My book about recent health issues

(Thank you to Petra for sharing her experiences first here )

Through all my pregnancies I struggled a little bit with weight loss here and there, but not to much. I would gain a ton of weight while I was pregnant, to the point of being put on a strict diet when I was 6 months pregnant, but then it all fell off. I thought I was just really lucky. It wasn't until my third pregnancy that the truth came out after a freaked out sister of mine called 911 when I passed out in the grocery store, thank you freaked out sister. My weight gain was mostly water weight from a very active heart. So active in fact that I passed out regularly because my heart rate would go up and up and up and not come down. (thought all pregnant women did that, apparently not everyday, and most certainly not from simple tasks like picking up toys or vacuuming, as my doctor explained to me later)

Long story short, I had a slight heart defect that isn't really that uncommon. an extra "control center". What was a little more unique about me was that both of my "control centers" thought they were top dog and were battling out who was in charge of pacing my heart beat. From what I understand, this caused my heart to race abnormally in regular intervals. It also made it interesting for me once my heart rate went up....it wouldn't come down. ( all those times I thought I was out of shape, its because my heart rate would go up, quicker than it should, and not come down very easily, but because it was my "normal" I didn't realize it was a problem)...I have always been a person in constant motion, but it was always a steady motion.

Anyway, I had that problem fixed for the most part. They were able to burn one of the control centers part way off about 11 years ago. I was also put on cholesterol medicine at that time. I have always been a pretty healthy eater, but with cholesterol in the 300's since I was 20 (first time it was ever checked) they convinced me to go ahead and take it. Heres where my rebellion kicked in. I hated it. I quit taking it within a week or two. I was put on it about 3 years after that. I took it for a longer period of time and even through my 5th pregnancy. After that pregnancy I noticed a lot of weird physical symptoms with my body. I couldn't lose weight,despite running 26 miles a week and continuing to eat well. I had weird muscle spasms and I was having issues with my heart again. I stopped the medicine after a few years. I didn't know if it was to blame, I couldn't see my symptoms in the side effects but I didn't feel right and just quit because I am rebellious. I lost about 30 pounds and felt normal again.

Last year my heart was giving me trouble again. I went to the cardiologist to have my workup done. My heart rate goes up fast, and high, but it comes down appropriately. On occasion it does stay up, and I get dizzy, but I am fully aware of when it feels "different" and manage pretty well. I think the doctor worried more than I did about it and I pretty much decided we could revisit his suggestions in a few years. Except for that dang cholesterol medicine. He insisted that I should be on it and that my numbers are still way to high for the bad cholesterol. I reluctantly went on that stuff again. The scale has been steadily climbing, and I cannot get it back down. I decided to quit taking it again along with the vitamins I had been taking. For about 10 days now I have had major headaches, severe cramping (to the point that I wondered if I had miraculously gotten pregnant and was miscarrying) , all kinds of digestive issues and exhaustion. Not to mention dizziness, lightheaded and weird tingling all over my body. like little shocks. This has been going for about a week and a half, and it really got to me, mentally, on Wednesday. After attempting to play basketball, all the physical stuff came to a head and I was really depressed, I tried to crawl into bed so I could sulk in my depression. My sweet husband talked me into going out to lunch at Baltimore's Inner Harbor with him. He kept saying "you know you really want Ta pas" ..he was right, I did and it was so good to walk around Inner Harbor and feel the sun with him by my side. I did come home and pretty much sleep until the next day.

Thursday was better, the tingling was starting to subside and I had more energy. I hung out with some girlfriends who assured me that part of getting older is unknown physical symptoms. Today was even better. Cramping and digestive issues and headache are still around, but the tingling "shocks" are gone, and energy is back. I feel like this is just way too much of a physical reaction to the medicine or vitamins that I was on. I know my cholesterol is ridiculous, and I am fully aware of my family history of heart issues, but if it is this bad getting off of stuff, should I really be on it to begin with? My girlfriends thought it had more to do with "woman" issues as I am getting older...I am not sure what it is, but I am really rebelling against all things medicine...including vitamins. I don't know what half the stuff in them is anyway! Not to mention that I am down 3 pounds since last week with no changes in diet or exercise, after a continuous upward climb for months I think that is a little weird.

I usually crawl into a cave when I am going through anything like this. It was great to talk to people and it was really great to read about Petra's experiences. I am not a good "sick" person. I don't like being down and out physically. And I think it depresses me quickly. Thanks if you took the time to read all of this, and sorry for never writing on my blog anymore. It isn't for lack of things to write about, more just lack of time to write it all!