Monday, March 21, 2011

I know that it's a heartquake


There will be bonus points for getting the title of this post.
NO GOOGLING
So last week, it was a tough week. I think I packed too much in without enough recovery, something that I honestly rarely do. I tend to err on the side of a lot of recovery.
Because I'm lazy.
Ok, no really, I don't want to get hurt and the older I get the more I see how important recovery is.
For a while now, I've had this weird fluttering in my chest. Initially I thought it might have been some dehydration. Still possible. It comes and goes. After last week, it came and stayed. My resting HR has been a little high so I'm sure that could be some over training. Boston is 4 weeks away and boy am I ready. Hitchcock and I pretty much ran our long run on Sat. threatening each other so we'd get through it. After that run, I decided 2 days off. No running at all. I also decided to go see my Dr cause why not.
I really like my Dr. He's curious about things and tend to go on the side of less is more which I find refreshing.
They hooked me up to an ECG to see what was up with my ticker. It's true, my resting heart rate is higher than it's been on my last few doctor visits. When he asked me to describe what it felt like, I told him it felt like my heart was skipping a beat. He looked at his computer and said, well, that's because it is. He showed me the read out and yup, there it is! WEIRD.
It also feels weird. He went to talk to the cardiologist in his office. She, too, thought it was a little odd but not serious. Mostly odd because they don't know why it's happening.
Now I'm hooked up to a heart rate monitor for the next 24 hours. This thing is RIDICULOUS. Just imagine running with one of these instead of the nice Garmins we all have. As the nurse was hooking it up, she told me to tuck all the wires in my pocket so people wouldn't think I had a bomb. I love post 9/11 thinking.
In short, he doesn't think it's anything serious and prob. can't do anything about it but it's annoying.
I will update after they remove this contraption.

7 comments:

Girl In Motion said...

OMG, I sure hope everything's ok! This is not happy stuff. Though I know you're playing it casually, it's always scary when the heart is involved. Especially when you have one as big as yours.

Hugs and kisses honey, hope everything's ok.

BarbBQ said...

I hope it ends up only being the same thing that I have: benign Premature Ventricular Contractions (PVC) and Premature Atrial Contractions (PAC). The former is most common (though more so for folks older than us) - it's usually referred to as "skipped beats". I was diagnosed after the intake person at the blood center where I donate noticed >5 skipped beats in 1 min. I usually don't notice them, but occasionally I do - like a flip-flop in my chest.

Anyway, doc put me on an EKG, though only for a short time, and cleared me for running and marathoning.

I hope that's all it is - keeping my fingers crossed for you.

Diane said...

Vanessa Williams. Diva's Christmas Carol.

Dude BE CAREFUL! You're the second serious runner I've heard from in as many days with a wacky unexpected heart thing.

I'm glad you're taking this seriously. Maybe your heart is reacting to the prospect of moving across the country....

DogPound said...

Barb: oh thanks for that info. I'll bring that up with him.
Diane: you're one of maybe 3 people who I thought would get it.

AKA Darkwave, AKA Anarcha, AKA Cris. said...

Holter monitor? I've heard of those things, and also that they're VERY hard to run with.

Ugh. Good luck.

DogPound said...

yes, and it does look like it could be a bomb.

Elizabeth said...

That's gotta be scary-- I hope everything is ok and that you get some answers.