Not-quite-unexpected health issues

[wiseheart]

With all the stress I am having lately, it was only a matter of time, I guess.

No, no panic attacks again. This time, it's the triumphant return of my heart problems. The whole thing starts with a pressure on my chest, like a belt laid around it and being pulled tighter slowly, deliberately. Then it reaches my heart. It's a funny feeling, as if someone would hold it in their hand and then closing their fist slowly, applying more and more pressure, and my left arm goes a bit numb.

The worst part is over, for the time being. Right now, it's just a faint ache, barely there. It's more annoying than painful, really. But I'm not happy about its return.

This is nothing new. Between twenty and thirty, I had it recurring all the time. Been to numerous doctors with it, both here and in Germany. They never found anything wrong. Had to take various medicines, from Nitroglycerine pills to serious heart medication, the same one my Granny got for a while. It didn't do a thing, so I stopped taking them. After a while, when the stress levels lessened, I seemed to "grow out" of it, if one can grow out of anything at that age.

Now it seems to be back. Heart problems are hereditary in our family, and my Granny lived 96 years despite them, so I'm not particularly worried. It's just very unpleasant, and I feel so terribly weak when it comes over me, it's not even funny.

Comments

[lhun-dweller.livejournal.com]

I don't want to scare you, Dear One, but what you describe are the symptoms of a heart attack in a woman. Men's symptoms are different, which is a why a lot of women's heart attacks are not diagnosed for a long time, meaning more permanent damage.

I beg you to please see a doctor as quickly as you can, even though you have seen doctors before and think you know what's happening. If it is a heart attack, blood is being cut off to part of your heart muscle, and that tissue will die and cannot be restored. You could end up permanently losing some of your heart's ability to pump blood, meaning you'd be weak and tired all the time for the rest of your life. The fact that your gran lived to 96 with heart problems doesn't predit your path: you live under very different stresses.

Cirdan is right when she says you are not weak - you have great strength of spirit and endurance - but your body is telling you something wrong. Please make time to listen and get it checked out? [big hug]

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Well, I used to go on with the same symptoms for months in a row when I was younger. But I intend to see the doctor if it doesn't get better, soon. I no longer follow the (false) belief that I ought to go on labouring no matter what.

Although, if Corontin and Nitroglycerine didn't help back then, I have little hope that it would do me any good. But even if they only say that I should stay out of stress (hah! they never can tell how to do it!) and put me on sick leave for a week or two, it would be a blessing, I guess.