Hi...
I will try to introduce myself here without being too boring. But fear it could be a longish post. If it is too long for the forum I will understand if it will have to be shortened or deleted.
In December last year I had a urinary catheter removed after an op for a non cancerous enlarged protsate. The catheter was put in about 18 months previous in June 2014. In that 18 months there were times when it had blocked and I had many new ones inserted.
In March 2015 I was beginning to feel pretiy ill and my memory of the pain is very vague. I only knew I had pain as neighbours told me since that I was complaining about it.
One Saturday morning in March I cadged a lift into town to collect a repeat prescription for my diabetes type 2 and the next I cant remember at all. It is only what I am told. I got out of the car by the chemist and collapsed. An ambulance was called and I was taken to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee. I was put straight into ICU and was in a coma for about 10 days. At that time I of course did not know the severity of what I had. I am told I had Sepsis and was going into total organ failure. I was on dialysis and life support and some mighty strong drugs. Gradually I improved and after about 8 weeks I was put into a high dependency ward and then a normal ward. After 12 weeks I was discharged.
I am now totally cured and do not have the catheter any more. I was told that the Sepsis was as a direct result of the catheter. While in the ICU I was on a diet of ice cubes and when I came out I had a vile taste when I ate anything. The taste is back to normal now. I do still have an intermittent problem where food can get caught in my throat but that causes no choking. The strength in my legs is back to about 90%. I was told on the day of discharge that when I was admitted I had about a 5% chance of pulling through.
Now... The reason for me joining this forum.
I do get what I believe are anxiety attacks or are they called Panic attacks. Physically I believe I am not too bad at 64yo but fairly often I get a feeling of quite a bad worry. Its hard to explain here but its like I can be quite normal one minute and in a short space of time I get these worries. I don’t even know what the worries are which I know sounds stupid and to an outsider they would not even know this is happening. It can last for anything from a few minutes to a few days but normally half a day or so. I just worry about just about anything. If I have an ache in my arm I worry that I am having a heart attack, I am very overweight and do try to lose weight but if I lose weight I then worry that I might have cancer. If I get a headache I worry that I might have a brain haemorrhage, If I feel tired I worry that I am going downhill and that I might die.
I dont believe that I have depression but much more likely it is anxiety, if there is a difference? I am not in any way liable to top myself, its just these feelings that I get fairly often. I think I have very mild COPD but I often forget about that anyway.
I live on my own though do have many friends and have a Dachshund and 2 parrots. I have a big interest in computers and spend far too much time on them. I also take a full interest in photography and music.
I hope this post is not too long and am looking for advice on what I should do to perhaps ease these worrying phases. I have not been to the doctor about this although I did mention it to them one day on the phone and they did say it could well be anxiety brought on by my extended time in hospital.
One thing I should mention at the end is that while I have been typing this is that it has made me feel somewhat better. Like it is a weight off my mind.
If anyone can reply I look forward to reading them.
Thanks
Nigel
---------- Post added at 22:18 ---------- Previous post was at 22:15 ----------
If I do get any replies I hope I can find them.
Hopefully I can find my way round this site.
Thanks.
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