Partial video blog

I had another video, but it was too long and I tried to upload it to putfile - which didn't work. So I'll just type it. It's long. Lucky you.

Ok, so after it passed, it was like nothing ever happened. I told a few people about it and it really sounded like I'd had a panic attack - with out the panic. Never once did I feel panicked thru the whole deal. Strange.

On Wednesday, my friend Barb J. came in for a color. She's been working in the medical field almost all her life, so I told her about it. She also said that it sounded like a panic attack until I told her that it lasted for about an hour. We both decided that if it happened again that I for sure should go to the doctor. I, however, didn't expect it to happen again. Fast forward to 9pm. It happened again. It was such a strange experience. About every minute for about 45 minutes, my chest would tighten, my heart would beat fast 3 times, it would take my breath away, and it would be done. The 'experience' would last for about 2 or 3 seconds. That night I said I'd call the doctor the next day.

Thursday Justin was leaving to go North to hunt deer. We decided to meet and have lunch. I can do that at my new job. =) Anyway, we were about half way through lunch when it started again. This time my finger tips felt tingly and my right arm felt heavy. After we left the restaurant, I went home and called my doctor. She wasn't in so I talked to the on call nurse. I told her my symptoms and she said she'd talk to the doctor and get right back to me.

I was doing a hair cut when my cell phone rang. I excused myself to answer the phone. The lady on the other end told me that I needed to go to the ER. Eeek! I explained to her that I had more clients coming. She didn't seem to see the importance. I told her that I didn't want to go to our ER because something bad was wrong with me they'd kill me. I know, nice.

I finished my hair cut and called the rest of my clients and rescheduled them. There is a lady at our salon that does reflexology. I don't even really know what this is. She was in between clients as well. She said "Come with me. Take off your left shoe and sock." I did. She pushed on my foot. "Can you feel that?" she said. "On my foot?" I replied. She said "Well yes, but anywhere else?" I said "You're manipulating my heartbeat and it hurts my chest." If you could only have seen the look on her face. She said "You need to go to the ER". Wonderful. We know that she knows what she's talking about, right Kim B.?

So I went. It's interesting how fast people move when you tell them you're having chest pains. There was a waiting room full of people, but after some chick with pink eye (giggle) got called back, I was called back.

The doctor on call was a known hardass. I knew he took care of my friend Barb J. when she had chest pain, so I felt comfortable knowing that he was going to take care of me too. He ordered an EKG and a chest x-ray along with a blood work up.

The EKG and chest x-ray were normal. During my stay, Tracy sent me a text asking if I needed her. I didn't think I did. That answer didn't set well with her. She came anyway. I was glad she did. Thank you Tracy. Having you there made me feel better.

Tracy and I waited in the waiting room to see the doctor. They called me back and we went to a room. The doctor came in and said that so far everything was normal. He wanted to do a echo stress test that would take place on Tuesday - today. He was sending me home with a 24 hour heart monitor so that they could listen to what I was feeling in case it were to happen again. Lucky for the doctor and I, it did.

Before we left, the doctor said that my potassium level was low. He asked me to eat some bananas that night and the next morning. Then he wanted me to come back and have them test my potassium level again the next evening. If the bananas didn't work then he'd have to put me on some medication. I asked if having a low potassium level would make my heart feel this way. He said it could but acted that he didn't think that was it.

The next day I went and had my blood drawn. I'd been having - whatever it was - again. It wasn't pain as I'd normally explain it. It's so hard to describe. Anyway, my potassium level was still low. Normal is 3.6+ and mine was 3.3. Not horribly low, but it was making my body feel all out of whack. The stress test was scheduled for Tuesday and I now had a prescription for something to bring my potassium level back up.

I started the medication right away Friday night. I was still having heart flutters up until I went to bed. Saturday morning I got up and felt better. I took another dose of the medicine. By Saturday afternoon I was feeling much, much better. How on earth could low potassium cause so much problems for your body? Crazy, right?

I Googled 'low potassium' and found the following information from this website:

Signs and symptoms of low potassium include:
Weakness
Fatigue
Muscle cramps
Constipation
Abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias)

I had 4 of the 5. I'd been telling Justin how tired I was. We chalked it up to me working more. Standing and working is different than sitting and working. Hopefully, after getting my potassium level back to where it should be, I won't be as tired.

This evening the doctors office called. They said that they got the reading back from the monitor. My heartbeat was off at times, but they didn't feel that it was beyond the normal range. The doctor felt like we were on the right track with the potassium pills. He said that if it happened again, I would need to consult a cardiologist. I don't think that's going to be necessary - well - lets hope not at least.