Good news - I have a heart!
Better news - it's still beating!
Best news - first ECG came up normal, as did my BP, (so it should, controlled by ACE inhibitors).
Consultant wouldn't leave it there, though. My heart's hammering above 100bpm on a regular basis and the frequent palpitations this past month are cause for further investigation. Taking into account my 27 years on insulin with frequent sudden warning-free hypos, my family history of dad's stroke at 45, maternal Gran's death at 52 from atherosclerosis and heart failure plus plenty of valvular heart disease, angina etc thrown in for good measure, I suppose it's best checked out.
So now I'm waiting for appointments for
(a) Echocardiogram
(b) 24-hour Holter monitoring tape
and
(c) another session with the cardio consultant before Christmas.
In other news, we have this exciting development in M.E. research.
Time to put all the disappointment of XMRV behind us and learn to spell "rituximab". (Why does it look like something spelled backwards to my random thought processes?)
BREAKING NEWS: ‘Chronic fatigue syndrome eased by cancer drug’, New Scientist, 19 October 2011
67% of patients in the trial saw symptoms improve.
Some later relapsed, but researchers are addressing this to see whether 'periodic doses of rituximab could permanently keep the symptoms of CFS at bay'. With an illness characterised by a relapsing-remitting pattern there's obviously going to be much more serious research needed, but it's an encouraging start. Hopefully this will open up yet more discoveries and eventually some reliable answers to free M.E. and/or CFS patients from so much suffering.
Bit brainfoggled and bamboozled now after tiring day under hospital lights and on impossibly bumpy buses, so will get head round this properly another day. Thanks to all you lovely people who were thinking of me today. As Morrissey sang, in one of his more positive moments, "There is a light and it never goes out." XXX
Have you had a tilt table test to check for orthostatic intolerance - either NMH, POTS, or both?
ReplyDeleteI had echocardiogram. Several of them. Was finally seen in Emergency department for palpitations. EKG "normal". Holter monitor "normal" (with some minor abnormalities they probably dismissed as irrelevant noise.)
It wasn't until ONE SOLID YEAR later that I finally insisted on and got a tilt table test, and was extremely positive for POTS, and finally received treatment which has really helped with the palpitations and difficulty standing. Many, many doctors including cardiologists and emergency docs simply don't have OI on their radar screens. It's worth looking into.
Thanks for this, @theparsley. I had wondered re POTS/orthostatic intolerance, and might suggest this to the "experts" who only take my Type 1 diabetes seriously, and seem clueless about M.E. of course, if the Echo & Holter don't explain it. I've had occasional palpitations and constant balance probs (why won't the ground stay horizontal these days???) all through M.E., but the palpitations have got much more regular/worse after a couple of diabetic hypos recently that were more severe than I've experienced in 27+ years. Will try to get to bottom of it & report again. Thanks again for sharing this.
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