14 posts tagged “heart”

I had a Kirin beer with my Thai food the other night. Just to test out how I might feel. My heart beat pretty erratically the rest of the night. :-(

This week was the office Christmas party. It was totally not fun and I'm not sure if that's because of the locale or the fact that I didn't have any adult beverages.

I've known since the day-after last year's drunken debacle, that I wouldn't be doing that again this year. And I didn't have a single drop of an adult beverage on Wednesday.

Thing is, it seems I can't drink anymore. Once I added atenolol to my repertoire, I feel sick when I drink. Not like nauseated, just sick. It made me think that it must be what someone taking a drug to not drink feels like when they do.

So, I've not had a single drop of anything since July. I am parched. Parched.

I do have some beverages that I could try at home to see how I feel now that its been a while, but it seems funny to intentionally do something to make yourself feel bad.

I've not been posting. Looks like I'm having a dry spell. It happens and then I usually perk back up.

Things are fine. Ticker is working well on the new med and I don't have the benedryl fog anymore. Mom has good days and bad days. Neighbor is home and thriving with some home health care workers taking primo care of her. Great-nephew turns one next week. I'm guessing we'll go over for the party. Things are humming along at work. I can see the light at the end of the proverbial credit card pay-off tunnel. Africa looms on the horizon. Life is good.

To my mom when I talked about how many PVCs I was feeling. I told her I thought maybe six an hour. I knew that was low, but I also knew I couldn't keep count.

When I went to see my doctor today about a different beta blocker, I asked about the Holter. For that 24-hour period, I averaged 100 PVCs per hour.

When I asked why she went with a beta blocker instead of the med we originally discussed she said, "Because that was for anxiety, this is not in your head, this is real." Good to know.

As I mentioned here I was worried that it was just a sign that I wouldn't be able to cope with stressful life events. I am so glad it is not my mind. Crazy, I know, but I thought I was handling the life stressors pretty well. I was disappointed that there would always be some new level of freak out for me. And that's not to say that won't still happen, but at least I know I can control it with medication if I need to.

Speaking of which, I am going to try a new med for 10 days. If I still feel puny then, we agreed that I can try to learn to live with it.

Saturday, about 30 minutes into reading on the radio, I thought I was going to pass out. I just could not get enough air. I thought about telling my partner he wouldn need to finish on his own, but I just worked on my breathing. It got better, but it really wiped me out for a good part of the afternoon. I really don't want to give that up. It's something I like doing. It makes me feel like I might be making a difference in someone's life.

So the beta blocker stopped the PVCs within one or two days. Then it knocked me on my ass. I have been so tired. Like, lay my head down and I'm asleep tired. No, doesn't really matter if I am in a public place. Or work. Oh, and pardon me, but it's not your company that makes me yawn.

I have a follow-up scheduled for Monday. I decided to start cutting the tablets in half and weaning myself off them by then. Figured we could start over.

My retired ER nurse friend asked if I'd checked my blood pressure lately. Ah, lightbulb moment. I checked it yesterday and again this morning. 91 over 57. Der. My friend tells me to call the doctor today because if my BP was that low while walking around the grocery store (where the BP machine is), then what must it be at night when I sleep?

So I called. The doctor called back. "Cut them in half." I have already. "Oh, well, that's already an old lady dosage." I have an appointment with you on Monday. "OK, cut them in quarters. I'll have figured out something else by Monday."

Um, could it have caused my period to start? Because I am only on my second row of pills and it started again on Sunday. A real period. Not break-thru bleeding. I've never had a second period in the same month since I started the Pill about 18 years ago.

"Well, I don't think the two should be related. We might need to put you on a stronger Pill."

*sigh* I've been on the same pill and dosage for all of these 18 years. More side effects to work through. Happy, happy. Joy, joy.

When I talked about the period issue with my mom this morning she bought up the menopause thing again. I asked her when she had hers, but she doesn't remember. She swears it is written down somewhere. Tucked away in a safe place. Great.

Anyway, after I told her to shut up about the menopause comment she said something about it could start at my age and be really sporadic for years. So I made comment about the regularity of the Pill and reminded her that when she was my age she'd just had a baby.

"Oh, yeah," she giggled. Giggled.

I'd say they are gone, but I am not 100% certain. If I am still having PVC's, I'm not having as many nor do they have the same oompfh.

I do feel a little "off" which it says might happen in the "important safety information about this drug" pamphlet. It's like a benedryl hangover. I'm curious to see how long it takes me to transition through the side-effects.

I've decided at my two-week appointment that I will talk with my doctor about the lifestyle changes and transitioning off the drug after eight weeks. If it is truly stress-related and I can get that under control, then that's what I want to do.

Boy, yesterday was a tough coffee day. I don't drink much during the week, so my Saturday withdrawal was a tough one! Plus, I really wanted some caffeine so I could "wake up"!

So I'd been toying with the idea that I would just try the lifestyle changes first and forgo adding another med to my regimen. Then I got this message from my friend the retired ER nurse:

There are irregular heartbeats and then there are irregular heartbeats. Mine have been benign. Just very annoying. And lo and behold they are subsiding. Still I have them checked regularly to keep track of them. BUT!!!! PVCs are something different and not to be toyed with. You must follow all those instructions to the letter. PVCs can be dangerous. Not benign. Please don't let any of us tell you "I have the very same thing and all I have to do is blah blah blah." PVCs are different. Not to scare you, Sooz, but listen to the docs - not those of us who have irregular heartbeats. Sounds like we have all been told not to worry. You have not been told that. You have a whole different set of instructions. Very important. I would get a cardiologist if I were you.

The trouble with PVCs is not in the irregularity but in the irregular irreularity. That really is a description. "Irregularly irregular." That funny jagged squiggle is called the QRS. If it falls on a T wave you can be in big trouble. Just take the med. Do the other stuff. Maybe you can get off the med if you really want to some day. It would be wonderful to not ever have to take meds. But it is wonderful to live.

So, yeah, I'm definitely filling the prescription today.

I have an irregular heartbeat. I am having "PVCs" which are premature ventricular contractions. I am having enough to require medication, but not enough to be considered serious-serious.

I was actually having a pretty bad episode when she called. I was laying on the floor when I heard my phone ringing. Quinky-dink.

I have to give up caffeine. We know I am excited about that. Not. And chocolate. And all sorts of things. Get more exercise. Lose weight. You know, the usual "life style" changes stuff.

She made me laugh when she said, "I see an increase in women getting this as they become peri-menopausal." I told her, "Shut up! That's not even funny." Good thing she likes me! ;-)

I know lots of people live with an irregular heartbeat (some don't even know it), and with time I will learn to live with it too!

To report out on today. My doctor was not in.

I also had my pre-op for my toe surgery scheduled for Friday. Yeah, that's been canceled. Sure, I'm disappointed. I waited so long in the first place, and now this. Ah, well, probably best since Friday is the 13th. ;-)

Every day I wake up hoping that today it will be gone. And then my heart gives that funny beat and I know it is still here.

It is definitely not as strong as it was earlier in the week. When it made me feel tipsy.

This Friday I am supposed to have my toe surgery. I have a pre-op Monday that I decided to keep since we don't have anything definite yet. I figure he and my doctor will make the appropriate decision as to how to proceed.

SInce I don't think there is anything gravely wrong with me, I think my doctor and I will be discussing Clonazepam since she already brought it up. I just read the wiki page and I don't like the sounds of it.