitis and the beginnings of pneumonia. Your blood pressure was high and so was your heart rate, you are also female and I am going to guess from what you were misdiagnosed with originally, over 60 so your likelihood of having a PE would be significantly higher than a teenage boy who has none of those symptoms. Medicine is a science, doctors have to take educated risks from the evidence in front of them, they do not want to put a young male through the risk of a potential tumour just to put his mind at rest. Because like I said, he clearly has health anxiety and after that CT scan came back clear he would be worrying about something else, like the potential tumour he could develop. If his vital statistics changed or he started to develop symptoms that could be seen or heard physically or with medical instruments or blood tests, I am sure they may take the decision to give him that risky test.
marie48074 anton75712
Posted
I had none of these except for a slight cough. I just felt bad and continued to get weaker and weaker. I had been to an Urgent Care doc who said I had bronchitis and possibly the beginnings of pneumonia. in another week I went to my doctor and they had a copy of the Urgent Care xray and changed my antibiotic. No improvement. Went back to my doc and saw his PA. My blood pressure was way too high and my heart rate was 118 instead of 72. She listened to my chest and said that I did not have bronchitis but a clot. called the hospital and they were waiting on me for a CT scan and that was it. was immediately started on the shots in my stomach as I had bilateral PEs and later that afternoon the scanned my legs and found the "mother clot, a DVT. Did not sit up for days and did not go home for 9 days. Symptoms are different with different people it seems.
marie48074 anton75712
Posted
I had none of these except for a slight cough. I just felt bad and continued to get weaker and weaker. I had been to an Urgent Care doc who said I had bronchitis and possibly the beginnings of pneumonia. in another week I went to my doctor and they had a copy of the Urgent Care xray and changed my antibiotic. No improvement. Went back to my doc and saw his PA. My blood pressure was way too high and my heart rate was 118 instead of 72. She listened to my chest and said that I did not have bronchitis but a clot. called the hospital and they were waiting on me for a CT scan and that was it. was immediately started on the shots in my stomach as I had bilateral PEs and later that afternoon the scanned my legs and found the "mother clot, a DVT. Did not sit up for days and did not go home for 9 days. Symptoms are different with different people it seems.
anton75712
Posted
I can't take this anymore. Everytime I walk I have pain in my calf. And I also have all the breathing difficulties and pain. I have made a major decision. I scheduled an appointment with a private lung specialist. It will cost me everything, I probably can't even eat after that. I just need answers. If he can't give me those, I will probably end up dying from a PE.
anton75712
Posted
Update for you guys. I saw a doctor yesterday, didn't really get me anywhere. She looked at my calf and said it is not DVT. Because there was not any swelling, redness, hotness. There is still pain. I can feel it always when I walk. Shortness of breath is becoming more severe. It affects my talking now. Like when I let out a simple sentence, I feel like I have been talking for hours. My doctor said that d-dimer does exclude PE. As I'm aware of false negatives, It won't give me reassurance.
Should I pursuit for ultra on my leg? I think it would be the best course of action because doctors won't give me a CT. Downside is that I have to wait until monday to get it. This has been going on for 12 days now. almost two weeks. Hope I will make it to monday.