My heart is broken

It's so funny how my body sometimes likes to bring the poetic crashing into the concrete. My heart was definitely broken on November 3rd.

A little history - I have Mitral Valve Prolapse, a heart defect in one of my valves (wanna guess which one?) that is congenital and for the most part benign. I basically have to put up with extra beats in my heart called premature atrial beats that in layman's terms are called palpitations. I've lived with it for 12 years now and the symptoms are, for the most part, negligible. During periods of extreme stress, the symptoms can get much worse. In the last month (what in the world could I have been stressed about?) they've gotten much worse and I even added in a new symptom, supraventricular tachycardia, which basically means my heart gets confused by the extra beats and decides to start pumping at about 170-180 beats a minute for a while.

So I dragged myself to the doctor (kicking and screaming, I hate going to the doctor. I like being my own doctor). The sucky thing is that my MVP may have progressed to something less benign. My heart is enlarged and it isn't working quite properly (I could have told them that!). More tests to follow in about two weeks. I'll be starting back on a beta blocker then (I want that, that's really why I went to the doctor) but I may have to add in other heart meds or even a nifty little valve job.

Sheesh, I voted for Kerry and all I got was this broken heart! ;)

Unfortunately, my doctor wants me to ditch whatever it is that is stressing me along with all forms of caffeine. Caffeine is gone, but I am not getting out of the rest of it. I'm working on the voter fraud stuff and I'm not quitting.

feel is important without it having to be a source of stress.. Without question the vote fraud issue is stressing me (but I don't have a heart problem).. In your case you'll have to find ways to continue without allowing your work to effect you physically and perhaps even counseling might help... you probably don't have the option of taking an SSRI for anxiety/stress due to your condition (which helps me a great deal) but even networking with loving people who share your goals can have a calming effect.


Forgot to add I wish you the best.

Lol. Are you kidding, I'm a lifer. There's this three strikes and you're out rule with major depression. Once you've had three episodes of depression, it just doesn't make any sense to get off of antidepressents. Celexa and me have been constant companions for the last 5 years.

Thing is, I don't feel anxious, a little broken hearted, yeah, but not extremely stressed. Unfortunately, my body disagrees.

and have used Paxil, Zoloft and am now using Lexapro with good effects. My sister is a nurse in Montana and she has experienced some real depressive periods since she started working. From what she says the job can be a real downer in itself.... hope you have a good network of loving friends...

Hope all goes well with this and you feel better soon!

physician's office. SVT is nothing to fool with....I'm assuming you have a cardiologist?

I just moved here to Seattle and had been dragging my heels on getting a new doc - I don't like very many doctors. Anyway, I went to a highly regarded (by fellow nurses) Internal Medicine doctor who is doing all the correct tests and if it turns out to be more serious, will be turfing me to a cardiologist. Right now, I'm holding out the hope that it's just another exacerbation of the MVP and I can just go back on Acebutalol and live a long and happy life.

we make the WORST patients! I can relate as well. Just stay ontop of things, and you can work for many, many more years! The election was indeed stressful, and more is to come. We need your wisdom for 06!


So, write yourself a Care Plan...:)


Be Blessed.....:yourock:

No care plan. Care plans make my eyes roll. Okay, maybe a small care plan. Alright, already, you convinced me, but no grades! I mean it.

I think I have PTSD around care plans. Care plans scarred me in nursing school.

I'm so sorry!

Have you tried yoga or other such activity for help with the stress? I know nothing about it - I just eat in response to my stress, and I don't think that is quite the healthiest approach - but it might be worth checking in to if you haven't.

I wish you a strong and healthy heart! :hug:

until I found out that my heart is enlarged. Before that, I just assumed this was just a new MVP symptom related to extreme stress.

I'm still only in the mildly worried range. I'm a nurse so I have a pretty good handle on what is going on and what the ramifications may be. If we start talking surgery, then I'll up the alert status to scared. I don't particularly like the idea of having my chest cracked open.

I know that I've learned a lot from that program....

I developed chronic tachycardia in adolescence. It's not too bad, but there are generally one or two times per day, depending on what I am doing, when I have to stop and lay down for a while, because the palpitations become overwhelming and I start to panic. Needless to say, recent events haven't helped.

Go hang out somewhere other than here. This place jacks up my blood pressure so much not because the people or bad, but because I learn so much about our evil administration while I'm here. In your case, ignorance would not only be bliss, but it would be health.

My father has high blood pressure and he started having chest pains just before the election. He hates Bush more than I do, I think. My sister and I used to e-mail each other and our dad with discussions about Bush, but we've agreed not to since he started having pains. Poor guy thinks we're ignoring him, but in fact we're just trying to keep the stress away from him.

At the very least, limit your time here and relax and rest up. I hope that your tests show you'll be fine and that you'll be less broken-hearted soon.

I got a broken heart too, but much more metaphorically. I must say, you've outdone yourself!

Best wishes.

I've taken the red pill. I'm out of the Matrix now and it would take a lobotomy to reinsert myself. These last three years have radicalized me - there really isn't any going back. Besides, I come to DU for the camaraderie, I go to Buzzflash for my news.

Twas just a suggestion, but I figured you might say something like that. :) And I understand completely.

BTW, I love your new handle.

:hi:

or at least, we share a number of common factors.

I, too, have a mitral valve prolapse, complicated by something
known as Wolfe-Parkinson-White syndrome. Basically, not only would
I have the back "whoosh" of the mitral valve, but I also had (have)
extra electrical pathways along the exterior of the heart, coupled
with extra "nodes" embedded in the heart wall. These pathways could
be triggered by many things, including stress, diet, and... well
anything (they don't really know all of the factors yet). Anyway,
for years and years I've had the arrhythmia (tachycardia) on
occasion, where the heart races to 250+ beats per minute... this
is dangerous because your blood pressure drops drastically (the
chambers of the heart do not have enough time between contractions
to properly refill with blood)... and you can go into shock. Also,
there is a non-zero chance of a heart attack and death in one of
these episodes. I used to medicate with Propananol (hope I remember
to spell correctly), which would fix me up after 10 minutes or so.
About 10 years ago, this treatment quick working, leaving me to go
to the ER and get the paddle shock reboot treatment (I don't recommend
this to anyone). About 8 years ago, the ER switched to a drug
called Endocard (Indocard?), which also does a reboot... but it
actually stops your heart (and you die... or have a heart attack
without the muscle kill off). It's a cool drug. Feels like an
elephant sits on your chest. But the attack ends right away.
They have to inject the drug, plus give it a saline "push".

Anyway, about 6 years ago now, I had heart surgery to correct
the defect... they ran a bunch of probes and microwave welding
devices into the interior of the heart through a number of major
veins (while I was awake... COOL!) Then they proceeded to hunt
down the extra nodes and "weld" them (actually burn the heart
tissue on the inside creating a bit of scar tissue which apparently
does not conduct electricity). So now I'm mostly fixed. Still
have the mitral valve... and still feel the "pre skip" heart
beats... but no tachycardia (for the most part).

So... what should you do?

1. Get checked out for WPW
2. Quit smoking, drop caffeine (that's HARD)
3. For the mitral valve... tell your DENTIST! VERY IMPORTANT.

Turns out that the arteries and veins that go to the lower jaw
do so directly from the heart. So any germs that enter the
blood stream in the mouth can go directly to your heart... and
since the mitral valve "sticks", some of these germs can accumulate
and breed inside the heart... so there is a non zero chance of
an infection which can definitely kill you. Dentists will give
you a course of antibiotics to take just before routine dental
treatments like teeth cleaning, etc.

4. Moderate exercise (but you knew that).
5. reduce stress in your life, if possible (and when you figure
out how to do that - let me know)

Good luck!

Oh, as a result of my heart surgery, my insurance carrier dropped
me (after paying most of the cost, about $30K), and now I can't
get insurance except at EXORBITANT costs (Blue Cross will do a
major medical policy for me at around $1100 / month).

is what happens to those of us who actually have to use our insurance, if we even have insurance. Thank you, thank you, thank you compassionate conservatives. The only thing they care about is keeping their money. Money rules!

As far as the advice in your post. I know all of it (except I hadn't thought of WPW) but you presented it in a way that was well written and concise and yet funny and accessible. You should get a job (if there is such a job) writing patient education information. You do it really well and that praise is coming from a health care professional.

but I only know about the heart problems because I had to really
educate myself on my condition. Turns out that much of this stuff
wasn't really known about when I first had problems (early 70's
while I was a young teen). And the best defense to our overworked
health care professionals is patient knowledge.

About the insurance... this is the worst of it... I now have other,
unrelated, health issues, some of which may be serious, but other
than city clinics, which aren't really set up to look for obscure
problems, there isn't anything for me. For example, for a year
now I've had this burning sensation on my skin... on my arms and
legs... but I have no idea what it might be... and can't find
anything on the web about it... but a series of tests is something
I can't afford right now.

Anyway, about the heart thing... the way I look at it... when I
was born my father was told that I was dead ( I was what they
called back then a "blue baby" ). They stuffed my in an oxygen
tent and I fooled them... so everyday I'm on this planet is one
I couldn't count on. Every day is a another day that I "cheated"
death.

I get much more depressed about the ignorance (not stupidity)
of the average American, and where our country is headed because
of the failures of our education system ("Jaywalking anybody?").
These are the people that can be (and are) manipulated by the
Karl Roves... and our health care system is the result (but that
is even a minor bad outcome when compared to some of the MAJOR
bad outcomes like perpetual war, peak oil, and global warming.