Sleepwalking Through Spring

I'm so sorry I haven't been posting as much. I literally have been a sleepwalking zombie the past couple months. Why, you ask? I found out in early March that my husband and I will be expecting our 2nd child in November. I'm about 9 weeks in and feeling every bit of it. Extreme fatigue, nausea, depression, lack of motivation, anxiety, mood swings, vomiting, heart palpitations galore, headaches...you name it, I probably got it. Since I'd rather not portray my weary self to the world, I've sort of been shutting myself away. I do hope to post more in the future. And all the prayers and well wishes would be greatly appreciated.

My annual appointment

to visit my cardiac electrophysiologist is scheduled for this coming April 1st. Yeah, April Fool's day. Not sure what I was thinking when I scheduled it for that day. Also, I haven't exactly gone in for my annual (making it my triennial?) the past couple years since becoming a mom. I'm hoping all will be well with my EKG. I'm currently trying to come up with a list of questions I'd like to ask my doctor. It's always a good idea to write down your questions that you'd like to discuss with your doctor; otherwise, you're likely to forget, and then you just blew your valuable co-pay. I promise to update after my appointment.

Update: All went well. My EKG looked great and my QT interval looked normal. They're always checking my QT interval due to my cousin's sudden death. I have to say I like my doctor a lot. He listens attentively and without judgment. He takes your concerns serious, but doesn't freak you out. He doesn't rush you out of the office, and he always makes sure I feel confident about everything before I leave. He is always so reassuring, that for weeks after an appointment I hardly give notice to the thumps and skips of my heart.

Fear of Danger

I recently stumbled upon this Daniel Defoe quote from his masterpiece Robinson Crusoe.

"Fear of Danger is ten thousand times more terrifying than Danger itself, when apparent to the Eyes; and we find the Burthen of Anxiety greater, by much, than the Evil which we are anxious about."

So fitting for a gal that suffers from Anticipatory Anxiety. The Burthen of thinking about the next palpitation episode is oftentimes worse than the actual episode.

As Seen on The Doctors

I was flipping through the channels this afternoon and (to my delight) caught a short segment about heart palpitations on the television show The Doctors (aka America's Medical Dream Team).

They had a young woman on the show named Sarah who complained of heart palpitations along with feelings of her heart racing, being unable to catch her breath, and feeling faint without actually fainting. The young woman was visibly quite scared.

The Doctors mentioned that the woman had an underlying cause that was most likely attributing to her heart palpitations. Want to take a guess of the cause?

If you guessed Mitral Valve Prolapse, you're right! I've talked a little bit about MVP before on my blog, but here's a crash course if you can't remember. Mitral valve prolapse (MVP) occurs when the valve between your heart's left upper chamber (left atrium) and the left lower chamber (left ventricle) doesn't close properly. When the left ventricle contracts, the valve's flaps bulge (prolapse) upward or back into the atrium. Mitral (MIE-truhl) valve prolapse sometimes leads to blood leaking backward into the left atrium, a condition called mitral valve regurgitation.

Dr. John Kennedy on The Doctors, said that most likely the regurgitation was "tickling" or "irritating" Sarah's heart and thus the heart palpitations.

Sarah wore a 24 hour holter monitor and completed a 30 day event monitor for prognosis. The results were that even when she was palpitating she overall had a normal sinus rhythm. Sarah was going to be okay.

The Doctors urged her to lower her stress levels whether it be "trying a yoga class" or "reading a book."

Disclaimer: When watching The Doctors, if you are a woman, you may want to use caution when looking at Dr. Travis Stork (a former Bachelor on ABC's The Bachelor). He has been known to make a woman's heart start palpitating.

Wonders and Worries Poster

So if you know anyone that has a chronic illness or condition and has kids you may want to try this idea that my friend who suffers from epilepsy did. And even if you don't have kids, you may want to try this project to help vent your own frustrations about your chronic condition.

My friend had a really rough end of last year with hospital stays, grand mal seizures, and a new medication that made her drowsy and forgetful. She said she felt like she was in a very deep fog. She had to sleep A LOT more because if she didn't it would bring on more stress and thus more seizures. She came to a Christmas party and told me later she doesn't even remember going to it. Since she had a big seizure in December, the State of Texas requires her to wait at least 6 months before she can drive again.

My friend has a kindergartner.

She said through all of it, she mostly worried about her child and how he felt watching his mother suffer so much from epilepsy last year. She reached out in her community and discovered a local organization called Wonders and Worries. The non-profit, free-of-charge organization counsels children in understanding the situation and handling the potential negative effects of a parent with a chronic or life-threatening illness. She said one of the ideas that the organization told her about was to create a poster that both her and her child could do together. The poster they would create was entitled "Why Epilepsy Sucks". They cut out images from magazines or drew pictures on their poster board that represented the negative effects of her disease. For example, they had a picture of a car (because she could no longer drive), a bed (because she spent so much time in it), a house (because they couldn't go out as much), a dad (because her son had to spend a lot more time with him), a doctor's office and a hospital (because she spent a lot of time there), a sad boy (because he worried about his mother), etc.

My heart arrhythmia condition and panic disorder has definitely caused me to worry about its effects on my child. I've wondered if I'll ever be incapacitated by it, will she inherit it, will I have to miss important events in her life because of it, will she worry about me. The list could go on and on. Right now, I'm a highly functioning person despite it, but I worry that some day I might not be. I've had anxiety episodes where I can't drive, go out, or sleep well at night. I've had arrhythmia episodes where I've had to remove myself from a place or situation to get my heart's rhythm back under control. Or I've had to sleep a lot to reduce stress and induce relaxation. So just knowing that there are places out there and things our family can do if my condition worsens gives me much peace. I will definitely try a "Wonders and Worries Poster" if ever need be with my daughter.

No Strings Attached

Hollywood tried to define PVCs for us in the new movie No Strings Attached starring Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman. Emma (Portman), a doctor in residency, gives Adam (Kutcher) a Valentine's Day card that reads: "You give me premature ventricular contractions". He looks at her puzzled by the medical jargon, and she decodes it for him immediately: "My heart skips a beat." Hardy har har. Funnier if you don't live with them. But I'll try to remember that one for next Valentine's.

And for the record, Tinseltown, PVCs may be perceived as skipped beats but as we have learned, they are actually just premature beats that occur before the regular heartbeat.

And also for the record, I did not actually see the movie, but I read about that line on a movie review. The film critic was trying to demonstrate how genuinely funny the movie is.

Yeah, sure.

If you drink alcohol (even just a little)...

you may want to check out this article from the Metro in the UK.

By now most of us know the effects of heavy alcohol consumption on the heart, but this is the first time warnings have been attached to moderate drinking.

It's a bit tricky though when you think about consuming a glass of red wine, like I did on Valentine's Day. It's a pretty well known fact that red wine has some amazing components such as flavonoids and other antioxidants in reducing heart disease risk. And sometimes a glass of red wine may help us to relax and relieve stress. So in that way I'm at less of a risk for experiencing heart palpitations if stress is my usual culprit. My thought. If an occasional glass here or there doesn't bother you, then I think it's okay. But if even a sip gets your heart a dancin' I'd think you'd want to avoid drinking altogether. Of course, check with your doctor.