Whoa what a month it’s been for me. My ongoing health troubles have landed me in hospital twice in the last few weeks. The first time I was out with my little girl at a club she’s been going to during the school holidays when I developed chest pain, palpitations (my heart rate was 150+), pains in my arms and shoulders and feeling dizzy. I can’t tell you how scared I was, not only due to what was happening but this was the first time that Jadie had seen me have one of these ‘attacks’, all the others had happened at night when she was in bed luckily. I ended up being blue lighted the 20 or so miles to the nearest large hospital, I had a few ECG’s, a chest x-ray and various blood tests which all came back clear. They discharged me the following day after being fitted with a 24 hour heart tape which would monitor my heart beat and record the palpitations and any other abnormalities. I had the results back 10 days after being fitted with the tape but once again it was ok.
By this point I was really down in the dumps, I honestly couldn’t understand why this was happening when all the tests were coming back fine. It got to the stage that I felt like I was going mad and it was becoming such a struggle to get out of bed in the morning or even go out on my own incase I had another attack. Makes it sound like panic attacks doesn’t it? But it’s not, I do have answers which I’ll get to in a minute. I have also been feeling exhausted for the last few months. Before all this, I would happily survive on just a few hours sleep, now I sleep for 8 hours and cannot get through the day without having to have a few hours’ kip. I know I’m really lucky to have some great people around me who can look after Jadie while I go back to bed and I am so grateful for them.
So I ended up back in hospital again with the same symptoms and still all the tests came back negative, I stayed overnight and was discharged the next day. Yesterday I had an appointment with my doctor, I could kiss this man, I honestly adore him lol Not only is he getting answers but he is the most genuinely nice guy I have ever met, he makes you feel like you are not a burden to him and he has all the time in the world for you – the complete opposite to my previous doctor. He had a few results to some blood tests back, although not all of them are back and he’s ordered another 5 or 6 tests to make sure that what he’s found is causing all my symptoms or whether they’re just adding to some other disease. So what he found… I have a severe vitamin B12 deficiency, the same with folic acid and I may also have PCOS but that isn’t for sure. I have started on folic acid tablets and I have 3 injections Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the B12 and then I’ll have them every 3 months for the rest of my life. What I didn’t realize was that my Grandmother who died when I was little died from Pernicious Anaemia which is caused by a B12 deficiency but medicine has evolved so much since then that I’m not worried. When you look at the symptoms of both it all seems to fit the bill and even though it’s not exactly good to have something wrong with you, I am happy that there is something wrong and it’s not all in my head.
Symptoms of B12 deficiency include:
pale skin, often with a lemon tint
menstrual problems
poor resistance to infections
If the deficiency goes on too long, the nervous system is liable to be affected, causing:
tingling of the fingers and toes
muscle weakness
staggering
tenderness in the calves
confusion
Symptoms of folic acid deficiency include:
tiredness and palpitations (awareness of heartbeat).
Shortness of breath and dizziness (fainting)
If the anaemia is severe, it can result in angina (chest pain), headache and leg pains (intermittent claudication).
All of these symptoms I’ve experienced so it’s all adding up now. Hopefully once I have the 3 injections next week to give my body a boost of the B12 then I’ll start to feel better and can get on with leading a ‘normal’ life.
So that’s what’s been happening with me, never a dull moment eh lol Oh and the good news… I shall be back in a bit with a new kit and some quick pages which I hope you’ll like. It is my favourite kit so far and even though there’s a theme to it, I think it’s pretty versatile and can be used for any photos.
See you in a little while.
Dee xx
