Surprise! A TEE test tomorrow

[tigerlily]

Last week I went to see my Family Physician with the following complaints:

Hurts to breath in deeply
Fatigue and difficulty staying alert
Left shoulder pain (which I thought was a pulled muscle)
Shortness of breath when speaking a lot
Hoarseness (which may be due to allergies)

My FP did a EKG which was normal, listened to my heart and lungs which she said sounded fine except for the fact that she heard a slight murmur (that worries me) and had some blood tests run.

My blood work came back with a slightly elevated white cell count but my sed rate or sid rate?? was high. I don't know what a sed rate is or even if I heard her right but apparently it's the reason my cardio wants me to have a TEE tomorrow.

Any guesses on what they are looking for? Pericarditis, Endocarditis? I feel so much better this week that I almost cancelled the test but the nurse said it would be prudent to go ahead and have it. It doesn't sound like fun. And I hate to miss more work. Just would like to have your thoughts while I wait to hear what's going on. I hope nothing.

 

[Phyllis]

My blood work came back with a slightly elevated white cell count but my sed rate or sid rate?? was high. I don't know what a sed rate is or even if I heard her right but apparently it's the reason my cardio wants me to have a TEE tomorrow.

Here's what I found on sed rate- hope it helps.

Sedimentation Rate

Test Overview

The sedimentation rate (sed rate) blood test measures how quickly red blood cells (erythrocytes) settle in a test tube in one hour.

When inflammation is present in the body, certain proteins cause red blood cells to stick together and fall more quickly than normal to the bottom of the tube. The more red cells that fall to the bottom of a special test tube in one hour, the higher the sed rate. These proteins are produced by the liver and the immune system under many abnormal conditions, such as an infection, an autoimmune disease, or cancer. There are many possible causes of an elevated sedimentation rate. For this reason, a sed rate is done with other tests to confirm a diagnosis. Once a diagnosis has been made, a sed rate can be done to help monitor the course of the disease or the effectiveness of treatment.

 

[Granbonny]

Hi

Hi

I had to go and look up your profile for your surgery date..It would really help if you update your profile..and put info under your name..check phyllis last post and mine..It tells the date of surgery, ect.....so. I see where you had surgery march 7th...A little over 2 months...Most of your symptoms are normal for ..2 months out...shoulder pain..comes from too much using it..as lifting, driving, ect....are you taking any meds to make you feel tired, ect...I hope that everything comes out normal.. this surgery takes a long time for one to feel her/him...normal again....For me..it was 1 year..others a little less...I just took one day at a time..if I overdid something, my body would tell me the next day... Bonnie

 

[geebee]

Being a reluctant expert on pericarditis , your symptoms sound like mine did. Elevated sed rate, abnormal heart sounds (my cardio called it a "rub"), pain when breathing in (mostly in the shoulder or upper chest/neck area), positional pain, sob, etc. I never had a TEE for mine so I am not sure if they are trying to rule out something else.
I was always given a Medrol dosepack (cortisone type med) and percocet which knocked the inflammation out very quickly (as well as me).
Hope they find out what is wrong.

 

[Marguerite53]

Don't know anything, Shirley. Just wanted to wish you good luck!!

Marguerite

 

[tigerlily]

Thanks Phyllis for the sed rate info. I'd never heard of it before.

I feel a little silly at this point, like maybe I should have waited a few days before I called the cardiologist. But on the other hand, it's probably better to be safe than sorry. I just didn't realize I would end up having another procedure that requires that they put you out. If I still had painful symptoms, I wouldn't feel like I'm turning into a budding hypochondriac.

Granbonny, I took your advice and hope the additional information will help folks in the future. Thanks everyone for your comments.