Ok, so Tuesday had a really freaky day. I woke up with really bad heart palpatations. (Before you spaz, I'm fine.) It was weird. They just wouldn't stop. I went over in my head everything I ate and drank the past few dats and I had no caffiene at all and no weird allergy meds. I went to work and they just kept going. I mentioned to my boss and she said that she has them before a paniac attack.
So, I look up on-line and they talk about shortness of breath (no), tiredness (unusually tired yesterday which made me paniac a bit more), chest pain (no), but I could still feel that fluttering, bass in my chest.
I decided that I'd call my doctor. They couldn't get me in but another doctor in their practice could. Work was fine with me taking off. When I get to the office, I talk with a nice nurse who takes my blood pressure (a little high 116/90, pulse 80) and tells me that they're going to do an EKG. Holy poop! But it's not too bad. Lots of feeling my boobs to put the sticky electrodes on but she's cute, so it's not that bad!
They run and EKG ("Just relax and pretend you're going to sleep. I know that's hard in a paper robe but try.") She runs out of the room when I'm done and tells me I can get dressed.
The doctor comes in (and she's a woman!) and she asks me what's going on. I tell her my morning and that I've not really had anything like this before (the occasional skipped beat or whatever but nothing this consistant). She says my EKG looks great and there is nothing abnormal so she's not too worried but she has me go to the lab to give some blood to check my thyroid. She assures me that it probably nothing and that if it I still have symptoms later in the week to call back.
The heart palpatations continued for another day and today, I feel fine.
Now heart palpations are not usually linked to obesity. Mostly they happen because of congenital defect, a viral infection, a thyroid problem or stress. I didn't think I was stressed out but a friend of mine pointed out with full-time school, full-time work, my step-mother leaving my father, and my sister having a miscarriage, what part of my life isn't stessed. Ok, good point.
However, I will tell you that NOTHING scared me more than thinking, "Okay, it's a heart palpatation this time but what happens if it was more serious? When it's heart disease or a clogged artery or a heart attack."
How long will I wait for a lethal wake-up call?
My family has heart disease. My good/bad cholestrol ratio puts me in the heart disease category. I'm obese. All these are good indicators that I have a fight for my heart later on. Why am I waiting to fight the good fight?
So I am sufficiently scared. I am ready to take action. My brush with a minor, benign heart problem was enough. I can't imagine something that would impact my oxygen levels, my energy, or my life as much as heart disease would. This was my wake-up call. I hope you don't need one.
Here's some stats on Heart Disease!
Cardiovascular Disease
•One in four females has some form of cardiovascular disease.
•Since 1984, the number of CVD deaths for females has exceeded those for males.
•In 2002 CVD caused the deaths of 493,623 females compared with 433,825 males. Females represent 53.2 percent of deaths from CVD.
•In the United States in 2002, all cardiovascular diseases combined claimed the lives of 493,623 females while all forms of cancer combined to kill 268,503 females. Breast cancer claimed the lives of 41,514 females; lung cancer claimed 67,542.
•The 2002 overall death rate from CVD was 320.5. Death rates were:
265.6 for white females
368.1 for black females.
•In 2002 cardiovascular disease was the first listed diagnosis of 3,164,000 females discharged from short-stay hospitals. Discharges include people both living and dead.