Thanks Gypsy!

Also scope down the throat has been canceled. Ultra sound revealed fluid around the heart, I will be exploring that with the cardiologist. Guess I need another echo and/or CT-A.


Also another doc found something in the YouTube videos.


And NO Adal you can't stab my heart (yet). If we have to do that I will give you the opportunity though. ;)

SWEET!!!!!! I'll get out the sharpening stone and prep the needle!! Maybe a chicken bone or two also. :lifter

aw shoot, just when I'm about to play, you're getting a clearer picture of what's going on.

Here's a dx...guaranteed to be 100% accurate too! We discharged many folks with similar s/s like yours home with it. Got a preprinted discharge instructionn to go along as well

Are you ready?

Here we go...

chest pain of unclear etiology :p
:D:D

That along with the words "idiopathic" guarantees my smart mouth getting the better of me and telling the doctor exactly what I think of their failure to diagnose my issue. I would probably be asked to never return upon completion of my "colorful" articulation of the doctors education and years of training. ;)

I'm not a doctor and have no med training
 

but my brother died at 22 of "idiopathic cardiomyopathy". The phrase still turns my blood to ice. You are in my prayers.:(

That would be absolutely understandable. Frustrating must not have described half of it.
In the ER there's a saying though: Sometimes, no news is good news. Just like folks want to be brought back instantly after they're signed in, but truthfully they really don't because that means they're hanging to life by a thread...

Speaking of ruling things out, got a young GI who showed up with diffuse ab, and pelvic pain etc. Long story short, his urine was suspicious and he ended up getting "rodded" in front of his male partner and a learning female nurse :D. 4 hours, 48oz GI contrast, and GI CT later, he was admitted for acute appendicitis. See, good training and it was fun :D His NCO's won't let up on the poor GI ER adventure and prob laughed for 10 min straight at his expense.

Hope you get well soon, and onto speedy recovery. Prayers out.

Conclusion?
 

To review:

1) Chest pain radiating from mid line over the heart area. Pain increased with shift in position. Pain was sharp and would shoot up the neck when ever I bent over or stood up. Pain felt like it was related or traveled via vascular i.e. my carotid artery up to the bottom of my chin and would stop there.

2) Low grade fever, sweats, chills, etc.



Update:

I saw the cardiologist today. His diagnosis is it is clearly pericarditis (and always has been). His opinion is that I have been bouncing around to different docs who lacked the skills to properly diagnose it. According to what I was told pericarditis is mainly a clinical diagnosis with the majority of the evidence in the proper reading of an EKG. And those who lack experience in what an EKG looks like with someone who has percarditis it can be over looked fairly easily. Additionally, he mentioned that the CT-A and echocardiogram may not have ever detected it even if there was an active pericardial effusion at the time of the test (depending on the severity of the effusion at the time of the test). Which makes sense b/c at the time of my CT-A and echo I felt great. The later detection of the effusion during an abdominal ultrasound demonstrates a significant effusion at the time of the test. <-- Which makes sense because I felt like total crap during that test.

Moving forward:

Due to the fact that I was never properly diagnosed and treated I run the risk of it reoccurring and it developing into chronic pericarditis (or something to that effect) where I would essential cycle through it throughout the rest of my life (funk dat). To combat that in the event it returns I have been given: Indomethacin and to hammer it at the onset, it should disappear after about 5 days. This should have been the treatment at the onset, which would have minimized the potential for reoccurrence.


My After Thoughts

1) In my case this was most likely developed from the coaxial virus as my business partners son had "Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease" (same virus) shortly before I got sick. <--- I should have hammered this point to the docs, where as I only mentioned it in passing.

2) I should have trusted my gut and been a bigger advocate for myself, including challenging the doctors opinions that didn't mesh with my symptoms. I was attempting to be "helpful and compliant" this was a disservice to myself and family.

3) I'm not sure if this thread can serve as a learning experience for anyone here. But, I certainly hope so.

4) Adal, you were right, when I was really bad off I probably could have used a needle to the heart to relieve the fluid.... although I'm still glad I passed on that. ;)

If anyone has any questions, fire away.

Thanks everyone who was involved and lent an ear to my little drama. Your help, helped me and I sincerely appreciate that! If it resurfaces I will update all.

First I'm glad they have it figured out!

Can't stress the importance of this point enough. Your gut is rarely wrong, my docs and I have ahhh...discussions...all the time. :D My dad thought his doc was G-d and it cost him his life.

:lifter
You forgot 6) Go to the range and shoot some more.

Glad you id'ed it so you can treat it! :lifter

Glad this was figured out. My first impression was pericarditis based upon the symptoms. That your PCP and subsequent specialists missed this is primarily due to not taking a complete patient history, JMO, and is a lost art. Had he/she done so he/she would have picked up on the Coxsackie virus exposure prior to the onset of your symptoms. This is a member of the Enterovirus family and is a family of viruses that can cause persistent infections. Hence the possibility of recurrence of your symptoms.

As you probably know the Indomethacin is an anti-inflammatory NSAID. This is symptomatic treatment only.

The principle area of my research is the etiology of chronic "idiopathic" diseases. I believe that most if not all of the so called "idiopathic" diseases are the result of chronic viral and/or bacterial infections. Some species are particularly adept at avoiding or subverting our natural (innate) responses to promote a chronic inflammatory state in the infected tissues that are recognized as a wide variety of chronic diseases.

A couple of my colleagues work with Coxsackie virus. With your permission, I will check with them to see if (a) there is an affordable diagnostic test and (b) what anti-viral drugs are currently available to clear the virus if any. I will send you a PM with what I learn if you send me a PM letting me know that you want me to do this. I don't want to get your hopes up, I simply don't know and am just willing to do some research for you.

Let me know.

Green light GO... PM to follow :)

I'm glad you isolated the problem, and I have high hopes that the treatment will resolve it and that it won't reoccur.

Take care and stay safe!

I'm glad they got it figured out, Joe. Wouldn't want you pulling your hair out worrying about it. ;)

Pat

I'm glad you got an answer. I hope you are feeling better. I know I'm going to come off crunchy tree hugging dirty hippy like, BFD. Look hard at your nutrition and see if that can boost your own immune system to kick the coxsacki virus in its cocksacky.:lifter. Geter done.

So when we going shooting again?:munchin

That is a great questions! I think Adal had something on this.... Otherwise weekends work best for me now days.