Three months after the heart scare

A few months ago – on the day before my 41^st birthday – I had what I later called a “heart scare.” You can read about what happened here. Suffice to say it was a huge wake-up call for me. While I WAS planning on making dietary and living changes on the day of my birthday, this incident hammered home just how important it was to make those changes.

Up until that point, I’d been dealing with occasional chest pain that was so severe, I’d be on the floor clasping at my chest. It usually happened once a month. One time, it was so bad, the skin of my right hand turned blue. (My daughter had called 911 at that time.) This was something I figured I just had to live with, but after the worst of it – on May 24^th of this year – I decided I’d had enough. I had to DO something! I had to make some changes.

So, I made changes.

First, I changed my diet. I added more fruits and vegetables to my diet and I started drinking A LOT of water. I cut down on my soda consumption as well as how much alcohol I consumed (which is usually beer – I can’t stand the taste of other alcoholic beverages).

I also started taking aspirin every day. Eventually, I started taking a multivitamin every day, as well.

I tried to start walking, but a burning sensation in my chest scared me so bad that I stopped. I learned that was just my lungs not used to this exertion and returned to walking, though at a shorter distance. With the kids home from school, my time to exercise was compromised, but I did squeeze in walking where possible. With the kids going back to school soon, I’ll be exercising more often.  

These changes have been good for me, because aside from the burning lungs, I have not had ANY other chest pain at all. I am grateful for the opportunity to try new foods and eat healthier, and I am also happy that I am more active now. I also think all that extra water I’ve been drinking has been good for me too. And I am grateful I haven’t had chest pain. I’ve made 3 months without it! Yay!

These changes have not been easy. I did allow the weekend to be my cheat days, when I could eat whatever I wanted, but it’s like I am frustrated with this diet. I am tired of it. I know it has been good for me but lately I’ve been thinking of ditching it. We will see, but so far, I have been doing better.

Cardiologist appointment

Last month, I had what I have since referred to as a “heart scare.” To get all the details about what had happened, see here. Part of my follow-up instructions was to see a cardiologist at a heart care center. This place is located at a local hospital, locally referred to as RiverBend. I had scheduled the appointment late last month and that appointment was today.

Before my appointment, however, I kept trying to figure out just what the heck had happened. I’d been having this severe chest pain usually once a month for some time now. It gets so bad that I honestly think I’m having a heart attack. I recently changed my diet and started taking aspirin every day, but I’ve still been troubled over just what the cause of this might be. I actually started to look it up on the Internet yesterday and pretty much stopped when the results brought up heart disease. I didn’t want to jump the gun on this. Personal experience has taught me that it’s best to talk to a doctor about things like this rather than trying to “self-diagnose myself” through the Internet.

I still wanted to know what possibilities there were. I talked about it with some people on Facebook yesterday and their comments gave me a lot to think about.

So I went to the appointment today and I handed in the paperwork I’d previously filled out about my medical history, personal habits and so forth. They took my vitals, asked me more questions about my medical experiences and asked me to go more in-depth about these chest pain episodes. What caught my attention was the doctor asking me why I felt the problem was my heart. I wondered why he asked that and broached the subject that maybe the cause was other things. I told the doctor my dad had heart problems and I thought maybe there was a connection there, but that I was also open to the possibility it might be something else or some other reason. The doctor listened to my heart and said everything sounded fine. Aside from my blood pressure being high at the time of this visit, everything else checked out okay. The doctor suggested I take a stress test so they can better test my heart health and so I have to go back when they schedule that test.

I am frustrated that they didn’t have an answer to my chest pain but when I left that appointment, I decided I would try to get a new primary care physician and look into some other options about what could be causing this. It might be the heart. It might be something else. Whatever it is, I hope it can be treated so that I don’t have to deal with those scary and painful episodes anymore.

Waking up with a wake-up call

“I really don’t want to wake up in a hospital room on my birthday.” That was something I said yesterday, while at the hospital to be treated for chest pains. Well, this morning, I didn’t wake up in a hospital room, but I did wake up with something else: A wake-up call to take better care of myself. That point was hammered home even more as I stared at the hospital ID bracelet I still had around my wrist.

Yesterday started out to be a day I wanted to get a bunch of things done. I even had a to-do list to conquer. With the next day being my birthday, a day I wanted to relax, I wanted to get done as much stuff as I could. Now, it might’ve been that particular stressor that got to me, or maybe because I hadn’t exactly been eating very well the week before, or maybe it was just stress, but when I was about to do one particular item on that list, I was suddenly struck with massive chest pain. The pain was really bad and I started to feel nauseated too. I went into the bathroom thinking I was going to vomit but then I started feeling sluggish. It was hard to stand up. The pain intensified, the room started spinning and I began to sweat. I really thought I was having a heart attack.

My husband helped me to bed. After I raised my arms over my head, the pain started to decrease. Eventually, I was feeling better, but I couldn’t stop wondering what had happened. After talking with Jen and checking my symptoms on the Internet, it seemed like I had had a mini heart attack. I texted my youngest sister about it and she strongly encouraged me to go to the hospital. I really didn’t want to. I was so weak and still a little dizzy. I just wanted to stay in bed. But my sister was alarmed and urged me to go. So I texted a friend of mine who is a nurse and asked her if I really needed to. She said I should call 911 and definitely go in to the ER. Not only did she give this advice but she, her husband and daughter raced over to check on me. (Need I say again how so very awesome my friends are?) Her husband called 911 while she helped me to sit down and checked in with me. The next thing I knew, paramedics were at my house and I was being hooked up to a portable heart machine. They also gave me baby aspirin. I checked out okay with the paramedics but they encouraged me to go to the hospital. At this time, my husband was back home and he said he would drive me to the hospital. Our friends followed us and helped us to get checked in. We were there for several hours and I had all these tests and X-rays done, as well as blood tests. Guess what? Everything was NORMAL. There was no evidence I had had a heart attack. But after hearing of how this has happened many times before, once being so worse that I did vomit, and my family’s history of heart problems, the doctor encouraged me to see a cardiologist. In fact, he referred me to a heart clinic and I have to call them tomorrow.

So. After all of that, I have realized that my poor diet, sedentary lifestyle and life stressors have really taken their toll on me. This all happened the day before my 41st birthday, a day I was actually planning to make some major life changes to improve my health. The irony of it all is not lost on me. Now, more than ever, I see how all of those bad things need to change. I need to eat better. I need to lose weight and some inches on my waist. I need to REALLY make time and effort for exercise every day. (I never really stuck with an exercise routine and always checked out when it got to be too painful for me.) And I just need to stop sitting at the desk so much or on the couch so much. My life REALLY needs to be more active. I always let stuff hold me back: My desire for isolation, my preference for being in the home instead of outside and my unease about being around people who ALWAYS want to talk or communicate when I’m not too much for socializing. But I’m sure I can get past those hurdles in order to have a more active life. I’ll figure something out.

I want these changes to happen. I have had enough with the old me. I’m tired of the old me. It’s time for a new me. It’s just time. So I am eager to move forward and welcome the new me. I am doing this for me but I’m doing this for my kids, too. I want to be able to watch them grow up, graduate from high school, etc. I want to be around for that. And I’m pretty sure they will want me to be around for that, too. So I need to forget about labels. Forget about fears. Forget about anxieties. It is time for me to step out of my comfort zone. Time to challenge myself to live the kind of life I kept telling myself could not happen. Well, maybe it can.

Have a heart

Today is Valentine’s Day and, for many, today was about that special someone they love. While I enjoyed a special Valentine treat with my husband, I also kept in mind something that we see everywhere on Valentine’s Day: A heart.

Specifically, the human heart.

Even more specifically, heart health. February is Heart Health Month, so it's a good time to think about just how good your heart health is.

There are some people in my family who have survived heart attacks. However, their surviving the heart attacks has not made me take heart health for granted. On the contrary, it has made me be more aware of how important it is to take care of our heart and practice good habits that keep our hearts strong.

Last week, I finished the first draft of a new ebook. This week, I am fixing up the manuscript – editing, formatting, citing sources, etc. And I thought it was interesting that, on today in particular, I was working on the chapter about exercises you can do to boost your heart health. In fact, one article I cited was talking about how the less we pump up and exercise our hearts, the weaker it will get, and it just won't be able to keep working as well as it used to as we age. Here, on a day where the heart is a big thing, I was reading about how we can take care of our heart health!

The coincidence was not lost on me. In fact, it was a good reminder that I need to revisit my habits that boost heart health.

Sure, exercise is one thing. But diet is important, too. We need to monitor what we eat and be careful not to overdo things that can be detrimental to our heart health. Also, cholesterol is a big thing to watch in monitoring our heart health. (This is actually covered in the next chapter of the ebook.) Another thing is to avoid doing activities that are too strenuous.

For some time, however, I have made it a point to be conscious of my diet and how it affects my heart health. And, today, I have decided that I am definitely going to try to find SOME WAY to squeeze in a 30-minute walk every day. The weather has been lousy and definitely not something to walk in if I can avoid it. Maybe I can find somewhere indoors to do a good walk. I do miss going for walks and need to make it a point to go for a walk every day.

Diet and exercise affect our heart health, but so does our environment. So do the choices we make in our lives. So the next time you choose something to eat or something to do, choose something that is good for your heart. Even if it is eating a piece of dark chocolate.