Update on my Heart

Well I have one, although I thought it was broke a long time ago ;-)

I went to see a doctor now I'm back home this morning. Before I went I re-read my discharge Summary and it has a bit in BOLD at the bottom saying DIAGNOSIS which I managed to totally not read.

The Diagnosis: Supraventricular Tachycardia.

I told the doctor roughly what had happened and passed him all the paperwork I was given, he said he would need to read through it all and would refer me to a cardiologist. This could take a few weeks, he gave me a prescription for Atenolol which I have been taking since I left the hospital.

I asked if there was anything I had to stop doing and specifically asked about running and hiking. He said no I could carry on doing anything I liked but when running I probably wont be able to run as far and will get out breath sooner due to the Atenolol (bollocks). He then said I may wish to hold off the running until I've seen the Cardiologist but I didn't have to.

He said I would probably be fine and may not have anything like it again, sometimes people never have another episode. Which sounds good to me!

This fits with what they were more or less saying in Canada. They thought it was brought on by being dehydrated, then going on the roller coaster. I read a little on Supraventricular Tachycardia (SVT) on Wikipedia and one way they suggested to stop it was to bear down (as if going to the toilet). This is what they got me to do when I got to the hospital, which is when my heart started to slow down. Before this they were talking about restarting my heart.

The Paramedic came to see me when I was laid in A&E after my heart had slowed down and he told me that if it ever happened again, to bear down. So I will remember that and hopefully wont ever need to!

So I now await the Cardiologist referal which will probably take weeks (the glorious NHS).

I've decided to go walking in the lakes this weekend on my own, probably Sunday. I need some time away on my own to go through what has happened to me.