Tuesday, December 21, 2010
and so i went for this medical checkup.
it's called the tilt table test trying to prove the presence of something called dysautonomia.
the term sounds impressive and i'd never heard it before.
so page after page, i got links from tilt table to dysautonomia to the causes and it's cures.
Then i read about the symptons of such a condition:
1.fatigue
2.faintness
3.low exercise tolerance
4.tingles
5.anxiety
6.vague aches
initially, way before i knew of this thing called dysau, i thought that whatever i was going through was due to me being some sort of loser or something.
you know, from never passing napfa to being some weak guy with nightmares and occasional feelings dealt with increasing frequencies, speeds and anxiety. i really thought they were normal, as in like, you've always been like this and has never considered something to be anomalous until you get hold on some material or credit from some big guy. i know i have fainting spells, but i went to the GP and he couldnt come up with anything.
so i knew what the test was going to be about. my posture will be changed and my blood pressure will be monitored. and all was well for the 1st 30min. after which they introduced an oral spray called isuprel. from the doctor and the nurse, it causes your heart to go faster and if you cant keep up with the pace, your blood pressure will fall and you will faint. i didnt tho, ionno if i was lucky or what. but i knew my heart was thumping crazily i could guess about 140? about cardio stats i suppose coz i'd almost never felt it thump so quickly.
"i can feel my heart thumping super quickly."
and the nurse replied, "yes, i can see that." as she continued staring at the machine with electrodes connected to my thorax or whatever you call that.
and then, i felt light-headed. so much so that i almost couldnt convey what i wanted to say. i sorta just stoned as my vision got blurry. (again)
it's been months since this vision thingy hit me. and to be in the situation again on purpose wasnt exactly that pleasant.
so it got blurrer and darker and eventually i couldnt see anything at all. all was black and the doctor was trying to wave at me i think, but i couldnt see so oh wells.
no worries, really. everytime i see those channel 8 drama serials where people lose their eyesight they go loony. i dont understand why there's a need to overreact. so i was pretty calm just that i was bursting out in cold sweat already.
and so i was brought to a flat posture resting on the tiltable bed. it got better and the dizziness didnt go away just yet.
i cant see, but i could hear. and so there was this stream of numbers coming from the female nurse.
i know that it's the heart rate followed by the blood pressure.
90,109/59.
and just prior to these figures my heart was thumping so quickly, and my blood pressure at rest was about 120/70. (its not exactly at reat, given a test environment, you cant possibly cool down completely can you?)
she also said something else "fall in heart rate followed by blood pressure"
then i went to ask if it was normal for me to react this way.
he gave a straightforward reply "No"
and continued to add "but then again, we used the medicine to initiate light-headedness to you so it may be due to you being intolerant to the drug."
somehow, i just felt that he was trying to comfort and assure me that nothing fatal is going on within me.
so this was what happened at the hospital.
and i came home to check on more articles regarding this test and condition and out of curiosity the drug that they prescribe to me during the test.
this drug isuprel accelerates heart activity, and in this test, usually, people with dysautonomia will feel light-headed upon the ingestion of this medicine, and probably faint due to a fall in blood pressure.
i did feel faint but didnt actually lose consciousness. but i reacted to this drug negatively, so it cant be a good thing can it?
and then i went to check on vision loss, and it's also associated to a term called syncope which is also a synonym for dysau. theoretically, a fall of blood pressure of 20 Hg will contribute towards a failure in the test, and i dont think my bp dropped that drastically. 20?! crazy ah, i may die if it drop by 20 leh!
so i need to wait for a week to get to my diagnosis appointment.
hopefully its just me being paranoid and nothing is wrong which means that this may be a bullshit post. but i just felt like sharing, at least i feel alot easier knowing that i'd written what i am going through out. and i may come back 10 years later and laugh at myself being such a paranoid imp. by the way, there is no effective cure for this condition and cases are really really extreme. but if i really have this thing, then i have a reason for failing my napfa right? they cant possibly put me in 3 month extension or something right? i wish, lol.