Well as a former Diet Coke addict I am aware of their heart health campaign. For those that haven't noticed on Diet Coke boxes and cans they have a little red dress, which is the emblem of their campaign. They have teamed up with the American Dietetic Association to provide relevant heart health information to women all around the globe. Here is a little pdf with 10 Ways to Improve Your Heart Health:
http://www.dietcoke.com/reddress/obj/pdfs/ADA_TipsForAHealthyHeart.pdf
TODAY
After having a heart attack the main thing I read was that there was this new heightened anxiety. My first month I was really paranoid about every little pain that I felt. This felt really debilitating at the beginning, I was always worried about talking to the doctor about it. The one thing I did learn was that if the pain was at all similar to my Feb. pain that I needed to go straight to the hospital. Since Feb. I have had any pain like that. I can also attest that the anxiety starts to depreciate as time passes. After a couple of months my anxiety is minimal, but I still have more chest pains than I ever had before. My pain has morphed from a burning sensation to more of a dull ache. Hopefully on Tuesday I will get some more information about this new unwanted pain.
My first couple weeks of exercise, about 7 weeks post, were the best. I kept to a 3 mile maximum. I seemed to have increased energy and was psychologically much happier. I really need that exercise to stay sane (and to avoid extra emotional eating). But as Wednesday last week I started feeling some chest discomfort, I assumed it was the Diet Coke I had that day but it hasn't dissipated yet!
Today I went to the beach for a short run. I only ran 14 minutes today. I haven't quite felt myself since the spin class on Tuesday. Once I start noticing my chest pain I knew it was time to start slowing down. As far as I know I shouldn't be having any more problems, but I might have just pushed it too hard too fast. Well tomorrow is another day!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Risk Factors
The Major Risk Factors for a Heart Attack
Smoking
Obesity
Family Medical History
Hypertension
Lack of Exercise
Diabetes
Stress
To name a few...
Everytime I look at this list it disappoints me because I had absolutely 0 risk factors before suffering my heart attack. I am a Certified Personal Trainer, exercise regularly, at a healthy weight, have low blood pressure and no family history of heart related issues. I felt invicible from serious health issues; I had spent my life taking care of my body. I am evidence that women and men of all ages and sizes should always listen to their body. It can happen to anyone, so today is the day to start getting educated:
http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3053#Heart_Attack
TODAY
I am getting stronger everyday. Yesterday I taught my 3rd spin class and my endurance is slowly coming back. Sadly any advantage I had over the class I have lost now due to my time away. I also taught a core class and my lower back muscles and hip flexors are weak! Well today I can feel it but I will try to take a Pilates class tonight to avoid anything too high impact.
My residual chest pains come and go. I have gone from a burning pain to dull aching and now sharp shooting pains. I don't know if these are normal or if they will resolve themselves but hopefully I will get some answers soon!
I have a doctors appointment this coming Tuesday for my second opinion. I have a lot of questions and hopefully I will get a lot of answers!
Smoking
Obesity
Family Medical History
Hypertension
Lack of Exercise
Diabetes
Stress
To name a few...
Everytime I look at this list it disappoints me because I had absolutely 0 risk factors before suffering my heart attack. I am a Certified Personal Trainer, exercise regularly, at a healthy weight, have low blood pressure and no family history of heart related issues. I felt invicible from serious health issues; I had spent my life taking care of my body. I am evidence that women and men of all ages and sizes should always listen to their body. It can happen to anyone, so today is the day to start getting educated:
http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3053#Heart_Attack
TODAY
I am getting stronger everyday. Yesterday I taught my 3rd spin class and my endurance is slowly coming back. Sadly any advantage I had over the class I have lost now due to my time away. I also taught a core class and my lower back muscles and hip flexors are weak! Well today I can feel it but I will try to take a Pilates class tonight to avoid anything too high impact.
My residual chest pains come and go. I have gone from a burning pain to dull aching and now sharp shooting pains. I don't know if these are normal or if they will resolve themselves but hopefully I will get some answers soon!
I have a doctors appointment this coming Tuesday for my second opinion. I have a lot of questions and hopefully I will get a lot of answers!
My Heart Attack
Feb. 22 2009. It was a day like any other. I had cleaned up the house, taken my son to the Zoo and watched my sister play basketball. After getting ready for bed I cuddled up to my husband when I started to feel a lot of pressure in my chest. It wasn't but 10 minutes earlier that I had swallowed my daily vitamin, so I assumed that it had gotten stuck. After getting up, walking around and drinking more water the pain didn't really subside. The pain subsided enough to allow me about an hour of sleep until I woke up with intense chest pain. I will never forget the way my back felt, the muscles between my shoulder blades were seizing and I had pain going up my neck in my head and up from my chest up into my throat. After about 15 minutes of pain my husband I decided it was time to go to the hospital. We woke up some family to watch our sleeping son as we left for the hospital. We arrived at the hospital at 1am. They took me right in. I proceeded to have an EKG and Chest X-Ray. It was suspected that I had simply gotten my vitamin pill lodged in my throat causing me the discomfort. Both tests seemed to come out fairly normal.
I lay in the ER for about 3 hours before I saw the doctor. After about 3 hours the pain had started to dwindle, not disappear, but I was noticeably more comfortable. At this point my husband I were just extremely tired, the only indicator that was concerning me was that my heart rate had dropped from 50, which I already thought was a little low, to 42-38 bpm. Everyone in the hospital kept commenting on how healthy my heart must be...it was a nice idea but I knew despite my Personal Trainer background that I was no Olympic athlete. At about 5 am the doctor ordered an abdominal ultrasound and some blood work, while assuring me that the problem was most likely a GI issue.
After a lot more waiting my husband and I were ready to go home until the doctor finally returned at 8am to let us know that I was going to be admitted to the hospital. Apparently my d-dimer was up and my troponin levels were elevated. For my age a normal troponin reading would be a .001, mine came in at a .325. It shouldn't be a red flag until your troponin hits a .35 but she was acting on the air of caution, for that I would later be very grateful.
I was moved into the intensive care unit of the ER and then later moved to the Cardiology wing. I must also not fail to mention how many questions I received about whether or not I had been abusing cocaine or recreational drugs...to which I quickly responded "No." Apparently cocaine has been known to cause heart damage, i.e. heart attacks. Well at around 9am I saw the Cardiologist for the first time, he assured me that this was all just a precaution, that I hadn't had a heart attack and that he would send me home at 5pm that day. This all sounded really good until 12pm, about 30 minutes after my 2nd blood draw, when my troponin level increased to a 2.4. Apparently after it passes a 1.0 or 2.0 (depending on the hospital) you are considered to have had heart damage, or suffered a minor heart attack. So at about 3pm the cardiologist re-visited my room, leaving a conference to return to the hospital to apologize for inadvertently lied to me. He notified me that I would need to have an angiogram to determine the cause of this damage to my heart. As it was explained to me, troponin is an enzyme released by the heart after heart muscle has been damaged or killed, due to lack of oxygen. Without boring everyone with more details, I was taken for an emergency CT Scan which was negative for an aorta tear. Then after 2 more blood draws my troponin levels soared on to a 6 and later to an 8. After my 2nd blood test I was started on Lovanox shots and later on a drip blood thinner. Ever since the ER I had been receiving oxygen, which I really needed to be able to communicate much at all.
Feb. 23, 2009. The following day was the angiogram. It wasn't the most fun I had ever had, but I was excited to finally have some answers. It turns out I had a clot in a lower branch of my right coronary artery. They also noticed that I have an extremely rare, never been seen to this point, bulge in my right coronary artery that resembles an aneurysm, but the integrity of the artery seems to be strong, unlike an aneurysm. Ultimately they were able to break up the clot. I was forced to lie down for the next 6 hours without moving the leg they had performed the procedure on. Unfortunately after the 6 hours I starting suffering from orthostatic hypotension and was regulated to the hospital bed for the entire night.
Feb, 24, 2009. Finally the next morning the cardiologist looked me over and told me I would be able to go home. He decided to put me on another blood thinner, Plavix. I was instructed to take a low dose asprin and Plavix daily. Later that day I was discharged to go home; I had never been so excited to leave a place but quickly after having to maneuver to a coach to rest was I appreciative for not having to move the past 2.5 days.
I have written this story and will continue to document my adventure. I wish I would have started this right after I got home from the hospital, but instead I will reference my feelings and thoughts from this day forward. After having my heart attack I was lost as I looked to the Internet for stories, emotional help or the story and struggle of another without any luck I have resorted to sharing my own...
I lay in the ER for about 3 hours before I saw the doctor. After about 3 hours the pain had started to dwindle, not disappear, but I was noticeably more comfortable. At this point my husband I were just extremely tired, the only indicator that was concerning me was that my heart rate had dropped from 50, which I already thought was a little low, to 42-38 bpm. Everyone in the hospital kept commenting on how healthy my heart must be...it was a nice idea but I knew despite my Personal Trainer background that I was no Olympic athlete. At about 5 am the doctor ordered an abdominal ultrasound and some blood work, while assuring me that the problem was most likely a GI issue.
After a lot more waiting my husband and I were ready to go home until the doctor finally returned at 8am to let us know that I was going to be admitted to the hospital. Apparently my d-dimer was up and my troponin levels were elevated. For my age a normal troponin reading would be a .001, mine came in at a .325. It shouldn't be a red flag until your troponin hits a .35 but she was acting on the air of caution, for that I would later be very grateful.
I was moved into the intensive care unit of the ER and then later moved to the Cardiology wing. I must also not fail to mention how many questions I received about whether or not I had been abusing cocaine or recreational drugs...to which I quickly responded "No." Apparently cocaine has been known to cause heart damage, i.e. heart attacks. Well at around 9am I saw the Cardiologist for the first time, he assured me that this was all just a precaution, that I hadn't had a heart attack and that he would send me home at 5pm that day. This all sounded really good until 12pm, about 30 minutes after my 2nd blood draw, when my troponin level increased to a 2.4. Apparently after it passes a 1.0 or 2.0 (depending on the hospital) you are considered to have had heart damage, or suffered a minor heart attack. So at about 3pm the cardiologist re-visited my room, leaving a conference to return to the hospital to apologize for inadvertently lied to me. He notified me that I would need to have an angiogram to determine the cause of this damage to my heart. As it was explained to me, troponin is an enzyme released by the heart after heart muscle has been damaged or killed, due to lack of oxygen. Without boring everyone with more details, I was taken for an emergency CT Scan which was negative for an aorta tear. Then after 2 more blood draws my troponin levels soared on to a 6 and later to an 8. After my 2nd blood test I was started on Lovanox shots and later on a drip blood thinner. Ever since the ER I had been receiving oxygen, which I really needed to be able to communicate much at all.
Feb. 23, 2009. The following day was the angiogram. It wasn't the most fun I had ever had, but I was excited to finally have some answers. It turns out I had a clot in a lower branch of my right coronary artery. They also noticed that I have an extremely rare, never been seen to this point, bulge in my right coronary artery that resembles an aneurysm, but the integrity of the artery seems to be strong, unlike an aneurysm. Ultimately they were able to break up the clot. I was forced to lie down for the next 6 hours without moving the leg they had performed the procedure on. Unfortunately after the 6 hours I starting suffering from orthostatic hypotension and was regulated to the hospital bed for the entire night.
Feb, 24, 2009. Finally the next morning the cardiologist looked me over and told me I would be able to go home. He decided to put me on another blood thinner, Plavix. I was instructed to take a low dose asprin and Plavix daily. Later that day I was discharged to go home; I had never been so excited to leave a place but quickly after having to maneuver to a coach to rest was I appreciative for not having to move the past 2.5 days.
I have written this story and will continue to document my adventure. I wish I would have started this right after I got home from the hospital, but instead I will reference my feelings and thoughts from this day forward. After having my heart attack I was lost as I looked to the Internet for stories, emotional help or the story and struggle of another without any luck I have resorted to sharing my own...
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