Yasmin Vossoughian wanted to believe the doctors when they told her that the pain she was experiencing in her chest was simply acid reflux. Unfortunately, she said, her body “quite certainly doesn’t believe” in the misdiagnosis.
Speaking when she returned to MSNBC, the news presenter detailed how on December 20 she began to experience chest pain that “increasing and decreasing” over the next 10 days. On December 30, she received urgent care and was told she had reflux. “I didn’t actually buy it but I’m relieved that it’s not my heart,” she said. “My body pretty sure doesn’t believe in reflux. The next day, I woke up with severe pain in my chest and left shoulder, it was like a tightening in my chest when I took a deep breath and got worse when I was lying flat.”
Reminding viewers that she previously ran seven miles a day four times a week and didn’t eat meat or smoke, Vossoughian said at the time she was afraid she would have a heart attack. In the emergency room, she was diagnosed with pericarditis—inflammation of the heart lining—caused by a virus or, in her case, the common cold.
She said: ‘I have fluid around my heart and it needs to be drained otherwise it could interfere with my heartbeat. “I was hospitalized for four nights. [On Jan. 7,] I was admitted back to the hospital when I felt my heart pounding, like a butterfly in my chest. They determined that I had myocarditis – inflammation of the heart actually now – myocardium.
“I remember being taken to the emergency room and wondering, ‘Is this here?’ Thank God it wasn’t, instead I spent another five days in the hospital where they ran a bunch of tests, adjusted my medication and made sure nothing else was driving what was going on. happen. In the end, it’s still the cold that causes all of this.”
Talking to InsidersThe 44-year-old journalist said she wishes she had “listen to my intuition” instead of accepting “disappointing” misdiagnoses: “As women especially, a lot of times we don’t trust our intuitions. ourselves, we do not trust. our instincts because we are pleasers, society tells us to please.”
She further warns that in high-pressure jobs like journalism, you may be tempted to jump back at the end of the job, cautioning, “You mustn’t let all those insecurities return.”
What are the symptoms of pericarditis?
According to American Heart Association, the disease can be caused by viruses, bacteria, fungi, or other infections. Heart surgery and heart attacks can also lead to this condition, as can pre-existing medical problems, injuries, and medications.
Pericarditis can be acute or chronic. Acute means it comes on suddenly and doesn’t last long, chronic means it develops over time and so may take longer to treat. In severe cases, the disease can lead to abnormal heart rhythms and death. The most common symptom of pericarditis is chest pain. This is because the pericardium—the double-layered sac-like structure that holds the heart in place—can become inflamed and rub against the heart.
The Cleveland Clinic outlines other symptoms of the disease, including sharp or stabbing pain in the chest that get worse when coughing, swallowing, lying flat, or taking deep breaths. Another symptom is this discomfort that lessens when sitting up and leaning forward. Other symptoms include pain in the patient’s back, neck, or left shoulder, dry cough, palpitations (irregular heartbeat), anxiety, fever, fatigue and, in severe cases, ankle swelling, feet and legs.
In Vossoughian’s case, she had both pericarditis and myocarditis. The two are different because they involve different points of inflammation in or around the heart. The second thing that can also be identified is that when patients have pericarditis, they are more comfortable sitting upright and facing forward, when they have myocarditis, they tend to feel fatigued and tired. weaker.
Dr. Greg Katz was Vossoughian’s cardiologist while she was being treated at NYU Langone Hospital, and added that “anecdotally” he’s seen more of these cases after COVID. above Vossoughian’s MSNBC Program, he explains, “No one knows exactly why this is and whether this is a standard blip or if my anecdotal experience is a bit misleading. Maybe this season there is a little more virus than usual, maybe our immune system is a little different than before because we have been wearing masks and practicing social distancing for several years.”
Along with outlining the main symptoms of the disease, Katz echoes Vossoughian’s words when telling people to listen to their bodies: “There’s this feeling that ‘something’s wrong with my body’. Fever, chills, like non-specific symptoms. The feeling that something is wrong is when you should think: ‘I should go check this out.’… [W]We’ve all had colds and we’ve all recovered and sometimes if that recovery is a little different it’s not a bad idea to just make sure you’re getting tested. .”
What is the treatment of pericarditis?
Mayo Clinic states that pericarditis can be treated by many methods. An over-the-counter or prescription pain reliever such as Advil or Motrin IB may be recommended. A drug called colchicine may also be used because it reduces inflammation but can interfere with other medications. For those with long-term symptoms, corticosteroids may be prescribed, which are powerful medications also used to fight inflammation.
If, like Vossoughian, the condition is caused by an infection, drainage or antibiotics may be needed to combat the original problem. The drainage technique is called pericardiocentesis and is done using a sterile syringe or small catheter. In severe cases, the entire pericardium needs to be removed in a procedure called a pericardectomy, which is usually advised when the sac becomes completely rigid.
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