Hello, as usual with my Medium posts, it also is:

1. Sharing experiences with the goal of just saying how important it is to pay attention to preserving health. Definitely read it, it might help.
2. I also want to say that the experiences I’m sharing are still happening and not finished, and they might be easily treated or might be difficult to treat. Anyway, this post will be edited after some results are determined, but it’s because of its very high importance that I’m writing it right now.
3. The third point is that we’re not looking for prayers here, just sharing experiences. If you have any, it’s great to share because it might help prevent some things.
4. Finally, nothing is certain in this field (for example, when we think the source of a disease was something, but it actually wasn’t). It means that this is just sharing and not judging.

Before starting this text, it’s currently planned to have four parts, and this is the first one. In continuation, we will have:

I start by saying that many of us normally don’t take health seriously enough and don’t observe what we should… But as soon as we experience even a small disorder, we realize how important it was. I’ll start with something more physical and apparent, for example, we always use our hands, but as soon as a wound, scratch, or worse, like a break, happens to them, we understand their importance…

Or we never care about our teeth! (Especially myself) Until they get damaged and hurt, and it’s that severe pain that makes us pay attention (and well, often the cost of treatment is very high, so prevention can be very important)

Anyway, the problem I encountered and still don’t know the severity of, whatever it is, is probably related to the lungs!

Here I start talking about things we can observe, but maybe the source wasn’t these at all! Anyway, as I said at the beginning, nothing is certain for now.

Generally, since my childhood, I went to gaming cafes a lot! (Am I talking irrelevant nonsense?!) And well, generally, at least for us, gaming cafes are places where a lot of smoking happens, and this smoke might be dangerous for the consumer and those around… So, in my opinion, it’s better not to go to places with a lot of harmful smoke! (Woe betide us if we consume it, which I’ll talk about later…) Next, we want to first examine some factors together…

Tobacco

To explain the severity of its irreparable harm, I’ll continue with an example: For instance, most of us think that traffic accidents happen to others, and it’s rare that we imagine ourselves in an accident, and we’ve all seen how many people drive and, of course, the death tolls that don’t lie! Just as they don’t lie about tobacco… This has a similarity, for example, for me, using hookah was normal from early adolescence (although it was still very little compared to acquaintances I knew smoked) Now you know the point of my talk is that we think diseases that have this origin are for others, and if we, for example, consume, nothing will happen to us, or perhaps we don’t have enough awareness of how severe these harms are…!

As I said, I had it for a while, but now it’s been almost 2 years that I’ve completely stopped and even hate the smell! My reason for it was this hatred that made me completely eliminate it. It’s interesting that those who, in their own words, consume it for pleasure sometimes enjoy their bad condition and are oblivious to the damage they’re inflicting… And the more I read about it, the more my hatred grows…

Regarding other related things and substances, I didn’t write about them because I didn’t consume them! But I’ve read and seen things that made me completely disgusted and sure that I wouldn’t go towards such things!! (To the extent that I prefer death over that lifestyle)

Air Pollution

The next thing that might cause problems is air pollution, which in Tehran has really gotten worse in recent years, and well, I haven’t used masks and such until now (to be honest, I don’t really believe in their effectiveness!) But those headaches in the afternoon and at night, lethargy, and fatigue (note that without consuming any tobacco or anything extra) can be a guarantee that it’s not without effect!

However, I’ll add this point that I drink a lot of tea, and well, caffeine can also cause the above symptoms, but the same result is observable on people who weren’t like that!

Extra Things Around!

I mean more the smoke and chemicals, but when we don’t know, for example, the substances that might have been in the water or food… The smoke that has entered our bodies from the surroundings (for example, in my case, the smoke from smokers or the smoke from burning trash and fire that I don’t know why sometimes people around us do!!)

Or the soldering smoke that (here we have neither courtesy nor censorship) my brother would do on the table next to me at any time, and the least it caused me was a headache, and naturally, I would leave the room (which usually its duration was neither known nor had a specific time of day or night) (I say this not to complain, and in a large family, some things are natural, for example, my talking in Discord in the middle of the night is not very pleasant either, or the sound of the TV that’s always there, but what can we do! Maybe one day I’ll write about these too) and next, I’ll say why this part bothered me, you need to know the next stage!

Exercise!

This part is interesting! Remember I talked about my hatred for tobacco and the rest of the stories (in these two years I mentioned, I only consumed tea and maybe very little medication in the form of painkillers) and well, during this period, I started exercising and continued it quite seriously… I went hiking (let’s take a detour to change our mood) and later with university friends, which really forms some of the best memories of my life… Anyway, in these two years, in addition to hiking, I also cycled, and the routes I took were 4–5 times about 35 to 50 kilometers, two routes of 90 to 100 kilometers, and repeatedly 20-kilometer routes… My point in saying this is that considering the air quality, maybe I shouldn’t have put so much pressure on myself that might have caused damage. (And sometimes I had very severe dizziness and fatigue that seemed natural to me…)

Anyway, whatever the source is, I experienced some problems that started last year…and long and severe coughs that were accompanied by the expulsion of thick and abundant mucus and after a short time, a wheezing sound in the lungs… that gradually became clearly felt and with a deep breath and exhale was completely obvious…

As a result, I went to a general practitioner. I’ll say that I don’t take much medication (at least I try as much as possible)

In my opinion, most general clinics are just doping agents! And no real treatment happens, so I don’t go to them often! (And of course, the cost of specialized treatments is high) Anyway, I was examined and prescribed some medication + oxygen capsules + serum and a few injections that after using the serum and injections for the first few days, I was completely cheerful :D and with the use of medications over the next two weeks, I was almost well and didn’t feel anything until:

The Second Stage!

This started 5–6 months ago, where occasionally I felt a pain and weakness inside my chest (which I thought was my heart hurting), and well, there were symptoms that sometimes my left side and left hand would hurt (a pain that feels inside the bone and is a severe weakness, not like an injury pain). Later, when I took a deep breath, it would hurt, and often I felt heaviness and difficulty breathing.

These pains would last at most 2–3 days and then stop, and after a week or two, they would come back again… Until one or two months ago when it lasted longer and happened more frequently.

The mistake I made in this stage was that I didn’t consult a specialist and just endured it (I’m a student who hasn’t been working for a year, and well, I can’t afford the doctor’s cost).

And of course, this point is also important: Since it’s a habit among many of us and everyone thinks they’re a doctor! When I discussed my problem, someone said it’s from your stomach and eating garlic with yogurt will make it okay! (And well, I did it) Someone else said you have a cramp, and in short, such treatments that just wasted time.

Now, do you remember I said soldering smoke was bothering me? In this stage, it didn’t just end with a headache. About a month and a bit ago, I was gaming with my friends (Dota 2), and well, I couldn’t get up from the system… This time, as usual, I started coughing with the beginning of soldering, and it wouldn’t stop, then I felt something was pressing on my heart and wouldn’t let go, my heart was beating fast, and I felt dizzy, had a headache, and overall, I felt very bad! Unconsciously, I started massaging with my hand to reduce the pain a bit, but I felt so bad that as soon as the game finished, I put on my clothes and went out of the house… Aimlessly on the street (at 10:30 PM), I started walking and breathing! I felt a bit better and returned home…

The Third Stage

During these past two/three weeks (December 2019), I haven’t been feeling well at all, experiencing a sense of lethargy, weakness, and severe listlessness. One day when I woke up (10 days ago), I noticed a swelling above my chest cage (a bit to the left of the center) that didn’t hurt! But it felt like a round swelling that felt bony when touched, yet it was painless.

After 1–2 days, it started bothering me at night, and I really slept with pain over these 10 days, and when I woke up, I felt a burning sensation inside my chest, which was very annoying.

On the 6th day, we went to a specialist doctor (in the middle of my exams, we went after 6 days!)

We made an appointment with a (pulmonologist), who was actually an internal medicine and endocrinology doctor (or both of these? I don’t know anyway). After the examination and telling them that I cough and then it swelled up and all that…

The question the doctor asked was whether I use substances?! (I was surprised and said no! And it’s been a year and a half since I’ve used hookah, cigarettes, or any other tobacco products)… Anyway, they said I had to give blood and urine tests and get a chest X-ray.

I did them, and the test results haven’t come back yet (which I will write about in more detail in the next post after they are determined), but the result of the chest X-ray suggests some hypotheses, which I will write the report text here (linking words to Wikipedia).

The transverse diameter of the heart is within normal limits. On the left side of the Mediastinum, and in the hilum of the left lung and its upper part, an oval-shaped mass-like image is observed, which has caused a slight deviation of the trachea to the right. Evaluation of mediastinal space-occupying lesions is recommended. Also, in the upper lobe of the left lung, there is an image of an Air bronchogram, which indicates pulmonary infiltration (Pneumonia) in the upper lobe of the left lung.
For a more accurate diagnosis, a clinical examination for the presence of CLAUDE-BERNARD syndrome and performing HRCT in mediastinal and pulmonary densities, and if necessary, Bronchoscopy is required. Both diaphragms are observed to be normal. No fluid is observed in the right and left pleura.

So far, it seems that there are symptoms related to a lung infection or something similar. After I get the test results, I will visit the doctor again and write about it in the next post.

As I said at the beginning, the goal is just to let you know that events can happen much more simply, so pay much more attention to your own health and don’t be indifferent to this issue. The first thing we can do is to be aware… So, regarding the things we might do, the things we might eat and consume, we can read and not just simply overlook anything and make serious decisions about it.

And please share your experiences; it might be useful for someone. :)