About a month ago I went to the doctor complaining of acid indigestion and heartburn - something I'd never suffered from before. I was told to "see how it goes", and keep taking the Gaviscon.
A month later, it was no better. On Sunday I woke up with the usual acidy feeling in my throat, but also my hands & feet were like blocks of ice (most unlike me) and my left arm and lower half of my face felt tingly, a bit like they were mildly anaesthetised, but my coordination and movement was fine. I did, worryingly, have chest pains though...
Come Monday I was in Leeds, delivering a course, and felt much the same. Suddenly I felt as though I was on fire, and the pains and numbness in my arm got worse and worse for about thirty seconds, and then it subsided. I carried on talking and none of my students seemed to notice, but I felt utterly dreadful. I phoned the doctor and went to see him that evening.
His diagnosis was that what I'd felt shared the symptoms of a heart attack, but was actually something called an oesophageal spasm, which is where acid enters the oesophagus, it throws a benny, and as the oesophagus is very close to your heart the area affected it much the same, as are the symptoms. He listened to my heart and lungs and said all sounded fine, and my blood pressure was pretty much spot-on, so he ruled out a heart attack (thank God!) So I'm now on even MORE tablets, alongside my beta-blockers for the migraines, and although I'm still feeling rough with the (thankfully much milder) chest pains and reduced numbness, plus the light-headedness the tablets have given me, I'm back in class and talking to my students as though nothing happened.
This has been the scariest thing that has ever happened to me. I really hope it doesn't get any worse, and that I feel better soon. I wish I could just take a week off work to chill out...
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