slowhand

Ive heard horror stories about hospital visits from other people with Parkinsons, but I got a taste of it last night..Ive been getting and anxious tightening in my chest for over a month, usual at night..I figured, just another new symptom, what else is new?..But I was at my APDA board meeting last night, and a nurse who is a board member told me that from what I described, sounded like the symptoms of a heart attack..So I went home after the meeting, and the tightening in my chest had been nasty all day, so I thought Id better go to the ER and see whats going on

When I got there they took me right in, and did an EKG, and determined that I wasnt having a heart attack..That was a relief!..So they told me to go out in the waiting room and wait for the Dr to call me in..That took an hour, to get called in that is, and another half hour before the Dr showed up..Meanwhile the hooked me up to the heart monitor, put a blood pressure cuff on me, drew some blood, and hooked up an IV, and they left me alone for about an hour..I was lying down almost flat, and got extrememly uncomfortable real quick, especially with all the wires, and the IV tube hooked up to me..When you've got Parkinsons, it gets so uncomfortable that you are freiking out..I had to wait an hour for the blood work to come back, and when it did they told me that something got screwed up with the bloodwork, and they had to draw some more blood..Then a half hour later they wanted a urine sample..Piece of cake right?..Wrong!!..The nurse gave me a jug, and said she would be back in a few minutes..I said whoa!!..Wait a minute!!..You gotta unhook all the wires!..Sorry sir..I cant do that, and she split!..What a fucking moron!..Here I am, laying down, with wires hooked up to my chest..a wire hooked up to my finger..a BP cuff on my arm..and an IV tube in my other arm, when I have one leg that can hardly move..weakness, and restricted movement in my mid section because of Parkinsons..a very weak arm on my right side, a johnny that wasnt tied up, and I had to get out of that bed in a standing position to pee in a jug..All the wires were just long enough without an inch to spare, to get up out of the bed..I managed to get out of the bed in one piece, and now I have to pee in the jug without falling down and pulling the heart monitor down with me, pulling the IV out of my arm, and peeing on myself..Then when I was done I had to get back in the bed, which I couldnt do with all that shit hooked up to me, so I had to sit on the edge of the bed in an uncomfortable position, and wait, cuz I couldnt reach the call button, for about a half hour..Finally the nurse shows up and helps me get back in the bed, and the urine sample sat there, on the table for 2 1/2 hours, and was still there at 3:00 AM in the morning when I left..Then the nurse shows up with some Morphine, and says shes gonna give me some Morphine for pain..So I said, "Im not in any pain, and I dont want any Morphine!"..I couldnt fucking believe it!!..Number one, I wasnt in any pain, and I knew if I let them inject me with that shit, they wouldnt let me drive home untill it wore off..Around 2:00 AM they gave me another EKG, and it too was normal..At this point I was sure that the tightening in my stomach was Parkinsons related dystonia, but they took me for a chest x-ray, and it was also normal..Finally when 3:00 AM rolled around, I hit the call button, and told the nurse to unhook me cuz I was going home..She said she would talk to the Dr and would be back..So when she came back, she unhooked everything and they came to the conclusion that I was right..I had Parkinsons related dystonia, which is muscle spasms..You would really have to have Parkinsons to appreciate this experience, because you get uncomfortable very quick..you feel like a dog on a short chain, and you are afraid to move because it is so hard to hooked uo to a machine with an IV in your arm..It is really sad, and scarey how many people in the medical field dont know jack shit about Parkinsons..I have a friend in my online support group who has had Parkinsons for 17 years, and she is in alot worse shape than I am..She ended up in the ER one night, and when her meds wore off she began to tremor violently, and had trouble talking..So what did they do?..They figured she was a drug addict and strapped her down and treated her like a second class citizen, and while she was trying to explain to the staff what was wrong with her, they told her to shut up!!..Its a miracle they didnt kill her, because you cant cold turkey off levadopa, and because they didnt get it that she had Parkinsons, they wouldnt give her any meds..There needs to be more awarness in the medical community on certain diseases and disorders