I have had a very interesting week.

[Inspector Vol]

What started out on Feb 4th (sat) with a trip to pick up hardwood flooring ended up with 3 hospital visits and finally discharged this past friday night.

Started out going to pick up flooring for house. Only had to get 1,000 ft but I overdid it as me and one other guy loaded it by hand in about 10 or 15 min. This elevated my heart rate quite a bit, too much, and it hurt a little and made me feel funny. Took it home and me son helped me unload it. He did the majority of it as I took it easy. I was zapped after and just went home to rest. When I went home I developed a lot of stomach trouble with severe indigestion and heartburn.  I fought with that the rest of sat and sun and went to work monday. Went to doc after lunch and mt heart rate was in the 50's which is low for me considering i just walked in and sit down. Anyway went home and stayed home tues and that afternoon it dropped into the 30's. I felt bad so my wife took me to the emergency room. They didnt find anything and got my rate up and I went home. Wed morn I went to my cardiologist. I passed out in his office and was then sent to the hospital. It is kind of unnerving to pass out and wake up to find your cardiologist doing chest compressions on you. My poor wife was scared to death.  Stayed in the hospital until thursday afternoon. Didn't find anything although he thought he knew what the problem was. Sent me to memphis for a test where they induced another pass out episode. I wont lie this whole thing scared the heck out of me.
What they found was that my blood pressure dropped and caused me to pass out. I am now on meds to prevent that.

Basically there is nothing wrong with me except I had a pass out episode due to a little thing called the vegas nerve. It was the same thing that happens to people who passout at weddings or before a big speech, etc. Basically I strained myself on sat which also developed indigestion issues put pressure on my diaphragm, which slowed my heart rate which caused my blood pressure to drop which made me pass out which scared me which stimulated that nerve and so and so on.

Anyway I am still at home trying to get all my systems straightened out so I can get back to work. Got a little better yesterday and hoping to get better today and so on. As usual I never do things the easy way. I couldn't just faint and recover..NOOO! I had to go through all this.   

[RockinGrannyVol]

Wow!   Sure hope you get better quick!   Good luck!

[Jedi Master]

Wow, scary stuff there!   Hope you fully recover.

[VinnieVOL]

Take it easy, and get yourself lots of rest IV.

[BanditVol]

Hang in there and get better man, that's all very scary.

[Quasi EVol]

You shouldn't have posted that - What happens in vegas stays in vegas!

Seriously, given the symptoms it sounded like you were on your way to a heart attack.  Good to hear it wasn't that and hope you stay out of the hospital (or take it easy at Home Depot).

[tnflower]

Wow, it's a wonder you didn't have a heart attack just from worrying about what was going on. But, I gotta tell ya, if you're going to pass out, what better place than your Cardiologist' office? Glad you had an easy (?) answer and that meds will keep it under control.

[Volznut]

wow...take care of yourself man, blood pressure fluctuations are no joke. Hope you feel better and have a better week

[MIAUTIGER]

Good to hear you are feeling better, IV.  Next time, remember the reason God made teenagers......to do that kind of work. 

[GreggO]

I would say you are quite lucky not to have a pacemaker right now. After a heart cath and a stent, my heart rate slowed down into the 50's, then 40's and then dipped into the 30's in the few hours afterward. Within an hour of that a doc came in the room, introduced himself and told me they were about to take me down to insert a pacemaker. I said, "No you aren't! I haven't even discussed this with any doctor at all."

Seven, eight years later I have this $80k pacer that calls Germany every morning at 2am to report the day's activity! It comes with it's own phone and if the line is busy or not in service, it scans for a cell signal and makes the call. I just need to sleep within 10ft of the thing.

The vegus nerve runs very close to the carotid artery in the neck. That is why it is important to learn to take your pulse on your wrist (if so inclined or included in your exercise routine) because you can actually stimulate the vegus nerve trying to check your pulse on your neck. The stimulation can cause an dramatic drop in your heart rate, hence lowering your blood pressure. The body's natural reaction is to get you flat on the ground fast so the pumping of blood to your brain isn't hampered by mean 'ole Mr. Gravity. So, you faint.

Sounds like you could benefit from a good exercise program. I suspect you are scheduled to return to the doc in a month, so you might want to bring that up. Also, finding the right bp med can be a booger for your doc. All have side effects and you should discuss these with the doc. It took my doc a full year to find the right med for me, so don't be quick to call him a quack.

Best of luck to you. Hope this helps and if you have any ???'s, feel free to pm me.

GreggO

[Inspector Vol]

Thanks for all the well wishes guys and gals. I seem to feel a little better every day and I hope that continues.

This just provides me with more incentive to lose some weight and get in shape. Hopefully I will be able to overcome my food demons.

[Stogie Vol]

Thanks for all the well wishes guys and gals. I seem to feel a little better every day and I hope that continues.

This just provides me with more incentive to lose some weight and get in shape. Hopefully I will be able to overcome my food demons.

Best wishes for a healthier tomorrow. I'm right there with you.