Typing this from my phone so I'll keep it brief and update with detail later. Have been in the hospital since last Sunday (1/18). Thus far I've been given a clean bill of health and at this point and I have multiple doctors scratching their heads. I'm not having any pain and am awaiting results of a few other blood tests. Hoping I'll get discharged this weekend, but will have to see. I miss my bed and shower.

Good luck, Kag. I just got out after 5 days in the hospital (supposed to be 3) and have to have more tests for things not related to why I went in. Will post separately, elsewhere.

Fortunately I got released today, though as it stands, they still have no idea what happened or why.

I awoke early last Sunday morning with an odd tingling/numbness in both my hands and feet with no other symptoms (i.e. no chest pain, shortness of breath, etc.). I still had sensation in that I could poke my hands/feet and feel it. I liken to when you sit on your hands for a bit and then pull them out.

So I went to the E.R. and they reviewed me. The only thing that came back on the blood test was an elevation in troponin, a heart enzyme. It's an indicator they look at for possible stroke/heart attack. Mine was in what they call a "grey area" meaning I likely did not suffer a stroke/heart attack, but they went ahead and admitted me for monitoring as there had to be a reason for the elevation.

The hooked me up with a saline drip and heart monitor and for the most part, the day went well until around dinner time when I started to develop a headache. They gave me a couple of Tylenol and that seemed to help, but by the time dinner was actually brought in, I felt a sudden drop in my appetite (not quite nausea) and as the evening progressed the headache came back and slowly built up and Tylenol did nothing to help. The worst part was that nausea did kick in and brought on dry heaves since I had nothing in my stomach. Only got an hour or two of sleep due to the pain and by morning I rated the pain as an 8 on a 1 to 10 scale. I've got a pretty high tolerance for pain but this nearly had me in tears several times. I rarely get headaches, much less migraines, and when I do, popping a Tylenol generally solves it.

Don't recall which drug they gave me (wasn't any of the heavy hitters like morphine, valium, etc.) to take the edge of and rushed me down for a CT Scan which came back clear. Next up was a heart catheter which showed perfectly clear arteries, etc. That was followed by an echocardiogram which showed my heart in perfect health with no issues. A bit later they did a renal sonogram which was also clear. Basically, my heart, arteries, kidneys and liver were all normal. They added magneseum to my IV drip and that slowly but surely quelled the headache. The bad thing about the heart cath was that after the surgery, I had to lie still on my back for 6 hours, which when combined with the headache, was excruciating. They did give me valium about an hour or so into it which only knocked me out for about 45 minutes.

The blood test taken the following morning showed that my troponin levels had gone up. Needless to say the doctor's were stumped because I hadn't had any other cardio related symptoms. My blood pressure was high so they started me on medication to get that down and under control. Beyond that, they continued to monitor and watch the enzyme levels.

The following day then revealed my cpk (an muscle enzyme) had drastically spiked, going from near nothing to 500. Normally this enzyme is found in the bloodstream if there's been muscle damage, of which I had none. The following day it hit 1,500. Doctor's inquired if there had been an autoimmune disorders in the family which we've had none. The following day it was at 3,000.

By this point I think they'd all agreed it wasn't a cardiovascular related issue and called in a doctor from Infectious Diseases to see if there could be some odd virus at play. Spoke to that doctor and he was puzzled himself because I had no other symptoms (nausea, fever, etc.) but none the less fired up a variety of tests (6 vials worth of blood from me in one draw) to see if anything could be found.

Fortunately when I woke up today, blood test showed a dramatic drop in the cpk and troponin enzyme levels and since I wasn't having any other issues went ahead and released me. There are still some blood tests being done but they're honestly not sure if they'll find anything conclusive.

I suppose the silver lining for spending 7 days in the hospital is that cardiovascular wise, I know that I'm in perfect health. Told my parents that I was going out to Wendy's and getting a Triple burger with extra bacon to celebrate my arteries health.

Have a follow-up with my primary physician tomorrow who's likely going to continue to keep my on blood pressure meds for the time being.

Edited by kagato on January 25, 2015 at 22:20:21

Wow, sounds like a scarey and unresolved situation. Makes my surgery seem almost like a walk in the park in comparison. Glad you're doing better!

After the CT Scan, they were initially going to perform a nuclear stress test. I'm just glad they opted not to as I'm just not keen on being put into what feels like a chemically induced heart attack. Especially in light of how all my other cardio tests came out clean.

im glad your out and in good health! hopefully that feeling/pain never comes back