jayo
31-10-09, 02:13
Hey, this website gave me the most useful information ever to help me, and thought I'd join the forum as you guys seem really friendly and helpful!
I'm probably a bit of a weird case when it comes to this sort of thing but I'll explain what happened a bit - sorry its a bit of a novel! I started writing and couldn't stop urrgg! Actually found it quite useful to go over everything.
Basically I've had on and off palpitations all my life, they've never phased me at all and never led to anything more than an annoyance. Well anyway, I was away all summer as a kind of mini gap year between finishing A Levels and starting uni. I was in thailand traveling and was doing a lot of diving, I was on about my 30th logged dive on a small island off the thai coast when something awful happened, 30 metres down filming dive school students I caught my leg a on a rock, I'd been dodging about the rocks and should have assumed I'd just nicked myself, but for some reason I instantly thought I'd been stung by a scorpion fish. I'd seen my first one the day before (they are nearly impossible to see sitting on the rocks and are incredibly venomous with often a bad outcome if your stung). I can only describe it as feeling like utter numbness coming over my body, I couldn't breath, made worse by the fact I had a regulator in my mouth with compressed air, my chest was so tight and I remember just thinking, this is how I die, its the end of my life right here 30 metres underwater, the other side of the world and NO one I know has a clue. I managed to grab the eye of my dive buddy and indicate I HAD to go up right away, kinda kicking mad and going up myself. He was amazing thank god, grabbed me and wouldn't let me ascent... if you ascend quickly from that depth you get decompression sickness / the benz and then that can kill you. I can't describe how long and painful the 5 minutes were as we both slowly ascending, me hyperventilating so bad and the tingling hands only further making me think I was royally screwed.
That was without doubt the most terrifying thing that had ever happened to me, but realising I was infact ok on the boat, I recovered from it fine and I finished my holiday without thinking anymore about it. I got home totally fine - crazy to think now that I lived and traveled across thailand for 10 weeks by myself when I was 17/ just 18... That first attack happened in mid august. I got home at the end of august, and it was 2 weeks before it happened again.. I got that same numb body, life draining out of me feeling... followed by everything else... only this time I was sitting at a friends eating dinner watching a movie... and it came from nowhere.. there I am in A&E thinking I am dying.. but all the tests say I'm fine.
Its been on and off since then - trips to the doctor, monitors, ECG, echos... all say I'm fine... It seems crazy your mind can make you physically feel so bad when you are in fact 'fine'. It really bugs me to think 'I' am the sort of person that could have something like this, I never feel stressed or anxious... and I never get it when I'm in stressful situations. I go to the gym a lot and keep fit and healthy... why me?
I hope that over time, gaining some advice from the community here I might get over this issue.. hell, I might even be able to help someone else here with theres also... yer that would be pretty awesome.
James
18
Student training to be a cameraman... I've always liked the idea of being an underwater cameraman, and somehow I'm gunna make it. I guess these sort of things are just out to test us... to make us prove we really want it :)
I'm probably a bit of a weird case when it comes to this sort of thing but I'll explain what happened a bit - sorry its a bit of a novel! I started writing and couldn't stop urrgg! Actually found it quite useful to go over everything.
Basically I've had on and off palpitations all my life, they've never phased me at all and never led to anything more than an annoyance. Well anyway, I was away all summer as a kind of mini gap year between finishing A Levels and starting uni. I was in thailand traveling and was doing a lot of diving, I was on about my 30th logged dive on a small island off the thai coast when something awful happened, 30 metres down filming dive school students I caught my leg a on a rock, I'd been dodging about the rocks and should have assumed I'd just nicked myself, but for some reason I instantly thought I'd been stung by a scorpion fish. I'd seen my first one the day before (they are nearly impossible to see sitting on the rocks and are incredibly venomous with often a bad outcome if your stung). I can only describe it as feeling like utter numbness coming over my body, I couldn't breath, made worse by the fact I had a regulator in my mouth with compressed air, my chest was so tight and I remember just thinking, this is how I die, its the end of my life right here 30 metres underwater, the other side of the world and NO one I know has a clue. I managed to grab the eye of my dive buddy and indicate I HAD to go up right away, kinda kicking mad and going up myself. He was amazing thank god, grabbed me and wouldn't let me ascent... if you ascend quickly from that depth you get decompression sickness / the benz and then that can kill you. I can't describe how long and painful the 5 minutes were as we both slowly ascending, me hyperventilating so bad and the tingling hands only further making me think I was royally screwed.
That was without doubt the most terrifying thing that had ever happened to me, but realising I was infact ok on the boat, I recovered from it fine and I finished my holiday without thinking anymore about it. I got home totally fine - crazy to think now that I lived and traveled across thailand for 10 weeks by myself when I was 17/ just 18... That first attack happened in mid august. I got home at the end of august, and it was 2 weeks before it happened again.. I got that same numb body, life draining out of me feeling... followed by everything else... only this time I was sitting at a friends eating dinner watching a movie... and it came from nowhere.. there I am in A&E thinking I am dying.. but all the tests say I'm fine.
Its been on and off since then - trips to the doctor, monitors, ECG, echos... all say I'm fine... It seems crazy your mind can make you physically feel so bad when you are in fact 'fine'. It really bugs me to think 'I' am the sort of person that could have something like this, I never feel stressed or anxious... and I never get it when I'm in stressful situations. I go to the gym a lot and keep fit and healthy... why me?
I hope that over time, gaining some advice from the community here I might get over this issue.. hell, I might even be able to help someone else here with theres also... yer that would be pretty awesome.
James
18
Student training to be a cameraman... I've always liked the idea of being an underwater cameraman, and somehow I'm gunna make it. I guess these sort of things are just out to test us... to make us prove we really want it :)