Iceland is on ice... · 8:57pm Oct 25th, 2023
I’m back from Iceland, though I had an unpleasant experience getting home that involved an emergency visit to the hospital. Relax, I’m fine. Let me explain.
To make a long story short, I got sick halfway through the trip, picking up something probably due to people coughing on a tour bus whose passengers had spent the entire day visiting places in a driving wind and rain. Ran a fever that night and had to cancel my next bus tour the next day. Tried to take it easy by walking around Reykjavik and enjoying an Icelandic staple of lamb soup, but then decided to try going to a Northern Lights tour that night.
No luck. Cold weather with only a few breaks in the clouds and no aurora seen. Probably wasn’t a good idea, but I didn’t feel cold even though temperatures were below freezing—I was bundled up good, including wearing thermal underwear, having learned my lesson from being cold and wet on the previous trip—but still ran a lower fever that night.
As a result, I cancelled my bus tour again, and as it was my last day, there was no chance to reschedule. So I just bummed around the city again, and probably ended up walking too far/pushing myself too hard. And thus, that night, when I was thought I was being smart by eating light and going to bed early in advance of my flight home, I woke up feeling awful with a violently racing heart and breaking out in a massive flop sweat that left me dripping all over my room. My blood pressure went through the roof and sent me into a near-panic, leaving me wondering if I should call for help.
I tried to cool off and sleep, but it happened all over again a couple hours later, leaving me honestly fearful that I was in danger of a stroke or something. I tried eating, showering, and sitting at my computer, but neither my heart nor blood pressure would relent. Thus, I decided I didn’t dare try to make the trip home in my current state, getting on a plane for five hours where god knew what could happen. So I called the hotel reception and requested an ambulance.
They came along with the receptionist, measured my blood pressure as extremely high, and then took me to the hospital at my own request even though they warned me that I would have to pay for it since my health insurance is no good in Iceland. They ran a battery of tests on me, talked with me, examined my prescriptions, and locked onto one in particular. I had started an anti-anxiety med at my own request the day I arrived, believing I might need it for visiting a new place on top of my hypertension.
After about three hours, and all my tests coming back fine except for my heart refusing to slow down, a doctor sat me down and leveled with me.
There was nothing wrong with me except a violent attack of anxiety, and the medication was to blame.
He told me that it had been poorly prescribed—that it required a weeklong ramp-up period of half-doses before beginning the full doses, because if you didn’t... it would make the symptoms WORSE the first fucking week.
I was never told that, and would never have started it then if I knew. He further told me that it was clear to him that I was obsessing over my blood pressure, and *that* was where most of my anxiety and accompanying symptoms were coming from. That there nothing wrong with my heart, and my BP readings, though elevated, were not even close to dangerously so.
The more I listened to him, the more I realized he was right. That most of this shit is just in my fucking head, and it’s time to let go of it for good. As for what set me off that final night, it was the simple fact that I had severely stressed my body over the past few days between illness and too much activity, which finally rebelled, and throwing that damned drug on top of it resulted in two full-blown panic attacks I had never felt before.
It was an expensive lesson to learn, folks. The ambulance and hospital bills cost me $1000, and the four-hour stay made me miss my flight. I then had to reschedule at my own expense, given my original tickets were non-refundable—another $900—and the fact that my new flight itinerary required me to overnight in Boston threw another $300 hotel bill on top of that just to stay in shuttle range of the airport, which I would have to wake up at 4 AM to make a 6 AM flight.
So, it cost me another $2200 on my credit card because of that fucking medication and my own fears getting the best of me. As I do have travel insurance, I should be able to get most of it back, but still. And yet, all in all, I’m glad it happened that way. I needed to be shown the truth, and I think this finally did it. I’m getting off that drug immediately (after a step down period) and I’m through worrying about my blood pressure, folks. I’ll keep most of my lifestyle changes with an occasional indulgence, but I’m done with fear and anxiety, all of which were of my own make. It’s no way to live, and I thank the doctors in Iceland for finally showing me that. That alone made the trip worth it.
But lest everyone think that’s all that happened, I did have a good first half of the trip, visiting the Blue Lagoon and an array of interesting places despite the endlessly stormy weather. I’ll post a few pics later, but for now, I just want to settle back in and do my laundry. Oh, and I did not get any writing done over there, but don’t worry, C&C fans—I resumed work on Feathered Hearts today, and put another 1000 words down on the new chapter. Expect a teaser in the next couple days.
Happy to see that you are doing well now after all that happened to you on your trip. Hope that you at least enjoyed some part of your vacation to Iceland.
Damn, dude, I'm sorry you had to go through that, but ...
Maybe it was what you needed. What I mean, is that you got not only a second opinion, but from another culture who were able to quickly pinpoint what was going on.
And, I get it—really. I have severe anxiety attacks, and have used medications to control it. And yes, if it's what I think you were prescribed, it should definitely have been titrated up, instead of all at once. As the meds start working it takes your body a couple weeks to adjust it's own neurochemical response.
So, again, sorry to hear you had to go through this, but glad to hear you got some solid health advice.
Guess this vacation place was to chill for many.
Sorry it went south so hard.
Expensive anywhere but the US.
But hey, some lessons ain't cheap. You'll remember this one and even better, every time you start stressing and such you'll either look back at this and be able to use it to calm down... or you'll look back and get worse.
Here's hoping the former.
Other lesson, TRAVEL INSURANCE! Decent travel insurance should have covered that visit and maybe the ticket.
I'd post my thoughts about what your experience in the Iceland ER tells me about the American healthcare system but I'd rather not get banned from this site. I'll simply express my content that you are back home safe and sound and still healthy. You were missed, my friend.
I am SO sorry all of that happened to you. Good grief. I'm glad you're back home safe and hopefully recovering well from your vacation. :(
Wow
I am sincerely sorry to hear that, because I hoped you'd ejoy your vacation
But I also hope it will of help long term
I'm not saying better lifestyle is bad thing
But...I do have one of my friends who suffers of hypochondria...and seeing him freaking out over stupid things while eating antianxiety meds like an M&Ms made me kinda harden myself over years.
Best of luck to you, mate
I'm glad that your vacation wasn't a total bust but you really should have been given a better proscription about those anti-anxiety meds.
I've considered going to Iceland for a vacation. It's a type of terrain and culture I'd never see unless I actually sought it out. Shame about the illness, but at least you got something out it the whole trip, right?
5752187
I did. I enjoyed the first half of the trip, and a lot of the food, which are based on their twin staples of lamb and fish. The only meal I had I didn’t enjoy that much was British-style fish and chips, honestly, because the fish seemed unseasoned to me.
5752190
Exactly. I got an outside perspective on it, and it rang true. It also goes to show how much we overmedicate here in America.
So I’m now told. If it works for you, I’m glad, and I’m sorry you have to go through that. But for myself, after this experience, I’m going to stay away from them as much as possible. I don’t trust them or what it’ll do to me.
Thanks. So am I at this point. For that reason, I’m glad it happened, even if it put a big dent in my credit card.
5752196
It was definitely chill, but I didn’t mind that. The first three days of wind-driven rain were another matter, though.
Not your fault. And I’m still glad I went. I already want to go back and try again later, using the experience I’ve gained.
5752198
Don’t know about that, but I can still submit the expenses to insurance. I should get something back, though it’ll count as out of network for obvious reasons.
I’m pretty sure it will be. Now that I know what this was all in my head and made much worse by a drug I was given an improper dose for, I’ll look back on this and remember it, using it to deal with anxiety by remembering that there was nothing actually wrong with me.
Not to worry. I had travel insurance. Now I have to submit a claim and jump through all the hoops they set to get reimbursed.
5752216
Thanks, mon ami. I can pretty much promise you those thoughts are shared. And at least glad I could do the rest of that longpost for you while I was there.
5752259
I’m back at work now, feeling fine, thanks, especially after about ten hours of sleep last night in my own bed. Needed that more than anything else.
5752265
Don’t get me wrong. I did, despite the bad ending. In fact, I liked the place and already want to go back to see the sights and tours I missed.
Me, too. I’ll do my best to make sure it does.
Not at all. And I hate pretty healthy out there, actually, given their staples of fish and lamb.
Yeah, I don’t want that to be me, and from here on out, I won’t let it be me. I’m getting off the medication as quickly as I can. Now that I know there’s nothing wrong with me and it’s pointless to worry about blood pressure when I’m already on medication, very active and eating better, my fears and anxiety have already significantly ebbed.
Appreciate it.
5752271
Tell me about it.
You have no idea how pissed it made me when the Iceland doctor explained it. Needless to say, I’m going to have a chat with my doctor about it later.
5752290
I got plenty of interesting sights and memories out of it, but most of all, I got the most valuable thing there is: insight. Even aside from that, I liked Iceland and would definitely recommend visiting. It’s a very different world in terms of climate and even culture, but not in a bad way.