Well my first week of treatment is done. What an experience this has been. I slept a little better last night but I still woke up tired. I also had the creepy crawly and weak feeling in my arms and legs but especially in my right forearm. When I have that feeling I usually end up of having a twitching/seizure episode. This morning was no different. It started a little while after I got to the center. I decided to push through it during my first treatment because I was going to see the doctor next. It wasn't horrible but I didn't want it to get any worse. As happens sometimes they ended up having to switch my schedule and I was going in for a massage and not seeing the doctor until after lunch. In order to try and calm things down I had to take some magnesium. I didn't want to accidentally punch my therapist. Luckily between the magnesium and the massage things calmed down. It ended up being a busy morning and I didn't get much of a break for lunch.
When I did my foot bath today it was a little different and I seemed to be getting rid of some yeast and cellular debris plus some heavy metals. Just more detoxing which is always good. When I went into to see Dr. J we went over my symptoms as usual and I told him about the seizure and the awful feeling in my arms and legs. He went to work using the percussor and the BRS. It was discovered that I had a tilted sacrum (I believe that is how he put it). It took us quite a while to get it back into place. We then worked on my right shoulder which didn't get much attention the other day due to my port. he carefully worked around it and we definitely seemed to make some progress moving things around. Hopefully that will help with the weak feeling. Although as I type this I can feel it coming back in both of my arms. We will see how things go over the weekend.
We then did some interesting neurophoton therapy with colored lights. I guess my body wasn't really absorbing red light. So seeing red light stressed me out even though I was testing deficient in it. We did the same with blue and green light which wasn't as bad as the red but needed some correction. When that process was done it opened up some new heart issues. I tested for a new remedy to be added that is supposed to help with chest pain and shortness of breath caused by cardiac asthma. I am glad we are getting somewhere with my heart. I am hoping this helps of course. I asked Dr. J if he had pinpointed what was causing my heart issues. He said no but basically for me they were able to get the microbes, bacteria, etc...under control and this is what he considered damage control. He said for many of their patients this is what ends up happening. The therapies and remedies show those causes are under control and maybe not causing any more damage so when things show up as problems now it is damage that has been caused already. I am starting to believe that the sinus tachycardia has always been there, maybe since I was born, but wasn't bothersome so they it would have never been treated. Then over the course of my life getting different viruses or things like Lyme, they found the weakness in my heart and went there and caused some damage. What will be interesting is if this is damage that can be repaired like will I test that it is gone next week. I mean I have seen a lot of cardiologist and none of the tests they have done are showing any visible damage to them so I am not sure if this is something can even be picked up by them or just through energy medicine. I can't wait to see how things go.
As for now, I am tired, with a little headache and just kind of sore. I am going to dinner with my new friends who I have been blessed with having met here. The plan for the weekend is lots of rest, hydration, and detox baths. I did get some some copies of some of my test results to share with you and the cool thing is I will get a copy of my whole file before I leave. I also got a sheet on the ST8 lymph machine I will share with you. Hopefully I will have lots of pictures for you this weekend.
Continue the prayers, not only for me but the other two girls here. It has been a rough week on all of us but we are optimistic. Our healing is coming!
Showing posts with label sinus tachycardia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sinus tachycardia. Show all posts
Friday, January 6, 2012
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Riding Shotgun
"If you're going through hell, keep on moving, face that fire, walk right through it, you might get out before the devil even knows your there"- Rodney Atkins
While it is 10 pm and I should be sleeping my brain is in overdrive and I just took a bunch of pills so I need to be up for a little bit. What a perfect time for an update. I'm done saying that this will be a quick update. I think you know by now, they never are. I could go on forever it seems. Now, where to begin...
I'll start by letting you know that I got a 30 day extension at work. At the end of the 30 days I have to go through the whole doctors note routine again and we will go from there. Options are really slim as far as work goes. The bottom line is my "recovery" is not cooperating with the City's time line. For any one who knows about this disease that comes as no surprise. When does Lyme ever cooperate? Maybe never. Regardless, I am blessed to have another 30 days and I am really letting God take control. I am feeling more and more comfortable with the fact that I am giving up control. I'm letting Jesus take the wheel and as much as I like to drive, it's not so bad riding shotgun on this road trip. I think I am learning to sit back and relax.
Completely surprised but my sauna came a few weeks ago just like they said. After hearing some nightmare stories from some friends I wasn't convinced it could be here in less than week from when it was ordered but sure enough it was. Because I was finishing up my last week of antibiotics before my 2 month break I wasn't the first one to use it. That was ok I was just so excited to have it. My husband got the job of putting it together. It actually was a fairly quick process and with in just a few hours of it being delivered my husband climbed in and started to sweat. Now he has never used one and I had a feeling he was going to love it. I was right. I almost wonder if he loves the sauna more than me. Just kidding. Can I just say though, regardless of your health, if you can ever afford to buy one do it. The health benefits alone are worth it. It is just relaxing and makes you feel good, well unless you are killing bugs like me then sometimes not so good but I just highly recommend you look into them. I don't think you will regret it. As a side note the weight loss part is great, my husband is dropping pounds and loving it. So since stopping the antibiotics, starting the new medicine, and using the sauna I must admit it has been a little rougher than I thought. It is so hard to tell what is really going on. I have been really sick to my stomach the past few days and I am almost sure that that is the new medicine. Some of the other symptoms though are hard to tell. Is it a herx because the heat from the sauna is killing bugs, is it just part of detoxing, is it a relapse from no abx. I am not looking forward to starting the abx up again. I'm really scared of what type of herx I might have. There is not much more I can go through at home before I am sure I would end up in the ER. As any lyme person will tell you, you want to avoid that at all costs. It's usually not worth it. On the other hand though, if you think you are dying what choice do you have? I am not going to worry about and if I'm truly letting Jesus take the wheel, that means I'm letting Him drive down that road too.
Speaking of symptoms and herxing the heart issues have been fairly steady. Nothing super crazy but fairly consistent and enough to drive me nuts. I did an echo last week which was normal. (No surprise there) I did the stress test on the treadmill today. That test kicked my but and I had to come home and go to sleep. I did better than some of my other tests so that is a plus. However, in my book it was still an epic fail. I managed to get my heart rate up to 190 in about 7 minutes. The cardiologist said I did fine. I exceeded my maximum heart rate by a little doing moderate exercise. Not bad. Not bad? I'm WALKING up a hill and within 7 minutes my heart is maxed it, I'm weak in the knees and I can't breathe and that's not bad. Don't forget, this test was done with me on two different medications to control my heart rate. Needless to say I am still very frustrated by the whole thing. "Inappropriate Sinus Tach" seems to be the consensus but it still drives me nuts. I am just praying that when we get the lyme and co-infections in remission that this issue will resolve itself for the most part. The other crazy part of this is the shortness of breath. You really feel like you are crazy when you feel like it is very hard to breath, you can't talk in complete sentences and your o2 saturation is 100%. Just confuses me to no end. I just need to follow up with some blood work and we will go from there. I have been working on my "heart breathing". I need to do it more often but I always do it in the sauna. Focus on my breathing, then breathing through my heart, then happy thoughts...which leads me to the last thing for the night.
Once again some amazing things have happened in the last day or two that just remind me how blessed I am. I'm not ready to share all of the details but God is doing some things behind the scenes so to speak and my husband and I both believe that what has gone on in just the last 24 hours is part of God's way of letting us know we are on the right track. I think some big things are in store for us and I can't wait. It is so interesting how God's timing works as well. I had a very rough end to my work week last week with some frustrations over something I felt I deserved that I didn't get only to see someone else turnaround and get it. I literally had to leave the office before I said something I would regret. In my husbands usual style, he reminded me I was wasting time being mad over something I couldn't change. I knew he was right but, but, but, well I still wanted to be upset. Long story short, I got over it, and am so happy that things went the way they did. One, I found out that the other person did truly need what they asked for. Second, if that situation would have worked in my favor then it wouldn't have allowed God to bless us like He has. I'm still learning day by day. I'm still human and get upset and think life is unfair sometimes but in the end I'm realizing I can only see one small part of the picture. Someone else has a much better view...
In closing I just wanted to send out an extra big THANK YOU and hugs to all of my amazing friends for your support. You know who you are, and God has put you in my life for a reason. I am so thankful for each and everyone of you. Just in case you forgot...there are a couple of ways you can support me and family during this time. First you can pray for us. I don't underestimate the power of prayer and I could use all the prayers I can get. Second we would obviously accept your financial donations. You can do that from the blog by clicking on my "go fund me" link. You can buy some of my photography from my fototime link on my blog. Lastly you can watch the documentary "Under Our Skin" which is now available on Netflix to watch instantly. Thanks for following along. I'd love to hear from you. (Just so you know financially where we stand...we owe the doctors office roughly $1300 to catch up on my IV's we have done so far. If the 2 months off/on plan works and we are pretty much done after that then we still need to come up with about $5000. I just feel better letting you know what the costs really are.) Have a good night.
'
While it is 10 pm and I should be sleeping my brain is in overdrive and I just took a bunch of pills so I need to be up for a little bit. What a perfect time for an update. I'm done saying that this will be a quick update. I think you know by now, they never are. I could go on forever it seems. Now, where to begin...
I'll start by letting you know that I got a 30 day extension at work. At the end of the 30 days I have to go through the whole doctors note routine again and we will go from there. Options are really slim as far as work goes. The bottom line is my "recovery" is not cooperating with the City's time line. For any one who knows about this disease that comes as no surprise. When does Lyme ever cooperate? Maybe never. Regardless, I am blessed to have another 30 days and I am really letting God take control. I am feeling more and more comfortable with the fact that I am giving up control. I'm letting Jesus take the wheel and as much as I like to drive, it's not so bad riding shotgun on this road trip. I think I am learning to sit back and relax.
Completely surprised but my sauna came a few weeks ago just like they said. After hearing some nightmare stories from some friends I wasn't convinced it could be here in less than week from when it was ordered but sure enough it was. Because I was finishing up my last week of antibiotics before my 2 month break I wasn't the first one to use it. That was ok I was just so excited to have it. My husband got the job of putting it together. It actually was a fairly quick process and with in just a few hours of it being delivered my husband climbed in and started to sweat. Now he has never used one and I had a feeling he was going to love it. I was right. I almost wonder if he loves the sauna more than me. Just kidding. Can I just say though, regardless of your health, if you can ever afford to buy one do it. The health benefits alone are worth it. It is just relaxing and makes you feel good, well unless you are killing bugs like me then sometimes not so good but I just highly recommend you look into them. I don't think you will regret it. As a side note the weight loss part is great, my husband is dropping pounds and loving it. So since stopping the antibiotics, starting the new medicine, and using the sauna I must admit it has been a little rougher than I thought. It is so hard to tell what is really going on. I have been really sick to my stomach the past few days and I am almost sure that that is the new medicine. Some of the other symptoms though are hard to tell. Is it a herx because the heat from the sauna is killing bugs, is it just part of detoxing, is it a relapse from no abx. I am not looking forward to starting the abx up again. I'm really scared of what type of herx I might have. There is not much more I can go through at home before I am sure I would end up in the ER. As any lyme person will tell you, you want to avoid that at all costs. It's usually not worth it. On the other hand though, if you think you are dying what choice do you have? I am not going to worry about and if I'm truly letting Jesus take the wheel, that means I'm letting Him drive down that road too.
Speaking of symptoms and herxing the heart issues have been fairly steady. Nothing super crazy but fairly consistent and enough to drive me nuts. I did an echo last week which was normal. (No surprise there) I did the stress test on the treadmill today. That test kicked my but and I had to come home and go to sleep. I did better than some of my other tests so that is a plus. However, in my book it was still an epic fail. I managed to get my heart rate up to 190 in about 7 minutes. The cardiologist said I did fine. I exceeded my maximum heart rate by a little doing moderate exercise. Not bad. Not bad? I'm WALKING up a hill and within 7 minutes my heart is maxed it, I'm weak in the knees and I can't breathe and that's not bad. Don't forget, this test was done with me on two different medications to control my heart rate. Needless to say I am still very frustrated by the whole thing. "Inappropriate Sinus Tach" seems to be the consensus but it still drives me nuts. I am just praying that when we get the lyme and co-infections in remission that this issue will resolve itself for the most part. The other crazy part of this is the shortness of breath. You really feel like you are crazy when you feel like it is very hard to breath, you can't talk in complete sentences and your o2 saturation is 100%. Just confuses me to no end. I just need to follow up with some blood work and we will go from there. I have been working on my "heart breathing". I need to do it more often but I always do it in the sauna. Focus on my breathing, then breathing through my heart, then happy thoughts...which leads me to the last thing for the night.
Once again some amazing things have happened in the last day or two that just remind me how blessed I am. I'm not ready to share all of the details but God is doing some things behind the scenes so to speak and my husband and I both believe that what has gone on in just the last 24 hours is part of God's way of letting us know we are on the right track. I think some big things are in store for us and I can't wait. It is so interesting how God's timing works as well. I had a very rough end to my work week last week with some frustrations over something I felt I deserved that I didn't get only to see someone else turnaround and get it. I literally had to leave the office before I said something I would regret. In my husbands usual style, he reminded me I was wasting time being mad over something I couldn't change. I knew he was right but, but, but, well I still wanted to be upset. Long story short, I got over it, and am so happy that things went the way they did. One, I found out that the other person did truly need what they asked for. Second, if that situation would have worked in my favor then it wouldn't have allowed God to bless us like He has. I'm still learning day by day. I'm still human and get upset and think life is unfair sometimes but in the end I'm realizing I can only see one small part of the picture. Someone else has a much better view...
In closing I just wanted to send out an extra big THANK YOU and hugs to all of my amazing friends for your support. You know who you are, and God has put you in my life for a reason. I am so thankful for each and everyone of you. Just in case you forgot...there are a couple of ways you can support me and family during this time. First you can pray for us. I don't underestimate the power of prayer and I could use all the prayers I can get. Second we would obviously accept your financial donations. You can do that from the blog by clicking on my "go fund me" link. You can buy some of my photography from my fototime link on my blog. Lastly you can watch the documentary "Under Our Skin" which is now available on Netflix to watch instantly. Thanks for following along. I'd love to hear from you. (Just so you know financially where we stand...we owe the doctors office roughly $1300 to catch up on my IV's we have done so far. If the 2 months off/on plan works and we are pretty much done after that then we still need to come up with about $5000. I just feel better letting you know what the costs really are.) Have a good night.
'
Friday, July 8, 2011
Detox is the key
I guess it is about time I post an update. It has been a few weeks and I just haven't been able to get around to it. Well, there was a time or two I could have but it just so happened that my brain was not cooperating at that moment. So today I guess the stars have aligned and I feel well enough and have the time to complete this task. The one thing I am really bad about with my blog is going back and reading my past posts. I apologize in advance for repeating things a bunch of times but rereading my last few posts each time would just make me tired and then I would never get around to a new post. Of course I am now wondering where to begin...
Let me start with my appointment with my llnd. In the past I have usually done phone appointments because it was just easier. My doc just moved to NY and opened a new office in Connecticut so she isn't in her San Diego office as much (a week or two a month) and it is kind of a drive. This time though, I decided to go in and see her. If I am totally honest, I really wanted to meet her new puppy and office dog, Harry Winston. I believe he is a Kingsley and he is so cute. He is from Australia just like my doc. Back to the visit- it was good to see her in person. We typically go over current meds, supplements, and symptoms and figure out what to do. This time though I had to ask what supplements were crucial and what were negotiable or could I get a generic brand of. I am spending about 400 dollars a month on her supplements alone so if I could reduce that price it would helpful. We decided I could make a few changes but they may have cancelled each other out. I can stop taking the teasel root and the CogniCare but I added in a herbal detox formula. I also added in liquid glutathione but I haven't started it yet. My doc also gave me so diatamacous earth (I know I probably spelled it wrong). She had just gotten a big bag in that she was going to try so she sent me home with some for free. I haven't tried that yet either. Just taking it one thing at a time. I would really like to keep at least monthly appointments with her it $125 a visit. I just can't pull that off. My family is already trying to come up with $1000+ a month. I know for some people that is on the low end but in any case most people don't have that kind of extra money every month. Let alone the fact that we are still short over 50% of my income. I just squeeze her in every couple of months, which has worked so far but I do wish it could be more.
After reviewing all of my symptoms and everything it was decided that we are probably doing enough bug killing but not enough to help me detox. That of course would be why I started on the detox formula. We talked about my diet which I admitted sucks. She said, lets not focus on taking things away then. Lets focus on adding them in. First thing I was asked to do consistently is have a protein shake. So far, I have been fairly consistent. I also came up with a new recipe that I absolutely love. The real test of it will be later today because I just got my chocolate protein powder but here is what I have been doing. I love my coffee in the morning, even though it is decaf. I always have some type of mocha and I was usually buying them and not making them myself. I began wondering if I could make a protein mocha and lets just say it is my new favorite drink. One of the things I have mentioned before I am supposed to do is cut out sugar, which has been fairly impossible. In some of my research, including that primal diet my other doc suggested, I found out about heavy cream. It is a wonderful thing. Rich and creamy with no sugar. If I cut out the sugar as much as possible and reduce some of the carbs the fat is not supposed to be an issue. This gave me the idea for my iced protein mocha. I make extra strong decaf coffee especially if I don't have time to let it cool down and a few tablespoons of heavy cream and protein powder. Shake it up and pour it over ice. Now I get my protein and my coffee all at once. I will admit I had to finish my vanilla powder so I was adding some Hershey's which wasn't reducing the sugar. With the new chocolate whey protein powder I should be getting about 20 grams of protein and only 1 gram of sugar. I was originally also adding non fat plain greek yogurt but that bite of the yogurt wasn't so good. I highly encourage you to try it.
Sorry I got a little off topic. I tend to get long winded when I haven't updated in a while. Back to detox. I have looked at other things that are supposed to help with detox and long story short I am trying to get one of the Far Infrared Saunas. I know a few people who have the portable tent or tube type and they seem to work just fine. I am not saying I wouldn't do one of those but my parents are looking at the big ones. I mean it is a one person one but is made or cedar or hemlock, has music, and air purifier, and light therapy. It was perfect timing with our big county fair that was just here. There was a company there selling them and I am praying my parents are able to pull off getting me one. The cool thing is the whole family (except the kids) can use them and benefit. I llnd highly recommends them and so does my other doc. I have used on a couple times and they are amazing. So we will see. If you haven't read up on them I highly encourage you to do so. You can just look up FIR Saunas and you will find a bunch of great info. It actually looked like I might get one before the fair left town but in looking at them my dad became concerned over the mention of certain heart patients not using them. I tried to reassure him I was good to go but he wanted me to triple check. Since I was going to see this new cardiologist he said he wanted to wait and see what he said. So I checked and he didnt' care. So bottom line, bug killing will continue and the main focus will be detox. I do see my other doc this coming week and will get an update from him as well.
Sorry this post is so long but a lot has gone on and I want to catch up as best as I can. So I did go see a new cardiologist yesterday. This doc was recommended by a fellow lymie and is at least lyme friendly. Now have covered a lot of my heart stuff before but to recap as quick as I can...I have had a high resting heart rate for quite a while but it was never bothersome until the last 5 years or so. I started having major palpitations, tightness in my chest, and be short of breath after climbing one flight of stairs. We started a physical fitness program at work through a grant we got and it was during my first stress test that I knew there was a problem. I failed miserably, being short of breath and having my heart rate be at about 217 less then 7 minutes into walking up hill on the treadmill. Started seeing a cardiologist and wearing monitors and running tests. Must be inappropriate sinus tach. We decided to do nothing that first year. Next year and I get on the treadmill again only to have to stop about 6 minutes in with severe left sided chest pain and a heart rate of 272. You read right 272 beats per minute. I ended up getting an ambulance ride to the ER when a few hours later my heart rate was still 150. Saw an electrophysiologist (cardiac electrician) and again IST was the diagnosis. It won't kill me. Don't worry about it. Here is some beta blockers go on your way. The beta blockers have helped a little because my resting heart rate is below 100. I still have sporadic episodes where it jumps to over 200 and I'm not even on a treadmill or it goes from 95 to 140 after climbing one fight of stairs. Probably the most bothersome thing I have been having to deal with. Well knowing that heart failure is the second leading cause of death in lymies only behind suicide I wanted another opinion. I already had seen a different cardiologist who is the head at one of the local hospitals and he said I don't have lyme and this is all anxiety and depression. Obviously I didn't go see him anymore. The infectious disease doctor I say even said she believed I had Lyme Carditis which is the prime reason I needed to do the IV's. So I got this referral and was pleased with my appointment yesterday. This doc did admit that he only knew of Lyme causing heart blockage but he would look into it. Bottom line is, things are still not working as they should. My resting heart rate of 50 mg of Toprol is usually 88 but I don't think I have ever seen it go below 80. During one of my monitor tests the lowest it ever went when I believe I was sleeping was 68. The game plan this doc suggested was add a second heart medication. If that doesn't help I will add a third. Just I want more meds. I think this second one is still a beta blocker. The third one would be a calcium channel blocker. He also gave me a prescription for a med called Rhytmix or something along those lines that I can take during an episode. He told me to try and stay out of the ER ( I couldn't agree more) and just pop two of these pills during an episode where I can't control my heart rate. I back in about 2 weeks for an echocardiogram and the following week for another stress test. At least he is pursing trying to fix it. I do believe there is some possibility of a pace maker in my future. We will see how this goes.
I guess that is about it. I will be totally shocked if anyone has made to the end of this post but thanks if you have. Don't forget to help me cover the cost of my treatment by donating to fundraising site or buying some of photos. Thanks for the support. Prayers are always appreicated and comments are always welcome.
Let me start with my appointment with my llnd. In the past I have usually done phone appointments because it was just easier. My doc just moved to NY and opened a new office in Connecticut so she isn't in her San Diego office as much (a week or two a month) and it is kind of a drive. This time though, I decided to go in and see her. If I am totally honest, I really wanted to meet her new puppy and office dog, Harry Winston. I believe he is a Kingsley and he is so cute. He is from Australia just like my doc. Back to the visit- it was good to see her in person. We typically go over current meds, supplements, and symptoms and figure out what to do. This time though I had to ask what supplements were crucial and what were negotiable or could I get a generic brand of. I am spending about 400 dollars a month on her supplements alone so if I could reduce that price it would helpful. We decided I could make a few changes but they may have cancelled each other out. I can stop taking the teasel root and the CogniCare but I added in a herbal detox formula. I also added in liquid glutathione but I haven't started it yet. My doc also gave me so diatamacous earth (I know I probably spelled it wrong). She had just gotten a big bag in that she was going to try so she sent me home with some for free. I haven't tried that yet either. Just taking it one thing at a time. I would really like to keep at least monthly appointments with her it $125 a visit. I just can't pull that off. My family is already trying to come up with $1000+ a month. I know for some people that is on the low end but in any case most people don't have that kind of extra money every month. Let alone the fact that we are still short over 50% of my income. I just squeeze her in every couple of months, which has worked so far but I do wish it could be more.
After reviewing all of my symptoms and everything it was decided that we are probably doing enough bug killing but not enough to help me detox. That of course would be why I started on the detox formula. We talked about my diet which I admitted sucks. She said, lets not focus on taking things away then. Lets focus on adding them in. First thing I was asked to do consistently is have a protein shake. So far, I have been fairly consistent. I also came up with a new recipe that I absolutely love. The real test of it will be later today because I just got my chocolate protein powder but here is what I have been doing. I love my coffee in the morning, even though it is decaf. I always have some type of mocha and I was usually buying them and not making them myself. I began wondering if I could make a protein mocha and lets just say it is my new favorite drink. One of the things I have mentioned before I am supposed to do is cut out sugar, which has been fairly impossible. In some of my research, including that primal diet my other doc suggested, I found out about heavy cream. It is a wonderful thing. Rich and creamy with no sugar. If I cut out the sugar as much as possible and reduce some of the carbs the fat is not supposed to be an issue. This gave me the idea for my iced protein mocha. I make extra strong decaf coffee especially if I don't have time to let it cool down and a few tablespoons of heavy cream and protein powder. Shake it up and pour it over ice. Now I get my protein and my coffee all at once. I will admit I had to finish my vanilla powder so I was adding some Hershey's which wasn't reducing the sugar. With the new chocolate whey protein powder I should be getting about 20 grams of protein and only 1 gram of sugar. I was originally also adding non fat plain greek yogurt but that bite of the yogurt wasn't so good. I highly encourage you to try it.
Sorry I got a little off topic. I tend to get long winded when I haven't updated in a while. Back to detox. I have looked at other things that are supposed to help with detox and long story short I am trying to get one of the Far Infrared Saunas. I know a few people who have the portable tent or tube type and they seem to work just fine. I am not saying I wouldn't do one of those but my parents are looking at the big ones. I mean it is a one person one but is made or cedar or hemlock, has music, and air purifier, and light therapy. It was perfect timing with our big county fair that was just here. There was a company there selling them and I am praying my parents are able to pull off getting me one. The cool thing is the whole family (except the kids) can use them and benefit. I llnd highly recommends them and so does my other doc. I have used on a couple times and they are amazing. So we will see. If you haven't read up on them I highly encourage you to do so. You can just look up FIR Saunas and you will find a bunch of great info. It actually looked like I might get one before the fair left town but in looking at them my dad became concerned over the mention of certain heart patients not using them. I tried to reassure him I was good to go but he wanted me to triple check. Since I was going to see this new cardiologist he said he wanted to wait and see what he said. So I checked and he didnt' care. So bottom line, bug killing will continue and the main focus will be detox. I do see my other doc this coming week and will get an update from him as well.
Sorry this post is so long but a lot has gone on and I want to catch up as best as I can. So I did go see a new cardiologist yesterday. This doc was recommended by a fellow lymie and is at least lyme friendly. Now have covered a lot of my heart stuff before but to recap as quick as I can...I have had a high resting heart rate for quite a while but it was never bothersome until the last 5 years or so. I started having major palpitations, tightness in my chest, and be short of breath after climbing one flight of stairs. We started a physical fitness program at work through a grant we got and it was during my first stress test that I knew there was a problem. I failed miserably, being short of breath and having my heart rate be at about 217 less then 7 minutes into walking up hill on the treadmill. Started seeing a cardiologist and wearing monitors and running tests. Must be inappropriate sinus tach. We decided to do nothing that first year. Next year and I get on the treadmill again only to have to stop about 6 minutes in with severe left sided chest pain and a heart rate of 272. You read right 272 beats per minute. I ended up getting an ambulance ride to the ER when a few hours later my heart rate was still 150. Saw an electrophysiologist (cardiac electrician) and again IST was the diagnosis. It won't kill me. Don't worry about it. Here is some beta blockers go on your way. The beta blockers have helped a little because my resting heart rate is below 100. I still have sporadic episodes where it jumps to over 200 and I'm not even on a treadmill or it goes from 95 to 140 after climbing one fight of stairs. Probably the most bothersome thing I have been having to deal with. Well knowing that heart failure is the second leading cause of death in lymies only behind suicide I wanted another opinion. I already had seen a different cardiologist who is the head at one of the local hospitals and he said I don't have lyme and this is all anxiety and depression. Obviously I didn't go see him anymore. The infectious disease doctor I say even said she believed I had Lyme Carditis which is the prime reason I needed to do the IV's. So I got this referral and was pleased with my appointment yesterday. This doc did admit that he only knew of Lyme causing heart blockage but he would look into it. Bottom line is, things are still not working as they should. My resting heart rate of 50 mg of Toprol is usually 88 but I don't think I have ever seen it go below 80. During one of my monitor tests the lowest it ever went when I believe I was sleeping was 68. The game plan this doc suggested was add a second heart medication. If that doesn't help I will add a third. Just I want more meds. I think this second one is still a beta blocker. The third one would be a calcium channel blocker. He also gave me a prescription for a med called Rhytmix or something along those lines that I can take during an episode. He told me to try and stay out of the ER ( I couldn't agree more) and just pop two of these pills during an episode where I can't control my heart rate. I back in about 2 weeks for an echocardiogram and the following week for another stress test. At least he is pursing trying to fix it. I do believe there is some possibility of a pace maker in my future. We will see how this goes.
I guess that is about it. I will be totally shocked if anyone has made to the end of this post but thanks if you have. Don't forget to help me cover the cost of my treatment by donating to fundraising site or buying some of photos. Thanks for the support. Prayers are always appreicated and comments are always welcome.
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