Have been ill...

[Tessa]

Dear friends,

We were going to have some friends home for a coffee on Saturday afternoon so I prepared two GF&DF cakes (we were 8). I also cleaned the house (as it was their first visit and... well, you know, there is always something to clean). My husband helped a lot too and was angry because I tried to clean the kitchen tiles alone... He was right.
Only after about 45 minutes of cleaning, I was confused, dizzy, with chest discomfort and for sure with a tachycardia, as I was feeling pre-syncope symptoms.

I sat down and checked my bp and heart rate. Bp was low (as usual), but my heart rate was at 107 (and surely even more standing and for a long time)...

Some hours later, when we were all together, I thought I had recovered and enjoyed the afternoon... Though a little stressed. (everyone trying to speak at the same time... stress to serve cakes, coffees, tea, etc.).

When they finally left, we washed the dishes and sat down to rest.
At about 9.30 pm, I started feeling very bad, with chest discomfort, low blood pressure, dizziness, very weak, tired, unstable, confused, cold...

I had to take an extra Hidrocortisone (5 mg) and went to bed.

My husband was very worried (me too).

All this extra exercise & stress uses to have consequences, and so it was. I woke up around 3 am with an acute chest pain. Cannot describe the pain. It is scary, acute and does not fade away... We have been to the ER when it happened before, but to no help.
By my own experience, I have been able to know that only an extra tablet of Hidrcortisone (10 mg) helps to lessen the pain. So I had to take another one in the middle of the night... About 35 minutes after this extra HC, the pain finally started to decrease.
Extremely tired because of the pain I had been suffering, I finally could sleep again...

I am sorry that I missed the chat because of this. My husband insists that I should not do any extra activity... We both think that I am not on enough steroids and therefore I am unable to cope with stress, exercise...

It is so frustrating... We believe that these episodes are an endocrine shock.

Endocrine shock may occur when inappropriate amounts of hormones cause an imbalance between peripheral oxygen consumption and delivery.

The muscle of the heart does not get enough blood and oxygen and causes pain... And this happens because of the hormone imbalance. Not having enough steroids to deal with the stress...
further info on this health issue: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shock_(medicine)

Well, that´s the story so far (more or less)... I have been sleeping for about 12 hours and even though I woke up with some chest pressure... I am much better than yesterday.
Life is not always easy...

Thank you for reading and for your support,
Love,
Tessa

[Bifcus16]

Whoah, Tessa,

That sounds really frightening. It sounds like you handled it really well, taking the meds and so on.

I do know what you mean about cleaning house before the visitors. My other half can't understand why there is always something more that needs to be done. Mum had a long lost cousin visit yesterday, so she cleaned all the windows and polished the silver, only to have them not even go in the room where the silver is on display

Be gentle on yourself today, you deserve to be looked after.

Lyn

[annie oakley]

Hi Tessa, Been along time since I read one of your posts. Sorry you are feeling ill. Have you gone to your doctor? Please be careful. Maybe what you were cleaning with affected you. Let us know what happens and how you are feeling' Love Oma

[tex]

Hi Tessa,

I'm so sorry to hear of all the suffering that you have been through, and I hope that you can prevent it from happening in the future.

Please take care of yourself. We'll try to schedule another chat sometime when you are feeling better.

Love,
Tex

[Gloria]

Hi Tessa,

It sounds like you've had a rough weekend. I hope you recover quickly and feel better soon.

Gloria

[MaggieRedwings]

Hi Tessa,

Right there with you on this one since we both have what appears to be the same heart problem. I know exactly how you felt and please do take it easy. Not something to mess with.

Hope you are feeling better and the exercise probably greatly contributed to the condition.

Love, Maggie

[starfire]

Tessa,
I'm really sorry you had such a rough time. It sounds like your husband is a kind, helpful and caring man. Please let us know how you are doing when you feel up to it.

Love, Shirley

[angy]

hope you feel better soon tessa...

[Polly]

Hola, mi querida amiga!

I am sad to hear about your continuing problems. It must be such an awful and extremely frightening experience every time it happens. Would your doc consider upping your steroid dose? How long does it take for the hydrocortisone to kick in once you take it? Perhaps your doc would agree to letting you take an extra dose or two whenever you are going to be in a situation where you will be exerting yourself.

I am thinking of you and sending my best positive thoughts and wishes.

Love and a

Polly

[Tessa]

Thank you all for your answers, my dear friends. I am much better today.

Thank you Lyn for understanding my need to clean the house before their visit. I should have known that it would cost me a day or two of being ill...

Hi, Oma. Yes, I have been several times to my doc and sometimes he has taken me right away to the ER ordering IV fluids and Hidrocortisone... Thank you for caring.

Tex, your words are wise. Preventing these episodes is exactly what I should do rather than causing them.
Sometimes it is not easy to accept my limits. I thought I would be able to do it, but the facts show that I am still far from being able to exercise a bit more than the usual minimum I am doing every day. Thanks God, I have a nice and helpful husband, who has been the only person at my side many times.
Will love to chat with you.

Gloria, thank you for your support. Weekends use to be rough for me, mainly because I always increase the homework on weekends, and pay the consequences.

Hi, Maggie. You are right.
The exercise contributed (greatly) to the condition.
When I feel better, I always try to convince myself that I am able to do this and that, but it is not true. Frustrating, but a lesson I still have to learn...
It is supposed that I do not have any heart problem. My adrenals are imbalanced...What heart problem do you have If you do not mind me asking?

Hi, Shirley. Yes, my husband has been very helpful. I am very luck having him by my side. Thank you for popping in and for your support.

Thanks for the flowers and your support, Angy.

Mi querida amiga, Polly.
I can take an extra dose whenever needed without having to ask... In fact, as you surely know, my health issues force me to use extra dose from time to time. (yes, I know, it was foolish doing the cleaning and not taking an extra dose)
It is just that at first, we had no idea that the acute chest pain in the middle of the night could be related with my adrenal issues and it took some visits to the ER, trials, surfing the net, etc. to get to the idea of taking an extra HC dose...

I am already on 35 mg/day. This means that it is very likely that my body consumes it faster. Therefore I really need a longer acting steroid instead than increasing more, but my GP refuses to prescribe the longer acting steroid (suggests to increase) and my app. with my Endo is after Easter... So, I have to cope with what I have now.

Thank you for caring and for your support my dear friends.
You are always so supportive and helpful.

Love,
Tessa