So I realize that I need to still type about our visit to the Godfrey's and the Powell's here in Rigby. We had a a lot of fun time at both places, in gist. :)
But something happened this morning that kind of scared me, and I'm still not sure what is going on with it. Basically a few months ago while making a visit to the doctor, I was told that I had an irregular heartbeat. To make sure it wasn't anything serious, my heartbeat was assessed via an EKG, I think it was. I was told that I was fine, just had that odd irregular heartbeat. No biggie.
Sometimes during the last several years of my life my heart would feel uncomfortable, actually get painful if I breathed in too deep. I still have no idea why, but it only happened every few months, and I would just sit it out, and then it was fine. The weird thing is these little painful/uncomfortable episodes are a lot more frequent now (multiple times during a given month), and I don't necessarily ever reach the painful part of it---just the uncomfortableness that my heart isn't beating right and that it could become painful any second. They last for a few minutes, or several.
Anyway, last night as I was reading "Twilight" I noticed that my heart was feeling uncomfortable again. It lasted for a long time---even when I went to bed I think it still felt a bit odd. But nothing that 6 hours of sleep won't fix, right? Yeah, let's just say the book was finished mostly last night because it got supsenseful and Niklas had to listen to my gasps of dread as I read the last few chapters, so bedtime was a bit late...
I awoke at 5 a.m. and got up to leave for the gym. My little monthly friend is visiting me, so I also woke up with horrible cramps. Feeling like crud, I did my ab workout and headed to the college gym, continuting my workout by lifting weights. Halfway through my routine I notice that my heart is hurting again---more so than it did last night. Knowing me, you would know that I don't listen to my body extremely well---so I just tried not to put any pressure on my chest and kept lifting. Once done with the weights, I headed over to the treadmill to do my 20-minute run with hills. The fatigue from lifting weights compounded onto the lack-of-sleep fatigue, but I went full speed ahead into running anyway, as always, reading the Epilogue of "Twilight" as I ran. The run felt awful overall---I was looking forward the whole time to the part where I could walk at the end---I knew it would make me feel better. Wrong, of course. During my run my heart started to hurt on the right side more than on the left---it usually always hurts on my left side.
I finally got done with my 20 minutes and began walking; and felt like hurling. I thought, "Okay, just walk for a bit and you'll feel tons better. Just have to walk it out..." Even walking was a chore at that point. I stopped the treadmill and headed to get a towel. Right when my feet hit the gym floor, I felt almost the same way I did when I had donated plasma one time a couple years ago...I almost passed out while my plasma was being taken, and at the time I had never felt that horrible all over my body before. Now, at the gym, I was convinced as I slowly made my way to the towels that if I wasn't red from the run, my face would be stark white right now, because that's how nasty my body felt. I was afraid that I might pass out in the gym in front of all those people, because even my eye sight was starting to get a little blurry. And my little cramp friend that didn't want to work out with me came back once I made it back home (how kind of it).
In brief, I got home and was scared at how horrible I felt and how my heart was hurting like this so often--and I actually started to cry a little as I took my shower. I was contemplating whether something really was and is wrong with my heart or if it was brought on by other factors such as not enough sleep, etc. Maybe both.
I thought I would feel better once I got into the work day but now I am still fighting a headache, and getting up at all and walking around was a chore. I feel really tired, not in the usual way, though. I believe it's from that episode my heart had. Niklas just commented before I left for work that maybe my heart wasn't pumping enough oxygen to my body, and that's why I felt like death at the gym. I have always had bad circulation---with the whole abnormal heart beat thing, it makes a little more sense now.
So my question is, heart problems seem to sorta run in the family---Do I have a heart problem that I am completely unaware of, or is this irregular heartbeat simply a mild case that will never amount to anything seriuos? I guess time will tell. Hopefully. And here I was feeling like the "healthy" one in Niklas' and my relationship! :P
P.S. I realize that I pushed myself too hard and that made things worse today for my body---that's a given. What I'm wondering, however, is if anyone else I know ever has discomfort/slight pain in their chest around their heart on occassion? I think it is something like an arterial clogging on my left side---otherwise, why would it hurt like that randomly? I can be sitting down for hours and all of the sudden it does it.
7 comments:
What heart problems are you talking about that run in the family? Not what you are experiencing. My dad and brother had arterial clogging issues, but the heart itself was not the issue.
I'm not sure what you have going on but you NEED TO LISTEN TO YOUR BODY... please! If for whatever reason your heart is feeling odd... whether relatively common and harmless reason, or more serious, you DON'T exercise and push yourself during any kind of an episode. Sorry for the all caps... but I worry when you do things like that.
That being said... you'll want to discuss this again with a doctor. I wonder if hormones are connected at all. Sometimes (not uncommon) women going into menopause with hormonal fluctuations will develop heart palpitations and weirdness in that department. So, I know hormones can affect heart function. You are experiencing hormonal shifts from what you said (your time of the month) and I'd start making a note on the calendar of when you have these episodes and notice if there is any sort of pattern that emerges in relation to what is happening hormonally in your system. I'm not a doctor, but that's what I think might be helpful. Did you ever have these before you hit puberty?
Anyway... please don't exercise like that when you're feeling off... just a nice walk while reading would have been pushing enough.
Your loving, nagging mother who wants you to stay healthy. :-)
Begin lecture now:
GO TO THE DOCTOR!!
End lecture.
I don't get heart pain, except for the times when I've accidentally pierced my heart with a knife while cooking dinner - but that hasn't happened very often.
Karen, if for nothing else, listen to me now:
LISTEN TO YOUR BODY.
You nearly killed yourself by starving yourself in high school and exercising to the point I wondered if your sanity had slipped, and now this. You need to listen to your body, your heart especially. If your heart goes, you go. Having a slim body is NOT WORTH DYING FOR.
Besides that, your body is one component of your soul, the other half being your spirit. Only when the two work together (as in, pay attention to BOTH) can one actually live in such a way that is agreeable to Heavenly Father. You were given your body for a reason. Take care of it.
Also, check this out: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/08/060824224141.htm
I don't want you exercising AT ALL until you get yourself to a doctor and get your exact heart condition diagnosed. Seriously, NO MORE EXERCISE.
That said, yes, I had heart pains too. BUT! I usually only had them after I was forced to run the mile in school. :P
Thanks for all of your concerns. I think now it was a mistake to even post about this, so sorry about that.
As it is, I will see a doctor as soon as I am able, because I do want to know what's going on. Financially it isn't possible right now, but next year (beginning of) it should be more promising, and I can maybe get Niklas and I both in to get checked up on. He's way overdue.
Also, as an update, I've taken the rest of the week off, but I am not going to completely stop exercising, which might make some of you angry. When I do exercise I'm going to take it easier. Don't worry that I'm going to crack my heart in half with exercise---there are also other things I can do that aren't as strenuous as Mom said. Either way, I'll see how I'm feeling next week.
Love you all.
More than help with your heart it sounds like you need help with your body issues and compulsive behaviors. You said it was probably a mistake to post about this, but there's a reason you did and I'm guessing it was because whether you like to hear it or not you need and are looking for help.
Karen...there's no point in killing yourself just for some excersize...On occasion, I have a sharp pain in my chest. It feels like needles being shoved straight in, and it hurts to breath at all. It's never amounted to anything, but when it happens, I take it easy...and it normally only lasts a minute or two. What's the point in over doing it??
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