Bad Medicine

Well, I've had an interesting past twenty-four hours. I had a great, if busy, day yesterday and I felt just fine. But around 8:30, my heart rate went way up. I could feel that it was fast and erratic. I have an at-home blood pressure monitor that also checks heart rate. When I checked, it was 108. My usual resting heart rate is around 72. I hadn't been doing anything strenuous, so I wasn't sure what was going on. I waited a few minutes and "tried to relax", which you probably know rarely works. After about fifteen minutes, I tried again: 111. The monitor measures only the BPM, not the regularity of the beats, but I knew that was fairly fast when I wasn't doing anything. I did not want to go to the ER! But I did, and it was fast while I was there too, although after a few hours it was down to about 85. The doctor said I might be dehydrated, which is hard to believe because I drink water all day, every day.

My blood work came back fine, but because there were some irregularities on my EKG, they admitted me. Shit! I had a final to give at 1:00 today! The nurses said that was probably the last thing I should be worried about; the doctor said he was sure the students wouldn't mind if I canceled. By the time I was checked in to my room and hooked up to everything, it was around three in the morning. I tried to sleep a while (which also rarely works), and even at 10:00 a.m., I was still holding out hope that I'd make it to my final. That didn't happen. The cardiologist finally came in around 1:30, and he determined that it was one of my blood pressure medications that was causing a problem. At that point, my BP was pretty low, and I hadn't taken any medication. So he cut the dosage of one medication by half, took me off the other, and prescribed a new one. I could go home!

That didn't actually happen until after 5:00, but my friend was kind enough to come pick me up and take me to my car. My little dog and cat had been home alone all that time, but they seem to have fared okay. They sure were glad to see me! Now I'm ready to get some nice consistent rest. Work can wait until at least tomorrow. I'm so happy to be home.