Yay I'm wearing a heart monitor

[wheresmybacon]

Just got back from the doc. They drew some blood, ran an EKG, and gave me a portable heart monitor to wear. When I have symptoms I press this button and it records my heartbeat for a minute. After that I call this phone number and hold the device up to the phone where it spits out the data in fax-modem style squelches.

What lead up to this was over the last 4 months or so I've had several episodes after or duing working out where my heart basically goes a little wacky. After a tremendous level of exertion, it will miss a beat, them sort of beat out of rhythm for an instant, then go back to normal. I've always been athletic and am in good shape, so this has really freaked me out. It happened last week after doing dips, and the worst one ever was a few months ago after boxing. I thought I was having a heart attack.

We have no history of heart disease on either side of the family, and I've never had any trouble up until now.

This sucks!

 

[rasczak]

Hope things turn out ok.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Hm, it may be something wrong with the valve or with the innervations. Either way, man, that sucks to hear. Glad you're already getting some data for the doctor though. Keep us updated.

 

[wheresmybacon]

Yeah I never have symptoms other than when I'm exerting myself pretty hard at the gym. Even then it's really infrequent.

I haven't been drinking enough water and have probably been taking in too much diet soda. I'm hoping it has something to do with dehydration or something along those lines. the doc said that's entirely possible. I do drink a ridiculous amount of Diet Dew.

Well off to a meeting then the gym with me. Thanks for the words guys.

 

[purbeast0]

hope everything goes well man. i had some chest spasms recently as well.

Text

I'm curious ... what were your results of the EKG? I didn't even look at mine but the doc was like "everything is okay" and that was that.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Hopefully, it is just an annoying cardiac arrhythmia that isn't indicative of some serious problem or condition. If it happened to me though, I'd back down the intensity on the work-outs. Even world-class athletes have been known to keel over dead during or after an intense workout,due to some underlying cause they weren't aware of, and that went undetected till it was too late. So, take caution brudda.

 

[wheresmybacon]

Originally posted by: purbeast0
hope everything goes well man. i had some chest spasms recently as well.

Text

I'm curious ... what were your results of the EKG? I didn't even look at mine but the doc was like "everything is okay" and that was that.

It was yesterday and I'm going to call in today and see if the doctor has had a chance to look at the results.

I'm also curious about the blood work. I'll definately post an update.

I haven't always been kind to my body; I went from being hardcore athlete to being hardcore drunk and amateur druggy for about 8 years, so I'm hoping I didn't do too much damage then...

 

[wheresmybacon]

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
Hopefully, it is just an annoying cardiac arrhythmia that isn't indicative of some serious problem or condition. If it happened to me though, I'd back down the intensity on the work-outs. Even world-class athletes have been known to keel over dead during or after an intense workout,due to some underlying cause they weren't aware of, and that went undetected till it was too late. So, take caution brudda.

Yeah exactly. I just want to make sure I don't have something going on and not be aware of it.

Back in college when I was playing soccer I taught myself to ignore fatigue and pain associated with extreme levels of exertion. I want to know now if that what I'm experiencing is just getting older (35) or something more.

I've been having quite a bit of anxiety since I gave up the bottle, so part of it could be that, but I don't think you can be too careful about your heart. It's not like an ankle or leg...if your ticker breaks you're done!

 

[zerocool1]

how much caffeine do you consume?

 

[Blintok]

does it feel like this?

* Palpitations, pounding heart, or accelerated heart rate
* Sweating
* Trembling or shaking
* Sensations of shortness of breath or smothering
* Feeling of choking
* Chest pain or discomfort
* Nausea or abdominal distress
* Feeling dizzy, unsteady, lightheaded, or faint
* Derealization (feelings of unreality) or depersonalization (being detached from oneself)
* Fear of losing control or going crazy
* Fear of dying
* Paresthesias (numbness or tingling sensations)
* Chills or hot flushes

if so, it may be just panic attacks....
A panic attack is a discrete period of intense fear or discomfort, in which four (or more) of the above symptoms
developed abruptly and reached a peak within 10 minutes:

i went thru just about the same things you are going thru. atheletic then about 8yrs of hard core drinking and about 10yrs of moderate drinking.
Quit drinking sept07 - had massive panic attacks in oct07 and onward. first one after riding my bike..stopped at a light and thot i was going to pass out.
thot i was having a heart attack. even went to emerg in ambulance. did all the tests and even monitor u have. all came back ok.

it was so bad i had a few drinks again in Dec..but quit again.went thru a rough period Jan-April with more hospital visits/doctor visits. but since mid may i havent had any major panic. stilll get mild anxiety but am learning to cope and it is getting better.
Even just reading your original post gave me twinges of panic

what you could be feeling also is PAWS ..
Post-acute withdrawal is a bio-psycho-social syndrome. It results from the combination of damage to the nervous system caused by
alcohol or drugs and the psychosocial stress of coping with life without drugs or alcohol.

hope that helps.

 

[wheresmybacon]

Originally posted by: zerocool1
how much caffeine do you consume?

Probably 3-4 diet sodas (diet coke or dew) a day. I guess now would be a good time to fix that.

I still haven't heard back from the doc. Called in and he's off today.

 

[wheresmybacon]

Originally posted by: Blintok

does it feel like this?

* Palpitations, pounding heart, or accelerated heart rate
* Sweating
* Trembling or shaking
* Sensations of shortness of breath or smothering
* Feeling of choking
* Chest pain or discomfort
* Nausea or abdominal distress
* Feeling dizzy, unsteady, lightheaded, or faint
* Derealization (feelings of unreality) or depersonalization (being detached from oneself)
* Fear of losing control or going crazy
* Fear of dying
* Paresthesias (numbness or tingling sensations)
* Chills or hot flushes

if so, it may be just panic attacks....
A panic attack is a discrete period of intense fear or discomfort, in which four (or more) of the above symptoms
developed abruptly and reached a peak within 10 minutes:

i went thru just about the same things you are going thru. atheletic then about 8yrs of hard core drinking and about 10yrs of moderate drinking.
Quit drinking sept07 - had massive panic attacks in oct07 and onward. first one after riding my bike..stopped at a light and thot i was going to pass out.
thot i was having a heart attack. even went to emerg in ambulance. did all the tests and even monitor u have. all came back ok.

it was so bad i had a few drinks again in Dec..but quit again.went thru a rough period Jan-April with more hospital visits/doctor visits. but since mid may i havent had any major panic. stilll get mild anxiety but am learning to cope and it is getting better.
Even just reading your original post gave me twinges of panic

what you could be feeling also is PAWS ..
Post-acute withdrawal is a bio-psycho-social syndrome. It results from the combination of damage to the nervous system caused by
alcohol or drugs and the psychosocial stress of coping with life without drugs or alcohol.

hope that helps.

Ya know I don't think I've given the anxiety angle enough cred. You might be right. I have definitely suffered from panic attacks in the past, but those were usually due to alcohol withdrawal or just a regular old hangover.

And PAWS is another good one. Even though we talk about it all the time in outpatient (I'm still in treatment) for some reason I didn't really make the connection that this very well could be part of that.

Thanks a lot for your post.

 

[Blintok]

Glad to help - when i saw your comment about anxiety and drinking it was like looking in a mirror
Good that you are in treatment - i am envious that you are starting this now (age 35) i wish i could have stopped at that age...
wasted alot of years being wasted (am 50 now)
a few things that help/ed me...

first is this website http://www.anxietybc.com/
the self help section - is this pdf http://www.anxietybc.com/resources/pdfs/hmpanic.pdf

i tried taking prescription anti-depressants but stopped due to side fx - found this stuff that is working for me
http://www.amoryn.com/

lastly is the following forums
http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/

mostly the alcohol and anxiety forums - lots of advice and help there - it helps to see that others are going thru/been thru
the same things and learning how they cope and healed.

good luck - panic attacks suck

 

[wheresmybacon]

Still haven't heard from my doctor after having blood work and an EKG done on Monday. I left a message with his nurse on Wednesday and haven't heard back. My little "heart-hiccups" are mostly gone. I've cut my caffeine intake substantially and that's seemed to help.

It makes you wonder though. If I had some rare fatal blood infection or some terminal heart-defect would they call back? Has the doc even looked at the test results? I ask this because I was having some stomach problems several years ago and the same thing with these guys...I had a series of tests done and never heard back from anyone. Pisses me off. In what other industry besides healthcare do you pay through the nose for seemingly nothing? It disgusts me.

Oh, and blintok, thanks for the links. I've been an active poster on the SR forums sinve January.

 

[bobsmith1492]

I had something like that twice back in high school at soccer games. My heart basically went to a double-speed beat and I could actually see it beating when I looked at my shirt. I also got dizzy and disoriented until I sat down on the field. Both times were after hard running on a really hot day. It's never happened since...

 

[wheresmybacon]

Update:

Been working out, though no HIIT. Frankly I'm scared to. High intensity workouts have caused me some terrifying symptoms, and I want to make sure my heart is 100% OK before I stress it like that. I've been sticking to weights, LISS, and coaching my soccer team.

Been wearing this heart monitor and recording my palpitations as they happen. After I have an "episode" of heart weirdness, I press a button and the small beeper-sized device I wear takes readings from electrodes attached to my chest and abdomen. From there I call an 800 number then hold the heart monitor up to the phone where it sends a series of fax-squelch-like noises back to the home base for analysis. So far I haven't died and they haven't seen reason to send me to the ER.

I don't know what this is going to turn out to be. Maybe it's just anxiety. Maybe it has something with my body chemistry changing since I quit drinking. Main thing is I want to stay on top of my symptoms. My college roommate, who's 32, had a heart attack on the treadmill at the gym last year. He's in good shape, but his party history is like mine: extensive. He had to be brought back by the defibrillators. He made it, but I don't want to ever get there b/c I ignored symptons.

Thanks for listening.