Adam

adam thank you very much for coming on now we know you you're living in in the sort of well everywhere in england south of me but you're in the more southern part of england yeah and thanks for coming on adam really appreciate it i know you haven't been feeling great lately and and how are you feeling at the moment um i'm still feeling quite unwell um most days but i mean the last the last week or so i've started to see a bit of an improvement of my symptoms but it's still obviously like nowhere near how i was doing before all this started so yeah not too bad okay so it sounds like you're putting a pretty brave face on it i'm delighted it's been it's it's been a good week but have things kind of been going up and down a bit if you haven't made up having good days bad days better weeks worst weeks um yes it's been like really up and down like um there's been some times where i almost feel completely recovered again and then suddenly all the symptoms will come back like really strong so yeah it's really up and down definitely yeah and before this started you're a young you're 22 adam aren't you i'm 22 yeah and you're you're a matt are you a math student i think weren't you a math student yeah yeah yeah i was never a math student but a good good job that some people could do it yeah and before this you were you were pretty fit you were doing sports you were doing all the young persons things um yeah before this i was skateboarding pretty much like every single day for like a couple hours a day and having like no issues at all like with anything so yeah and it's how it should be at your range you don't think about it you just do it yes yeah yeah and you're in that category yeah and and then let's do a bit of a timeline adam what what happened when um so i got my first um pfizer dose on the 2nd of july 2021 last year yeah that's so quite a while back yeah yeah and um so that was your second dose adam was it oh that was my first day first oh sorry my mistake yeah that's all right and um so the first initial thing was having the taste of metal in my mouth which was like happened like almost as soon as i had the shot and so we're talking talk in seconds yeah yeah like seconds after i'd got it and at that point i like wasn't really worrying about anything so i just thought oh that's probably just normal like i don't know i didn't really think about it that much but then i do remember like asking my family oh did any of you guys get a taste of metal and they were all just like oh no um we don't really know what that's about so i don't know um i mean you've probably seen the videos that we did with uh nick and kyle on this channel and they they both describe exactly the same experience just just within seconds of getting the the vaccine the metallic what was it like was it quite a strong metallic taste or um it was yeah it was really like really strong like bitter like chemically metal taste like i don't know how to explain it but um it's a bit like sucking a copper coin or something like that it's looking at two pp's or something oh yeah yeah definitely kind of like that so quite a pleasant and did that did how long did that last for adam did um i think that ended up i had that taste for i think like the rest of the day and then i think it started to go away the next day and then um i didn't have any of the the normal like side effects like um i didn't feel unwell or anything like i didn't feel tired um so then so i had like none of the normal side effects and then this was almost exactly two weeks later i was on holiday with my um mum and my sister in cornwall and we were just like walking down the street normally and i just randomly had this really strong feeling like i was about to pass out kind of thing and it was like a really intense feeling um so then i managed to get back to the place we were staying and i just like lied down um because i thought i had like heapstroke or something because i didn't really know what it was so i just tried to lie down and it kind of like slowly the feeling started getting worse and worse like instead of getting better it was just slowly getting worse and worse that you're about to lose consciousness yeah and like um my heart started like pounding out of my chest and i was really dizzy so like i had to stay lying down otherwise like it felt like the room was like moving almost so if you sat up the feeling got worse yeah yeah like even just sitting up a little bit it would get a lot worse um so then i was just like thought i could just sleep it off and like it was just heat stroke um and then the next day i woke up and i started feeling like my hands and my feet were starting to go numb and but both hands and both feet yeah both hands both feet like symmetrical yeah and um so then i was i was telling my mum and my sister like oh i think something like really serious is happening and like they they were trying to like reassure me like um oh sometimes if you're anxious like your hands and feet could go a bit numb so like i was trying to like stay calm it's understandable that they didn't want anything to be wrong with you so they're trying to minimize definitely definitely um pretty terrifying for you though yeah yeah it was really really i've never felt anything like it and um so then over the next couple days the numbness like started spreading like all the way up my arms and then all the way up both my legs and it it kind of like each day like more of my arm would be numb and like more of my legs would be numb and then yeah it just got to the point where like my legs and my arms were almost completely numb and um yeah that yeah did you know that imagine more is it i mean we were able to move them normally it was just like a could you still stuff yeah i could still i could still move them but um it just felt kind of weird like i was like moving someone else's arm kind of thing and um i could kind i could kind of walk but even standing up i was still getting the the vertigo and the dizziness yeah yeah yeah so i was just pretty much in bed for like a whole week and we're still getting the palpitations at this stage you could still feel your heart going some sometimes um yeah it wasn't constantly i would just have there'd be small periods where my heart would start going really fast and i'd have like some kind of like chest pains when it was happening where was the chest pain adam i was kind of like directly where my heart is kind of like kind of like there did the pain kind of go anywhere we say referred pain did it go anywhere um what do you mean sorry was it good you feel the pain like going into your arm or up into your neck or um yeah top of your tongue so it wasn't like spreading like i would get pain there and then sometimes i would get pain like in the left side of my jaw and then kind of on that bit of my arm on your left arm or your right arm adam always my left arm or with my left arm and so then oh and then also when this was happening i started getting uh tremors in my legs and then in my hands a bit and i think at that point was when um i ended up calling one one one and then that's when i ended up uh going to a e and stuff but yeah and what happened in a e um so first time i went to a e it was when i was having like a really bad episode like um i remember thinking like i was having some sort of stroke or something because all the other symptoms were still really bad but then i was also like i had like a really strong pressure like on my head like almost like crushing inwards and i was like feeling kind of like confused and didn't really know like like i couldn't really have a conversation or anything because i was just like everything in my body was just like just felt like it was going wrong kind of thing um so then i went to a e and um i remember we had to wait for about two hours i think and like i just felt like so ill and like i could like hardly sit in my chair because like sitting up straight made everything way worse um and then we finally saw someone and um i think they were doing like a blood pressure test on my arm or something and i could like um you know when they like measure your heartbeat you can kind of hear a beep out loud yep but like my heart was kind of like almost like beeping like randomly like there wasn't a straight beat to it it just kind of it was going like all over the place and i think the blood pressure was irregular i think so yeah i'm i'm not sure already but um and also when they were trying to measure the blood pressure like it wouldn't for some reason it wouldn't take the measurement properly like it kept not being able to do it so i don't know if that meant my blood pressure was just going up and down or something but i'm not sure really did they do it manually with the stethoscope um they were doing it with one of the automatic ones where yes if that didn't no no but they the guy the guy was just kind of asking me like do you know what day it is like do you know where you are and i was like i was kind of struggling to even answer that but um he ended up just like saying oh yeah um go outside and then you'll get seen by someone else in a bit and then i ended up getting sent to i think i got sent to like the intensive care part of any or whatever yeah yeah and then um the resuscitation we'd normally call it yeah but yeah absolutely yeah i think so and then um they ended up doing like a ecg and then i think at this point my symptoms have like started to get a little bit better um so then they did the ecg and then um they got back to me and they were like um your ecg looks normal and um we're pretty sure either you have heat stroke or you have anxiety um but i i like knew like my gut instinct was the new yeah this this isn't anxiety like this this felt like way worse um but yeah that's were you weeing normally we're producing as far as you remember we're going for normal kind of wheeze um i think i remember i was like going like quite frequently yeah like i definitely remember that being a thing see if you'd had heat stroke if you had heat stroke you'd be dehydrated and not wearing properly yeah i didn't have so i i think that basically rules out heat stroke yeah yeah so quite why they would say that baffles me yeah and i mean because at that point i've been having these symptoms for like a week and i'm pretty sure with heat stroke that it shouldn't really last a week well heat stroke you become dehydrated and you run out of salt and you start feeling ill because of that it's that's oh okay okay and that's clearly not what you had no the the so you you reported the fact that you'd have these palpitations you felt this irregular thumping heart rate and you heard the the the the beep was abnormal when you were listening to it but then they came back and your heart rate was your ecg was normal yeah yeah okay then i'm not sure if because i remember when they were measuring it the first time i was having really really intense symptoms and then when they did it the next time it kind of calmed down a little bit so it's quite possible that you could have changed from having what we call a dysrhythmia or an abnormal heart rate driving a normal one that's that that is possible yeah the other thing that's concerned me about what what you've said so far is um the the pain that you were describing and where that pain went that distribution of the pain does sound like heart related pain so so that history alone would would would concern me enough to take you straight to uh you know if you if you came to my a e department when i was a staff nurse on any i would take you straight to the senior consultant if you'd reported that because that that would be enough to concern me and anyway what diagnosis did you get on um on a e um well my society yeah my diagnosis was basically they just said like a combination of the two they were like um you might have got a heat stroke and then that made you feel anxious and now you're just this is just anxiety or something like they they basically said they they couldn't find anything so that's that's like the only thing they could say they but they they didn't really um they didn't really do any more tests or anything they just said i think you reported to them that you felt the worse you'd felt in your life um yeah yeah the basically wrote that offers anxiety yeah yeah well i i am so sorry that happened i mean to to use a psychological stroke psychiatric explanation when you have an exhausted or physical possibilities to me is one of the most fundamental mistakes you can make in medicine yeah because you knew it wasn't anxiety and from what you've described to me even though we're only on a skype call i know you're not just described obviously you're anxious as a result of this yeah definitely definitely obviously it's terrible it sounds terrifying i'm shaking just listening to you but you know to go through that you you clearly know the difference and you're clearly a lucid historian you can tell the difference yeah um so um what happened after that so that we're we're in about so that so two weeks after the vaccine the symptoms started about a week after that you went to a nation yeah yeah how did the time after that go um so after that um it kind of like this is when i was kind of like thinking like oh could this be a reaction to the vaccine or something because i think um it started reading about it at that time yeah and i was just thinking like it doesn't make any sense that they're saying i have anxiety when my symptoms are way worse like that that didn't really make any sense and um i mean just before we go on i mean i i'm quite happy to admit adam i i've had uh anxiety episodes um yeah um it's it's is just awful but i didn't have those and i i've worked i was a psychiatric nurse i've worked with a lot of people with extreme anxiety yeah and this just doesn't sound like anxiety the the cardiac distribution pain doesn't sound like anxiety the palpitations and the irregular heart rate certainly don't sound like anxiety and and particularly the because if you're anxious your heart rate will be high your blood pressure will be high yeah so why would you go dizzy when you stood up and when you sat up yeah yeah that's completely you know that you're describing a what you're describing there is a cerebral hypoperfusion event but you know when you're standing up sitting at the blood not going to your brain properly that's just not an anxiety feature that i can relate to or that i've seen in in many many anxious people that i've worked with so um yes to me you're describing an organic yeah biological condition and that's clearly clearly what you were feeling yeah definitely so in the week after a e what happened then um so after that it's just like the symptoms kind of just stayed like really really severe um the numbness was kind of like just stayed the same like it wasn't getting any better so at this stage it was both arms and both legs both arms and both legs yeah did it go into the body into the torso at all did it kind of stop at the top of your legs um it went like a tiny bit um it was like below my belly button like it never got up to my belly button um and then so my symptoms kind of just stayed the same for a while um but then the tremors started getting quite a lot worse so they were getting more intense and i was starting to have like almost like episodes almost like twice a day when my symptoms would get really bad um and then i think oh yeah then um we had to come back from holiday because it got so bad and um i think i ended up going to a e another time because it like just wasn't getting any better and then um what happened at that visit to a e uh pretty much the exact same thing um they just said um uh like you really need to see uh like a psychiatrist or a psychologist and get prescribed um so anxiety medication i think they're attributing what i you and me believe to be completely physical symptoms as psychological yeah and then um that adam yeah and then um and then this this was the time as well when um i was having quite a lot of trouble just walking properly and the nurse that was seeing me um was like oh can you walk properly and then i was trying to walk down the hallway and i was like going really slowly like it was really obvious and she just said oh but you can still walk so yeah and then so like they were just making it out like i was really anxious and um i don't know i don't know minimizing it yeah complaining of symptoms and they were yes butting yeah but you could yeah yeah and um that's as well when i was having like quite bad tremors in my legs where they were shaking and um the nurse was saying like oh it's all right like you can relax now everything's fine and i was like like i couldn't control what my legs were doing or anything and yeah so then it was basically the same thing they just said um you need to like get treatment for anxiety and stuff and then i just got sent home and that was that's pretty much it i'm just trying to remain calm here adam because what you're telling me just outrages me right to the very core of my body but if i get mad it won't help the communication but um i'm feeling it um so this is taken as what so into mid august now um i think yeah at this point it had been like three or four weeks of having like really bad symptoms um and then this was when um i saw there was a video i think i've watched a video on instagram of a girl i think her name was georgia rose or something and it was um a video of her saying um this is what happened to me after my um pfizer vaccine and it's a video of her like shaking and like not being able to walk properly and it was like pretty much the exact same symptoms i was having so i was like started to put it together like oh maybe i'm having the same thing and then um she ended up saying um the best way was to see like a neurologist privately because she had the same experience where doctors were just dismissing her um so then i ended up seeing a private neurologist um and had an mri scan to like rule out any like brain damage or anything and um so then i ended up getting diagnosed as having a functional neurological disorder i think it's called yeah um but then even then i thought like the neurologist was like quite quick to kind of diagnosed me as having that were you still getting the chest pain at this time adam um i think i was getting it like it wasn't that strong but i was there were times where i was getting chest pain definitely yeah yeah yeah i think we should just say functional a functional condition is one where there is no identified biological correlation so it sounds like what is done is look at the mri scan and say it's normal yeah yeah yeah you're still getting these neurological symptoms therefore it's functional that seems to be the way his thinking was going yeah but as you say that you seem to arrive at that diagnosis fairly quickly yeah and then i think i i remember i even brought up um like is there a chance this could be a reaction to the vaccine because the symptoms started so close to when i'd got it and then he said something like um the chance of you having um a reaction to the vaccine is like one in a million and the chance of you having a neurological disorders like way more common so then he just kind of said he didn't really think that could be it but i don't really know anyway he didn't seem to follow that one up yeah yeah so another disappointment from the medical system for sure and you had to pay for that for goodness sake yeah quite quite a lot yeah it's terrible yeah should have gone straight through on the nhs with that severity of symptoms as an emergency referral hmm yeah so weird and what what happened after that sort of into autumn time um so then i think so my symptoms oh yeah that's when as well i started getting like some weird like vision issues so like i was seeing like quite a lot of like flashing dots and stuff and like my vision would kind of like flash white and then go back to normal sometimes and then oh but then as well the numbness in my legs and my arms started to go away so that started to get better um i think oh yeah i got prescribed a medication called propanol i think it was called yeah that that's what we call a beta blocker yes slows the heart rate down and things like that yeah yeah and then i was take um did that seem to help him um so i was taking it for like a week or two but like it almost felt like it was making it worse but then the neurologist had told me like oh this should they should make the symptoms better and they should just go away on their own um but then like i kind of felt like it was making me feel more ill kind of thing the perpendicular seemed to make you feel worse yeah like it was it was just making me feel like really sick again that that actually makes quite a lot of sense because what the propranolol would do it limits the ability of your heart to pump out blood as quickly so given that your heart probably wasn't working properly anyway yeah for example if you did if it turned out from your symptoms you did have uh myocarditis and from the pain in the dizziness it does sound that that's a serious possibility yeah the panel would further suppress the activity of the heart making the heart pump completely even less efficiently and that by reducing the blood supply to your brain and that's what would make you feel worse and make you feel dizzier yeah yeah so you have to stop taking that after about a week yeah yeah um and then basically since then it's just been like i've basically been in bed most of the time and sucks like the the tremors and stuff like started to get a bit better but then they'd all come back like get worse again and it was just like um i ended up having a period where i almost felt like completely better for a bit and then that's when i ended up going back to university for like this was at like the start of term yeah and i went back for like two weeks so this is september-ish yeah and then um i just remember i was back for two weeks and then i randomly just started getting the dizzy feeling again and i remember like sitting in a lecture and like trying to concentrate on what they were talking about and like i just felt like really ill again like almost like i felt right at the beginning and then it all just kind of came back and then i ended up having to get like picked up and then come home and then it kind of just all started again like all the same symptoms and then yeah so was this the start of your second year uh yeah this is meant to be the start of my second year so you bounced through your first year and then the second year just became an impossibility um yeah yeah and then i think intrinsic about university because your first year you you did that as normal that was fine yeah yeah that was fine that was fine yeah and then what about over winter adam how did that go um so well we're still there now i suppose but yeah yeah um so i think it kind of like basically i was just having like all the same symptoms and i was basically just i was pretty much in bed like all the time for quite a long period of time um through tiredness or dizziness or um just just because like i just felt so so like ill like and like even just getting out of bed to do anything would make the symptoms like 10 times worse so and i i like i'd like i don't know i like didn't really know what to do at that point because you were stuck yeah like all the doctors are saying like i don't know like it should just go away on its own but then it was just like not getting any better so i just yeah so all the doctors were wrong a little bit yeah yeah no quite a lot by the sounds yeah were you referred to a cardiologist adam um so i was oh yeah so basically this is when i kind of like i ended up making a gp's appointment just like a normal gp appointment because oh yeah i remember i started at this point i was starting to get quite a lot of um shortness of breath so like it would like i'd be breathing normally but it felt like i like wasn't getting enough oxygen or anything um so i made like an emergency gp appointment um and then that's when so they like measured my heart listened to my breathing and stuff and they were like i think my heart rate was like 140 beats per minute and then um my blood pressure was like 170 over 110 or something like that and um exceptionally high for a young fit guy like you're exceptionally high yeah and um she just kept asking likes are you 100 sure like um this isn't anxiety and i was like yeah 100 like this has been going on for so long and um so then i think she was she was also really confused like how i'd been to a e so many times and they hadn't tried to do any like any more tests yeah like she she was like seemed quite angry um as indeed am i yeah and um so she thought like i could even have like blood clots like in my lungs or something or like i can't remember what's called pulmonary pulmonary embolism yeah like she she thought i might have something like that um so then she got me to do some more like blood tests and i had a chest x-ray and then everything came back um completely normal but then she said like she wanted to refer me to a cardiologist but that it could take like up to like eight months to end up seeing one so then we ended up just seeing a private cardiologist unleash your gp took you seriously yeah yeah that was like and i don't i don't i'd already been having symptoms for like five months at that point it must have been quite reassuring to have a medic actually listen to you and believe you yeah definitely first time after eight months yeah like she was probably the first like doctor that was like yeah this does seem a bit weird like life yeah that's one way to put it adam yeah yeah and you saw a cardiologist um yeah i ended up seeing a cardiologist this this is like quite recently now because it took quite a while to organize it all and um i had um an ecg and then um an echocardiogram and um the cardiologist said um everything looks normal except for the fact that your heart rate is like 140 beats per minute and that was like not normal no like yeah like that's when i was like lying down as well so i was like quite relaxed and um i think he was saying like it could be um pots i think it's good so this is the postural orthostatic tachycardic that basically means your basically it means your heart rate just goes really really fast when you stand up yeah yeah and that's what was happening it was going even faster when you were standing yeah so like it's weird because my heart rate even when i'm lying down is still really high and that's still the same now your heart rate's fast now yeah like like um because i have like a um finger doodah i think yeah you clip on your finger yeah peripheral oximeter yeah and um the other day i was literally just like brushing my teeth and started to feel a bit dizzy so i was like oh i'm gonna measure my heart rate and i think it was going from like 150 and then i saw it go up to like 160 and then that started to like freak me out a bit so then i just like lie down and i'm pretty sure it's still do i'm pretty sure it still does that but i'm kind of like don't really want to measure my heart rate anymore because it's just no it didn't need to see it well it's more than that it's it's terrifying because it's kind of so your heart rate is going high when you get these dizzy episodes or so i think we can say that the dizzy episodes are caused by the episodes of tachycardia yeah yeah i think so so did the cardiologists indicate a way forward um so cardiologists i ended up having like a 24-hour heart monitor 24-hour memo yeah yeah and then um he prescribed me if what do you know what that's for um it basically it just slows your heart rate down um and he just he just prescribed that so like he still says like he doesn't know what the problem is but like i might as well take that to lower my heart rate in the meantime and then he still hasn't got back but i think i've got another appointment um having to pay for the second appointment as well um i think so i'm not sure i've like i'm kind of like splitting all the costs like with my parents and stuff because they're trying to help out as well of course yeah um but you're still talking about a lot of money here that the nhs really should be looking after you this is so disappointing so you're kind of waiting for the cardiologist to get back is is this new drug seeming to have any effect um it's helping a little bit i think but like i'm still having like all the same symptoms but it is helping a little bit i think yeah are you still getting the pain um so i haven't had the pain in like three days but like a couple days ago i was getting it quite badly yeah does the pig respond to any particular painkiller adam have you i guess you've tried the usual thing you've tried ibuprofen paracetamol um no i don't think it i don't think it gets any better um for anything like that okay yeah so you're still in limbo basically aren't you kind of waiting to see what this cardiologist says and unable to resume your university career yeah pretty much pretty much at the moment not good it certainly is not a good situation i mean is there any talk of referring you to uh anywhere else you know a long covered clinic or something like that um well i mean like none of the doctors have said like have said anything like that or like generally said like what i should do i mean not this is caused by copper but it seems to be that sort of area of yeah like yeah but i think like there's definitely like quite a lot of similarities between long covered and whatever whatever reaction this is but have you known lee had covered adam never um i'm like i'm almost 100 sure that i've never had covid because um when my symptoms started i initially thought oh this could be coveted sure related so i was um i was doing like lateral flow tests every single day and they were always negative and i was around my family the whole time and um none of them had coped at that time so i don't really think i don't think it would be to do with that but obviously your doctors have done an antibody test um no they haven't it's just that they haven't no so your doctors haven't bothered to find out whether you've had covert or not um no well i've i've had they've told me to get like certain blood tests but they've never done an antibody to it i i didn't even think to even ask to do that like because i've just been well why should you you you you're the one that's suffering [Applause] yeah i've got to feel when i'm suffering and i've worked in healthcare all my life there's no reason why you should be able to it's not so it's very much a wait and see situation um yeah i think so definitely i wish there was something i could say to guide you forward but um i think we'd wait we'll wait and see what's happening aren't we right i don't think this is this is a syndrome that quite a few others have been describing yeah um and watching this i suspect many others will recognize that as you recognize uh georgia rose who was uh courageous enough to uh publicize that yeah you're courageous enough to publicize it and uh many other people will relate to that and hopefully this is going to help us get towards the stage where this is recognized for the biological syndrome that i'm convinced it is yeah definitely so we certainly appreciate it adam is there anything else you feel that you want people to know about um i just say like if you have the same thing like try not to worry too much because i think there were points where like i was like almost certain like i was gonna die because it felt so bad but then i i haven't so if you're going through the same thing like just don't don't worry too much kind of thing like i have gotten a bit better as time has gone on so yeah yeah but i think we have to take medical advice immediately yeah yeah if you have any of these features um do not delay seeking any medical advice that uh you're going to need in that situation yeah definitely adam so it's uh it's really good of you to come on and it's not easy talking about your suffering and i know i know i mentioned a couple of minor things i've had and it is it's quite actually hard to do it so yeah what you've just done is is a remarkably courageous thing and um no really really it is it's a it's it's a very very hard thing to do but but it's one people are relating to and i suspect you're going to see that in there in the comments yeah that's certainly um would i mean at any time you want to come back and update us on your condition adam please do um yeah definitely yeah like thank you for having me on as well like i've i didn't really expect you were gonna reply or anything but yeah like cheers for having me on and everything no no it's it's uh you you're the one that's suffering it's your nobility that's that's allowed you to share this we appreciate it and uh yeah let's talk again but for now adam we i mean to say i wish you well is trite but uh well i'm not quite sure what else to say to be quite honest yeah i'll just say one thing to healthcare providers pain is what your patient says it is existing when they say it does and uh most of them know that i think you maybe had a bit of a bad sample but um if we don't believe our patients then then why bother taking histories adam thank you very much cheers thank you

Channel: Dr. John Campbell

Views: 411,324

Keywords: physiology, nursing, NCLEX, health, disease, biology, medicine, nurse education, medical education, pathophysiology, campbell, human biology, human body

Id: NAyQds9DAHw

Length: 46min 10sec (2770 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 18 2022