To Vaccinate or Not---The Rat Flu Odyssey Continues

I know we aren't supposed to self diagnose, but man if this doesn't seem exactly like what's going on with me right now. The pain worsening when I lay down, the dry cough, the pain behind the breast bone that radiates slightly down and to the left.

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/healt...3-pericarditis

I guess I need to do nothing all week. 18" of pow up top and the sun is coming out. Took the day off work to go ski, but I should probably sit on the couch. Fuck fuck fuck. I feel OKish now, but I know I will pay for it tonight/tomorrow if I ski hard at all. God damn it.

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Originally Posted by Trackhead

Wait for the end, because it is accurate.

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Accuracy confirmed by my best college friend who has been an anesthesiologist for about 15 years.

Send it! You will have another chance to recover. Good pow? We knows.

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Originally Posted by Cocximus

Send it! You will have another chance to recover. Good pow? We knows.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

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I just feel like continuing to try to send is what is fucking me up. If I had a dog or a GF and could go lay by the beach etc.......skiing, training, riding bikes, etc is all I know right now. Sitting on the fucking couch is not what I need mentally at the moment between work and insane family stress. Ughhhh.

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Originally Posted by Trackhead

Wait for the end, because it is accurate.
https://youtu.be/Bx6KD7PWKfs

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While true, it’s also true for most physicians. I don’t know how many times we’ve had to pause surgery because a patient starts bucking or bleeding heavily because of high blood pressure brought about by an anesthesiologist’s lack of attention. Usually researching cars, boats, home improvement or vacations on the internet.

True story. Before the EMR, we had an anesthesiologist that was being relieved for a break. His relief came in and noticed that the anesthesiologist had not charted any vitals, which should be done at short intervals. This was a many hours long spine surgery. His relief asked what’s up. The anesthesiologist had been drawing a picture of the surgeon’s shoe on his iPad. His relief promptly left the room.

I have too many stories like this about surgeons and anesthesiologists from 34 years working in OR. These people are often very self absorbed and clueless.


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The story of the first anesthetic (1846 at Massachusetts General Hospital): William Morton, the dentist who introduced ether anesthesia into surgery, was making last minute changes to his apparatus. The surgeon, John Warren, was about to begin the procedure without anesthesia when Morton rushed into the room with his ether and equipment. Warren said, sarcastically, "Doctor, your patient is ready." Morton administered the anesthetic and said "Doctor, YOUR patient is ready." Warren made the incision, the patient neither moved nor cried out, and history was made. This first successful surgical anesthesia established two principles that have stood from that day to this--the surgeon does not begin until the anesthetist tells them the patient is ready, and the anesthesiologist is always late.

This story was told to me by an anesthesiologist.

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Originally Posted by old goat

This first successful surgical anesthesia established two principles that have stood from that day to this--the surgeon does not begin until the anesthetist tells them the patient is ready, and the anesthesiologist is always late.

This story was told to me by an anesthesiologist.

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Always late, or on break, apparently.

Drawing a picture of a shoe on an iPad, WTF, hilarious.

he wasnt a real MD just an anesthetist,

so I give bro a brownie and then he starts smoking all the way up the hill

about 1 1/2 hr later he sez to me "man am I ever fucked up how bout you?

no I didn't smoke anything, what is it you don't understand about dosage levels?

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Originally Posted by Whiteroom_Guardian

I just feel like continuing to try to send is what is fucking me up. If I had a dog or a GF and could go lay by the beach etc.......skiing, training, riding bikes, etc is all I know right now. Sitting on the fucking couch is not what I need mentally at the moment between work and insane family stress. Ughhhh.

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ok I'm going to be an asshole only reason is cause I got it much worse than you and you need to live life

GO FUCKING SKIING THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH YOU

sitting on the couch researching garbage on the internet self diagnosing will get you no where but crazy in your head

you and I would get along pretty well hopefully one day we can ride together

I feel like I got run over by a truck today but I'm debating going to skiing later did a 73 mile road ride yesterday fun fun
got a hole in my aorta it's deformed and jacked up my heart is a total mess but that doesn't stop me
I don't research anything on the internet I don't ask strangers who have never been through what I go through for advice
sure I have really bad days it goes with the territory but I move past it all as quickly as I can because I can't control anything
was at my cardiologist two weeks ago he told me I'm the shit and said I"ll see you in a year and we'll run all the tests before I see you next I like going to the dr every two months but he doesn't see the need anymore
so if I don't trust this guy I can goto my other caridiologist and talk to him, but why, then I could go to my surgeons office and check in with him, it's an endless game if I want it to be

I told my dr I just met with that I have mild chest pains occasionally, he runs a million questions and I answer no to all of them, and he says they took a grinder to your chest bone cut it in half tied back together with five ties that look like a mason was holding a rock in place

get a BP machine, check it write it down, write down you pulse rate, get an o2 sensor (I got three want me to mail you one?) write it down, you'll notice that other than the minor stress and a bump in BP it will all be the same

Do a million tests go get that line thing done where they stick a line through your wrist and into your heart to check things out, it's fun when your half there and they do it, they can look for blockages, I always get freaked out there going to stick it up my dick one time eventually

I'm trying to do paper work I'm oxgen right now I don't let anything stop me get out of your head

Fred you might not be wrong, but I've been trying to force myself to get better by lifting, bike training, skiing, hiking and it's just not getting any better so I'm actually gonna try being mellow for once. Hopefully when some of this stress wears down I magically get better as well. Would be great if this was all related to too much work, not enough money, not enough sleep, crazy family stuff etc and there is nothing actually wrong with me.

I've just never had stress that caused such a weird physical reaction to essentially one part of my body.

I guess the only solution then is to just drop out of society and just ride my bike/ski forever. Until I'm broke (so I could do that for about a month haha) or I my heart explodes in a blaze of glory down some epic Mexican singletrack. The latter doesn't sound half bad actually. :)

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Originally Posted by Whiteroom_Guardian

Fred you might not be wrong, but I've been trying to force myself to get better by lifting, bike training, skiing, hiking and it's just not getting any better so I'm actually gonna try being mellow for once. Hopefully when some of this stress wears down I magically get better as well. Would be great if this was all related to too much work, not enough money, not enough sleep, crazy family stuff etc and there is nothing actually wrong with me.

I've just never had stress that caused such a weird physical reaction to essentially one part of my body.

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Stress manifested for me as GERD. Basically no other classic physical symptoms. Tried all the typical GERD treatments- diet, exercise, position, drugs, X-rays, etc .

Changed jobs. Stress went away. GERD went away.

It never occurred to me while I was attempting to resolve the GERD issue that it was stress.

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Originally Posted by Whiteroom_Guardian

I guess the only solution then is to just drop out of society and just ride my bike/ski forever. Until I'm broke (so I could do that for about a month haha) or I my heart explodes in a blaze of glory down some epic Mexican singletrack. The latter doesn't sound half bad actually. :)

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I'm right there with you just my pussy hurts and I decided dropping out and being a bum isn't for me so I just take a one week every other month or less to go be a bum................. it seems to work

the question is when your exercising? do you max yourself out to prove that your ok? or are you smiling and taking it easy and having fun? Be the guy that is smiling and having fun

over the years as an "athlete" I've seen so many guys train so hard they suck all the fun out of it and over train so badly their body shuts down on them and gives up and then they sit around for months waiting for their body to repair itself don't be that guy

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Originally Posted by fastfred

1 ok I'm going to be an asshole

2 GO FUCKING SKIING THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH YOU

3 sitting on the couch researching garbage on the internet self diagnosing will get you no where but crazy in your head

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Originally Posted by fastfred

4 the question is when your exercising? do you max yourself out to prove that your ok? or are you smiling and taking it easy and having fun? Be the guy that is smiling and having fun

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3 and 4 I agree with
2 I disagree with
1 I haven't made my mind up about.

Yeah that's the thing. I haven't been training really that hard. One mellow inbounds half ski day with one hike up to the ridge fucked me up last week. Skied for like 3 hours. Nothing crazy at all.

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Originally Posted by Whiteroom_Guardian

Yeah that's the thing. I haven't been training really that hard. One mellow inbounds half ski day with one hike up to the ridge fucked me up last week. Skied for like 3 hours. Nothing crazy at all.

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Did you go back east last summer? Lyme disease a possibility? Seems to be a commonly missed diagnosis. Just throwing it out there. Really sucks to read about you in such misery.

Oh damn. Still don't think I can allow myself to get an e-bike yet haha.


Last time I was east was Sept 2020 and December 2021. I wasn't even really outside though.

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Originally Posted by old goat

3 and 4 I agree with
2 I disagree with
1 I haven't made my mind up about.

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I just play a Dr and a shrink on the internet in real life I spend most of my time babbling bull shit I'm ok w it but edibles and paper work and posting on tgr are not a good mix I'm incredibly great full I have it all figured out lol

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Originally Posted by yeahman

Did you go back east last summer? Lyme disease a possibility? Seems to be a commonly missed diagnosis. Just throwing it out there. Really sucks to read about you in such misery.

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2003 NYT article on MT tick borne diseases.


https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/20/h...smid=url-share

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Originally Posted by Summer

Not that my advice is generally much help to anyone, but I followed Fred's point #4 last week and demoed a ebike for a couple days. Far out, it made riding fun again and also got me outside. Have a watchful eye on blood pressure due to family genetics, so any day outside having a fun time is better than a day at the desk.

Maybe something like that is good middle ground until they figure it out?

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what happens IME is I just ride an E-bike more cuz its so much fun and i can ride for extended periods in zone 2 which burns more fat than i ever did maxing out the heart and i figure E-bike is probably better for this old heart

no posts to thread since 3.22.22.... pandemic mus b over

it’s not

Mostly over hopefully.. I ordered some more tests.. Felt sketchy Thursday night, headache, wicked chills and night sweats but fine Friday. Decided wear a mask anyway today out shopping... just in case while being around others who might not be vaccinated. You're welcome.

Got a dentist appointment Monday afternoon. I'll take a rapid test to make sure I'm not + and contagious before showing up there to get my teeth cleaned. Not going to waste a test until then though.. Just wear a mask around strangers even though not required..

I wonder how many are out there also with some symptoms but just rolling around uncovered anyway??

Just glad the hospitals are in good shape and things aren't trending up again yet.

Today was the last day of my 9 day steroid taper. I only felt very slight improvement if any. I went and rode my MTB today. Heart rate was between 150 and 180. Even when not pedaling very hard at all. I finished my ride over 3 hours ago and my sitting on the couch heart rate is around 90 bpm. It used to be 50. Headache and brain fog persists. Pulseox is showing my O2 hovering between 90 and 95%. Was as low as 89% for a minute. Fuck me.

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Originally Posted by Whiteroom_Guardian

Today was the last day of my 9 day steroid taper. I only felt very slight improvement if any. I went and rode my MTB today. Heart rate was between 150 and 180. Even when not pedaling very hard at all. I finished my ride over 3 hours ago and my sitting on the couch heart rate is around 90 bpm. It used to be 50. Headache and brain fog persists. Pulseox is showing my O2 hovering between 90 and 95%. Was as low as 89% for a minute. Fuck me.

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Again, hard to imagine a guy doing intervals with lung pathology/fibrosis. I'd guess either the pulse ox reading was temporarily inaccurate (which is quite common) unless you can read a pleth (home pulse ox does not have this function).

You're obsessing about your vital signs, that alone can cause an increase in HR from anxiety. Sitting on the couch staring at a pulse ox/HR is not productive.

Go to your doc, or a different doc. Get the workup, rule out what it isn't, and move on with your life. Be your own advocate.