5 posts tagged “pvc”

I think about writing here most every day. I’ve had this title and topic ideas floating around in my head for days. It’s mostly written in my brain. It’s getting it here via the keyboard that’s the issue.

I like Facebook because you can be communicative without really communicating. Know what I mean?

Do you ever hesitate to talk about something for fear of jinxing yourself?

For instance, before Christmas I ran out of Melatonin, which I’ve used most every night for the past 13 years. It helps me sleep. At the time, I couldn’t make it to Whole Foods to get some more and I was going to be on vacation soon, so I let it go. And I slept. All night. After easily falling asleep. It was a miracle.

I was never super-consistent with the Altenolol because of a yucky side-effect. But after I was off the Melatonin a couple weeks, I noticed the PVCs had pretty much stopped.

But I didn’t tell anyone about that either cause I didn’t want to jinx myself.

Then there was the weight thing. The last two years, I’ve had numbers in my head that I’ve not told anyone. I’ve met each of those annual goals. The minute I wrote down this year’s here, I can’t stop snacking. Snacking, snacking, snacking.

Then someone asked about my heart. And I told the entire story. And guess what? I can’t fall asleep easily anymore or stay asleep. *sigh*

Why is that?? I finally broke down and bought some Melatonin this weekend. I took naps to makeup for the late-night fall asleeps and then continued with more late-night fall asleeps. I’m not going to take any tonight and see what happens.

And now, Africa. Friggin’ economy. Here’s how it falls. I have the money. I feel pretty secure in my job. But with things the way they are, should I really be spending that kind of money right now? Should I leave it in the savings, just in case. Thankfully my traveling partners are thinking the same thing. See, I let myself get excited at the possibility and jinxed it all. Yep, the downturn in the economy is totally all my fault. Sorry y’all.

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. :-(

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 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.