Tomorrow is my "big day" :/

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Petunia

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I haven't wanted to say much about this because, frankly, I get panic attacks when I think about it- I'm such a wuss lol

Tonite is my last night without electrodes stuck to my chest and a little black box hung from my neck or tucked into a pocket- for the next month! what should I do, that will be difficult to do when I'm hooked up?!?!

I need to go on a heart monitor to determine the cause of an irregular heart beat I've been having that is causing me to *almost* but not quite! black out (every thing goes black but I don't pass out, at least, not so far, knock on wood)

It's very brief, hence why the 30 days is needed to catch it and it record it. I already have one irregular heart beat, afib. It seems like when you have one, you're more likely to get others, oh joy! I can only remove the monitor to shower- for the next 30 days.

I am hoping that we can gather enough info on the monitor so that I don't have to go the full 30 days but I'm not sure what the new monitors are like, the old ones had to be held up to a landline to transmit data, and I think I had to do that every time there was an "event" to record. I haven't seen the new monitors, so this will be something new for me.

so, How shall I celebrate my chest's last evening sans electrodes? lol
 
For a whole month! I had to do that for a week and it was a pain in the butt! But I hope they can figure out what is going on with your heart. How is your blood pressure? Very low blood pressure can cause dizziness and faintness. Just before you black out, do you feel anything weird? Could it be a seizure? Very scary stuff!!!
 
What you wrote reminds me of what people go through with long term EEGs to try to find out what is happening re seizures.
Hope they soon obtain enough data so they know what is happening and so you can stop wearing the thing

Good luck today !
 
For a whole month! I had to do that for a week and it was a pain in the butt! But I hope they can figure out what is going on with your heart. How is your blood pressure? Very low blood pressure can cause dizziness and faintness. Just before you black out, do you feel anything weird? Could it be a seizure? Very scary stuff!!!


no most likely not a seizure, as I am having palpitations and a very long pause between heart beats. It's during that long pause that I feel like I'm blacking out, and everything does actually go black, but I never actually faint, thank goodness.

I have high blood pressure and atrial fibrillation. these odd beats could be afib or another irregular beat, it seems a lot of ppl with afib have at least one other heart issue....

If I'm suddenly having a lot of afib episodes, I'll need to change medications and go on anti coagulation to prevent a stroke- I'll explain when I get home if anyone is interested, but you've probably seen the ads on TV for xeralto and eliquis etc? where they say I have afib and high risk of stroke? well thats me lol

anyway, the episodes are very short so the only way to capture them on ekg/ecg is to wear a monitor, it will record every event.

If I get enough data before the 30 days is over, I won't have to use it the full month, I'm pretty sure. I'll ask today
 
Ohhh I missed this, what did you end up doing??

I've had two more episodes of almost blacking out since we last spoke but there were very short and I was um, very busy so I didn't go to the ER as I'd planned

meh, life happens. there's a good chance they wouldn't have picked up anything because they are so short
 
What you wrote reminds me of what people go through with long term EEGs to try to find out what is happening re seizures.
Hope they soon obtain enough data so they know what is happening and so you can stop wearing the thing

Good luck today !
thank you!

I didn't know you could have a long term EEG. My daughter was just diagnosed with epilepsy - she had one grand mal seizure when she was alone but when they got her to the ER she had another one there, so it was easy to confirm. Turns out she's been having mini seizures for a long long time, possibly years :/
 
Hope it all goes well. Sounds like you need a pacemaker or internal defibrillator.


that would be the worst case scenario, yes, but I don't think it's that bad, whatever it is
The ppl I know who have afib and had to get a pacemaker actually DID black out completely, not just feel like they were going to

I'm praying its something minor, annoying but not dangerous!
 
I hope they figure out what's going on. I know how terrible it is to not have a diagnosis. I had to go for another round of blood/urine tests just this morning where they took 8 vials and a urine sample to hopefully figure out what's going on with my kidneys. It's been over a month now since the problem was first discovered. So if you need to vent I totally understand and am here for you :hugs:
 
So are you all hooked up now? I would assume they have wireless reporting these days, so it should be pretty easy. It may interfere with bikini season though... ;)
 
So are you all hooked up now? I would assume they have wireless reporting these days, so it should be pretty easy. It may interfere with bikini season though... ;)


yup I'm all hooked up, turns out nothing has changed in the past er, 15 or so years since I last had to do this, it's the same monitor. the data can't be transmitted without a land line but since I live just a 3 min walk from the hospital all I have to do is take it down there when there's anything to report
It's just an event monitor, you push a button when you think something is happening
I'm pretty disappointed as I did expect something a bit more up to date

oh well hopefully it will work.
 
I have palpitations or PVC's same difference pretty much.

Mine are ok, I just feel them often. they have checked my heart twice now and they are fine. Ironically since I quit smoking 3 weeks ago, they seem to have stopped :) I dont feel them nearly as much as I did.

I know they told me it was pretty common for some people to feel these while others have them but never notice it. So hopefully you are just one of the lucky ones who gets to feel them as I do.

http://www.medicinenet.com/premature_ventricular_contractions/article.htm
 
I get chest pain any where up to 24 hours before I have an asthma attack. It feels like if someone would just left my rib cage off my chest I'd be fine. I've had the pvc or pac's - don't know which before, but they feel weird when they happen. I tell the hubby I'm going to be having a heart attack and not know it because I'm waiting for the asthma attack to start.
 
A few years ago I had that monitor thingy hooked up to me. When it was all done & the cardiologist checked the readings - he never found anything. He told me I just had an "irregular" heartbeat & that many people have this.... some can feel it & some can't. But said it was not a bad thing. Since I quit smoking I have to say that I very rarely feel anything anymore.:wink:

I am sure all will go well for you. Wishing you the very best.
 
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How's it going?


Oh I forgot to update, sorry

well I only lasted a few days with monitor, the pads the electrodes get stuck to ripped my skin up so bad it was bleeding, so there's no way I was going to continue with that, I returned the monitor

no episodes of odd heart beats have happened at all, but I did almost black out twice, and I think I may know why-?
it only happens when I'm sewing or on the computer, with my head held still for a long time, and then a slight turn of my head and everything goes black.
I have a bone spur in my neck and my spine is partly compressed by it (mild spinal stenosis) maybe it's pinching a nerve. I don't know


The cardiologist is gonna be upset when he sees that I returned the monitor but that's just too bad.
I know he wants me on anti coagulants just to "cover his butt" (it's what is recommended for ppl with afib, if they have certain other risk factors like high blood pressure, etc)
I have a higher than normal risk of having a stroke and taking anti coagulants might lower that risk
But I want to wait til I'm 65 and I'm only going to take the drug if I am actually still having episodes of afib

the monitor was supposed to tell us that, but I can't do it, it rips my skin off

If I think I"m in afib, I"ll just go to the hospital and have them check me out
 
I have palpitations or PVC's same difference pretty much.

Mine are ok, I just feel them often. they have checked my heart twice now and they are fine. Ironically since I quit smoking 3 weeks ago, they seem to have stopped :) I dont feel them nearly as much as I did.

I know they told me it was pretty common for some people to feel these while others have them but never notice it. So hopefully you are just one of the lucky ones who gets to feel them as I do.

http://www.medicinenet.com/premature_ventricular_contractions/article.htm


OH yes I have PACs and PVCs, and when I am having a lot of them, it is a sign that my heart is irritated and if I don't do something to calm it down, that is when I go into afib

Quitting smoking will help wiht PVCs a LOT
sometimes too much sugar or caffeine can cause PVCs too

I take a magnesium supplement that seems to help quite a bit


this is what I have, Peggy:
http://www.medicinenet.com/atrial_fibrillation/article.htm

It's very common and the older you get, the more likely you are to have it. They also recently found out that being born in the month of March increases your chance of having afib.

No one knows why yet, but the incidence of afib is increasing. So you'll probably be hearing a lot more about it
:(

I had my first episode when I was 18, I didn't have another one til I was over 35. I have only had er, 5? episodes so far. I usually spend 2 or 3 days in the hospital waiting to convert back to normal. the last time they pushed me to get electro cardioverted (shocked wiht the paddles) and I signed out AMA. No freaking way they are gonna shock me!! I converted at home that time about 2 days later. If I hadn't, then I might have had no choice but to get shocked. I pray it never comes to that!!

I had untreated high blood pressure for about 2 yr that has left me with some heart damage (thicker and stiffer heart muscle) but it's minor damage that doesn't really bother me at all.
 
I get chest pain any where up to 24 hours before I have an asthma attack. It feels like if someone would just left my rib cage off my chest I'd be fine. I've had the pvc or pac's - don't know which before, but they feel weird when they happen. I tell the hubby I'm going to be having a heart attack and not know it because I'm waiting for the asthma attack to start.


OH god that's terrifying!! is there any way to can figure out for sure that it's impending asthma? you can get chest pain with afib too, I usually do, but my heart rate is so fast and it feels like my heart is flip flopping around in chest like a fish- so I know it's not a heart attack.
They have had to give me some shot a couple of times because my heart rate goes so high they aren't sure if it's SVT I think it's called? a certain kind of more dangerous rapid heart beat, I think, super ventricular tachycardia?

anyway if I were you, if you had any doubts at all, I'd go down to the ER to get checked! They told me if I had chest pain that lasted more than 20 mins to call 911, even if I was fairly sure I was in afib

This is esp important for women, who are much more likely to die from their first heart attack, then men are. For some reason, drs still do not treat a woman's heart symptoms as aggressively as they do mens

for example, I dont' know a single man who has afib who has not been offered an ablation, a procedure that can cure afib
but I can't even get an appt with the doc who does the ablations. I know it's not my insurance because there's a men with the same insurance who got the procedure.
so totally unfair

I don't want an ablation if I can avoid it, but I'd rather have one then have to go on anti coagulants for the rest of my life.
 
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