Diagnosis: Broken Hearted

So, word is back from the heart tests I had done – while the sonogram of my heart looked good, the monitor I had to wear for 24 hours revealed premature ventricular contractions, which is likely what is leading to the adrenaline rushes, the pounding in my chest, and the dizziness when I exercise or exert myself in any fashion.

My nurse said that in and of themselves the PVCs aren’t serious, but that it seems my reaction to them are (hence the fainting and other problems).

She thinks a contributing factor is anxiety so we’re going to see how I feel in a month and then if it hasn’t stopped she’s going to refer me back to the cardiologist where my tests were done so that I can get treatment. I asked her about going on Xanax to help ease the anxiety to see if that made a difference but she’s the one medical professional in the whole of the United States that isn’t passing out anti-anxiety meds like they’re candy so she gave me a “very limited supply” that I need to pick up today. She wants me to get therapy so that I can treat the source, not the reaction. I've gone to therapy once and had a very bad experience so I'm not so keen on this course of action. Outside of anxiety, other known contributing factors to the condition are alcohol, caffeine, and genetics. Seeing as how this has been going on for months now (with another bad night last night) and currently shows no sign of improvement regardless of the fact that I did cut out most of my caffeine and alcohol intake, I doubt the next 30 days are going to make any difference but for some reason she wants to “wait and see.”

Between my Graves Disease, my GERD, arthritis of the knees, bursitis of the hip, bad teeth, worsening vision, and now this heart issue, I really wasn’t meant for the gene pool. I guess it’s a good thing I’ve never wanted kids. I’m also cursing my genetics right about now. My dad is a walking heart time bomb so of course anything related to my heart is much more concerning than if my dad hadn't had multiple heart attacks before the age of 50.