Posts by Scott Allen10

Telfast is just your standard antihistamine.

So that’s really all there is to it... I mean, maybe it isn't made of pure titanium (though I'm pretty sure it is), but at the end of the day, it's just that essential piece of hardware holding the bone to the skull so everything can actually heal up right.

Well, it really just boils down to why things went sideways during surgery or what the situation looks like on the table. Sometimes they can't put the bone flap back in—maybe because the bone itself got too damaged from the initial trauma, or more commonly, because once they perform the craniotomy, the brain starts swelling up. If you get that brain edema where everything starts pushing outward, and even after hitting it with a heavy dose of mannitol, diuretics, or steroids, the swelling just won't budge, there’s simply no way to put the bone back when the brain is literally bulging out of the gap.
In those cases, the surgeons just stitch up the subcutaneous tissue and the skin, and they might tuck the bone fragment under the skin somewhere else, like in the abdominal area. Then, once things have settled down and the inflammation dies down, they can go back in for a second procedure, take that piece, and slot it right back into place like a Lego brick to close everything up properly.

Nancy Smith72 said:Could someone please take a look at my results and tell me what you think...🙏
🙏
I'll just list the stuff that's outside the normal range:

CBC

White Blood Cells 13.37 (3.4-9.7)
RDW-CV 12.1 (14.3-16.5)

Democratic Party

Neutrophils 8.98 (2.06-6.49)
Lymphocytes 3.60 (1.19-3.35)

Urinalysis:

Red Blood Cells 2-5 (0-2)

Thanks in advance!!!

p.s. My OB-GYN sent me for this just for a routine checkup, and I am on birth control... Hope that helps provide some context.

Man, I don't know... it doesn't look too crazy to me, and honestly, I've always been the type to say you shouldn't freak out over every little lab number if you aren't actually feeling sick, especially since you mentioned this was just a routine checkup.

Melissa Stewart said:What does it mean if my platelets are at 535, but the reference range is 158-424 (10e9/L)?
Also, my creatinine is 74, while the interval is 79-125 (umol/L)?
Thanks!

Honestly, it doesn't really mean much—I mean, if those are the only weird numbers popping up, your results look totally fine to me.

Honestly, you can't really "break through" bone, so there's no need to stress about it. If they put that bone flap back in place after your surgery and secured it with titanium plates, it’s locked down tight—there's zero chance you're going to shift anything by accident. It's a whole different story if they didn't replace the bone flap and left that part of your skull open... obviously, in that case, you'd want to be super careful and protect the area.

The ultrasound shows my liver is looking totally healthy

I mean, I’m not 100% certain here, but let me give it a shot...

So, echogenicity is basically just ultrasound terminology. When they run an ultrasound, the probe sends out these high-frequency sound waves that bounce off whatever tissue or organ they're looking at—kind of like how a rubber ball bounces off a wall. If those waves bounce back really strongly, doctors call it hyperechoic, and if they don't bounce back much, it's hypoechoic.
Basically, echogenicity is just a way of describing how much sound those waves reflect from something like your liver. Depending on how much stuff reflects back, a doctor can look at that pattern and figure out if they're seeing healthy tissue, a simple cyst, a solid tumor, or even something like cirrhosis.

Where has doc1 been hiding all this time?....😕...I’m starting to get a little worried here...hope everything is okay on his end...😍

Amanda Gomez47 said:Can someone tell me, is myocarditis actually that dangerous? Is there a real chance for a full recovery, and does it leave you with serious long-term consequences?
And how do doctors actually diagnose it?

Myocarditis can definitely be pretty scary since it can lead to heart failure, which is basically when the heart just can't keep up anymore. But honestly, there's a solid chance for things to turn around, though it really all comes down to what triggered it and how it plays out for you personally.
Doctors usually pin it down by looking at your overall symptoms, doing an echocardiogram, or running a stress test... just like Eric mentioned earlier...

neontinker5 said:Amanda Gomez47, I have been dealing with similar symptoms since I was twelve years old. They used to show up about once a week, maybe a bit more often, but nothing ever felt serious until one or two months ago when things took a turn for the worse. I am twenty-two now.
I went to see Dr. Bratelj in Chicago for a consultation, where I received the following diagnoses:

Diagnosis:
Extrasystolia SV paroxysmalis-bigeminus type
Dyspnea
Chest tightness
Suspected idiopathic hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, NYHA Class 2

Now, someone needs to explain this to me. I tried to find an internist's post on a medical forum to copy from, but the thread got lost in the archives.

Here is what Dr. Bratelj noted in my report:

LV myocardial hypertrophy with a posterolateral Q wave, along with the echocardiogram findings, suggests that in a 22-year-old female, we are looking at the development of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, currently primarily localized to the posterior region.

Honestly, when people tell me I’m just being anxious—which they have suggested is a possible cause—I feel like punching them in the nose. It would take years for that kind of pain to wear off.
Since I was twelve, I have been in and out of the pediatric ward at the local hospital in Chicago for various tests. Very few of them actually yielded anything significant. To give you an idea, here is a quote from my EKG report:

"EKG is normal."
That was it. No parameters, no supporting data, no images, nothing.
My spirometry results were fine, as were my blood tests.

If you ask me, my advice is to ditch those doctors entirely. If you can afford it, go see a private specialist.
I am heading to St. Mary next month; that is where all the top-tier cardiologists in the country practice.

In my case, they mentioned it could easily be related to my kidneys as well. I had an exam for that two weeks ago, and I should have the results back in another week.

So, bigeminy is basically a rhythm issue where if you look at an EKG, every single "normal" heartbeat is followed by an extrasystole—basically a skipped beat or a hiccup in the rhythm that shows up on the trace but doesn't actually result in a real contraction. Think of it like a little glitch in the system.
If you feel like scrolling, take a look at this; it lays it out pretty clearly...http://anestezija.org/index.php/Aritmije_i_antiaritmici

Dyspnea is just the medical term for shortness of breath, which in your case is clearly stemming from what's going on with your heart.
The NYHA classification ( New York Heart Association ) is how doctors grade how much heart failure a patient is experiencing. Class 1 means you don't even feel it while resting or exercising, whereas Class 4 is the most severe, where you're feeling symptoms even while just sitting still. Classes 3 and 4 are usually reserved for patients with heavy cardiac decompensation, while 1 and 2 suggest the issues are more manageable or limited.
It’s not a perfect system, but it's the standard most people use.
When a heart starts failing (decompensating), it actually grows larger to try and compensate—that’s where the word hypertrophic comes from. On an RTG, the heart might look massive. A buddy of mine recently asked me if that meant the heart was getting "stronger," but it's actually the exact opposite—it's getting sick and weaker, so it enlarges as a struggle to keep up.
The term idiopathic just means they haven't figured out the underlying cause of why it's happening yet.

Looking at all this, especially considering how young you are, you're dealing with something pretty serious. Sending you nothing but good vibes for your treatment and wishing you the best of luck!😉

neontinker5 said:They performed spirometry, a thyroid scan, and blood work. However, they refused to provide me with a Holter monitor or perform a cardiac ultrasound because they are currently under their annual budget freeze; apparently, nothing can be ordered until September. I did have a chest X-ray, though.

Ultimately, everything they skipped will be handled at St. Mary’s. They basically implied that they don't value the input of public healthcare staff anyway.

There is a man currently on his deathbed because certain tests were denied to him at the local clinic within the Mayo Clinic system. I refuse to trust them anymore or gamble with my life by relying on their word. I will simply pay out of pocket for the Holter, the stress test, and whatever else is necessary.

When it comes to cardiology, I unfortunately have to agree with that comment....😢....But hey, that doesn't mean everything is garbage...it's just a matter of knowing which specific specialist is actually good so you can go to them for an ultrasound, a checkup, or whatever testing you need....

On the flip side, the way things work at St. Mary's also makes sense from a purely financial standpoint....for them, it's totally in their interest to make you redo every single test if necessary, even if you just saw the best cardiologist in the world yesterday....it's basically easy money, you know? And sometimes it's completely unnecessary...
But any sane person is going to feel exactly like you do—I mean, it's your life and your health on the line, so who's to say you shouldn't just do what they tell you to do...

Man, this could go on forever....☕

Amanda Gomez47 said:But I'm not talking about where the heart sits—I mean the asymmetry is happening further down at the bottom.

It's because I read up on the symptoms of asbestosis, and honestly, they match mine pretty closely (the shortness of breath, the loss of appetite, all that). I live about ten miles away from any old factory, but I grew up surrounded by those old asbestos roofing materials and stuff. That's why I'm so concerned. Can you actually rely on an RTG alone to rule out this disease? I just want to know if I can rest easy or if I need to push for more intensive lung imaging.

That cardiac shadow shifting to the left on a chest RTG is exactly what you mean by being "at the bottom." It's not the perfect example, but take a look at this image.

Do you see how the heart shadow projects toward the left in the lower part of the chest on that first picture?

I'm really not an expert on how they diagnose asbestosis, but I'd imagine they'd need to see some specific changes on an RTG. They'd probably want to run a spirometry test and maybe a few other things too... though, honestly, I have a gut feeling that isn't what's going on with you.

Look, I never said for sure that these issues were psychosomatic. That's definitely a possibility, but like my buddy mentioned before, you really have to rule everything else out first. And when we talk about "everything else"—especially with the Extrasystolia SV and stuff—we're mostly talking about coronary artery disease or the overall health of the heart muscle.

If you're hunting for a doctor recommendation, please don't go starting a whole new thread just for that—just drop your question right here instead.
Also, heads up that any other threads about this stuff will be moved over to this one. Thanks!🙂

Yeah, honestly, there's a real chance those symptoms you're feeling are just psychosomatic...

Amanda Gomez47 said:I’ve got an appointment scheduled with a pulmonologist soon, and I'll be doing a spirometry test too.
I already had my RTG done, and the report says my lungs look fine. Now, I’m definitely no medical expert when it comes to reading scans, but how can everything be "okay" if the left side doesn't match the right? To me, it looks like there's this faint shadow on the left lung near the edge, cut off at a sharp angle, while the right side looks more rounded. Maybe I should have another radiologist take a second look at the image just to be safe.

The left side isn't supposed to be a mirror image of the right because you've got the heart shadow shifting things over to the left. There really isn't any point in hunting down a second radiologist just for a lung RTG. If the doctor wrote that it's clear, then it's clear.

I'm curious, though—what makes you suspect asbestosis? Do you happen to live near an old industrial plant or something like a local steel mill?...

As for the scintigraphy, you don't need to worry about that since they routinely measure heart volumes (both stroke and cardiac output) along with the ejection fraction (EF) that Patrick Carter was talking about during an ultrasound.

That chest pressure you're feeling is a classic symptom of coronary artery disease. That angiogram you've been scheduled for is going to give you the definitive answer on whether that's what's going on. You definitely want to get it done, especially since it's better safe than sorry...

If a cardiologist gave you their take after seeing those symptoms, there isn't much else to do than trust their expertise. It’s pretty hard to make any definitive calls like this on an online forum.
I mean, I really hope they based that opinion on some recent cardiac ultrasounds and maybe a chest RTG too—because honestly, you definitely should have had an ultrasound done by now!

Anyway... hmm... I don't know, I just really dislike it when people start throwing diagnoses around without a proper, thorough exam first.

Yeah, you could definitely be looking at that... honestly, if you've already got a valve issue and you're starting to feel symptoms of heart failure—like that feeling where you can't catch your breath or just feel totally winded—then you're probably getting pretty close to needing to see a cardiac surgeon.

So, here’s my take... when we talk about a thread like "Photos," I really think it implies sharing a shot along with some actual conversation. I mean, what’s the point of posting a picture if nobody’s there to chat about it? To me, it feels a bit pointless if it's just a silent gallery (though, sorry to the OP if you disagree!). By "commenting," I’m talking about real, organic posts—just the kind of stuff we’d actually say to each other if we were grabbing a beer at a local pub instead of staring at screens...
Obviously, anyone can jump in and chime in even if they aren't dropping their own photos into the mix.
Bottom line is...

Susan Gonzalez4 said:😂

Quick question for any dog owners out there—did your pup swallow something they shouldn't have?

Honestly, maybe they just ate something weird or hung out with another dog that had a bug.

☕...man, we're all being pretty sensitive here, aren't we? If that kind of comparison is what's jumping to your mind, then fair enough, but it hasn't crossed my head at all... I'm thinking it's more likely some kind of microorganism, and I mean, seriously, why couldn't a woman experience those exact symptoms after eating something spoiled or just anything that wasn't quite right?
I mean, summer is basically the perfect season for stuff like that to happen, don't you think?