Tuesday, August 20, 2024

The Silent Killer

 

I don't know who coined the term "The Silent Killer," but I've learned a lot about it lately. The term relates to blood pressure. 

Many people have no idea what their blood pressure reading is unless they monitor it. Most people don't keep a check on their blood pressure because you can't really feel what it's doing until it's either too high, (hypertension), which can be noticed by severe headache, pounding heartbeat, or other symptoms. Or if it's too low, (hypotension), which may be indicated by feelings of dizziness, fainting, or fatigue. 

Hypertension can be hereditary, as is my case. Many of my family members have or have had hypertension. I don't know when my blood pressure first became a problem, but it seems I've had it all most of my life. That being the case, I've tried to monitor it at least once or twice a day for years. 

About a week ago, my husband and I were sitting in the living room watching a movie on TV. All of a sudden, I started feeling odd. I could feel my heart beating out of rhythm. Instead of the normal LUB DUB, LUB DUB, LUB DUB, mine was going LUB....DUB....LUB LUB LUB DUB...DUB...LUB, LUB DUB, DUB, DUB. I thought perhaps my blood pressure was high, so I went to check it. It was indeed elevated but it wasn't quite time for my medication. I waited a few minutes and when the rhythm of my heart kept being out of sync thought I might better take my blood pressure medicine early. After taking it, I waited another 15 minutes thinking it would kick back into normal rhythm and I'd be okay, but it did not. That's when I started to get scared. 

I'd had extremely high blood pressure in the past and had been rushed to the hospital so I knew the drill. The last time that happened to me, I was in Alaska on a 2 week mission trip. We were helping a church in Moose Creek, Alaska, build a youth center. My job was mudding a tapping sheetrock. It was the middle of summer and being up on a ladder all day in that heat was overwhelming. When I started feeling off, the first thing I did was get off the ladder. I told my team leader I wasn't feeling well and he suggested I go into my makeshift bedroom in the church (an air mattress on the floor of a Sunday School room) and lie down. I did, but things got worse. I started feeling heavy pressure on my chest and assumed I was having a heart attack. When the team leader came in to check on me, he could tell I was in bad shape and called an ambulance. The closest hospital was in Fairbanks, AK, twenty miles away. It would take about twenty five minutes to get there. The team leader was worried and told the ambulance to meet us halfway. I was loaded into the pastor's truck and whisked away down winding dirt roads. 

When we met up with the ambulance, they flipped on the sirens and rushed me to the hospital. After a couple of days in the cardiac care unit, they let me go. They never did determine if I did have a heart attack but said I did have SVT - supraventricular tacycardia. (That means my ventricles were beating way faster than they should have and were messing up my heart rhythm.) It was a very scary time for both my husband and I. 

As I sat in the recliner in the living room trying my best to stay calm, Phil said he thought he needed to call 911. I didn't want to go to the hospital, but felt I was in crisis and it would be wise to go. Since my husband is very hard of hearing, I made the call. Thankfully, the 911 operator was very patient and had a calming voice. She stayed on the phone with me until the ambulance arrived. 

At the hospital, they ran all kinds of tests, Tronopin levels, CBC, Complete Metabolic panels, etc. They found out my potassium was extremely low at 2.7 and told me if I hadn't come in, my heart probably would have stopped. 

To make a long story shorter, 3 cardiologists saw me and the one with the most experience (34 years) determined my blood pressure medications needed to be changed and I needed to be pumped with potassium. Two days later, I went home with my heart finally beating normally. 

But there was a problem. The new medication didn't agree with me. It made my legs swell up like balloons. Apparently that was a common side effect of Amlodipine, so I put in a call to my cardiologist giving him info on my symptoms, and he changed my medication again. 

This morning was the first time on the new medication. Hopefully, I won't have any negative side effects. I've been to the hospital 4 times already this year - once for a surgery, once for complications following that surgery, and twice for issues with blood pressure. 

It's no wonder my husband and I suffer medical PTSD! Over the past 10 years, I've been hospitalized over and over again, mostly due to cancer related issues. 

Please take your health seriously. If you don't own a blood pressure monitor, most drug stores have one you can use for free or the pharmacist will take it for you. It's so important to pay attention to your body. It does signal when things are wrong, you just have to learn to pay attention the signals. 

I told my husband, after this last ambulance ride, I don't ever want to go to the hospital again and I meant it. While I'm thankful for the emergency room doctors and staff, often they're inundated with patients and can't give timely care to those who need it. That's one reason it's so important to have someone with you if you ever need to go. That person can be your advocate and help you get the care you deserve.

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