How's Your Ticker?

With Valentines Day rapidly bearing down upon us, this entry about heart health - (mine in particular) - seems rather appropriate.

For the past 6-8 months, I have been experiencing extremely annoying bouts of palpitations, flutters, racing heart, etc....

I have had bouts of minor palpitations since entering menopause approximately 10 years ago but always attributed it to fluctuating hormone levels. But when they increased to a point that left me breathless as well as increasing the feeling of pressure on my chest, I thought I should mention it to my doctor.

He immediately sent me for an EKG and then for a test called "Holter Halter". The Holter Halter is simply a portable EKG which you wear for a day. It constantly monitors heart activity while you are wearing it.

After that test, I went to see him for a follow up. Apparently, I do not have a racing heart but extra beats coming from my ventricle. He felt it would be best if I saw a cardiologist.

I'm a pretty down-to-earth natural supplements kind of girl, but when this problem arose with my heart, I didn't want to try supplements or homeopathy to help this. My feeling ... since my heart is pretty much my life support system, I should investigate this through regular medical channels first.

When he told me he wanted me to see a cardiologist, I felt a little concerned. Of course the fact that my heart was acting up every hour or so didn't help matters.

Well, I saw the cardiologist yesterday and here's his report.

He does not know why I am getting extra beats. My sinus rhythm is perfect so he does not feel there is any cause for further investigation or concern on his or my part with regard to the extra beats.

Here's a little heart education for you ... The sinus rhythm is what a normal EKG shows. EKG paper is graph paper and when the peaks of rate and rhythm are regular then you have regular Sinus Rhythm. Sinus refers to the sinoatrial or S-A node ... the origin of the electrical impulse that starts each beat.

As well, he said that some people who are highly sensitive to outside stimuli are also very sensitive to heart movement and he would classify me as someone who falls into that category.

As a side note ... Sebrina has told me for many years that she thinks I suffer from Sensory Integration Dysfunction.

Sensory Integration Disorders vary between individuals in their characteristics and intensity. Some people are so mildly afflicted, the disorder is barely noticeable, while others are so impaired they have trouble with daily functioning.

In this disorder children can be born hypersensitive or hyposensitive to varying degrees and may have trouble in one sensory modality, a few, or all of them. Hypersensitivity is also known as sensory defensiveness. Examples of hypersensitivity include feeling pain from clothing rubbing against skin, an inability to tolerate normal lighting in a room, a dislike of being touched (especially light touch) and discomfort when one looks directly into the eyes of another person.

I definately struggle with clothing issues - tags on sweaters, certain types of fabrics, problems with bright light and extreme discomfort with direct eye contact. If the seam on my sock gets under my foot, it can drive me to distraction. So maybe this heart issue is just another symptom of SID.

So back to my heart issues.....

There are medications the doctor could prescribe for this, but because the side effects are many and severe, he would rather if I could learn to live with it.

The one caveat to this is if I should start to experience light headedness or fainting, that would require medication or possibly a pacemaker.

So hopefully as time goes by I will become more accustomed to this hard beating heart of mine and like a mildly annoying pain I will start to not notice it any more.

I am very thankful it turned out to be not a large concern since I certainly have felt concern about a heart attack with the wild beating I have been experiencing.

So it is great to have my fears eased and concentrate on other much more important things .........

Like my knitting and quilting (LOL)!