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Tag: cardiology

A Yo-Yo of a Blood Pressure

me getting blood pressure checked at kidney doctor

About four or five years after my heart problems had climaxed, my blood pressure took a surprising turn.

My whole life my blood pressure had run so low we worried about me tripping over it.  This had always been concerning to Dr. Oster and my other doctors because with such a high heart rate and such low blood pressure it was too easy for me to go into hypovolemic shock.  In fact, one of the reasons I was admitted to the hospital so frequently was due to hypovolemic shock. We referred to it as bottoming out.

When I bottomed out, I would turn bluish-gray, get really clammy, and if I caught it myself before it got too severe, I would call for my own ambulance from wherever I was.  It was the worst when I wasn’t home and was in an embarrassing place. An embarrassing place was pretty much anywhere … Find Out What Happens Next

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Heart Stopping with Reverse Pressure

right after I got the adenosine to stop and restart my heart

My pediatric cardiologist was extremely concerned about me by the time I was thirteen. He stayed in close contact with Dr. Kaye, my adolescent medicine doctor. When I was lying down on that crinkly white paper on the exam table, my heart rate was usually about 120. Sitting up it was usually about 135, and when I stood up, it was in the 150s.  Neither Dr. Kaye or Dr. Oster, the cardiologist, ever said anything about those numbers being abnormal, but I read it right off their faces.

After they left the room I looked it up on my phone. A normal heart rate for a teenager is 60 to 100 beats per minute, and it shouldn’t fluctuate like that with changes of position.

Dr. Oster said they wanted to run a bunch of tests on my heart shortly before my fourteenth birthday. I was not surprised.

The EKGs and … Find Out What Happens Next

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