Tag: arrhythmia


Suite Gothique Pour Grande Orgue

17
May

If you’ve read my blog for, oh, at least a year [1], then you should know that I’ve had some issues with tachycardia [2]. My cardiologist had said that I had an arrhythmia [3], but didn’t want to treat it because my normal blood pressure was around 100/70 or lower and because I have asthma[4]. I didn’t really like his response, but I went with it because (in part) I felt that it was the right decision. I think the tables may have turned, though.

Over the weekend, I was feeling kind of weird when I walked into the living room from the bathroom (not a long distance)[5] and I wanted to know if maybe my pulse was up. It was. The pulse was at 156. My blood pressure was at 128 over 100. (I thought at first that the top number was in the 150′s.) I got worried and, yesterday morning, I called the family doctor to see if maybe they could see me. (I really didn’t want to go back to see the cardiologist if it wasn’t absolutely necessary.)[6] One of the nurses at the family doctor’s office said that I should really talk to the cardiologist about this. She asked me to check my blood pressure while we were on the phone, and I did. My blood pressure (then) was 130 over 100. My pulse, which is what she was more worried about, was 116, then. She said to call the cardiologist, since it sounded like it was more likely something they would end up treating. I hesitated, though, because I, like I said, I really didn’t want to see him.

This morning, I decided that I needed to check my blood pressure again. I sat down next to my mom and Willow for about 20 minutes, which was longer than I had waited the past 2 times before checking it. When I checked it, it came back as 182 over 98 with a pulse of 116. That was the highest I had ever seen the top number, not just for me, but for anyone. Mom definitely felt that I should make the call to the cardiologist ASAP, which I did.

Unfortunately, when dealing with a practice with so many physicians, the wait can be really long to talk to a scheduler. It took, literally, 7 minutes to talk to a real human being. I thought that she was the scheduler, but no, she was in charge of routing the calls once you get to the department. The person I needed to talk to wasn’t available, so I ended up leaving a voice-mail. (And I know that when she hears it, she’s going to think I’m 5 because my voice sounded that squeaky and young.)[7]

I’m worried, though, which I know doesn’t help at all. Between this, the ongoing congestion-sinus crap, my period starting back a couple of weeks ago (it’s been light, so the length isn’t worrying me at all), my increasing overheating issues, my dad’s disability review being tomorrow, my mom’s neurological issues, and the regular stress that I encounter, I’ve just been quite a nervous person lately. I would say that maybe the blood pressure is high because of that, but I guess it is better to be safe than sorry.

So, now I wait.

[1] Good for you, you deserve a cookie. Of course, if you’ve read it longer, then maybe you should get a cookie cake or something.

[2] The definition came from The Mayo Clinic‘s page on tachycardia.

[3] The definition came from the National Institutes of Health‘s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute‘s page on arrhythmia.

[4] The definition came from PubMed Health from their asthma page.

[5] Unless ten feet is a long distance.

[6] He’s one of those doctors that makes it clear that he doesn’t see the point in treating overweight clients.

[7] I know that having a little kid voice isn’t really noteworthy, but it sometimes makes it hard for me to do things over the phone. People seem to be in disbelief that a person can have a little kid voice when they’re in their twenties.

Comment » | 10 Years of Madness, Confessions, Family, Sickness and Health

Under My Feet

6
September

I haven’t really been online a lot this weekend. That’s mainly due to heightened anxiety/stress. I think that’s due to the beginning of football season. Around the time my father woke up on Saturday morning, I started giving myself my headache medicine. It kept me asleep for around 12-13 hours. I ended up waking up during Auburn’s halftime, which meant I got to experience rants full-on. I had missed the rants about the teams that he didn’t even care about, which was good. I had wished I could make it through the Auburn ones, too, but they would have been harder to miss. Auburn ended up winning, which was good. If they had lost, then I probably would’ve started dosing myself into unconsciousness again. (I’ve often used medicines to induce sleep. It’s how I managed to sleep while I was having major sleep issues during middle and high school.)

I started crying sometime in the early morning hours on Sunday. I just felt like I was ready to scream, throw things, etc. I started composing a very long letter to my parents about how I felt like I needed to be taken more seriously. (This was what I used to do when I was a little kid–if I needed something or if I felt like I needed to apologize, I’d write a letter.) Well, the ink ran out of the pen and I got upset and threw it across the room. It barely made a sound when it hit Willow’s chair, but it was loud enough that my mom woke up. We ended up talking, and I complained about the thing on my stomach, which she checked out a little closer this time. She was surprised because it was burning up, and I told her that that was normal. (It is hot most of the time, but it gets worse in the middle of the night [around 3:30-5:00 AM] and it starts hurting worse.) I have an appointment to get it checked out with my family medicine doctor, but I have honestly lost faith in most doctors lately. Yeah, they send me for the tests, but the longer this whole saga goes on, the more dismissive they get. (Half the time, the results are never relayed to me.) And with the cardiologist refusing to even suggest anything that could help the extra beats and tachycardia, it just seems to be stupid to go through massive amounts of tests.

Speaking of tests and medical records, I think that is unfair that if I want to access my medical records, I have to pay fees. (Where is Files & Records when you need her?) If I want a copy of my blood work, I have to pay per page of the test, which can be 20-or-so pages. The doctors, who have a lot more money, don’t have to pay anything. They can get paper copies or faxes or computer access without paying anything. All that they really need is a signature from me to share the records. (If they’re in the Huntsville Hospital system and the record is on my hospital file, they don’t even need my signature.) All these people can see whatever they want about me, but I don’t get to see my own file. (At the Mental Health Center, I don’t even get the opportunity to pay for the records to see what’s been said. I can have my therapist or doctor or one of the nurses read it to me, though.)

I’m a little frustrated with the Social Security Administration. When I started on SSI and SSDI, I was told that if I started paying $200+ a month in household expenses, then my SSI check would be increased by that much. After I got the first check, I began doing just that. I’ve told the SSA about this twice. I filled out lots of paperwork the first time–nothing happened. I called again in May or June (or possibly early July)–I haven’t even gotten paperwork or anything that says that anything will happen. I get that the government doesn’t really have lots of money right now, but it seems like they could at least hold up their end of the 1/3 reduction rule.

Anyway, right now I’m dealing with an earache and headache that my mom told me was probably just TMJ. I agreed at first, but after a while, my throat began hurting. I would say it was allergies, but I know that’s not likely.

Comment » | Family, General, Mental Health, National Weirdness, Sickness and Health, So Damn Special

Epic Sucking, Extra Beating

3
September

My dad and I went to Walmart last evening (Wednesday) and we shopped for groceries. I had checked the online banking site before we left so I knew how much money I had that I could spend. I also knew that my SSDI check would come in at midnight, though the bank doesn’t always make it available to me right when they get it. I figured that I could pay for around $240 for groceries, but when I got up to the cashier, it was denied. It was denied more times than Jesus. (It got denied around 6 times.) And the CSM from Walmart was not exactly very nice about it. He was acting like I was trying to defraud the store or something. The whole thing was embarrassing, and I really just wish that it hadn’t happened at all…including that I hadn’t gone shopping. I now have to go shopping tomorrow. I really dread that because going to get groceries once a week just about eats up my energy reserves for the week, but going twice (and those 2 times being in consecutive days) is going to just about kill me.

Speaking of killing me, I got a call from my cardiologist’s office. They apologized for not having called sooner. (Of course, when they finally did call, they got the busy signal because of the phone/DSL problems.) The nurse said that other than the fast rhythm my heart rhythm generally looked healthy. She said there were some extra beats in it, but that the cardiologist didn’t really have a suggestion for slowing the rhythm or helping me from nearly dying when I move. So, I don’t know that I’m any better off now than I was before.

I called the bariatric surgeon on Tuesday. I got rescheduled for appointments to see if I can have the revision procedure done. My mom has been trying to convince me that this is a bad thing. She even tried to tell me that she thinks it would kill me and that that would ruin her life. (She does this with a lot of different things…ranging from health-related to recreational things. It’s basically the guilt trip that has been passed down from generation to generation.) I know that she’s afraid that something bad will happen, and the thought has crossed my mind, too. All I know is that I have to do something so that I can get to a weight that wouldn’t make all of my health issues that much worse. If I have the procedure, then it will help get enough weight that maybe I will be able to actually exercise without having my heart shoot up to some intolerable level.

Comment » | General, Sickness and Health

     

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