Been in the ER/Hospital the past week. Will post details later as I'm up to it.
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I'm back
Been in the ER/Hospital the past week. Will post details later as I'm up to it.
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Had no idea! I'm glad you are back. Board's been kinda dead lately.
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I advise all of you to have/buy the basic tools to check yourself. Luckily for me my wife stays on top of these things. I suddenly became out of breath to where I could not cross the room w/o being exhausted. I felt like I was only utilizing about 1/20th of my lungs.
A quick check determined it was my heart instead with my O2 being good, along with basic holding your breath test.
The 200+bpm pulse and 155 over 105 blood pressure (and rising) was a give away.
How I felt was indescribable. I couldn't bear to stand. I could not lay horizontally w/o gasping for breath and I felt nauseated most all the time making any form of sleep or rest impossible. As posted above, any movement totally exhausted me.
With no time to waste on a GP doctor I was off to the ER. A cardiac ER in this case where a large group of doctors oversaw everything instead of just one.
Along with everything else my BP was erratic, jumping all over the place making the machine readouts look un-real. My heart had fallen out of rhythm.
This info/experience is being passed on to inform anyone else who has sudden health changes. Most of this occurred over a one week period with things getting too bad to handle the last 2 days. Check your heart.
Last edited by Allen; 05-14-2025 at 11:11.
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Senior Member
yep, I got 2 heart attacks AFTER the triple bypass, a stent, a pacemaker/defribilator and an aortic valve installed in the last 7 years.
now I'm out of breath and am going in monday for the pulmonary exam blow test. They say I probably have COPD. I think I just have old age and heart failure coming on.! We shall see.
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Best of luck to you----please keep us posted.Originally Posted by Former Cav
I got by with no surgery, just a couple of ultrasounds, a heart catheterization plus "the paddles" to shock my heart back into rhythm.
I had no idea a person could feel this miserable. I haven't felt this bad since my covid vac feeling you would have to get way better just to die.
What I remember about the pulmonary blow test, if it is the same thing, is you have to blow through a 1" tube as hard as you can. A certain amount on volume is expected. There is no resistance and it's like blowing through an open door way. My former employer required these test frequently and I could barely pass them years ago way before any heart problems.
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I'm on 6 prescriptions now > go back to the doc in a few weeks to see what I need to keep taking. In the hos I was put on Lasix and lost 25# (in just 3-4 days) of fluid from my stomach. Surprisingly there was no other swelling. The doc's thought it was unusual too.
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15 yrs ago had aorta valve replaced, in hosp 5 days, lost 25 lbs. Wish I hadn't gone looking for them again. But, hospital food only works if you are confined.
Last edited by PWC; 05-20-2025 at 11:36.
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Actually the hospital food was quite good even though it was a "heart healthy" low salt diet. There was no snacks but with three large meals a day and doing nothing but laying in bed all day the amount of food was more than enough. It's a wonder I didn't gain weight from it. A 25# loss that quick is a jolt to the body. It appears a little time is needed for things to even out some.
Wish I could keep it off too but with the heat and rain of summer approaching my activities will no doubt diminish and some of the weight will return. Hopefully it won't be fluid from congestive heart failure next time.
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