I guess I did it...

[johnpalmer]

I spent hours working on a note for my doctor, and realized I was being an idiot in thinking I had to write down most of what I did. So I decided to focus, and consider what needed to be said, and then say it - think of it as a verbal communications exercise.

So: I made an appointment. And when she came in, I said

1) A few weeks back, I'd done some walking, saw my heart rate go up to 130, and not drop below 100 for over 10 minutes.

2) I found out about Supraventricular Tachycardia. WebMD says it can cause dizziness, fatigue, chest pain, blahblah... and increased sweat and urination. Sweat is one of the things that convinced me there was something physical going on with my body's issues - I sweat a lot more once the problem is triggered. And yeah, if I exercise, especially before bed, I'll be up 3-4 times during the night.

3) First treatment is beta blockers - on a normal dose, they kept my heart rate low (max 110, dropped back to 70 in under 10 minutes) but I still felt awful the next day. So:

4) next treatment is calcium channel blockers - relatively safe drug, flip a coin, heads, your doctor likes beta blockers, tails, calcium channel blockers, for a first-line hypertension med. So can we try that? If it works, great - if not...

5) time to circle back and find out where we can go with this, if anywhere. The other treatments are a bit more esoteric and risky. But I have some old ECGs - and, you know, SVT is one of those things that's often innocuous, and it sounds like it can be hard to see unless you're looking for it. The normal presentation is "patient comes in with crazy-high heart rate," not "patient comes in complaining of fatigue and a relatively normal heart rate - maybe a bit high, but well within normal limits."

So, my doctor's prescribed varapamil (a common calcium channel blocker), and I realized that, with a job interview tomorrow, I'd better not start it yet. Blood pressure meds can make a fellow loopy, and the tech interview is with some people who may well have forgotten more than I know!

Oh, yeah. Job interview tomorrow.

And the manager 3-4 levels up sent me a thank-you note today. This might work out....

Comments

[dubhain]

Outstanding! Congratulations.

I used to take Verapamil, as well, to prevent migraines. Never had any issues with it, but Inderal seems to be better (for me) for migraine prophylaxis.

Best of luck with the job interview.

[edschweppe]

Good luck with the interview!

[johnpalmer]

Thanks! I think I did well. I didn't flub the programming questions too badly, and the first interviewer confessed we should move on because I'd surpassed 90% of the interview-ees on several subjects.

The second ended up creating a Kobayashi Maru ending - wanted to see if I panicked and how I kept digging when there were no good answers. I think that's a good sign....

[johnpalmer]

Thanks! I think it went really well. I hope so! But I think I managed to impress them both in the "I didn't realize he was that good!" sense.

[gingicat]

Good news all round! I hope the calcium channel blocker works.

[pernishus.livejournal.com]

Hoping the job comes through -- and wishing you well during the holidays!

[johnpalmer.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I mentioned a shipping address - I think I'd like to make you a few candles. (Nothing special - I don't do scents or fancy shapes. But I'd like to send you a bit of warm light for a dark time.)