Haha. I actually had to go to Comcast after the doctor today. I'm sure I pegged the monitor while I was in there, behaving badly. (They were supposed to have adjusted my bill $70 since last October and still haven't. When I walked in there I told the "security guard" to get the cuffs ready because things are about to get real. ) People always think I'm joking...lol.
Can you actually feel it happen, Lois? I don't feel anything at all. Sorry to hear that you have to deal with it and I'm glad they can control your cardiomyopathy.
When I had to wear the monitor a little while back, they said no showers, and only sponge baths until they were done monitoring me. It had little electrodes hooked to my chest, so getting it wet would not have been a good idea. It was small enough that it was actually not that uncomfortable to sleep with. I totally understand how frustrating this must be for you, but be glad that they are catching it early and can treat it before it gets worse. I had no insurance, so mine just kept getting worse for about 10 years, and by the time I finally had Medicare, my heart was about worn out from not functioning properly.
I'm sorry that you have to deal with such problems, Yvonne. But isn't it amazing all the technology and treatment options that we have nowadays. This is the monitor I have on; it's about 8" long; the monitor end is near the top of my sternum and it extends down between my breasts. https://www.dicardiology.com/conten...atch-detects-more-arrhythmias-head-head-study Instructions with this monitor say that it is water resistant but not water proof, and the PA advised me that I can shower as long as I keep my back to the spray and don't let the water hit the monitor directly. Instead I took a careful bath tonight, sitting in water but using a "sponge bath" method on my upper torso. (Perhaps more than anyone wanted to know.) I will probably wash my hair in the sink or with the hand-held shower sprayer. This entire episode is still surprising to me; I have absolutely no symptoms that I'm aware of. Since I wear a Fitbit a lot of the time, I had noted that my resting heart rate has been slowly creeping up, but I attributed that to my lack of interest in my exercise routine. I forgot to ask my doctor about that today; I need to start writing things down that I want to annoy him with. I also wanted to ask his thoughts on seniors and baby aspirin regimens but I totally forgot that, too.
I can join the club on irregular heartbeats, so loud I was surprised me darlin couldn't hear it so thunderous it scared me, try not to worry, it will only cause irregular heartbeats stay away from stress if you can
When mine first started years ago, it felt like I had a small pigeon trapped in my chest and it was fluttering and floundering around , trying to get out. It was scary and severe, but only happened erratically. It started in 1991, soon after i was hit by a drunk driver and pushed over an embankment on the freeway; so I am not sure if that was the actual cause of my heart problems or not, but I have always thought that it at least contributed to it. Over the years, the episodes happened more frequently, until by 2002 (when I was diagnosed ) , I was in a-fib all of the time, and had heart failure. Probably, if I had had medical treatment early on, it would at least have taken longer to be full-blown heart failure. Once you have the stress test and echocardiogram, you will know a lot more. The echo will tell you what the EF (ejection fraction) of your heart is, and whether you have beginning heart failure or not. Mine was down to 23% EF when they did the ablation procedure; but the last time I had an echo, it was much better (diet and exercise helps) and almost back up to 50%. I ccan’t remember if you said you have an iPhone, but there are lots of phone apps for monitoring heart health, and most of them sync with my Apple Watch , so maybe with your Fitbit also. Your Fitbit should tell you which health apps sync with it, and then you can monitor everything easier.
Every now and then, I miss no longer having a heart monitor at home or at work that I could use to monitor my own heart rhythms, particularly the diagnostic ones. The ones we used were diagnostic and our medical director, who was the head of the cardiology department at McAllen Medical Center, told me that they were 100% accurate, as long as the leads were placed correctly. They wouldn't necessarily detect every possible heart problem a patient might have since ECG machines only monitor electrical activity, but if it diagnosed a problem, it would be correct. When we were training on them, we placed them on one another and one of our medics was diagnosed with left ventricular myocardial infarction (heart attack), possibly old. We checked it a few times and got the same diagnosis. He had never been hospitalized for a heart attack but yes indeed, he had suffered an MI a few years prior but didn't see a doctor about it, probably thinking it was indigestion or something. Given that we had a cardiologist as a medical director, we were among the first ambulance companies to carry diagnostic EKGs on our ambulances, and we also carried a lot of cardiac medications that most ambulance services didn't. When we'd call into the hospital with a patient, giving them the diagnosis that was recorded on the strip, they'd always tell us we can't make a diagnosis in the field, as we're not doctors, further tests were necessary, and so on, and we'd tell them we're not making a diagnosis, we're simply reading it off the EKG strip, and it was always right.
Wow; I have certainly never had any sensation as dramatic as that, Yvonne. That must have been really scary. I have no idea how long this "PVC" has been happening with me, since everything I read says they are intermittent. I suppose the fact that my primary doc was able to hear it was simply because I was having PVC at the time I was in her office, so she did the EKG to verify it. Since I don't feel them, I may have been having them for a while undetected. (The cardiologist did not hear a PVC yesterday and said my heart sounded "good.") I do have an iPhone and had an Apple watch that I just gave to my granddaughter a couple of weeks ago. It was a series 1 watch and I never wore it because it has to be charged daily. The Fitbit is much better in that regard; it holds a charge for 5-6 days, though there aren't as many apps for it. I have never cared about that anyway; I use the Fitbit to monitor my steps and heart rate while exercising. This sounds a little strange but I'm looking forward to having the echo; I'm very curious about the condition of my heart. I had a stress test about 10 years ago so I know how that is done but the echo will be a totally new experience.
I am surprised at the number of people who have "silent" heart attacks and aren't aware that they have had them. My brother-in-law and my nephew both have heart disease, and when first diagnosed were shocked to hear that they had had heart attacks in the past. There is a history of heart disease in that side of the family (not my blood relatives); several generations of heart failure. My EKG did not show a previous heart attack but as I understand it, that is not a foolproof indicator. What are your thoughts on that?
Guys tend to want to wait to see if they can get over whatever it is that they are experiencing; then, when the pain subsides, they think everything's fine. The discomfort from a heart attack will often go away on its own but that doesn't mean that no heart damage has been done. Women, on the other hand, often don't have chest discomfort with a heart attack. They might just experience momentary shortness of breath or weakness, so heart attacks in women are often not diagnosed because the symptoms are less dramatic. True. The ECG measures the electrical activity in your heart, which very often indicates past or present heart disease, but not always. PVC's are often present without a heart attack. If the ECG didn't detect a past heart attack, I would think that you probably haven't had a heart attack but that doesn't mean that everything is fine with your heart, which is why further testing is being done. As I understood it, if the ECG finds a problem, it is probably right, but if the ECG doesn't find a problem, that doesn't necessarily indicate that there isn't a problem.
I wondered why some refer to an "ECG" and others an "EKG" for the same procedure. (I had always heard EKG so that's what I say.) Here's what I found... There is no difference between an ECG and an EKG. ECG stands for electrocardiogram, and EKG is the German spelling for elektrokardiographie, which is the word electrocardiogram translated into the German language. An ECG (EKG) is a test that measures the electrical activity of the heart.
I knew that, and I usually (but not always) write ECG but say EKG, because people can usually figure it out when they read it in context, but they don't recognize it when it's verbal. Besides, EKG is easier to say than ECG. Interestingly, all of the ECG rhythms and dysrhythmias were first recognized and named before the electrocardiogram was invented.
Did the docs say anything about your stomach sleeping? I have had a murmur since childhood and through the years had extensive testing when I complained of icky feeling in my heart. 20 years ago I had to start sleeping on my back with my head and upper body elevated 35 degrees and I haven't had one episode of that awful feeling since. I have PVC's if I overexert while using my shoulders or bending down. I noticed this a couple of years ago digging post holes. My head gets light and if I sit down for several minutes I am fine. I avoid such work anymore and no problems. Glad you are staying on top of it as heart problems are not something we women should ignore.
Actually I haven't thought about mentioning my sleep position and none of my doctors has asked. I have tried sleeping with my head elevated (on my back of course) and just can't do it. Do you have the "fluttering" feeling with a PVC?