1/2/2024 0 Comments Dead space markers bacteriaI was born with a condition called third-degree heart block that led to dizzy spells when I ate and required me to get a pacemaker when I was 13. But, as it turns out, I actually had a life-threatening infection that had nothing to do with COVID-19. This made sense, given multiple recent blood tests had shown my inflammatory markers were consistently elevated.įor months, I thought I had developed long COVID-19, as my symptoms emerged about three weeks after I caught the virus, and the three GPs and one haematologist I had seen in the previous nine months had failed to diagnose me. The doctor who quizzed me in the emergency department that night told me that these episodes were known as “rigors” and indicated that my body was fighting off an infection. It would simply run its course and end abruptly after about 10 minutes. But nothing I did would stop the shaking. I would breathe deeply and tell myself that everything was OK. I would get home after a short walk and suddenly feel freezing and start shaking all over. Soon after, I was suffering from regular bouts of uncontrollable shaking. It had started with night sweats that were so intense I would drip from head to toe and have to change my sheets in the middle of the night. The truth was, I had been feeling sick for about nine months. Reporter Euan Black recovering after heart surgery this year. And as rivers of sweat poured down my body, a doctor started asking me about my symptoms and recent history: “Have you been overseas recently? Is this the first time you’ve had one of these episodes? How long have you been feeling sick?” My skin was grey and clammy, and I was shaking uncontrollably.Ī nurse inserted a cannula and administered paracetamol to help bring down my temperature, which had risen to 39.5 degrees. My heart was thundering at 180 beats a minute as the nurses rushed me through the emergency department waiting room and helped me onto a bed.
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