Quite possibly...

...the scariest day of my life!

Despite a positive diagnosis on my thyroid, my referral to an endocrinologist still hadn't come through. I had been avoiding my GP, and going back to my 'more familiar' Ostrich approach to it all, despite several missed calls and messages to my mobile phone from my GP.

I hadn't filled my prescription for Neomercazole, AKA Carbimazole (CBZ) as money was extremely tight, and I figured it was an unnecessary expense at this time.

I knew I was ill....but sure, hadn't I been ill for years with no medication, and nothing terrible had happened had it?

Well today, was the day I learned that lesson all well and good!

The day started as any other day....tea, cigarettes....more tea, more cigarettes.....some light housework, then onto the computer to see who was up to what in Internet-land...

I had a funny pain in my back, and felt a bit nauseous...but I mostly ignored it. I think I commented on it when J came home on his coffee break...but by the time lunchtime came around I was in a full panic. The back pain was spreadingto the front of my chest, I had pins and needles in my arms, going hot and cold, huge waves of nausea, but not able to actually be sick...but the time J came home for lunch I was in all out panic mode. At this point I had Googled the syptoms for a heart attack, and went into all out hysteria as I read the list and ticked off all the symptoms one by one. My pulse was all over the place, but mostly racing. And as it slowly dawned on me that perhaps this was it, I was finally going to die....I realised I was no where near ready to die...!

J wanted to take me to the GP...I knew that we didn't have the money for an appointment, and for the same reason we couldn't afford to call an ambulance either. I was imploring him to ring our landlord, who works as a paramedic, for some solid advice on what might be going on...but he refused, insisting we went to the GP first. The row over deciding what to do was making me feel worse by the second...and I realised that whatever we did we had to do it quickly, and so we headed to my GP.

She stuck me straight onto her ECG machine...and we were both mighty relieved to see that I hadn't had, nor was I currently having, a heart attack...phew! As far as my heart was concerned all was A-OK. She did various other tests on me, drew several vials of blood from me...and concluded, from the symptoms, that I was most likely duffering from an overdose of thyroid hormone, which may or may not have been dumped suddenly on my system. And if continued unchecked I would shortly go into a full blown thyroid storm, of which two symtpoms immediately jump out at you: coma & death. Either way, she insisted that I had to start to take this seriously, I was a very ill woman and the sooner I copped on to that and started following instructions the better...for me.

You know....we filled that CBZ prescription on the way home, I started my meds that night!