Trip to heart doctor: Blessing or bungle?

Its a blessing. Go find out what it is and don't stop until you know.

One of my best friends from college is a cardio-thorasic (transplant/stent/bypass, etc.) surgeon.

(My fav story from him: One time guy who just received a quad bypass said "Doc, you make a ton of $$, you don't mind if I skip the $1500 co-pay, right? Doc: "No sweat. I just saved your life and if that's not worth $1500, no problem.")

My buddy always told me your body tells you when something's not right, its an amazing thing.

Your body is sending you a message.

 

Thanks for the notes. I'm going to go closer to the big city and get a better view of things. The laughable part of it is when you call to set something up....we get "Have you been here before?" No, didn't you hear me when I said I was referred to you? "OK sir. We can see you ....can you come in Sept. 3?" A lot of heart attacks could happen between now and them. It's almost just as well to complain about it in your local ER. That way you get the full treatment on the spot.

 

Well, update...the short of it all, all is clear...there was a blood sugar spike and they told me to lose 30 pounds. I'm on a diabetic diet which really isn't all that bad...just in a few days I feel a crapload more energy. Thanks to all for the advice.

 

I was having some issues two years ago. It came after a period of heightened anxiety.

I went through all of the tests -- stress, EKG, echo, etc. -- and I ended up having a heart cath. Turned out I had a very minor valve prolapse.

But even after having been given some preventative advice on how to deal with it, some of the symptoms remained and it was scary. I got really bad late last year with all manner of ills, so I went for more tests.

Turned out I had a gall bladder going bad. I had it removed, and though not every one of my symptoms has disappeared, I at least have some vague way of explaining them.

My point is that getting checked for, well, anything, can be a frustrating trial-and-error experience. The truth is that many of the symptoms I originally had were probably gall bladder-related all along, but since my problems manifested themselves to me in my chest, it was the heart that was checked first.

It's kind of humbling, really. For all of the modern advances in medicine we have, it's still a very imperfect science.

The upshot for me is that I have made some lifestyle changes to deal with some of my issues. I'll be two years caffeine-free in September, which, if you'd known me prior to that, is akin to a junkie giving up heroin. I could be healthier for sure, but I'm smarter than I used to be.

(As I sit here bleary-eyed after staying up all night to cover a local in the Olympics. This job and its demands do no favors to wanting to maintain a healthy lifestyle.)

 

That's a good report. Glad to hear you got positive news...

 

Similar story here a few years ago. Doc did the treadmill-dye test and everything was clear. He told me to relax more, lay off the caffeine and sweets, start exercising and quit being a lazy fatass. He was right.