Premature Beats

In the three months since I last posted an update not much has happened, although two weeks ago I did have a bit of a scare. I was feeling short of breath and I could feel my heart out of whack. My pulse dropped to about 35 beats a minute. While cause for concern, it is not super dangerous as my resting pulse is in the 40s. However, I did call 911 and spent a few hours in emergency at the St. Catharines General Hospital.

My heart was beating prematurely and I had an unusual electric discharge, both of which have been seen before. My doctor has told me that the premature beats can cause shortness of breath. I wonder if the premature beats cause my pulse to appear lower than what it is. Fortunately for me when I was discharged at 4 in the morning it just happened to be a very mild night with a temperature of 14 C as I walked home.

Since then my heart has been giving me occasional trouble in terms of shortness of breath. What my pulse and blood pressure are doing I don’t know as I have taken it since the night I went to the hospital. When I went for a couple of long walks last night I felt fine. I also felt fine when I cycled from Burlington to Rockwood and back one weekend and when I did a 114 kilometer bicycle ride.

Still no word on the specialist in Hamilton I’m supposed to see. I did have a follow-up to the sleep test I did earlier this year. The doctor told me that I need to lose a little weight and gave me some medication to try to open my nose at night. Both would help keep me from snoring, which may in turn help my atrial fibrillation. I’ll see what my own doctor has to say the next time I see him.

Wacko Heart

After calling the paramedics last week for safety sack as my pulse went from 40 beats a minute to 93 beats a minute (I checked out okay.), I decided to see my doctor.

He says my heart can’t make up its mind what it wants to do: it beats normally, it pauses, it has a premature beat and it has an irregular beat. I have both atrial fibrillation and other arrhythmia problems. Oh joy! My doctor did again assure me that I do not have heart disease, a heart condition or any problems with my arteries, which is good news.

My heart reminds me of a line from Stephen Leacock’s Gertrude The Governess, “He flung himself from the room, flung himself upon his horse and rode madly off in all directions.”

I asked about cardioversion using a defibrillator to stop the heart and then restart it, which resets the heart beat. My doctor said that is used in patients who have constant atrial fibrillation, which I don’t.

I’m going to be sent to a specialist in Hamilton, who will map my heart’s electrical problems. I believe he also can correct them by destroying (burning) very small pieces of the heart to make a clear circuit for the beat signal. It will take a while before I see the specialist.

Racing Heart

Last Saturday my heart really raced. Okay it was for a very good reason – I was trying to outrun a thunder storm on my bicycle. My cycling club had a ride that started at Niagara Christian College. When I started out it was overcast, but no threat of rain. It wasn’t until I got to south part of Niagara Falls in the rural area that I began noticing dark clouds to the north. I figured they would probably stay north.
Naturally I took a road that ended at a clay road. So rather than turn back to the main road I had just left, I continued along a clay road till the next paved road, which I took over to the Niagara Parkway trail. I noticed the dark clouds were getting closer. I picked up speed. I heard a rumble of thunder and a cool wind began. Then I saw flashes of lightning over Grand Island. I picked up speed again.
Closer and closer the storm came. The wind became stronger. I thought about my options: ducking under a bridge, the veranda of a house under construction, laying my bicycle down and crouching nearby and, my preferred option, take shelter at the Miller’s Creek Marina. I prayed over and over again, “Please God may I not get fried and may I make the marina.” Fortunately my prayer was answered and I made the marina in one piece. I wasn’t the only cyclist to take shelter there. A group from Buffalo, going to Niagara Falls, had arrived before I did.
About 10 minutes after I arrived the storm broke. There were great flashes of lightning, wind and rain, which, now safe, I was able to enjoy. It lasted no more than 20 minutes and then we were all underway again.
I cycled the half kilometer back to Niagara Christian College. With only the tour leader there, we both decided to return home.
My heart has been up and down, with bouts of skipping, added beats and racing. Mercifully the racing has been rare. One day last week my heart raced at 93 beats a minute, while my blood pressure was normal. I think it was somewhere around 110 over 63. The heat and humidity hasn’t been helping me any.
I have returned to doing Wii Fit Plus thanks to my girlfriend bringing back the Wii console. As part of doing Wii Fit Plus I’ve started running in place for two minutes. It is helping. I’ve also began taking a daily dose of aspirin.

Another Loop Monitor

Last Thursday I returned the loop monitor to the cardiologist. Much to my surprise every day I pressed the button to record at least once and sometimes four or five times. However for every time I pressed to record, the monitor came on of its own accord at least once, usually, it seemed, just because I moved a certain way. I had been told this may happen. On some days I pressed record once or twice and the monitor came on three or four times.

After my heart improving for several weeks, it began getting worse again about the time I got the monitor. There are several possible reasons for this. One is returning to weight lifting, which I have since stopped again. That may have contributed to making my heart worse. It appeared to do this earlier this year when I resumed weight lifting after stopping it for several weeks.

Another possible contributing factor is that I’ve temporary quit doing Wii Fit Plus. The Wii belongs to my girlfriend, who had to temporarily take it back and so I’ve been without it for about a week now. She will return the Wii on Friday when she comes again. I started doing Wii Fit in April I believe and noticed my heart gradually improving.

The heat and humidity may also contribute to my heart getting worse. I’m not one for enjoying it.

On top of this I’ve had back problems possibly due to the sciatic nerve. This started a week ago when I bicycled 113 kilometers. Normally such a ride wouldn’t be a problem for me. However, my back seemed to go out a bit just as I was about to go. It was made worse the next day by a hike in the Niagara Glen. Fortunately a 31 kilometer bicycle ride yesterday did not make my back worse. (I enjoyed the ride as usual, by the way.)

Another Loop Monitor

Well I’m on another loop monitor. The first one was in January, which showed that I had atrial fibrillation. It will be interesting to see what this will show.

Lately my heart has been very good. Not as good as it was this time last year, but way better than it was during the dark days of February, March, April and early May. I still have some bad days, but these bad days are not as bad as those I had early this year.

My girlfriend wonders if I have had some sort of wacky virus. Who knows? All I know is that as recently as a month ago I did not think I would be cycling more than about 30 kilometers. Now I’m cycling up to 73 kilometers and seriously thinking about doing a 115 kilometer ride.

So far the monitor has come on twice on its own probably because of some movement I had. I pressed the record twice accidentally and once as my heart was skipping.

Earlier this week I resumed weight lifting for the first time since January. So far there are no problems. I use five pound weights, one in each hand. I have been doing Wii Fit Plus for the past few months, which may be helping my heart. My sleep is now rarely disturbed by my heart. I also wonder if there is a connection between the quality of sleep and my heart. It seems that on days when my quality of sleep is poor my heart tends to be not too good.

What A Change A Week Makes

What a difference a week makes! Last week I felt great. I went for a couple of walks, a 21 kilometer bicycle ride and a 65 kilometer ride. The 65 kilometer ride was unexpected as I didn’t think I’d be able to do under the present circumstances. I began to wonder whether my heart problems were just a weird virus or my imagination and then reality struck.

After one good week I’ve had a bad week, which let me know that my heart problems are not my imagination. This week I can FEEL my heart. Thursday night I felt so bad I called an ambulance to be on the safe side. My pulse went from 40 to 88 and skipped and had extra beats. My blood pressure briefly dipped to about 75/45 or something like that. I began to panic, making things worse. By the time the paramedics arrived I had calmed down and my heart had settled down. They found I had evidence of atrial fibrillation. Fortunately it wasn’t serious enough for me to go to hospital. And naturally this occurred just as I’m going to bed.

I called my doctor’s office to advise him of what happened and to ask if the cardiologist had been in touch with him. I was told they had called, but my doctor hadn’t gotten around to call back. Perhaps he will now.

In the meantime no cycling today unfortunately, and probably no walking. Frustrating!

Doctor Visit

Yesterday I saw my regular doctor and received some good news. First my sleep test went fairly well. I don’t have sleep apnea. However, I do have a vibrating snore, which is silent. My REM stage sleep is short and heart does show extra beats. Second there continue to be no signs of heart disease or damage.

My doctor leans towards my view that my problem is sick sinus syndrome rather than strictly atrial fibrillation. He agrees with me that another loop monitor would be good to update things.

I mentioned I have gotten worse since I last saw him and had my stress test. It is slowly looking like I may need a pace maker. I’m not crazy about having anything permanently implanted in my body, but better it and return to my usual way of life than not have it and possibly die prematurely or suffer a stroke or heart attack.

Worsening Heart

My heart is slowly getting worse. I can feel it. The other night I had an erratic heart rate. It went something like beep.....beep.....beepbeepbeepbeepbeep, beep, beep.....beep.....beep, beep, beep, beep, beep..... and so on. My pulse was 99, high for me. It took about two hours before things settled down enough for me to go to sleep.

I feel my heart skip. It used to be just occasionally now it’s becoming regular. I have shortness of breath, I feel like I could faint and I feel lightheaded at times. I have chest pain at times and my sleeping is interrupted. In short I have all the signs of sick sinus syndrome. Night are especially bad.

And as if this isn’t enough, sometimes I’ll doze off while watching t.v. or a film and suddenly awake with a start feeling like I’ve quit breathing. It is frightening.

The worst part for me is waiting for doctors to act. However, I am going to start pressing for action starting with my own doctor whom I see today. Without treatment, I feel that I may die sometime within the next several months.

Facing Mortality With Christian Faith

My heart continues to be irregular. Sometimes it beats normally without skipping, but that’s becoming the exception. On most days now it skips. Sometimes I wonder if it will quit on me and the next thing I’ll know I’m dead.

It’s forcing me to confront my own mortality in a way I hadn’t before. I’ve always realized that someday I’m going to die. I have mixed feelings about death. As Woody Allen once said, “I’m not afraid of death; I just don’t want to be there when it happens.”

On one hand, I’m afraid. Anything new causes me anxiety. That’s just part of my nature. Death after all is a oneway street. It’s the end of this life. It means one day my heart and my breathing will stop and my spirit will be set free and I begin a new journey. I also think of the hurt and pain I’ve caused myself and others and the missed and squandered opportunities. All my weaknesses come to mind.

On the other hand, as a Christian, I’m not afraid as I know there’s a loving God, who sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. And I have accepted God’s gracious pardon for my sinfulness. So when I die the light at the end of the tunnel will be God waiting to welcome me into eternal life and eternal love. Hopefully a hug from God also awaits as I’ll really need it.

I know there are some who say, if there’s a loving God why is there suffering? Well God could have easily made a world without suffering by simply destroying all of humanity as soon as we showed signs of rebellion or God could have made us so that we had no choice, but to serve him/her. That, in my mind, would have made us slaves. God gave us free will as God did not want slaves, but rather willing friends and partners; people who willingly chose to follow God’s directions. And frankly I like this way.

As I deal with my heart problems I’ve been thinking a lot about God and eternity. Wondering what it will be like. When I get anxious about things, I have some Christian films that I find comforting. My two favorite are Jesus and The Gospel Of John. While I read the Bible daily, I find the visuals of these films provide me with an added depth that words alone do not provide.

I’ll have more to say on this in future posts.

The Stress Test

My heart passed much to my surprise, the stress test that is that I had yesterday at the cardiologist. Unlike the stress test I had about 20 years ago, which was on a tread mill, this one required me to lay down and pedal. As part of it an ECG was done, my blood pressure and pulse were taken throughout the test and ultrasounds were done.

Being an avid cyclist and a recumbent user the test, for me, was like climbing a very steep hill or bucking a strong head wind. My biggest muscles are in my legs.

The results my heart was skipping about one beat a minute, at least initially. However during the test there were extra heart beats, which I didn’t feel or ignored as my legs were tired and I was puffing away. They were trying to raise my heart rate to about 140 beats a minute. I only got up to 130 beats. The scar tissue, a previous doctor had found and suggested that I may have had a silent heart attack, was not found this time.

For now, no intervention is seen. However, this may change following the results of my sleep test, which is now due in about two and half to three and a half weeks.

This is a mixture of good and bad news. Good news in that my heart is in better shape than dreaded. The bad news I still have problems at night with my heart that are, so far, unresolved.

The Sleep Test

I recently had a sleep test and I think my sleep flunked. The test was to see if I have sleep apnea, which would account for my heart problems. However, the results won’t be known for a few weeks yet.

For the test I was wired up like some sort of Frankenstein with wires attached to my head, upper body and a few other places. The wires were attached to a long small black box, which in turn was connected to other wires when I went to bed. The process of wiring me up took about 20 minutes. My sleep was filmed. (Perhaps to give to someone else who was having problems getting to sleep.)

I had to be at the sleep lab by 8:15 PM and was joined by two others, who were also there for a sleep study. Ironically the technician was late. (Slept in?) Each of us had our own bedrooms and toilets. A questionnaire was given before bedtime, followed by a general questionnaire about my health. Then I was weighed and my height checked. I was awaken (actually I was already awake) at 6 AM and had to be out by 6:30. Before leaving another questionnaire had to filled out.

It was an interesting experience. The results will be known in four to five weeks. If I have sleep apnea I’ll be called back to do a second sleep test. This time I intend to study for it.

Flu Fears

I was just starting to successfully deal with my fear when my body gave way. I got the flu. It was a Friday. Between 4 and 5 PM I went for a nice walk around the neighborhood with my girlfriend. By 7 PM I was in bed with the chills. My temperature was average, but I think the thermometer may have been broken. I put as many blankets on me as I could and jacked up the thermostat to 26 C.

The next day was spent in bed. I must admit this sure took my mind off my heart. I felt as if I had been physically assaulted. And you want to know the crazy thing about this? I had the flu shot. My girlfriend figures I got it while in the hospital two nights before as there was an old woman who was very sick.

The Sunday I got up, but I had diarrehea and probably became dehydrated. I learned the hard way what that can do to your heart and to your peace of mind. My pulse dropped off the scale. I figure it was somewhere between 32 and 37 beats per minute. My normal resting pulse is about 46-48. I managed to correct this by rehydrating myself with lots of fluids, like water and fruit juice. I also drank a bottle of Gatorade to restore my electrolytes.

And one more thing, my blood pressure dropped at one point to 86/52. My resulting blood pressure usually gets no lower than 96/57. Believe me this does not do anything to help one to relax.

It took me several weeks before I could relax again before going to bed.

I’m afraid, especially at night as my eyes begin to shut and I start to drift off into sleep. Afraid that my heart might burst. Afraid that my heart might stop. Afraid I might have either a heart attack or a stroke. Afraid of the unknown. Afraid that I might not be able to summon help. Afraid of being alone when something happens. Unless you’ve been through something like this you might not be able to understand it. What it gets down to is the fear of unknown.

I’ve suffered anxiety attacks. One night I became convinced that if I fell asleep I’d die. I had a tightness in the chest and my blood pressure was going up and down. My girlfriend called 911. They checked me out and I was taken to the hospital to be checked out. I spent the night there. Blood tests turned out okay.

A few hours later I saw my doctor again. I asked him point blank if I’m likely to die from my condition. He said that it was unlikely that I would. He decided to press the cardiologist to see me sooner rather than later, which gave me some relief for a short time.

However, I still have the fear at night. I feel when my heart skips. My heart seems to quiver and feels like Jell-O. I take my blood pressure and pulse several times to reassure myself before I allow my eyes to shut and my mind to go into dreamland.

Some say I’m too anxious and I agree up to a point. I know that my heart and my emotions start to play on one another. I try to relax and keep calm. It works up to a point.

For the past two decades or so since my original diagnosis of sick sinus syndrome I felt fine. There was an incident 10 years ago when I wondered if I would ever walk or bicycle again. I felt fine sitting down and lying down, but woozy standing, walking or cycling. I was thoroughly checked over including for MS, but no cause was ever found. It took me a full six months before I returned to my usual self. I always considered it some sort of mysterious virus.

In late November, almost precisely 10 years since my mysterious illness, I began feeling woozy. It felt a bit like walking on a floating dock. After a few bouts of this I decided to get it checked out by my doctor.

When I went my doctor noticed my heart beat was irregular and would skip beats. I sent for a variety of blood tests and an ECG (electrocardiogram). An ECG records the electrical discharges of the heart via electrodes and can give an indication whether or not everything is okay.

I was then sent to a specialist, who was not a cardiologist. (He also dealt with liver and kidney.) I was given a holter monitor to wear for 24 hours, which is basically a portable ECG. Then I was given a loop monitor to wear for two weeks and to press a button every time I felt a symptom. Much to my surprise I ended up pressing it four times. Then the specialist did an echocardiogram, which is an ultrasound of the heart. For the first time I became aware that I might have a serious problem with my heart. He noticed a part of the heart that wasn’t functioning
the way it should and told me that I had had a small heart attack. My doctor later told me that the jury is still out on this.

Sick Sinus Syndrome

In my previous post I introduced my blog. In this one I’ll talk about my original diagnosis. About 1990 or thereabouts I began complaining of chest pains and sought help for them several times. I was hospitalized in the cardiac wing of the St. Catharines General Hospital and saw a heart specialist, who put through a battery of tests.

The chest pains turned out to be something other than my heart. For example I discovered that sometimes I’ll get a very sharp stabbing around my heart, but it isn’t my heart. It’s from a nearby scar that’s
under my left armpit caused by a ping pong ball sized piece of fat removed several years earlier. I can now tell it’s the scar as when I press on it it hurts.

It was discovered that my heart tended to skip a beat or two, chiefly during the night, and I was formally diagnosed with sick sinus syndrome. Sick sinus syndrome is a group of heart rhythm problems in
which the heart’s natural pacemaker – the sinus node – doesn’t work properly. A person’s heart may beat too fast or too slow or a combination of the two.

It’s a condition that someone, like myself, may have few if any symptoms initially. It can also come on suddenly. It is progressive. Symptoms include: palpitations, fatigue and shortness of breath. A complete
list of symptoms can be found here http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/sick-sinus-syndrome/DS00930/DSECTION=symptoms

In my case it was decided not to do anything since it wasn’t affecting me in any way at the time. I was monitored for several years afterwards and then it was dropped. And then things changed. In my next post I’ll tell you how.

Introduction

I'm scared, no two ways about it. I'm having heart problems, me of all people. I don't smoke or drink in excess (actually I don't drink at all) or otherwise abuse my body. I exercise regularly and am not diabetic. Okay so my diet does leave something to be desired, but I'm trying to improve.

This is the first in a serious of occassional blogs on my heart journey from symptoms to diagnosis to treatment. In it I'll share my hopes and fears, triumphs and failures. I'll confront my own mortality. I'll explore my relationships with God, my girlfriend, my friends and my cats as they relate to my heart problems. I'll talk about my symptoms and my journey to treatment.

Please join me on my voyage. I warn you that this blog will be, like my heart beat, irregular. Meaning you may see a constant string of postings and then nothing for a while before starting again. I promise to tell you when I think my blog has run its useful course and formally sign off.

I'm doing it to help me cope with my experience and in hopes that I might be able to help others with theirs. I welcome your feedback and your stories. While I know I'm not alone with dealing with heart problems, I'm curious as to whether my experiences, hopes and fears are unique to me or fairly common. With your permission, I may even share, anonymously, some of your stories.

Until next time, Peter D. A. Warwick