Mental health

I had an appointment with my PCP on October 5, 2019 for shortness of breath. I could barely walk to my car from his office door. My lower legs were hurting. I was 56 and on no medications. He referred me to a cardiologist. The following day, after my morning coffee, I could hardly walk.…

In 2022, I was running three times a week training for my first half marathon when I noticed swelling and cramping in my left leg . I shrugged it off as overtraining or a Baker cyst behind my knee. Until that point, I had been a very healthy 44-year-old wife, mom, and teacher. I never…

I am a healthy 30-year-old woman. Or at least I thought I was. This summer, I was getting my 1-year-old ready for the day. I lifted him onto the changing table and started to feel light headed. I grabbed him and put him on the floor and sat down to catch my breath, but I…

I was walking my dog when I suddenly felt weaker with every step. I needed to sit down on the ground repeatedly throughout the walk. I had chest pains, shortness of breath, and I felt faint. I called my family and went to the emergency room. It turned out that my D-dimer levels were high.…

In October 2017, I had a long day working behind my desk and had not gotten up or hydrated much. After about 10 hours, I headed straight to a volleyball game as I played in a league. Midway through the game, I experienced a sharp, painful cramp in my right calf that would not subside.…

I experienced my pulmonary embolism in September 2023. Our youngest son and I had taken our older children to school, and the day went on normally. I noticed that I was becoming easily winded while doing really simple activities. My heart rate was also high. After school, our middle child had soccer practice and sat…

I was 33 years old. I had a cramp in my leg and figured it was just that until it lasted three days. I’ve always been judged and misunderstood when it comes to my health anxiety but this time it saved my life. I knew something wasn’t right and made a doctor’s appointment. I had…

On July 31, 2021, after being misdiagnosed and sent home almost a week prior, I finally received a diagnosis that would forever change my life: sub-massive pulmonary emboli and pulmonary infarction. I call it “the back pain that saved my life.” My primary symptom was upper back tightness and discomfort, which I later learned was…

One week I was a healthy 24-year-old hiking mountains, the next I was bedridden in a hospital with an unprovoked 20cm DVT. I had an unusual cramping pain in my leg on a Friday night. I took some painkillers and decided to sleep it off. The next morning I felt okay and set off for…

It was June of 2023. I was five days postpartum when I started to get really erratic blood pressure readings. It would go from 177/206 to 123/79 within minutes, up and down like a roller coaster. I was also having palpitations and I remember telling the doctor later that I had a twinge of pain…