Woman

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.…

After 20+ hours of flights from Bali to Oregon, I was dehydrated from severe “Bali Belly.” I felt a cramp in my calf several hours after landing. Over the next two days, the pain and tenderness escalated sharply and spread throughout my lower leg. As a former ultramarathon runner, it felt like I’d raced 50…

On January 28, 2024, I took a hard fall and I thought I just pulled my calf. I elevated my leg, iced it, applied heat, and continued working out three to four times a week. By February, my left calf had swollen up. I thought maybe I had sprained it so I used the massage…

My first pulmonary embolism was on August 15, 2015. I was on birth control for irregular cycles and began having pain in my lower right side, which I thought was a pulled muscle. A week after the symptoms, the pain was unbearable. I went to the ER and was diagnosed with a right lung pulmonary…

In April 2023, I had a spontaneous seizure at work. I was taken to the hospital and stayed for 10 days. On day 8, I had a lumbar puncture (also known as a spinal tap) to try and find the cause of the seizure. The following day, I woke up with an intense, sharp, left-sided…

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…

In November 2023, I had been experiencing calf pain for several weeks, which I assumed was a pulled muscle as I had recently started an exercise program. I also had a nagging cough which I assumed was a seasonal cold. By November 30, my entire leg had doubled in size, so I quickly went to…

After returning home from a weekend of skiing in Breckenridge, Colorado, I woke up with low back pain and pain in my chest on a Monday morning. I didn’t think much of it because it was normal for me to be sore after exercise, and I’ve always struggled with exercise-induced asthma as a lifelong Colorado…

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…