Aw dear waves !!! Im so behind news here !!! :mad:

How are you feeling !? How is your heart !?

Argh ! hope you can feel better soon ! :hug:

LOL... ((( Majo ))) good to see you.

i think my heart is ok... or, well... :rolleyes: it is ok as long as i don't run? dunno if there is a problem or not... could be the Zoloft. seeing pdoc today, he will advise what to do next. i am worried he will tell me to stop the Zoloft :Noooo: If he thinks the numbers are preoccupying enough, he may want me to do that temporarily, at least long enough to determine what is going on (empirically sensible thing to do).

:Sigh: Waaaaaaaaaahhhhh. :Bawling:

~ waves ~ who doesn't feel like being empirical right now...

Dear Waves,
I guess we are hoping that the pdoc has some insight or experience with Zoloft. We also hope he can find a way to get you some testing.

Do you usually do some of the thinking for him? I am hoping that you don't fret too much between now and the appt.

M.

Dear Mari

yes i usually do a lot of the thinking... but i've already done that part. now it's just a wait-and-see... i don't have his clinical experience. need his input.

if, given my (non existent) level of conditioning, he says it is not pathological for my heart to go that fast, or staying that fast after standing around, then we may not end up doing anything... he may not even request testing. he may just say, walk don't run.

i am kinda fretting about being able to stay on the Zoloft. mostly because i already think it would be a good idea to stop, and take stock of the heart dealy.

the Zoloft seems to be starting to have some effect, maybe... i have noticed some patches of improvement the past few days... along with patches of very high irritability. :rolleyes:

it's a catch 22 situation... if i don't stop, i'll never know if it is causing a problem. if i do stop it, it won't be able to help me.

~ waves ~

Dear Waves,

Yes, that is what I was thinking -- that you have done the thinking and can take a rest for the rest of the day until you see him.

He might say that. I don't think you have been taking pulse and other readings lately (pre-Zoloft especially) to have a good record to compare to other times in the past when you were aware of your readings.

The good news about getting in shape is that apparently you can walk more than you are doing now a little (get some suggestions from him). It will likely take very little time for you to see better readings (maybe a month if you walk short amounts of more than you are doing now more often than you are doing now). That's my understanding anyway -- that after you do the walking your body responds appropriately.

i.
The pdoc will help you with this concern. First he will have a pretty good idea if the Zoloft is involved or not. Also, he can let you do a test of stopping the Zoloft or going down to 50 to see if the concerns are allayed.

Oh WoW! This is good news. (not the irritability so much.)
'Nice to hear that you might have bumped up the mood a little.

I really think that the stopping would be to allay your fears.
I'm interested in what he has to say because I think he might tell you to try walking again and keep the Zoloft and /or go down to 50.

You might have to remind him that you only want to make one change at a time.

Good luck at the appt. :hug: :hug: :hug:

M.

oh actually yes i have taken pulse for years. not bp - i don't take regularly. but pulse i do take from time to time... both resting, after moving around and after resting-after-moving to notice the resettling. it's not like a structured, daily thing i do, but it probably happens more than once a month. this month more because i monitored carefully when i was having the shortness of breath (absolutely no tachycardia there).

the Zoloft doesn't worry me. tachycardia is bad regardless what the cause is, so i have to avoid pushing the heart too much, period.

I am worried that he will say, if it is the Zoloft, it has to go, and if it isn't the Zoloft, we still have to stop the Zoloft to investigate... :o

I am hoping he will say it is just lack of conditioning..... :o

i really don't want to stop, or reduce the Zoloft.

thanks. :)

~ waves ~

pdoc session, part 1
 

part 1 because i feel overwhelmed right now so i will post more later.

it was a "rich" session... covered a lot of things.

ok the heart thing. pdoc says lack of conditioning causes

- the heart to step up to a higher rate fairly quickly... even a very high rate (192 not surprising)
- the heart NOT TO RESETTLE QUICKLY after exercise... as conditioning improves, resettling is faster.

pdoc also said that the fact that the first night my pulse stayed > 100 seems like a long time not to resettle, even unconditioned, but says he is not a cardiologist and so cannot assert that there is anything pathological about it, particularly since the subsequent time, it resettled slowly (hours) but w/in the same evening.... i.e. showed improvement.

he suggested that, before i attempt to take up running, i request a stress test. he said that might not be so important if i just wanted to walk, but since i am wanting to run, it would be a good idea to get a "doc's ok" first. he pointed out that gym's usually do a physical checkup type thing, including EKG. he said i should just tell my mdoc i am wanting to take up running and need to make sure i am fit to do so. and he told me the name of the test to request - translated, an EKG-under-stress. he said that would include baseline values anyway, because they need that as a diagnostic reference, but i should ask to make sure.

he said if the Zoloft were causing tachycardia, i would be seeing isolated episodes of tachycardia even at rest... it would not be affecting heart reactivity after exercise.

so i am allowed to keep right on taking my Zoloft!!!! :)

~ waves ~

I like your pdoc!!!!! very good advice!
bizi:)

Shows how smart you were when you chose this pdoc.

And he is definately a keeper.

Donna

Dear Waves,
That's good that he made clear that you stay on the Zoloft and ask for a stress test.

I hope that you are ok --- not as overwhelmed as when you first posted.

M.