Jericho: I've been converted, it was quite a shock!
This week didn't remotely turn out the way I had hoped. The first week of the year is a typical time of change. I had hoped to start my diet, get back to the gym and buckle down to do some writing. Tuesday, the 2ND, was the first day of this and I started off strong dieting all day at work. By the end of the day, I had a terrible sinus headache and I went to bed early. I stayed home from work Wednesday and Thursday with severe sinus pressure, headache and throat soreness. Friday, I was back at work in spite of still feeling terrible. I was trying to get back on the diet and hoping to do the gym thing over the weekend. I went to bed about midnight.
I was awake at 2 AM, pulled out of a dead sleep. My heart was racing. Some of you might remember I had an incident of this in September. I went to the bathroom and it was still beating very fast, very hard and irregularly by the time I was done. I woke Steph and told her I was having a problem. We waited a minute to see if it slowed on it's own. It didn't. The last time this happened, everyone said they could have done more to diagnose if they had gotten to see it as it was happening. They were about to get their chance.
Steph and I jumped in the car. The heart was still doing its thing and I had some numbness in my left arm. We sped into Downtown Seattle and went directly to the ER at Virgina Mason. We arrived by 2:30 and the heart was still going to town.
This ER experience was different from my last. This time things were much more casual and laid back - the difference between the night and day crew? Whatever it was, I preferred it - it felt less like I was being attacked. They quickly got me on a heart monitor and ran an EKG. They took blood. My heart was up in the 130 range. When I go to the gym, I try to stay below 130. They gave me calcium in my IV drip, hoping to slow my heart rate. It did, but not enough.
I asked what was wrong, they told me I had Atrial Fibrillation. They described the problem and it seemed to make sense, it also seemed to fit with the past. Of course, they also talked about the fact that it can lead to stokes and other badness and I wasn't very happy. I was also told that people can walk around for days, even a week in the condition I was in and not have a stroke. Strokes are usually seen only after 24 to 48 hours, by this point less than two hours had passed. That made me feel marginally better.
A little later they gave me more calcium, again, my heart slowed but not as much as they would have liked. We waited. Then we waited some more. Round about 6 AM I was still up over 100 and they were looking for other alternatives.
They told me that they could do an Electrical Cardioversion. Essentially, they hook me up to the defibrillator, the metal paddles in all the medical shows, and give me a shock in an attempt to "convert" my heart back to a normal rhythm. They would do this under general anesthesia. This sounded crazy to me. Steph looked a little scared. But, my ass hurt from being on the ER bed/workbench for nearly four hours. My chest felt really weird and we were both really tired. It didn't seem like there was much other choice.
So, they glued pads to my chest and back - I would get the shocks through these. They gave me a shot of Lidocaine into my IV and then a shot of Propofol. We began the small talk. He asked me questions, like, how were my holidays? I said fine. I began to tell him that I get the giggles when they give me Novocaine for my ingrown ...........
........ it was over. It was OVER. I was awake and I felt 300% better! My heart was beating normally and I was giddy. I was laughing, why the hell hadn't we done this four hours ago?!?! Well, they wanted to do something less drastic, duh, but it was over and I felt a ton better.
They have no idea what caused this. Could be caffeine or another stimulant - like the ones found in all the sinus meds I had been taking all week. Probably not MSG, which I thought might have caused my last incident. This would be a pretty major reaction to MSG. Could be all the stress at my job, I'm doubting that isn't at least exacerbating the issue. This could also just be years of caffeine overuse (I'm looking at you, Max) and my genetics intermixing to finally screw me over.
Either way, I'm on an aspirin a day and a Beta blocker - probably for the rest of my life. Either way, by 8 AM, we had left the hospital and were on our way back home. I need to talk with a cardiologist in the next week and then talk with my doctor to coordinate diet and exercise. I'm worried about Beta blockers provoking Type 2 Diabetes - but that's the subject of another future post.
In short, no need to worry - I'm Fine. In fact, I'm better - at least we know what's going on and are taking precautions against it happening again. Not that I really wanted to spend five or so hours in the ER, but that can't be helped.
Hopefully, next week will be better.
I was awake at 2 AM, pulled out of a dead sleep. My heart was racing. Some of you might remember I had an incident of this in September. I went to the bathroom and it was still beating very fast, very hard and irregularly by the time I was done. I woke Steph and told her I was having a problem. We waited a minute to see if it slowed on it's own. It didn't. The last time this happened, everyone said they could have done more to diagnose if they had gotten to see it as it was happening. They were about to get their chance.
Steph and I jumped in the car. The heart was still doing its thing and I had some numbness in my left arm. We sped into Downtown Seattle and went directly to the ER at Virgina Mason. We arrived by 2:30 and the heart was still going to town.
This ER experience was different from my last. This time things were much more casual and laid back - the difference between the night and day crew? Whatever it was, I preferred it - it felt less like I was being attacked. They quickly got me on a heart monitor and ran an EKG. They took blood. My heart was up in the 130 range. When I go to the gym, I try to stay below 130. They gave me calcium in my IV drip, hoping to slow my heart rate. It did, but not enough.
I asked what was wrong, they told me I had Atrial Fibrillation. They described the problem and it seemed to make sense, it also seemed to fit with the past. Of course, they also talked about the fact that it can lead to stokes and other badness and I wasn't very happy. I was also told that people can walk around for days, even a week in the condition I was in and not have a stroke. Strokes are usually seen only after 24 to 48 hours, by this point less than two hours had passed. That made me feel marginally better.
A little later they gave me more calcium, again, my heart slowed but not as much as they would have liked. We waited. Then we waited some more. Round about 6 AM I was still up over 100 and they were looking for other alternatives.
They told me that they could do an Electrical Cardioversion. Essentially, they hook me up to the defibrillator, the metal paddles in all the medical shows, and give me a shock in an attempt to "convert" my heart back to a normal rhythm. They would do this under general anesthesia. This sounded crazy to me. Steph looked a little scared. But, my ass hurt from being on the ER bed/workbench for nearly four hours. My chest felt really weird and we were both really tired. It didn't seem like there was much other choice.
So, they glued pads to my chest and back - I would get the shocks through these. They gave me a shot of Lidocaine into my IV and then a shot of Propofol. We began the small talk. He asked me questions, like, how were my holidays? I said fine. I began to tell him that I get the giggles when they give me Novocaine for my ingrown ...........
........ it was over. It was OVER. I was awake and I felt 300% better! My heart was beating normally and I was giddy. I was laughing, why the hell hadn't we done this four hours ago?!?! Well, they wanted to do something less drastic, duh, but it was over and I felt a ton better.
They have no idea what caused this. Could be caffeine or another stimulant - like the ones found in all the sinus meds I had been taking all week. Probably not MSG, which I thought might have caused my last incident. This would be a pretty major reaction to MSG. Could be all the stress at my job, I'm doubting that isn't at least exacerbating the issue. This could also just be years of caffeine overuse (I'm looking at you, Max) and my genetics intermixing to finally screw me over.
Either way, I'm on an aspirin a day and a Beta blocker - probably for the rest of my life. Either way, by 8 AM, we had left the hospital and were on our way back home. I need to talk with a cardiologist in the next week and then talk with my doctor to coordinate diet and exercise. I'm worried about Beta blockers provoking Type 2 Diabetes - but that's the subject of another future post.
In short, no need to worry - I'm Fine. In fact, I'm better - at least we know what's going on and are taking precautions against it happening again. Not that I really wanted to spend five or so hours in the ER, but that can't be helped.
Hopefully, next week will be better.
posted by Jericho Brown at 1/07/2007 04:42:00 PM
12 Comments:
You get points for having enough brains to go to the ER, but you better get your ass in shape. If you die, I will kill you.
And then I will kill you again.
excessive MSG intake is known to cause heart race.
based on my own experience and reading, get a thyroid test done.
and for god's sake stay off the beta blockers - i'm 64 and from being able to run for an hour comfortably, 3 days of betas and i could not run 200 metres.
i discovered my AF 2 years ago in a check after querying the accuracy of the gym heart monitors, (in a hard session, rate would reach 200 bpm.) failed cardioversion, now i carry on regardless on 300mg aspirin per day. doc was amazed when he wanted me to try a different beta blocker, and i said what about nothing? but he readily agreed.
AF often associated with above average ecercise/sport. several prominent sports stars recently afflicted, esp a famous N.A. ice hockey player.
What evidence do you have that beta blockers are something to be avoided?
I love when our readership comments out of the blue! Thank you.
Max, our anon commentor's first comment speaks to a problem they had on Beta blockers. At least for our commentor, they are bad.
Wikipedia tells us that Beta blockers have been lowered in the UK from the number 1 treatment to the number four treatment for hypertension, as other drugs do the job better and Beta Blockers can invoke Type II Diabetes. (Click on the Beta Blocker link in my post to get to the Wiki post.) The Diabetes thing worries me.
Now, if our commentor can point us to other evidence (that I'm going to bring to my doctor real soon) I'm eager to hear it.
BTW, Max and Sharon, this has nothing to do with my weight. I'm sure that the stresses on my heart are not helping, but there's nothing I can do about that now. This could have been caused by years of caffiene abuse, but I've lowered my caffiene intake steadily over the last ten years - there for a while I was off entirely. I don't use any other stimulants, short of sinus pills and had I know they would have been bad for my heart I wouldn't have used them.
The deal here is that I am doing something about it, staying on the Beta Blocker (for now), doing an asprin regimen and avoiding the caffiene. However, short of surgery, this is probably never going to go away. Threats of murder will do no good. :)
Taking off the fat may not cure your current issue, but it will only help your health.
Really, Max? Do you think? Wow. No one has ever told me that! You've always got my back! ;P
Either way, my knees would agree with you. And, I've been pretty good this week. I'll be better as soon as I can ditch this cold/infection/crud.
I express concern and you respond with sarcasm. Why do I put up with you?
You think I'm hot and you dig my bod?
Your bod is not so much hot as it is huge. There is a great sense of value. Kind of like of huge box of off brand Ding-Dongs.
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