ticker issues

[piranha]

thanks for all the good wishes, it's appreciated.

it wasn't as bad as the last 3 times; i probably was in atrial fibrillation only for a few minutes (enough to wake me though). but then the damn thing beat irregularly (to the tune of 20-40 extra beats a minute) all day long.

we did drive to the ER when it was time to take my meds since i wasn't entirely sure it wasn't a sudden side effect, and taking them might make things worse. but instead the metoprolol slowed things down a bit, and i got hopeful it might stop, so i didn't go in. the ER was busy, too. i decided that if the ticker was still doing it by morning i would go in, because then i'd have a chance to see a hospital internist. finally stopped beating irregularly after 1 in the morning, an hour and a half after i took the meds. *sigh of relief*.

yeah, yeah. i know. conventional wisdom says i shoulda gone in. but i like gambling with my life data, and making decisions based on that. part of what made me feel things weren't urgent was that i actually fell asleep on the couch, and slept for a couple of hours. that certainly didn't happen before. from reading about this i know this can go on for a long time, so now i know that i too can go for many hours with it without croaking, and that makes the inclination to panic go away, which will make the next attack easier to handle. because by now it's no longer something that happened a couple of times and will never happen again, but it's probably something i'll have to live with.

i have an appointment with my doctor for tomorrow, and will see what he says about the meds; maybe i should take an extra pill if this happens, or maybe he'll up the dosage overall. i still haven't heard from an internist, either through the hospital or through the one my doctor referred me to, and i really want to push that.

i wish i had some hints as to what brings it on. i wasn't dehydrated, i do very, very little caffeine (cup of green tea on some days), i get enough potassium (and not too much), i ate the same as i eat every day, nothing extra stressful happened, my blood sugar was normal the day before (and has in fact been normal, not pre-diabetic, for the last three weeks), my blood pressure was a little higher than it had been all week, but nowhere as high as it was the previous times. i've in fact been really good; i've been exercising every day, i've been eating decently (no extra salt, no extra sugar, low carbs), i'm not forgetting meds despite my weirdo schedule (better living through list-making). it's a little frustrating not to be able to point to anything i do in specific and say "there, that triggers it, now see whether you can fix it".

Comments

[masonk.livejournal.com]

it's a little frustrating not to be able to point to anything i do in specific and say "there, that triggers it, now see whether you can fix it".

Boy, do I know that one. I have things that I know will trigger my gastroparesis (foods I need to avoid, don't move around when full, etc) but even when I'm good, I still get sick for no apparent reason.

gastroparesis

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

damn, that sucks. i have enough trouble with my GI tract overreacting to stress (physical or emotional). *sympathy*.

[janetmk.livejournal.com]

Thanks for writing. I hope you and the docs can figure out what's happening.

[ebourland.livejournal.com]

Sucks when you can't identify causes.

Good luck. Stay healthy. I like your blog.

[crystlyte.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you are doing some good things for yourself. I hope your frustration is alleviated as much as possible by your doctor.

[aquaeri.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry you can't identify a specific cause, but I suggest continuing to collect data. I had this weird effect where sometimes my shampoo would give me a rash down my back. It took me years to figure out that "sometimes" was always the day before my period started. (The "before" bit was what made it hard, I think.)

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

yeah, i am unlikely to ever stop collecting data, it's what i do. and yeah, "before" would make it harder, i agree.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

Thank you for posting. All yesterday, underneath everything else, there was this little crawling worm of worry for you.

I hope the doctor has useful suggestions.

If it turns out to be something that just happens, that is annoying. I find it useful to think of physical stuff that isn't affected by anything I can do as being like the weather.

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

that's not a bad idea, i might try thinking of it that way.

of course stuff that lands me in the emergency room isn't like any weather i'm used to. maybe i need to think of it as a tornado or hurricane. dammit, i am all set for the big tsunami, we don't get hurricanes or tornadoes here! :)

the doctor had no suggestions, other than deciding to push the internist referral. *grmp*. this is the least talkative doctor i've ever had; if i don't ask about it, he's likely not to say anything much. like, he didn't say "you should have gone to the ER", but when i asked on my way out, he said i should go to the ER if it lasts past an hour. which now of course i don't take seriously but consider ass-covering, because if it was a real mistake not to go, why didn't he say that on his own? i know i would.

[debbiethedogged.livejournal.com]

As usual, I'm behind in my blog reading. How scary! I'm glad you're ok, and I hope you get it figured out soon.

[selki.livejournal.com]

Glad you're feeling a little better now.

Who knows, you may have avoided infection from other patients by not going into the ER.

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

now see, THAT's how i think. :)

[firecat]

I'm glad you're OK now.

I know what you mean about wishing you had hints. I hate how apparently random some of this health stuff is these days. (A couple of days ago my blood sugar was 50 points higher than usual for absolutely no reason. Then it stopped being higher, for absolutely no reason.)

random health crap

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

GAS: stress? my glucose was through the roof on this latest tachycardia day, though it could also be that there are other physiological processes at play. but i am thinking stress had an effect because my GI tract started to act up, and that's often stress-related; it's like a bloody barometer.

and you had that doctor's visit...

but of course it could be for absolutely no discernable reason. *sigh*. i wish we had body-patrol nanobots who'd give me feedback on a heads-up display.

Re: random health crap

[firecat]

Could be stress - that certainly does affect my BG. In this case, I didn't THINK I was stressed...yeah, I had the doctor visit, but that was 6 days earlier, and my BG had been OK in the interim.

I was also very tired and weak in general for the first half of the day; maybe I had a mini-bug or something. Or maybe a butterfly flapped its wings in Mongolia.

Re: random health crap

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

ah, i mistakenly thought the doctor visit was immediately preceding.

those damn butterflies have a lot to answer for.

[prairierabbit.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you are feeling better, and I hope the internist has more insight to offer you. As for the "but I didn't DO anything" feeling, my asthma is like that sometimes. I know cold temperatures will aggravate it, as can exercise. But sometimes exercise doesn't. Sometimes it acts up for no known reason. Very frustrating.