Cardiac Appt:

So, I had my cardiac appt today.... kind of interesting--in a medical person sorta way.  Anyway, I started my day by working my tail off at the gym (I had sweat dripping off my finger tips---talk about super disgusting), then I showered, took Julia to a friends house (other kids home with Julia), drove the 40 minutes to the Dr, couldn't find an adequate parking spot, almost got hit by an old person, parked, hustled in, filled out paperwork, got called back, did a depressing weight check, then into the room for my EKG.  They hooked me up, took a BP and---after all that my pulse was 51 and my BP 91/43.  Ummm, wonder what happens when I am relaxed.  I must survive at half dead.

Anyway, the doctor finally came in, and we chatted about my Halter monitor readings..... basically he said I was having frequent PVC's and PAC's, however, he wasn't all that concerned about it....  He was concerned about my low heartrate.  He stated that an average person's heartrate in a 24 hr period is 70-85  (this includes activities/exercise and sleeping)---with the lowest most people go being 60...... My 24 hour average was 54, with it dropping as low as 41 during sleep.

Now, I have always known I have had a slow heartrate and low BP.  As a matter of fact, these have presented issues when I had my c-sections with a drastic drop of BP after my spinals.... (with Julia I got as low as 40/17--so I was told, I was very out of it)..... however, I never really thought of having a low heartrate as a major issue.

Then he asked me a series of questions about my workouts... and it went something like this:  (Olga will find this funny)

"So, you say you are working out with a trainer, have you had discussions of what the "target heartrate is" and what is it?"

"She would like me to 130-140+ within 5 minutes of starting my cardio, I cannot do it.   If I get up that high I legitimately have chest pain and can't breath... it feels like my heart is going to explode."

"So, what heartrate do you notice you are slightly out of breath, starting to sweat, and FEEL that your heart is working hard"

"I generally start feeling that way at around 110-115 which is where I usually stay for a good majority of my workout I have to work very hard to get to 120.... and she wants me to work harder."

So, he felt that there must be something wrong with my hearts ability to increase appropriately.  Now, I don't really know if this is a major issue, and I can't seem to find any information on it, so I guess I will have to be patient......

Anyway, then on the the EKG that he did in the office---it basically states I have a 1st Degree Heartblock.  Now, this sounds worse than it is, and since I don't have any sign of heart disease, it is most likely just a normal for me that has always been disguised by other things when I have been on a heart machine (IE: surgeries---I was scared, C-sections had increase blood volume with pregnancies, etc)..... I guess 0.65-1.1% of the population just "has" this.  Now, as far as serious side effects, it doesn't have any, HOWEVER it explains many many things......

He explained that truly, this is probably a main reason I am overweight.  Now, of course, diet choices and lack of exercise are a big contributing factor, but that when your body is functioning at such a S-L-O-W rate it is really hard to exercise, it is really hard to not take naps... and that often people with this condition are "sugar or caffeine addicts" because it gives them an energy boost--enabling them to function semi-normally.

So, it is NOT completely my fault I am fat!  :-)  I actually have a reason!  It wasn't the big macs and oreos (hahahah, I am kidding).

However, I feel vindicated.  All my life I have been criticized for being lazy, for being tired, for taking naps or needing more sleep.  I have been looked down upon for being overweight and not just "fixing it".... There were specific people in my younger years that would always be mad at me for being a "sleeper" and being lazy----and I feel like saying "See, I told you so".  (Ok, so that is not what I want to say, but this is a nice-language blog).

Anyway, so the next step is a heart ultrasound (to ensure it is structurally normal) and a treadmill stress test, and if all those come back normal (which it is anticipated that it will), there is a treatment that helps fix the slow heartrate---Synthroid.  (He asked me if I had ever been diagnosed with hypothyroidsim, and I joked that I had been trying to convince Dr's for years that I had it... haha).  Anyway, Synthroid will help speed things up a bit, and maybe make me feel less sluggish.  It will not stop the PAC/PVC activity, and in all actuality will make them appear to worsen, but it is just the increase in heartrate makes them feel more frequent.  Weird.

If the synthroid doesn't work, pacemaker is the other option, however, he feels that that is a tad invasive and would hate to take that approach.  (Will it make me skinny?  Crank that damn thing to 500 :-))

So, I am freak of nature.  With a ultra low heartrate.