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You win It's hopeless.
Buying forest land, implementing solar
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You win It's hopeless.
I want to believe I'm being a hypochondriac. But, I'm not feigning these episodes. They happen and they are frocking disturbing. They aren't brought about my willing them into existence; they happen suddenly, without obvious trigger and recently, have been more disturbing than normal. I wish it was simple 'my rib feels heavy' kind of phenomena; that shit is easy to explain. The "I suddenly feel like fire is erupting out of my bottom lipS, T1/T2/T3 is one fire and my heart is beating subdued and menacingly" isn't my imagination. I frocking WISH IT WAS!!!
Just like sudden lower back pain, and pain radiating down the left tricep and ring/fourth finger (i.e., the cardiac path). I didn't WILL THAT EXPERIENCE INTO EXISTENCE, it suddenly HAPPENED and I recognized it.
I'm not willing any of these episodes into existence. Give me these namby pamby "I feel like I'm going to faint" anxiety symptoms and I will be freaking happy! That's REALLY EASY for me to solve - just stop being anxious, it improves. As soon as the cardiac symptom constellations are involved, it's no longer namby pamby anxiety in my book. It's very possible to be ill and to be anxious about being ill. In fact, it happens quite often if you can believe it!
I was so happy thinking I was really dealing with cervical nerve issues alone. Or Gerd. Or Gastritis. or Anxiety. or "Not enough sleep". Or something minor like that. But, those have not been adequate explanations, recently. While I still don't believe I had a stroke, strokes and heart disease go together, so at this point, I can't dismiss the possibility (Though, I still don't believe I had a stroke.).
It's very possible.
That laying down in my slightly u-shaped bed is pushing my head forward, inducing cardiac dysfunction. I don't really notice it, because I'm sleeping anyway (Doesn't take much cardiac output to sleep), but I sure notice it when I suffer a miniature stroke from a clot being thrown. Then events involving the cranial nerves (i.e., lips) happen. I've previously attributed such 'facial sensations' to the cervical spine, because that part of the spine seems to be irritated during almost every 'burning episode' in my face, but apparently much of the sensations in the 'skin'/surface of the face is rooted in the cranial nerves, which go directly to the brain. So... I'm not really sure. It's confusing. No single explanation seems to universally explain all the nocturnal/morning episodes. It seemed like the cervical spine explained like 95% of them, but it doesn't seem to adequately explain the most recent episodes given the obvious involvement of the heart. And, if the heart is /obviously/ involved in the most recent episodes, then it throws into question how much of the past episodes were really simply cervical. And, if the heart is involved - holy shit! I got bigger things to be concerned about than answering that question!
EDIT: Hmmm. Doing the spirometer. It doesn't look my numbers have changed BUT I did sound/feel unusually 'wheezy' on the exhale. I thought it was my imagination, so I started blowing without the spirometer, and it definitely sounds a bit wheezy on the last half of the exhale.
What could this be a sign of?
http://www.healthline.com/symptom/wheezing
Asthma is #1.
Congestive heart failure #5.
Pulmonary edema #6 (Heart failure symptom).
Heart failure #11.
Well, well, looks like the current suspect is on the list. This would seem to portend 'difficulty breathing while sleeping'. I don't want to believe it's so? Like, I do not think I deserve this. Never expected it. Wouldn't have suspected it in a million years. Like, unbelievable. I hope I'm incredibly wrong. Like wrong to the millionth power.
Well, actually, I redid it and realized I've always sounded like that blowing out. It's just the ending of my breath feels different. Like there's a 'hard limit' to the end of my breath, whereas, it always seemed I was able to squeeze out a few more air molecules if I tried hard enough. But, I don't know, maybe it's my imagination. Maybe it's always been like that and I'm only noticing it because I'm blowing quickly.
EDIT: 4:40 a.m., 9/5/2016 Well, this is a familiar trend. I went to bed at 1:30, woke at 3; went back to bed, woke at 4:30. The 4:30 awakening came with a heavy chest pressure 'heavy pain' sensation and it felt like left side numbness would've been imminent turning right. It seemed like this 'heavy pain' was palpable from the ribs; pain extending along both sides of the ribs, both 2nd and 3rd rib from the top. Breathing in to take a deep breath, it almost felt like I couldn't on the first breath (I had to force half a breath). The second and third inhale were fuller. Spirometer was unremarkable. I was shivering, though not 'really badly', beyond the temperature of my environment. Blood pressure was 142/84 63BPM shortly after awakening. It slowly declined afterwards(Now 120/68 57BPM at 5:09 a.m., my norm when awake). Possible acid reflux judging from the detectable acidity in my breath, might've been the two ripe bananas and sunflower seeds earlier before bed. Four bananas is definitely known to trigger some bad acid reflux about 2-4 hours later.
Typically blood pressure is supposed to decline during sleep, normally falls to 110/60 in my case. Waking up with this kind of blood pressure is a bit unusual. It would seem to have something to do with these choppy nights. I didn't really feel excess tiredness in my eyes going to bed like recent nights. I'm not sure what could be attributed to that, but maybe the sprints today. Maybe the doubled grain intake (Grains seem to be more reliable in ensuring adequate carb intake; it seems like the carb intake of fruit depends on their ripeness, and they aren't always ripe from the store.). Palpable irritation at C7/T1 and I could feel moments of burning pain going down my upper spine in certain positions.
Suspicion: Acid reflux is restricting the bronchioles, causing a reduction in air intake and possibly subsequent awakenings. The heightened blood pressure is likely a reflection of this reduced air intake. The cortisol underlying that blood pressure probably gave rise to the abnormal shivering. Recommendation: Don't eat within 3 hours before bed, eat a small amount of acid neutralizers before bed (i.e., Spinach.). But, it was a bit hard today, because I started feeling tremendously hungry at 1 a.m. following the sprints at 7:30 p.m.
Alternatively, I'm being awaken by cardiac events which causes insufficient blood flow and subsequent inhale capacity -> leads to awakenings, heightened cortisol(Detected via blood pressure) and 'sense of anxiety'(Brain not getting enough blood/oxygen? Starts getting anxious.)->shivering.
Anyway, so far, 5:29 a.m., this morning has been a bit unremarkable compared to previous nights/mornings. The explanation/intensity of this morning, so far, is quite mild compared to the most recent mornings.
Update: 9:49 a.m. 9/5/2016; ate a little spinach and went back for the 'core sleep' event. Woke a few minutes ago and blood pressure at awakening: 123/70 55BPM. Now that's a bit better than at 4:30 this morning. Breathing in at awakening felt a little 'resistant', but definitely not like the first deep inhale at 4:30 which felt like forcing half a breath. It's now 9:56, and nothing remarkable so far.
10:54 a.m. 9/5/2016; Just got done eating popcorn and cocoa/molasses drink - the cocoa seemed to calm the barely detectable anxiety I had. Anyway, new meal planning. Last meal by 9:30 p.m., should be light. I'm thinking about taking Pepcid AC before the last two meals. A small amount of spinach 30 minutes or less before bed time.
2:56 p.m. 9/5/2016; sanding the remaining side of the hood. Hypothetically, the sanding of the hood will be done today, but the quality of the left side seems like it could be improved. I'm not sure if it doesn't matter, though? I guess I can spray on some primer and see if it sticks. At the moment, I'm feeling exhausted. And not feeling hungry. Apparently increasing grain intake just offsets fruit demand. My eyes don't feel like they want to stay closed, so apparently not sleepy. Noticed my center of chest burning momentarily while working - wasn't sure the source. Apparently wasn't super noticeable. Seems likely it was my rib since center ribs are sore, from all the working involved. Could definitely feel C2 or C1 was sore from bending my head forward. The idea that C2 or C1 is pinching nerves is kind of worrying; those are the 'vital organ' vertebra. Hmmm, that would actually explain why tilting my head down/forward seems to induce symptoms of temporary heart failure (palpitations, fatigue, exercise intolerance). Might explain my exhaustion, though I've obviously been working a lot, lol. I think I can see why the kuna drink so much cocoa throughout the day; to combat work fatigue.
4:37 p.m. 9/5/2016; just got done with sanding the top of the hood. After I got done, I was wondering "Why do my eyes feel so tired?" (Tired eyes at night seem to correlate with cardiac events during the night/morning, so of course I suspect my 'heart is acting up', exactly what I don't want.), because they didn't want to stay closed when I closed them, indicating they weren't sleepy. I thought maybe I was hypoglycemic and I got done eating a banana, and it felt slightly improved, then I tilted my head back and WOW, I feel awake now! All tiredness in the eyes is gone. Yes, I was leaning forward quite a bit sanding the vehicle.
Okay, so my suspicion that tired eyes = pseudo-heart failure is confirmed. And apparently something in my neck is causing this pseudo-heart failure.
I feel like I'm starting to understand what being an old man with 'tired eyes' is really like now.
I always suspected "my back was affecting my heart" (Because certain sitting positions seemed to cause palpitations during certain activities.), but now I'm wise enough to know it's a cervical phenomena. And I'm assuming it's been getting a little more dangerous than palpitations in the past, probably aggravated by the neck strain.
Anyway, heart failure is dangerous because it sets you up for heart attacks. Which, I think I've suffered a few in the past few days. The severity of the damage obviously wasn't really bad, but any damage is not good!
Why does no one tell you your neck can put you at risk of heart attacks by inducing heart failure? If it's happening to me, clearly it must be more common than apparently the medical establishment thinks.
Wow, not only do I now feel like an energetic young person with energy, I feel like I can inhale no problems! I don't know the exact differences between this "young person" inhaling and "old person" inhaling, but it's noticeable. It feels like the 'old person' inhaling (pseudo-heart failure) takes more energy/effort and it feels tiring, and it just doesn't feel like you're really breathing in a full breath. (Even though my spirometer indicates my lung capacity is unchanged.)
EDIT: 5:47 p.m. This is weird. My eyes don't really feel tired and nothing feels particularly wrong, but my spirometer is showing a FEV1 of 71%, while everything else is normal (It consistently shows 71%). My FEV1 is normally 110%. My doctor told me that heart failure typically shows in FEV1, more than vital capacity. So, is my spirometer actually showing actual heart failure? FEV1 has never been below 100% in the past. I'll walk around, drink a glass of water and try not to panic. My throat feels dry so that might have something to do with it.
I drank a glass of water, calmed a little bit, flexed my neck (felt like my throat loosed/opened a little bit, like it was kinked; I'm not sure if it was kinked? That's kind of weird. I did have a football accident a year ago, which threw my head left, and I did have difficulty swallowing in that area of the throat for some time after. If it's actually causing the throat to narrow 'when kinked', that could explain the FEV1 and difficulty swallowing at times.) and now FEV1 is showing 103%. I wonder if a dry throat could actually cause a decreased FEV1? It just seems weird I've never seen a below normal FEV1 before.
Update: Jogged/Ran for 20 minutes. It's a bit faster than a jog, because I'm kicking around the soccer ball, which engages the 'chase instinct' which compels one to go just a little bit faster, but it wasn't quite a full sprint. I felt like taking it easy because my legs hurt from yesterday's exercise, and I already did a lot of physical work today. Anyway, I'm freaking tired. I find it interesting how the back seems to naturally realign during running (At least on grass). I could feel notable gaps between the vertebra beforehand (For like ever), but right after running, it seems like it's a pretty naturally well-aligned arch. Isn't 'alignment' what chiropractors charge bookoo bucks for? Who would've thought doing what nature had designed people to do would provide the same benefit for free. Anyway, the breathing today felt less shallow and not quite as fast as yesterday. I was also a bit calmer today, having not had experienced any /especially/ disturbing episodes this morning, lol. (Well, I only say it wasn't disturbing because I'm blaming acid reflux and it's possible to address acid reflux. But, the cardiac hypothesis isn't really off the table, especially since the last highly suspect cardiac episode happened at around the same time. And, I've actually measured my ECG during some of these nocturnal awakenings and it looked like STEMI/Left-branch-bundle-block. However, I didn't know how to use my ECG meter accurately at the time, so it's very possible I didn't measure it correctly; and if I did measure it incorrectly, which I probably did (Not really intuitive), then the correct one would've been perfectly normal. I've never seen an abnormal ECG during past 'episodes' /after/ I learned how to correctly use it. But, that was a month ago.)
I ran between 7:51-8:12, and my BP at 9:19 p.m. was 112/64 @66BPM.
EDIT: Woo, I'm energetic now! The first 'energy hit' came when I ate two tomatos (This clued me into 'iron deficiency'), and the second "You now have full energy" hit came when I ate 1.5 TBSP of thyme. I thought the fatigue was from the exercise, but I think the exercise is helping to deplete my iron! I believe muscles probably use whatever thyme has (iron, zinc) to build muscles, so I may need to supplement the 'iron sources' more than normal. (i.e., thyme, spinach, tomatos, etc.; plenty of Vitamin C and Iron in all 3.)
Edit: 10:12 p.m., started eating a banana and directly after the first bite (I had a thought, "I'm not exceptionally desiring this and I feel energetic enough; do I really need this?), I felt a fleeting sharp pain in my left shoulder and sensation in the left pinky/ring finger. I started feeling around the vertebra, and the left side of C8 (Bottom of C7), felt like it was pretty irritated and it seemed to trace a path to under the shoulder, exiting out the corner and going down to the pinky/fourth. I'm not sure if this is benign cervical nerve irritation, or if it's of cardiac origin. I'm not exactly sure how the heart transfers pain to the ulnar nerve, and if it goes through C8 or what.
Edit: 7:50 a.m., 9/6/2016; spacing out my dinner before sleep, took pepcid AC and acid neutralizing spinach did the trick. Went to bed at 1:00 a.m., woke at 4:30 after I felt a kick in my upper back and it felt like my neck was tugging on the right side of C8 (It was creating an etchy 'pulling' sensation in my right pinky/ring finger, that changed sensation as I rotated my neck. Had to 'click' my neck leftwards back into place to abate the sensation.). Tried getting back to sleep on my back, didn't seem like I could. As of now, this morning has been relatively uneventful. No notable problems with deep inhale. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'd prefer a /completely/ uneventful morning like most people's mornings and like my mornings not too long ago, but I'll take it.
Anyway, munching on the spinach, I was going to take my token amount but my body thought "Wow, you taste pretty good, I need you.", and so I kept eating it until it no longer tasted as good.
It is quite weird how these events seem to like happening sometime around 4-4:30 a.m.; Based on the uncanny timing of this event alone, it would make me suspect a cardiac origin, despite the seemingly obvious cervical nerve irritation going on. Going to bed last night, I had that characteristic... I'm not sure what it is exactly... sensation like my heart kept skipping or something? Seems like it tends to happen when I do a lot of physical work, as if I pushed the daily limit of my heart.
Just like sudden lower back pain, and pain radiating down the left tricep and ring/fourth finger (i.e., the cardiac path). I didn't WILL THAT EXPERIENCE INTO EXISTENCE, it suddenly HAPPENED and I recognized it.
I'm not willing any of these episodes into existence. Give me these namby pamby "I feel like I'm going to faint" anxiety symptoms and I will be freaking happy! That's REALLY EASY for me to solve - just stop being anxious, it improves. As soon as the cardiac symptom constellations are involved, it's no longer namby pamby anxiety in my book. It's very possible to be ill and to be anxious about being ill. In fact, it happens quite often if you can believe it!
I was so happy thinking I was really dealing with cervical nerve issues alone. Or Gerd. Or Gastritis. or Anxiety. or "Not enough sleep". Or something minor like that. But, those have not been adequate explanations, recently. While I still don't believe I had a stroke, strokes and heart disease go together, so at this point, I can't dismiss the possibility (Though, I still don't believe I had a stroke.).
It's very possible.
That laying down in my slightly u-shaped bed is pushing my head forward, inducing cardiac dysfunction. I don't really notice it, because I'm sleeping anyway (Doesn't take much cardiac output to sleep), but I sure notice it when I suffer a miniature stroke from a clot being thrown. Then events involving the cranial nerves (i.e., lips) happen. I've previously attributed such 'facial sensations' to the cervical spine, because that part of the spine seems to be irritated during almost every 'burning episode' in my face, but apparently much of the sensations in the 'skin'/surface of the face is rooted in the cranial nerves, which go directly to the brain. So... I'm not really sure. It's confusing. No single explanation seems to universally explain all the nocturnal/morning episodes. It seemed like the cervical spine explained like 95% of them, but it doesn't seem to adequately explain the most recent episodes given the obvious involvement of the heart. And, if the heart is /obviously/ involved in the most recent episodes, then it throws into question how much of the past episodes were really simply cervical. And, if the heart is involved - holy shit! I got bigger things to be concerned about than answering that question!
EDIT: Hmmm. Doing the spirometer. It doesn't look my numbers have changed BUT I did sound/feel unusually 'wheezy' on the exhale. I thought it was my imagination, so I started blowing without the spirometer, and it definitely sounds a bit wheezy on the last half of the exhale.
What could this be a sign of?
http://www.healthline.com/symptom/wheezing
Asthma is #1.
Congestive heart failure #5.
Pulmonary edema #6 (Heart failure symptom).
Heart failure #11.
Well, well, looks like the current suspect is on the list. This would seem to portend 'difficulty breathing while sleeping'. I don't want to believe it's so? Like, I do not think I deserve this. Never expected it. Wouldn't have suspected it in a million years. Like, unbelievable. I hope I'm incredibly wrong. Like wrong to the millionth power.
Well, actually, I redid it and realized I've always sounded like that blowing out. It's just the ending of my breath feels different. Like there's a 'hard limit' to the end of my breath, whereas, it always seemed I was able to squeeze out a few more air molecules if I tried hard enough. But, I don't know, maybe it's my imagination. Maybe it's always been like that and I'm only noticing it because I'm blowing quickly.
EDIT: 4:40 a.m., 9/5/2016 Well, this is a familiar trend. I went to bed at 1:30, woke at 3; went back to bed, woke at 4:30. The 4:30 awakening came with a heavy chest pressure 'heavy pain' sensation and it felt like left side numbness would've been imminent turning right. It seemed like this 'heavy pain' was palpable from the ribs; pain extending along both sides of the ribs, both 2nd and 3rd rib from the top. Breathing in to take a deep breath, it almost felt like I couldn't on the first breath (I had to force half a breath). The second and third inhale were fuller. Spirometer was unremarkable. I was shivering, though not 'really badly', beyond the temperature of my environment. Blood pressure was 142/84 63BPM shortly after awakening. It slowly declined afterwards(Now 120/68 57BPM at 5:09 a.m., my norm when awake). Possible acid reflux judging from the detectable acidity in my breath, might've been the two ripe bananas and sunflower seeds earlier before bed. Four bananas is definitely known to trigger some bad acid reflux about 2-4 hours later.
Typically blood pressure is supposed to decline during sleep, normally falls to 110/60 in my case. Waking up with this kind of blood pressure is a bit unusual. It would seem to have something to do with these choppy nights. I didn't really feel excess tiredness in my eyes going to bed like recent nights. I'm not sure what could be attributed to that, but maybe the sprints today. Maybe the doubled grain intake (Grains seem to be more reliable in ensuring adequate carb intake; it seems like the carb intake of fruit depends on their ripeness, and they aren't always ripe from the store.). Palpable irritation at C7/T1 and I could feel moments of burning pain going down my upper spine in certain positions.
Suspicion: Acid reflux is restricting the bronchioles, causing a reduction in air intake and possibly subsequent awakenings. The heightened blood pressure is likely a reflection of this reduced air intake. The cortisol underlying that blood pressure probably gave rise to the abnormal shivering. Recommendation: Don't eat within 3 hours before bed, eat a small amount of acid neutralizers before bed (i.e., Spinach.). But, it was a bit hard today, because I started feeling tremendously hungry at 1 a.m. following the sprints at 7:30 p.m.
Alternatively, I'm being awaken by cardiac events which causes insufficient blood flow and subsequent inhale capacity -> leads to awakenings, heightened cortisol(Detected via blood pressure) and 'sense of anxiety'(Brain not getting enough blood/oxygen? Starts getting anxious.)->shivering.
Anyway, so far, 5:29 a.m., this morning has been a bit unremarkable compared to previous nights/mornings. The explanation/intensity of this morning, so far, is quite mild compared to the most recent mornings.
Update: 9:49 a.m. 9/5/2016; ate a little spinach and went back for the 'core sleep' event. Woke a few minutes ago and blood pressure at awakening: 123/70 55BPM. Now that's a bit better than at 4:30 this morning. Breathing in at awakening felt a little 'resistant', but definitely not like the first deep inhale at 4:30 which felt like forcing half a breath. It's now 9:56, and nothing remarkable so far.
10:54 a.m. 9/5/2016; Just got done eating popcorn and cocoa/molasses drink - the cocoa seemed to calm the barely detectable anxiety I had. Anyway, new meal planning. Last meal by 9:30 p.m., should be light. I'm thinking about taking Pepcid AC before the last two meals. A small amount of spinach 30 minutes or less before bed time.
2:56 p.m. 9/5/2016; sanding the remaining side of the hood. Hypothetically, the sanding of the hood will be done today, but the quality of the left side seems like it could be improved. I'm not sure if it doesn't matter, though? I guess I can spray on some primer and see if it sticks. At the moment, I'm feeling exhausted. And not feeling hungry. Apparently increasing grain intake just offsets fruit demand. My eyes don't feel like they want to stay closed, so apparently not sleepy. Noticed my center of chest burning momentarily while working - wasn't sure the source. Apparently wasn't super noticeable. Seems likely it was my rib since center ribs are sore, from all the working involved. Could definitely feel C2 or C1 was sore from bending my head forward. The idea that C2 or C1 is pinching nerves is kind of worrying; those are the 'vital organ' vertebra. Hmmm, that would actually explain why tilting my head down/forward seems to induce symptoms of temporary heart failure (palpitations, fatigue, exercise intolerance). Might explain my exhaustion, though I've obviously been working a lot, lol. I think I can see why the kuna drink so much cocoa throughout the day; to combat work fatigue.
4:37 p.m. 9/5/2016; just got done with sanding the top of the hood. After I got done, I was wondering "Why do my eyes feel so tired?" (Tired eyes at night seem to correlate with cardiac events during the night/morning, so of course I suspect my 'heart is acting up', exactly what I don't want.), because they didn't want to stay closed when I closed them, indicating they weren't sleepy. I thought maybe I was hypoglycemic and I got done eating a banana, and it felt slightly improved, then I tilted my head back and WOW, I feel awake now! All tiredness in the eyes is gone. Yes, I was leaning forward quite a bit sanding the vehicle.
Okay, so my suspicion that tired eyes = pseudo-heart failure is confirmed. And apparently something in my neck is causing this pseudo-heart failure.
I feel like I'm starting to understand what being an old man with 'tired eyes' is really like now.
I always suspected "my back was affecting my heart" (Because certain sitting positions seemed to cause palpitations during certain activities.), but now I'm wise enough to know it's a cervical phenomena. And I'm assuming it's been getting a little more dangerous than palpitations in the past, probably aggravated by the neck strain.
Anyway, heart failure is dangerous because it sets you up for heart attacks. Which, I think I've suffered a few in the past few days. The severity of the damage obviously wasn't really bad, but any damage is not good!
Why does no one tell you your neck can put you at risk of heart attacks by inducing heart failure? If it's happening to me, clearly it must be more common than apparently the medical establishment thinks.
Wow, not only do I now feel like an energetic young person with energy, I feel like I can inhale no problems! I don't know the exact differences between this "young person" inhaling and "old person" inhaling, but it's noticeable. It feels like the 'old person' inhaling (pseudo-heart failure) takes more energy/effort and it feels tiring, and it just doesn't feel like you're really breathing in a full breath. (Even though my spirometer indicates my lung capacity is unchanged.)
EDIT: 5:47 p.m. This is weird. My eyes don't really feel tired and nothing feels particularly wrong, but my spirometer is showing a FEV1 of 71%, while everything else is normal (It consistently shows 71%). My FEV1 is normally 110%. My doctor told me that heart failure typically shows in FEV1, more than vital capacity. So, is my spirometer actually showing actual heart failure? FEV1 has never been below 100% in the past. I'll walk around, drink a glass of water and try not to panic. My throat feels dry so that might have something to do with it.
I drank a glass of water, calmed a little bit, flexed my neck (felt like my throat loosed/opened a little bit, like it was kinked; I'm not sure if it was kinked? That's kind of weird. I did have a football accident a year ago, which threw my head left, and I did have difficulty swallowing in that area of the throat for some time after. If it's actually causing the throat to narrow 'when kinked', that could explain the FEV1 and difficulty swallowing at times.) and now FEV1 is showing 103%. I wonder if a dry throat could actually cause a decreased FEV1? It just seems weird I've never seen a below normal FEV1 before.
Update: Jogged/Ran for 20 minutes. It's a bit faster than a jog, because I'm kicking around the soccer ball, which engages the 'chase instinct' which compels one to go just a little bit faster, but it wasn't quite a full sprint. I felt like taking it easy because my legs hurt from yesterday's exercise, and I already did a lot of physical work today. Anyway, I'm freaking tired. I find it interesting how the back seems to naturally realign during running (At least on grass). I could feel notable gaps between the vertebra beforehand (For like ever), but right after running, it seems like it's a pretty naturally well-aligned arch. Isn't 'alignment' what chiropractors charge bookoo bucks for? Who would've thought doing what nature had designed people to do would provide the same benefit for free. Anyway, the breathing today felt less shallow and not quite as fast as yesterday. I was also a bit calmer today, having not had experienced any /especially/ disturbing episodes this morning, lol. (Well, I only say it wasn't disturbing because I'm blaming acid reflux and it's possible to address acid reflux. But, the cardiac hypothesis isn't really off the table, especially since the last highly suspect cardiac episode happened at around the same time. And, I've actually measured my ECG during some of these nocturnal awakenings and it looked like STEMI/Left-branch-bundle-block. However, I didn't know how to use my ECG meter accurately at the time, so it's very possible I didn't measure it correctly; and if I did measure it incorrectly, which I probably did (Not really intuitive), then the correct one would've been perfectly normal. I've never seen an abnormal ECG during past 'episodes' /after/ I learned how to correctly use it. But, that was a month ago.)
I ran between 7:51-8:12, and my BP at 9:19 p.m. was 112/64 @66BPM.
EDIT: Woo, I'm energetic now! The first 'energy hit' came when I ate two tomatos (This clued me into 'iron deficiency'), and the second "You now have full energy" hit came when I ate 1.5 TBSP of thyme. I thought the fatigue was from the exercise, but I think the exercise is helping to deplete my iron! I believe muscles probably use whatever thyme has (iron, zinc) to build muscles, so I may need to supplement the 'iron sources' more than normal. (i.e., thyme, spinach, tomatos, etc.; plenty of Vitamin C and Iron in all 3.)
Edit: 10:12 p.m., started eating a banana and directly after the first bite (I had a thought, "I'm not exceptionally desiring this and I feel energetic enough; do I really need this?), I felt a fleeting sharp pain in my left shoulder and sensation in the left pinky/ring finger. I started feeling around the vertebra, and the left side of C8 (Bottom of C7), felt like it was pretty irritated and it seemed to trace a path to under the shoulder, exiting out the corner and going down to the pinky/fourth. I'm not sure if this is benign cervical nerve irritation, or if it's of cardiac origin. I'm not exactly sure how the heart transfers pain to the ulnar nerve, and if it goes through C8 or what.
Edit: 7:50 a.m., 9/6/2016; spacing out my dinner before sleep, took pepcid AC and acid neutralizing spinach did the trick. Went to bed at 1:00 a.m., woke at 4:30 after I felt a kick in my upper back and it felt like my neck was tugging on the right side of C8 (It was creating an etchy 'pulling' sensation in my right pinky/ring finger, that changed sensation as I rotated my neck. Had to 'click' my neck leftwards back into place to abate the sensation.). Tried getting back to sleep on my back, didn't seem like I could. As of now, this morning has been relatively uneventful. No notable problems with deep inhale. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'd prefer a /completely/ uneventful morning like most people's mornings and like my mornings not too long ago, but I'll take it.
Anyway, munching on the spinach, I was going to take my token amount but my body thought "Wow, you taste pretty good, I need you.", and so I kept eating it until it no longer tasted as good.
It is quite weird how these events seem to like happening sometime around 4-4:30 a.m.; Based on the uncanny timing of this event alone, it would make me suspect a cardiac origin, despite the seemingly obvious cervical nerve irritation going on. Going to bed last night, I had that characteristic... I'm not sure what it is exactly... sensation like my heart kept skipping or something? Seems like it tends to happen when I do a lot of physical work, as if I pushed the daily limit of my heart.
marty
10 MW
Dr Marty here.
Sad to say that Doctors really don't know much about how humans work. I explain - When my old Volvo is having a rough idle problem. I look in the service manual written by the people who built the Volvo. Hook up the code reader. [misfire cylinder 2] Car is parked in a garage with a tarp over it. Fixing it is on my list of things to do. Doctors are trying to figure out how to fix people without a service manual. God made people and we do not come with service manuals.
The stuff doctors do today is amazing compared to not so long ago. Swbluto, did you go to a real doctor?
Swbluto, did you go to a real doctor?
because this is a important question.
Trying to figure out medical problems by looking at the internet might work for some things but it your case, do the number of words you type, you are not figuring this out. I said it before and I will say it again.
Lets try a test.
Go here:
Diseases & Conditions A-Z Index
Start with A. If you have every disease, condition, and syndrome, then congratulations you have no medical problems and your problem is mental. Will explain mental illness as explained to me by a guy with SERIOUS mental illness. Most people run on 120V AC. Mental illness is like running on 12,000 volts.
Another important question - Swbluto, Do you have health insurance? Here is how I figured out Health Insurance in the USA.
Health Insurance in the USA
Every state is different. Good place to start is the internet. I hate looking at the internet on a phone. I like big screens. My eyes are fine. Small print seems to be getting smaller.
My thoughts on Doctors and insurance in the USA. Insurance pays doctors for tests and procedures. Doctors like to do tests to figure out what they already know. Do the fact that doctors don't know how people work, a lot of what they do is not all good. Before you agree to any dangerous tests or procedures, Get a second opinion. If you smoke cigarettes. STOP now. Nothing good about nicotine in any form. Suspect e-cigs are very bad for health.
Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm — see Aortic Aneurysm
Acanthamoeba Infection
ACE (Adverse Childhood Experiences)
Acinetobacter Infection
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) — see HIV/AIDS
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) — see HIV/AIDS
Adenovirus Infection
Adenovirus Vaccination
ADHD [Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder]
Adult Vaccinations
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE)
African Trypanosomiasis — see Sleeping Sickness
Agricultural Safety — see Farm Worker Injuries
AHF (Alkhurma hemorrhagic fever)
AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome)
AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome)
Alkhurma hemorrhagic fever (AHF)
ALS [Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis]
Alzheimer's Disease
Amebiasis, Intestinal [Entamoeba histolytica infection]
American Indian and Alaska Native Vaccination
American Trypanosomiasis — see Chagas Disease
Amphibians and Fish, Infections from — see Fish and Amphibians, Infections from
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis — see ALS
Anaplasmosis, Human
Ancylostoma duodenale Infection, Necator americanus Infection — see Human Hookworm
Angiostrongylus Infection
Animal-Related Diseases
Anisakiasis — see Anisakis Infection
Anisakis Infection [Anisakiasis]
Anthrax [Bacillus anthracis Infection]
Antibiotic and Antimicrobial Resistance
Antibiotic Use, Appropriate
see also Get Smart about Antibiotics Week
Aortic Aneurysm
Aortic Dissection — see Aortic Aneurysm
Arenavirus Infection
Arthritis
Childhood Arthritis
Fibromyalgia
Gout
Osteoarthritis (OA)
Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)
Ascariasis — see Ascaris Infection
Ascaris Infection [Ascariasis]
Aseptic Meningitis — see Viral Meningitis
Aspergillosis — see Aspergillus Infection
Aspergillus Infection [Aspergillosis]
Asthma
Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder — see ADHD
Autism
see also Genetics and Genomics
Avian Influenza
Sad to say that Doctors really don't know much about how humans work. I explain - When my old Volvo is having a rough idle problem. I look in the service manual written by the people who built the Volvo. Hook up the code reader. [misfire cylinder 2] Car is parked in a garage with a tarp over it. Fixing it is on my list of things to do. Doctors are trying to figure out how to fix people without a service manual. God made people and we do not come with service manuals.
The stuff doctors do today is amazing compared to not so long ago. Swbluto, did you go to a real doctor?
Swbluto, did you go to a real doctor?
because this is a important question.
Trying to figure out medical problems by looking at the internet might work for some things but it your case, do the number of words you type, you are not figuring this out. I said it before and I will say it again.
Lets try a test.
Go here:
Diseases & Conditions A-Z Index
Start with A. If you have every disease, condition, and syndrome, then congratulations you have no medical problems and your problem is mental. Will explain mental illness as explained to me by a guy with SERIOUS mental illness. Most people run on 120V AC. Mental illness is like running on 12,000 volts.
Another important question - Swbluto, Do you have health insurance? Here is how I figured out Health Insurance in the USA.
Health Insurance in the USA
Every state is different. Good place to start is the internet. I hate looking at the internet on a phone. I like big screens. My eyes are fine. Small print seems to be getting smaller.
My thoughts on Doctors and insurance in the USA. Insurance pays doctors for tests and procedures. Doctors like to do tests to figure out what they already know. Do the fact that doctors don't know how people work, a lot of what they do is not all good. Before you agree to any dangerous tests or procedures, Get a second opinion. If you smoke cigarettes. STOP now. Nothing good about nicotine in any form. Suspect e-cigs are very bad for health.
Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm — see Aortic Aneurysm
Acanthamoeba Infection
ACE (Adverse Childhood Experiences)
Acinetobacter Infection
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) — see HIV/AIDS
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) — see HIV/AIDS
Adenovirus Infection
Adenovirus Vaccination
ADHD [Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder]
Adult Vaccinations
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE)
African Trypanosomiasis — see Sleeping Sickness
Agricultural Safety — see Farm Worker Injuries
AHF (Alkhurma hemorrhagic fever)
AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome)
AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome)
Alkhurma hemorrhagic fever (AHF)
ALS [Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis]
Alzheimer's Disease
Amebiasis, Intestinal [Entamoeba histolytica infection]
American Indian and Alaska Native Vaccination
American Trypanosomiasis — see Chagas Disease
Amphibians and Fish, Infections from — see Fish and Amphibians, Infections from
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis — see ALS
Anaplasmosis, Human
Ancylostoma duodenale Infection, Necator americanus Infection — see Human Hookworm
Angiostrongylus Infection
Animal-Related Diseases
Anisakiasis — see Anisakis Infection
Anisakis Infection [Anisakiasis]
Anthrax [Bacillus anthracis Infection]
Antibiotic and Antimicrobial Resistance
Antibiotic Use, Appropriate
see also Get Smart about Antibiotics Week
Aortic Aneurysm
Aortic Dissection — see Aortic Aneurysm
Arenavirus Infection
Arthritis
Childhood Arthritis
Fibromyalgia
Gout
Osteoarthritis (OA)
Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)
Ascariasis — see Ascaris Infection
Ascaris Infection [Ascariasis]
Aseptic Meningitis — see Viral Meningitis
Aspergillosis — see Aspergillus Infection
Aspergillus Infection [Aspergillosis]
Asthma
Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder — see ADHD
Autism
see also Genetics and Genomics
Avian Influenza
Dauntless
100 TW
Dang, so I spent the weekend sick when I needed to get ready for the week ahead. Maybe I'd be better off if it WAS fatal. But this woman got me to go ahead and eat this hamburger that was too spicy for me, too late when I figured out the problem was JALAPENO, literally I'm allergic.
So you ever here about the first year of medical school so many of the students come down with deadly diseases? Or at least they THINK they do. They read about it, they have it. Maybe you were meant to be a doctor. There's a very important link on this page you need to find and read. You'll find it toward the end.
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/when-medical-school-students-become-crazed-hypochondriacs
Or since you don't want to go to a doctor, who can be expected to find SOMETHING to sell you pills for, how about a disease sniffing dog? I had no luck finding a link on it, but they do teach them to sniff out people who have certain problems. If there's a dog available for what you've picked out, it can give you a clean bill of health.
So compare that to the smut mutt, a real live porn sniffing dog.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/05/us/police-dog-sniffs-out-flash-drives-in-porn-cases/index.html
So you ever here about the first year of medical school so many of the students come down with deadly diseases? Or at least they THINK they do. They read about it, they have it. Maybe you were meant to be a doctor. There's a very important link on this page you need to find and read. You'll find it toward the end.
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/when-medical-school-students-become-crazed-hypochondriacs
Or since you don't want to go to a doctor, who can be expected to find SOMETHING to sell you pills for, how about a disease sniffing dog? I had no luck finding a link on it, but they do teach them to sniff out people who have certain problems. If there's a dog available for what you've picked out, it can give you a clean bill of health.
So compare that to the smut mutt, a real live porn sniffing dog.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/05/us/police-dog-sniffs-out-flash-drives-in-porn-cases/index.html
Okay, the surveyor is working on the property and is having difficulty finding at least two of the property corners. Has to get the larger plat map from the courthouse in an effort to find them. So, it's taking a bit longer than expected to finish this.
EDIT:
Okay, woke up from a 3 hour nap (The nap was induced by drinking cocoa and taking a hot bath; it's questionable whether it would've happened if I didn't take a hot bath.) feeling like I was waking up from a debt of a million naps - Haven't taken a blood thinner in 2 days. I feel fine at the moment (1:18 p.m.). Blood pressure looks normal (114/62 @57BPM). Spirometer values are above average except for FEV1, which seems to vary between 50% and 71%. I've kinked my head, stretched my neck in all directions, drank water, cleared my throat, walked around, and it doesn't seem like this number is budging.
That could be concerning.
I just drank a lot more water and it definitely feels like something is obstructing the flow of water down. It feels like the obstruction is on the left side somewhere near the back of my throat.
Hmmm... I turned my head 'very left' and it felt like something in my throat 'released', and now FEV1 is back upto 103%. That's curious.
I tried reproducing the phenomena by turning my head 'very right', 'very forward' and 'very down, right' and an FEV1 of 103% is sticking.
I believe FEV1 has historically been around 108%, so this value of 103% could be signaling a decline.
I'm very curious as to what's causing this phenomena that I started noticing yesterday. I've never seen it before, and I've used my spirometer many times before, so there's been plenty of opportunity to 'catch it' if it's been some long-standing issue. If it's a new issue of sorts, what is that 'new issue' exactly? Seems a bit weird it's coming on the heels of 2-3 morning episodes with highly suspected/undeniable heart involvement and a day with a very discomforting "I feel like I'm going collapse/KO" sensation. I think when I catch myself with 'tired old man eyes' next time, I'll check my spirometer; I'm suspecting it might be linked to the heart/lungs and might not be an actual throat obstruction.
What the heck? I first noticed a value of 50%, then the next breath was a value of 3%. I'm like what? That doesn't make sense. I don't feel like I'm keeling over, lol. So I just did a normal breath in/out instead of this 3-inhale-cycle and FEV1 was consistently back upto 103% and 105%.
What's going on? I think my spirometer is working, so that would indicate there's something going on with me. But what?
Hot diggety dogs. I figured it out.
Just like blowing my nose and bending my head down seemed to induce cardiac dysfunction, it appears when I do the traditional 'lean-over, take a deep breath in while reaching back up towards the sky, then blow out while bending over' my FEV1 goes down to those abnormally low values, but if I keep my neck straight, I consistently get 103%-105% with the same 3-inhale cycle. Just seems weird I didn't notice abnormally low FEV1 values until yesterday. It's just like yesterday, I discovered I'm able do things that I've otherwise unhappily avoided if I keep my neck straight.
Now the question is what is being affected while bending my head down? Is it my lungs? Airway? Heart? And why is this suddenly a new phenomena?
I have been doing sprints since the day before yesterday (And, I've been sanding my truck since the day before yesterday, too). It's very possible those activities have been loosening up my neck, making that kind of phenomena possible through increased compression of a relevant nerve and/or spinal cord somewhere along the neck or maybe even upper back.
EDIT: 3:52, interestingly, since keeping my head in the upward position, I can't seem to repeat immediately repeat this phenomena (Bend head down -> Abnormally low FEV). I'm suspecting that sitting my chair and laying in my bed 'sets me up', which makes me vulnerable to this affect. Interestingly, on the measurement I was getting 3%, there was a quickly crescendoing burning sensation in my chest that's been associated with sudden pressure in my head as I dipped my head down, but it got cut off early as I quickly rose back up, so it wasn't as severe as past "look down -> burning chest sensation intense head pressure" episodes. It does however, suggest, that past episodes of this type were legitimate "Heart temporarily practically stopped functioning" cause, not something benign like 'panic'. Because if the cause were panic, then (bending my head down->severely reduced FEV1) rule would also have a 'panic' cause, which it obviously did not. Slightly bending my head down for testing wasn't causing me to 'mildly panic', lol (I didn't feel any anxiety; I was just curious. If I were anxious, my anxiety would've persisted into the cases where my neck was straight up, because anxiety doesn't just stop on the turn of a dime.). And 'mild anxiety' definitely wouldn't affect FEV1 that consistently and dramatically!
UPDATE: Now 6:54 p.m.; Okay, so I've confirmed that c5/c6, c6/c7 and c7/T1 periodically pinch nerves, especially when my neck is in certain positions. Are those the only vertebra that are pinching? The fact that entire range seems to be pinching nerves, suggests it might be pinching nerves higher up the neck.
What do the other ones do?
http://www.spine-health.com/conditions/spine-anatomy/cervical-nerves
Pinching of this nerve could understandably lead to a weakened diaphragm muscle which could understandably weaken the ability of the lungs to exhale, thus individually lowering FEV1(It measures the amount of air pushed out in the first second).
According to wikipedia:
Also, interestingly, https://neckandback.com/conditions/symptoms-of-cervical-nerve-injuries/
What about C3?
What about C3 and higher?
http://www.spine-health.com/conditions/spine-anatomy/cervical-nerves
https://neckandback.com/conditions/symptoms-of-cervical-nerve-injuries/
Interesting, I don't remember having these sensations on a regular basis so it seems likely I don't have C1, C2 pinched nerves. C3-C4, maybe/probably. Seems aggravated by sitting in my computer chair.
This still doesn't seem to quite explain the distinct heart events in the past few mornings. I can definitely tell the difference between 'rib sensations' and 'cardiac sensations', and those definitely involved the heart. "feeling tired" and "tired old man eyes", as obviously affected by my neck (Instantly cured by throwing back my neck), can't be merely a diaphragm issue. However, I suppose a weakened diaphragm might be able to tire you out and cause unusual lightheadedness when blowing your nose. I'm not sure what the explanation could be, though. Reduced cardiac output seems to have a more obvious explanation for all the above, especially since "tired old man eyes" when going to bed seems to be associated with cardiac events at night/morning. But, I'm open to a diaphragm explanation if I could come up with one... I'm trying to find one out...
Interesting.
http://pulmccm.org/main/2012/review-articles/diaphragmatic-dysfunction-and-respiratory-illness-review-nejm/
"Getting winded" when blowing my nose when bending neck down, probably means the same thing as dypsnea. And, coincidentally, I have noticed something kind of stiff in the left side of the top of my abdomen (Right below the left rib) at times, seemed to come and go when I pressed on my spine. It's very possible I was triggering the diaphragm from C4, since irritation of c5/c6/c7 was happening at the same time (First four fingers left hand).
This website doesn't make mention of FEV1, instead makes it sound like FVC should be affected. The thing is, when I'm breathing in, C4 isn't pinched when standing straight up, only potentially when bending over, so it wouldn't be expected to affect the FVC during my spirometer tests (However... well, actually, I do remember a slightly diminished FVC when bending my neck over; 5 L vs my normal 6.6 L). It doesn't make mention of FEV1, but it seems intuitive to me that a 'weakened diaphragm muscle' would mean less air is getting pushed out in the first second. It just seems weird that FEV1 would go down to 3% if only one diaphragm membrane was being affected, and I'm not sure how the diaphragm could cause the 'head pressure' sensation following the chest burning. And, I don't see how the diaphragm could explain the distinct cardiac episodes in recent days.
Hmmmm... I'm thinking of it, again, and FEV1 was between 50% to 71%. If the left diapgrahm was completely weakened (paralyzed), I would expect a FEV1 of around 50% at a minimum. I don't remember ever seeing a lower value than that, other than the one time when it was 3%. I should check for left upper abs stiffness that next time I notice this phenomena. If the upper left abs has a noticeable protuberance when looking down, then I have my explanation.
UPDATE: 2:37 A.M. Woke up feeling some great anxiety. Spirometer looked normal. Took 2 aspirin. Anxiety persisted. Ate a bunch of spinach and then measured BP right after. 117/65 @49BPM. Perhaps I'm hypoglycemic? Ate a banana and macaron. Didn't taste as great as hypoglycemia would've made it taste, so likely not hypo. Turned head to the very left, felt significantly better. Turned head right, wow, that was a tremendous pop/click in my neck. What comes next? Hopefully not much...
BP @2:48 112/64 @ 53 BPM. Based on the HR, appears blood-sugar is improving. Midback still feels pained. Some anxiety still present. Vertebra in midback appears responsible for the anxiety; pushing on it improves it. The notable issue with this vertebra is that there's a notable gap between it and the one above it. It seems very likely this was the part of the midback involved in the recumbent bike accident some 5 years ago. Then again, it seems like it probably 'shaped itself' to match the scoliotic sitting posture I had used in my early 20s, since the gap seems to noticeably diminish when assuming the posture. I should mention this at PT, since this little bugger was burning a little during the last run.
UPDATE: 4:28 a.m.; well, apparently not sleeping anyway. I was laying in bed and a crescendoing sense of something severe was happening about 8 minutes ago, neck was burning and I could feel a tingling sensation in my left inner arm and left inner leg. My heart beat was also accelerating as this was happening; I turned over to assume the therapy position, and my heart rate went back to normal and the 'crescendoing sense' of whatever disappeared. However, the tingling remains. What is with these 4:10-4:30 a.m. 'attacks' that happen with such regularity? I've disconnected the clock in my room about 3 days ago so that I personally have no idea what time it is, but that doesn't seem to stop these frockers happening on the hour.
UPDATE: 10:56 a.m., 9/7/2016 ; seemed like I went to sleep sometime around 5. I was laying on my left side, and I kept this sense the muscles on both side of my back would contract on cue when I was thinking certain thoughts. Seemed like my neck had something to do with it, but don't know. A bit discomforting, I laid on my back and those episodes seemed to largely go away. However, episodes of some bad mid-back-pain/nipple-rib-pain that apparently woke me up sure didn't, seemed like it was striking sometime around 10:00 a.m.
BP @ 11:05 - 115/62 @56BPM. Spirometer results were unremarkable; couldn't repeat the severe FEV1 reduction by merely bending my head, upper back down right after waking. I also didn't do sprints yesterday nor did "serious forward bending" work on the truck.
UPDATE: 12:44 p.m, 9/7/2016 - 121/62 @ 74 BPM - ate breakfast about an hour ago. 50 grams of carbs from popcorn, 30 grams of carbs from coconut drinks and 20 grams from a ripe banana; my body obviously liked the coconut drinks in a way it doesn't normally, so I had two. 2 TBSP of olive oil and around 600mg of sodium. Heightened blood glucose is showing in the heart rate. Feeling a bit fatigued, but not sleepy. A 'midback attack' corresponding with rib pressure was starting right before my bath. I weighed 162.2 pounds, I'm trying to increase weight but I don't think the sprints are helping, lol. It also seems like I can only eat so much in a day before my body refuses.
UPDATE: 10:58 p.m., 9/7/2016 - 107/62 @ 68 BPM @ 10:15 - Went for some intense running - was aiming for 30 minutes, but was worn out by 20, lol. I was feeling a bit 'uncomfortable' earlier, but I ate a bunch of spinach and then the main meal, and that seemed to keep the discomfort away. I started running about @ 8:51, ended at 9:14 - I'm not sure if the run did me much good because I was feeling way more uncomfortable in the hour after the run than before it, lol. I'm not sure if it 'messed up'/irritated my spine or just increased anxiety generally or some such - I did notice my HR was staying at 108 BPM for upto 25 minutes after the run. It was down to 96 at the 30 minute mark. And then 68 by the hour mark. It staying elevated that much that long seemed a bit unusual, but I'm guessing maybe it has something to do with the 'high intensity' nature of it, so I'm going to do a 30 minute jog tomorrow and check out the recovery heart rate, see if it is more in line with expectations. If I seriously can't do a 30 minute jog /with ease/ like I used to do in the Navy just a year ago, holy crap, I think I have some real problems that I'm not just imagining! I remember that shit being easy. And, I'm pretty sure the heart rate was below 80 within 10 minutes post-workout. I don't think I'm 'out of fitness' because I was doing interval training on the bike just a month ago or so, and I've been walking miles in the meantime.
Anyway, I might do the test earlier rather than later. It seems my doctor has been... kind of unhelpful. He dismissed these 4 a.m. episodes as 'panic attacks', but these aren't panic attacks. Panic attacks are me with a racing heart and feeling of doom/urgency. These are actual episodes involving simultaneous sudden muscle-flaccidness/burning/aching and a 'disturbed' heart, not merely a racing one. It comes with no real sense of 'anxiety' during the episodes, unlike the panic attacks of old. The anxiety only tends to come after the episode stops, if I just realized it was something possibly serious. He just tells me to go to the emergency room if something traumatic happens. Yeah, except, those 'traumatic' things tend to happen at 4 in the morning, and if I go to the ER, I miss out on a day of sleep (Can't just 'make it up'), and missing a day of sleep just seems to make me even more vulnerable to more traumatic events.
UPDATE: Felt a kind of burning ache in my 'pasternal area' while typing that, had me mildly concerned. I took my heart-rate standing up, it was 66. Huh - A depressed standing heart rate that's practically the same as the resting heart rate seems to normally signify something concerning is going on. So, I went to check my meter, it reported EE during the measure. No. Immediately retook, 121/62. Waited 3 minutes, pumped the arm. 116/58. 121/62 or close to it is believable. Must've been benign 'rib pain'. I would think an actual cardiac event would've had a longer lasting affect on BP.
UPDATE: 12:12 a.m. - 102/57 @ 62 BPM; one of the theories I have is that the curvature at T1/T2/T3 might be pinching nerves while in bed, because I noticed while driving today that pulling my back upwards/back produced a really good stretching sensation in those vertebra. It's possible that sleeping in bed is causing the sympathetic nerves to fire, for whatever reason, causing the heart to speed up. The fact I was able to head off the most recent episode (Tingling left four fingers, tingling left inner thigh [btw, those were areas whose muscles went flaccid one night.], increasing burning sensation in base of neck, increasing heart rate) and return the heart-rate almost immediately back to normal by assuming the therapy position, which straightened out the upperback/neck, definitely suggests this. It's just really weird how it consistently seems to happen at around 4:20 a.m. lately; I wouldn't normally think that 'pinched nerves' follow some kind of circadian rhythm. And, i'm at loss trying to figure out a nerve mapping from the vertebra to the bottom lips (Burning lips episode). Doesn't seem like the bottom lips has ever been triggered except for that one time. I know that the heart apparently maps to the bottom lips somehow, so I suppose that the vertebra->sympathetic-nerves->heart->bottom lips is a plausible pathway, but the question is if the heart's activity that one night was benign. I don't remember feeling chest pain or anything particularly suggestive of traditional 'heart attack' symptoms (Other than the bottom lips burning and the fact the beating felt 'subdued/menaced'), so it seems probable it was benign. But, I don't really know... that episode also happened suddenly (didn't noticeably gradually crescendo), and assuming the therapy position didn't 'halt it in its tracks', it persisted for a minute or two.
Anyway, that's a really low systolic BP - that's the lowest I've ever seen it. I also noticed that I haven't seen a >126 systolic recently. It's like my systolic has uniformly downshifted over the last couple of days. That has me somewhat concerned, since a declining systolic is a hallmark of heart damage. But, it might also be due to the high intensity interval training I just started like 3 days ago and the fact I'm tired and just thought of that reassuring hypothesis. Still, I've never seen it that low, before, even during past interval trainings. The lowest past interval trainings would produce is like 111/60. I've also heard that 'too low' of a systolic is associated with various undesireable phenomena, like dizziness/syncope/etc. But, I'm able to immediately stand up without the obvious affects of orthostatic hypotension and haven't experienced dizziness/syncope, so I can probably assume it's benign. Unless I do have some minor heart damage that's not quite severe enough to cause dizzines/syncope.
Update: Went to bed at 1:10 a.m., woke at 2:43 to myself in the middle of a snore (choking on a snore / woken up by the 'snore' seems more accurate)? Turned over into therapy position (Made a decision to always do that, no matter what), checked pulse, and it seemed like it was rapidly slowing down from 200 BPM, and the pulse was pretty weak. What was going on here?
Update: 8:58 a.m. 9/8/2016 - 115/72 @ 49 BPM - just woke up. Feel a little tired. I woke up about 2 hours earlier finding myself using a pillow and my entire left arm and hand was numb. I could've assumed the worst, but with yesterday's hypothesis (And the fact there was no other obvious simultaneous symptoms), I figured the pillow usage was likely pinching all the left side of the nerves from C5-T1 (And possibly even C5-T3 considering the entire arm was asleep), so I assumed the therapy position and the numbness instantly started to fade away in that characteristic "pinching a nerve, now restoring sensation" kind of way. The prickly stage right in the middle, gets me every time, lol.
Update: 9:26 a.m. 9/8/2016 - 128/68 @ 50 BPM - ate 10 dried figs and drank 2 glasses of water about 15 minutes ago. Fatigue has disappeared, still feel sleepy. Feeling some significant chest 'semipasternal' soreness at random, lasts less than 10 seconds. Suspect rib phenomena (ribs palpably exceptionally sore at the location of this pain).
Update: 11:04 a.m. 116/64 54 BPM - Took an hour nap. Could tell that I woke during the middle of a sleep cycle, as its continuation as I fell asleep was obvious. I suspect sleeping with the pillow, throwing my neck/head forward, made my left arm fall asleep and might've disrupted my sleep to some extent. The fact my heart rate is consistently up from 50BPM(Feels like 57 BPM) is telling me I'm close to satisfying the 'sleep demands'. (Sleepiness, as in the natural sleep cycle variety, typically depresses heart rate by 10 BPM I've noticed).
Update: 12:29 9/8/2016 - definitely feeling like I didn't get enough sleep, though not sleepy. Eyes have that characteristic dry/slightly-burning sensation and my physiological responses to stress seems a bit more dramatic than normal (My threshold for it seems lowered.). I'm blaming the pillow, lol.
Update: Hmmm... http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=122813431 ... livestrong is telling me that this could be due to poor circulation. This guy has low BP and has this problem consistently. My blood pressure last night was unusually low, so I suppose 'poor circulation' could be the reason. I was assuming nerve entrapment due to the pillow, but numbness in the entire arm would need pinched nerves all the way down to T2/T3. My left arm didn't feel notably cold, however, so I assumed it was a nerve phenomena instead of a circulatory phenomena. And, cervical/upper-thoracic nerve explanations have had a lot of explanatory power recently. But, it does seem a bit unusual it was preceded by exceptionally low systolic blood pressure the night before. I wouldn't think 'exceptional vasodilation' causes of low BP (My theory at the time, due to intense exercise, spinach and good mood.) would cause poor circulation, lol. And, no, I wasn't sleeping on my arm. Based on the lack of soreness in my leg muscles today, my extra rice consumption last night was probably appropriate (For muscle repair).
BP at 2:30 P.M. : 116/58 , 54 BPM.
Update: 3:41 P.M. 6.6L for vital capacity. Was feeling more 'restricted'/'stressed'/'tired' this morning, and VC was 5.5L. It's weird how it seems to jump around this much, since my level of 'effort' presumably isn't different. It seems like it's less when I'm stressed, so that could possibly account for that somehow. I'm just really curious how... is it something to do with the lungs? The heart? The digestive tract? The fact it can turn on a dime suggests it's not the digestive tract. That leaves the heart and the lungs. I'm not sure how the lungs would act constricted under stress? And, if it was the heart, I'm not exactly sure how the heart would limit the capacity of the lungs? I guess I could include the diaphragm in there. Perhaps stress affects the diaphragm somehow? I've long assumed that this variance that I've seen from day to day is 'normal', not a sign of underlying health problems, as it didn't seem like I had any health problems two months ago. But, I'm becoming a little bit more suspicious since the difference feels more noticeable, now. And, these 10 second 'heart attack' presages that have been happening since yesterday are a little disturbing. I want to think it's my so called anxiety-inspired 'imagination', but in combination with the extremely low systolic yesterday night, the entire left arm numbness this morning and the fact my heart rate took an exceptionally long time to recover warrants further investigation. Just ate lunch 15 minutes ago, tomato rice garlic olive oil with spinach.
Anyway, got to go pick up some paint. Some primer and some silver.
3:59 P.M. BP - 118/60 @ 64 BPM
Update: 4:33 p.m.; hmmm, interesting difference between this morning and this afternoon. My heart rate was low this morning suggesting I was low in the blood sugar department (indeed, haven't eaten since yesterday night), but the consumption of anything with carbs was met with resistance. Normally delicious things didn't taste good at all. At the same time, I was feeling "under the weather", getting various abnormal sensations (stress 'chill' episodes and short of breath for a second), and I noticed my vital capacity was 5.5L and wasn't budging. After I ate the spinach and the meal, suddenly my mood noticeably improved and my vital capacity jumped to 6.6L. Not only that, but ordinarily delicious things tasted exceptionally deliciously, suggesting I was low in the blood sugar like I previously thought. I'm making wild speculation here, but I'm starting to think that the spinach might've expanded my blood vessels, which /somehow/ caused a significant increase in vital capacity and my body suddenly found that its low blood sugar needed to be satisfied, and carby things were exceptionally delicious. It's pure speculation, but if I'm on the mark, then I wonder about that /somehow/ part. Perhaps it's as benign as relieving (or the affects of) 'anxiety'/'stress', but perhaps it's not.
Update: 5:57 p.m.; 115/58 64BPM - Went for a 2 mile walk and pIcked up the paint and primer. Kept noticing that 'O' in my vision while taking my blood pressure. I'm starting think it stands for oxygen, like, 'lack of oxygen due to sleep apnea', like when I sleep on my back. My ribs in the pasternal area keep paining during key moments and at random, why does it have to be /those/ ribs? lol. I'm sure for most people without 'cardiac anxieties', it'd be a non-concern, but sometimes I wonder, especially the more severe ones during 'key moments'.
Update: 7:21 p.m.; Went for a 20 minute jog through grassy, slightly hilly terrain. Average heart rate was 173, peak was 179. Resting heart rate 1 minute after the stop of the activity (7:18 finish time) was 130. Standing heart rate prior to exercise was 80, resting was 64 (after I ate an apple, banana and grape tomatos), Standing heart rate pretty easily shot upto 120 on a very common mild adrenaline surge, indicating lack of quality sleep. Now I need to capture my resting heart rate at the 30 minute mark (7:48) and compare to guidelines. Btw, jogging the entire thing was pretty easy, about as easy as I remember it was a year ago.
Resting at 7:28 - 100 BPM
Resting at 7:38 - 84 BPM
Resting at 7:48 - 82 BPM
http://www.livestrong.com/article/406811-heart-rate-still-over-100-30-minutes-after-running/
Difference of 39 BPM, no problem.
Uhuh, okay.
Okay, little issues here.
I also noticed I regularly exceeded the max target heart rate of 162 BPM (85% of max HR) pretty regularly, so I suppose my results might be a little invalid. And an apparent lack of quality sleep is another possible issue. No notable issues with breathing while running at 170 BPM. In fact, I would say my breathing was rather light (definitely easy).
8:07 p.m. BP - 115/68 @ 64 BPM. Mid to lower back definitely feels sore, some detectable irritation all along the spine.
9:07 p.m. BP - 107/58 @ 64 BPM. While walking, I noticed a particular spot in my mid-back getting especially irritated and a feeling like an elephant was threatening to sit on my chest. I then burped several times, which seemed like it probably relieved the sensation (Can't tell, wasn't an obvious connection). Seems like the fingers in my left hand seems to be randomly flirting with numbness like this morning. I confirmed 64 BPM like my BP meter suggests. After experiencing that "Feels like an elephant was threatening to sit on my chest", I now know that the feeling of an elephant sitting on your chest is an unmistakable one. Like, no questions about it, lol. Btw, I'm trying to ensure I am in good health before I move to a place 50 miles away from the nearest hospital, that's partially why I'm doing this. The other reason was because the two-three cardiac episodes in the past week were unmistakable, though I don't know they were benign or serious.
9:34 p.m. BP - 116/64 @ 58 BPM. Well, I'm feeling a bit more alive than just 30 minutes ago. I apparently was pretty thirsty, drank a bunch of water. I suspect I'm seeing a connection between 'low blood pressure' (systolic<110) and tiredness, and possible cardiac phenomena. If the low blood pressure was due to diet/exercise, I wouldn't expect it to be so transient and so highly related to tiredness (Which is just as transient). Now the real question is if it has cardiac causes. It seems more than plausible that it could (Cardiac output decreases -> tiredness and lowered BP. Of course, there could be some /relatively/ benign causes behind lowered cardiac output. But, there are definitely possibly not-so-benign ones. The kind of negative emotions that historically could affect cardiac output and induce tiredness seemed like they universally increased BP - that's what cortisol does - it increases BP. I've never seen significantly decreased BP as a response.), but the question is if it does in my case. That's the question. I mean, the "I'm too young for serious heart issues" side of me says most likely not. But, the careful side taking into consideration recent happenings does not.
Dehydration could cause tiredness and a lowered BP, but I definitely don't think I was dehydrated last night and it doesn't seem like hydration made me 'feel alive' again. I was feeling 'more alive' before I fetched the water.
Update: BP 113/60 @ 58 BPM - Thinking this through has brought my mood down a little bit. It seems like the 9:07 p.m. measurement had a distinct emotional trigger - I was complaining about the lack of appropriate comprehensive controlling variables in research studies on the link between egg consumption and diabetes, so I was frustrated there wasn't any research papers that I considered 'good' and supported my reasoned position on eggs. So, I started to realize that my emotions seem to be affecting these hypotensive episodes, in a way that's been completely opposite historically, and they seem to come with cardiac phenomena this time. I know the prescription is 'keep yourself chipper', and while that's sound advice, I don't think it's very likely one can maintain it permanently from here on out. So, yep, if my suspicions are correct... (And, I hope to god they aren't)... well... hmmm... this might end up in a way I didn't like sooner rather than later. Like /much/ later as I've been expecting ever since I was like 3.
Yes, I just hope this is completely OCD theorizing and I'm assuming the absolute worst, which is far from reality, and things won't be nearly as bad as I've been reasoning/assuming them to be.
The one time in the nuke school parking lot where a little voice told me "Don't walk through that parking lot, something really bad will happen." and I brushed it off as completely OCD thinking, and so I ignored it, and then someone came by with their boom box and about 3 seconds after they passed by me, I experienced some significant chest pain that I took some aspirin for and sat in my car. The chest pain went away in like 30 seconds. Of course, one part of me was like "I should've listened to that little voice! It WAS RIGHT!", but the other part of me was like, "Hey, dude, that's just the OCD talking, and that chest pain was just a little panic attack kind of chest pain you've read about online. You were obviously very tense walking through that parking lot. No biggie.".
Hmmm... it's one of those kind of things where I'm not sure if I ever really learned the moral to that situation, lol. (The moral being, "Always heed the warnings the little voice tells you, you'll be sorry if you don't", lol. Or, really, "You really do have OCD/panic problems, don't ya?", lol.)
Anyway, it does a seem a little unusual that the little voice could predict something along those lines, when I obviously couldn't predict it. It's not like blaring boomboxes were a common occurrence at the school; it wasn't especially known as a place for the gangsters and wangsters. And, "listen to the little voice inside your head" is common wisdom. So... hmm...
10:56 p.m. - 117/61 @ 59BPM
11:38 p.m. - Feeling fine at the moment (Feeling less fine with this firefox window which keeps freezing, lol.). Anyway, the left arm going numb this morning was concerning because the last time that happened was the morning after the first night I slept at bootcamp. I wish I was being dramatic and my experience was really the same as everyone elses, but I don't think so - /my experience/ was especially traumatic the first day. I don't want to go into the details, but... I made a few mistakes more than others, got out of line because I needed something I was missing to do the directions right, got /especially/ yelled at for that, after seeing the 'gun needle' where they needed to inject a TB protein into you, something in me snapped and I thought "Okay, this is my last chance. Will I get out of here before they inject full of this toxic poisons? Obviously, life in the civilian world would be much better for me if only I super duper applied myself and never gave up.", and, I tried. Yes, they chased me as I just got up and walked out the door, they chased me good and yes, they were in full on "Yell louder!" mode and I was backed into a corner and I was readying for some frocking kungfu, lol. Worst I thought if that they would kick me out immediately for punching one of the staff, lol. Anyway, at that point, he immediately starting talking like a regular human being, trying to keep reassuring me he wasn't going to harm me or touch me, and I went to see the CO and he tried to keep me in. He reassured me the 'real navy' wasn't anything like bootcamp, and I thought, "That might be true for most, but I bet it won't for me! Get me out!", but I gave in because the climate of South Carolina sounded like paradise compared to my hometown's climate (Think Alberta, Canada), and getting paid to learn about nuclear science sounded pretty awesome. Two things I liked: Atomic science and money. So, I got done with that, and saw my CO and he firmly told me "he hated my guts" in not so subtle words. Yes, so, that was a particularly traumatic experience for me, and the next morning, my left arm was numb and it wasn't numb because I was sleeping on it. I assumed it was numb because my heart just couldn't take it, and I was laying in bed thinking I was going to die in bootcamp. Yes, that is the /last/ time I woke with a numb left arm about 1.5 years ago. And, before that, probably long before that... (Although, I do remember many times in the past sleeping on my arm and it would go numb. But, this morning, I was definitely not sleeping on my arm; I was sleeping on my back. And the BP reading was unusually low and I was pretty tired that night. And, I don't think I was sleeping on my arm in bootcamp, I was sleeping on my right side.)
12:11 a.m. - 116/60 - 57 BPM; ate 7 prunes earlier thinking my HR indicated my blood sugar was low, but I think my heart rate is slowing down because it's entering 'sleeping mode'.
Update: Went to lay down at around 1:00 a.m., 'woke' at 3:15 a.m. Midback vertebra slightly irritated to touch. Entire left hand noticeably tingling (Compared to right). Feels like left inner leg is also tingling. No noticeable cerebral irritation. Seems like tilting the head slightly left to push off the right side of the neck/back (To eliminate the sharp pain/ache in my right ear) noticeably affected / reduced the tingling sensation in my left hand (Though, some tingling is still present).
3:18 a.m. BP - 128/66 @ 60BPM ; spirometer = 6.4L VC (FEV1, PEF is 'normal', i.e., 4.94,11.72, or 104%, 113%. These numbers don't change much, normally.)
Looking at the heart-rate, looks like I never really entered "sleep time". That's a bummer, because I'm trying to push back my bedtime towards the direction of 12:00 p.m., lol.
3:48 a.m. - Laid down and noticed the entire left side (left side from head to toe) tingling spontaneously pick up. I was checking my neck and spine for irritation, didn't feel much except for at C6, most noticeable at the right of C6, and so I pressed on the right side of C6 and the entire left side tingling noticeably increased. Don't understand this. I would think if I were compressing the vertebral artery, I would get dizziness and/or other visual affects, not left side tingling. That suggests that C6 might be compressing the spinal cord or some such.
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Neurology/Facial-Tingling-with-Bulging-C6-C7/show/297675#post_answer_header
Update: 10:38 a.m., 9/9/2016 - 116/58 @ 55 BPM ; spirometer - 6.53L (112%), normal FEV1 and PEF (105%, 107%) [more accurate heart rate at 11:07 - 62 BPM]
Went to sleep sometime around 5, found myself being pulled out from my slumber at 7:30; had that characteristic feeling like something was going to happpen just like that one time I woke and had pain radiating down my left tricep into the pinky and fourth finger (And sudden lower back pain). Quickly ate some spinach, drank some water and laid back in bed. About 3 minutes later, I noticed a pickup in the tingling in my left hand, and a more widespread burning sensation in my neck (Not just the base of the neck) crescendoed along with an burning sensation in my chest, along with an increasingly strong heart rate (Felt like it was speeding up, maybe to 90 BPM). Turning over to the therapy position didn't head it off, lasted about a minute. Didn't notice the chest pain while laying in the therapy position. Just pressed on my upper rib, felt a 'pushing sensation' just left of my midback that lasted for a second. Seemed to be just left of the midback vertebra that's been traditionally bugged (It's right next to the heart and it has a noticeable gap between it and the neighboring vertebra above it; that gap seems to feel irritated at times.) Have a lingering left jaw burning sensation at times sitting here. I didn't take vitals at 7:30 because I felt like I just needed sleep, lol.
Anyway, I'm starting priming and painting today. Yay.
Update: 12:20 p.m., had my cocoa, along with an apple, 5 figs and a mozarella cheese and then some 600 mg of sodium (guessing) and after I ate the salt, I felt 'more awake' and I also started feeling somewhat lightheaded.
12:20 p.m. BP - 123/58 @ 69 BPM ; VC = 6.54L (112%), normal FEV1, PEF (105%,107%)
1:00 p.m. BP - 116/59 @ 67 BPM; VC = 6.84L (117%), normal FEV1, PEF (107%,113%) - I'm took this measurement because I was still feeling 'lighthead' after doing shipping. I initially got a low vital capacity while sitting (5.5L), so I stood up and could feel some underlying anxiety, so I told myself to calm down, which I could feel the difference, and retook in 10 seconds, and VC shot upto 6.84L. I then took it again while sitting down and it was at 6.88L. Somehow, anxiety seems to significantly affect VC. And, I still feel a little weird in this less anxious state, but I don't feel lightheaded anymore. This suggests that ingesting the free-standing salt made me anxious, which is an understandable trigger.
6:24 p.m. BP - 130/57 @ 60 BPM - 6.6L VC, FEV,PFC normal - Coming back from the auto store getting more paint, I was thinking through the move down to Texas and thought about the transition, and I felt a definite change in mood. At the moment I thought about it, it felt like I lost my breath for a second (More accuratley, a feeling like some air was being pushed out of my lungs without my prompting), and I noticed I've coughed like 4 times in the past 10 minutes. When I thought about it, I felt 'noticeably calmer'. But, the feeling of air being pushed out and my blood pressure at the moment... I don't know... but, I guess a higher blood pressure isn't too unexpected when walking around, going places and interacting with store employees. Seems like I'm noticing a barely noticeable tingling in my left hand, could definitely be related to the impact of driving on my neck (established trigger for first four finger tingling).
6:42 p.m. BP - 121/61 @ 58 BPM - 6.04L VC, FEV = 126% (Wow, high), PEF = 114%. Just applied the additional primer to fill in the gaps. I'll be continuing the paint part tomorrow, sun is down. The coughing stopped past those 4-5 coughs. The 'air being pushed out' sensation was preceding by noticeable acidity in my breath, so 'Acid Reflux' is a good guess. It's interesting how a higher systolic tends to correspond with a lower diastolic - it's like the 'pulse pressure' increases. I wonder what mechanism is behind that?
7:59 p.m. - Just starting running a 20 minute jog, but my left knee started really hurting and I started realizing that the somewhat uneven soil might be behind it, so I stopped at 7:54 about 8 minutes after I began. I noticed the heart rate wasn't nearly as volatile today (Got sufficient quality sleep), and my average jogging HR was in the 155 BPM range mostly, instead of 170 like yesterday.
Peak heart rate = 160.
HR after 1 minute of rest = 105.
Resting HR at 8:04 (10 min) = 78.
Resting HR at 8:20 (whoops) = 60.
Looks like I passed the recovery heart rate test with flying colors. But, I only exercised for 8 minutes, so hardly valid.
I speculate on the lack of quality sleep yesterday. One part of me wants to blame the pillow, but another part can't forget the role of the doctor just 'giving up on me' because I was moving to a state he disdained. His accusations were ridiculous in my opinion; "Dude, they have droughts, shootings and ... you just don't want to move there.". I'm like, is this guy kidding me? I lived there when I was in my formative years (ages 5-13) and my experiences definitely didn't square away with his perception of the state. Granted, I lived in military neighborhoods which have a minimum level of standard that can definitely be higher than many civilian neighborhoods, but there were plenty of nice neighborhoods that I recalled when I lived there, and there are plenty of nice neigborhoods in dallas/fort-worth/houston. IMO, there's fewer 'nice neighborhoods' in places like Austin, TX but that's largely because (At least when I last visited) it's a young person's town - the average age is 25. The average 25 year old can only afford so much house compared to the 35/40 year olds in dallas and houston neighborhoods. But don't get me wrong, even though the neighborhoods aren't nearly as well off as some of Houstons/Dallas's, some of Austin's neighorhoods don't lack in charm. I just thought it was funny he was claiming 'austin is a great place', when I /highly/ have my doubts he's ever been there. And, I doubt he's ever been to Dallas/Houston, either. I think he's just reflecting the opinions of online articles, which tends to be naturally tech-centric, and many tech companies are migrating to Round Rock, TX, so of course Austin gets more coverage than Houston/Dallas, but that doesn't mean it's any better. Nuh uh. (However, based on the land values near the Round Rock region, I suspect they have some pretty nice neighborhoods up that way. I've never been in the Round Rock region.)
Anyway, I've been noticing my right pinky/fourth finger have been consistently 'bugged' or something, ever since a couple of days ago. I can't tell what kind of sensation I'm getting in them at the moment, but it's definitely there, almost constantly.
Update: 11:27 - 109/60 @ 59 BPM - 5.24L first measure sitting, 5.5L second measure standing, 6.2L third measure standing, 6.22L fourth measure standing, FEV1 100%, PEF 108%
Just got back from extensive sitting and looking down, might have something to do with the low initial VC. Let's retake the blood pressure now.
113/60 @ 55 BPM (Hand measured 57 BPM)
Anyway, got done watching a movie, felt incredibly relaxed. 109/60 is just about 'the ideal' blood pressure judging from the Kuna's average blood pressure (110/60), and they live the island life with no problems seeing stars and the milky way at night.
Kept seeing an 'O' emerging in my closed eyes. At first I questioned if I just saw a D, because I would immediately think that meant "death", not what I want to see, lol, but since it's O, I'll assume oxygen. Coincidentally, my VC was initially quite low. I wonder if this is a sign? Perhaps I have similarly low oxygen at night and that's what's causing some of these more severe episodes. I wonder what might be causing the low oxygen? Perhaps it's the forward pushing posture of the bed, similar to me bending forward to see my feet; perhaps it's other more serious issues.
Boy, yawning a lot. Quite the tension in my jaw. Google is telling me that would be due to stress/anxiety. Yep, kind of seems right. Would explain both. My dog would yawn a lot when feeling stressed. Now that I've told myself to stop being stressed, the yawning generally disappeared. I seem to be good at stressing myself out, lol. Not an enviable talent, I assure you, lol.
I think back to the time I was operating my business. Thoughts like these generally didn't enter my frame of awareness. And, I was chugging away, day by day. It was actually pretty easy. Now that 2/3rds of my business disappeared, I need to regroup. It's been difficult coming up with tangible plans with all of these distractions (Health concerns, Preparing for moving). After I paint my hood tomorrow, then I can focus on coming up with tangible plans and starting the selling of everything and ascertaining all my financial resources. I just hope that tonight/tomorrow-morning doesn't give me anything particularly significant to worry about. And if it does, hopefully I can either explain it away due to some ultimately minor health cause, or it's just incredibly minor and easily stoppable. Those ones I like, lol. Granted, I would much prefer not dealing with anything, but if I'm forced to deal with /something/ due to whatever reason (And that seems to be the trend, lately), I like it when it's relatively minor and quickly stoppable.
Planning the future generally seems to lift my mood. I guess that's because it gives me something to look forward to and that gives me hope. And hope is generally uplifting. I should probably focus on that more, planning the future. If my problems are largely based on anxiety/stressing-myself-out, or if they are simply making a situation/event far more worse than it should be, then I should be doing what seems to allay it. Planning for the future, making concrete, optimistic, uplifting, jump out the window and freaking hope you fly and then you take off like superman because you knew you would, kind of plans. (I stole that idea from someone, lol.)
UPDATE: 12:26 a.m. - Trying to get a steady read on my vital capacity, doesn't seem like it wants to settle. Keeps jumping anywhere from 5.3L to 6L. Doesn't seem like neck position has a solid connection with VC. Varies all over the place regardless of neck position.
12:26 a.m. BP - 118/58 @ 56 - Possibly anxiety. Seems like anxiety tends to be more volatile towards the twilight and early morning hours. It's especially volatile in the 1-3 hours sleep region, if I happen to ever wake up in that region. That's why I partially think that some of these waking up from 2.5 hour sleep episodes are probably caused/amplified by anxiety, or might just be exacerbating neck phenomena. Or some such. I wasn't really concerned with this morning's episode because, even though it wasn't stoppable, the fact it was beating faster/harder and without significant chest pain, told me that it was likely caused by cortisol/adrenaline. That's just what it does - If it's beating faster and it's subdued, that worries me a little more, since adrenaline isn't known to cause a subdued beat and it's what I might expect more of ischemia. You deprive a muscle of bloodflow, it becomes weaker. And, especially if it's 'sudden', as it seemed to be that one night. But, the chance of an ischemic event happening in the midst of 95+% cervical/adrenaline episodes at my age seems kind of unlikely - I would assume they're all pretty much the same in origin especially since all episodes have had tons of overlapping characteristics, and if 95% are known to be cervical, then there's a very good chance it's also cervical despite it's unique characteristics. (Well, unless those unique characteristics are definitely identifiable as something else.)
1:45 a.m. BP - 121/73 @ 56 BPM - Laying in bed, knowing I'm not really falling asleep, but for some reason, I feel like I'm getting pretty confused. Kind of weird feeling when I'm feeling so awake. I notice the pain in my midback, so I lay on the ground thinking maybe that's acting up. Anyway, based on my BP, it appears like it's probably anxiety. I wish I would fall asleep earlier. Turning off all the lights in trying to help that out just makes me anxious, especially since it seems like I'm not falling asleep at all. In fact, it kind of seems like the time I fall asleep is getting later and later, despite my best efforts. Anyway, I know this computer is not helping, but jeez - that feeling of confusion while being wide awake while laying down feels somewhat concerning. I see that "O" in my vision and I'm thinking it'd be kind of cool to have an oximeter to check my oxygen levels, maybe that's what's behind the confusion while laying on my back, and it's not my midback. Been trying to find it, can't find it. Seems like it got lost the day they returned. Then again, maybe it's my neck.
4:42 - 125/49 @ 62 BPM; 5.6L VC - suddenly awoke from my 2 hour nap, immediately took the therapy position for 60 secs. Vitals taken immediately after.
5:03 - 118/59 @ 55 BPM; 6.27L VC - took the therapy position for another 15 minutes or so. Getting sleepy. Nothing notable. Midback was completely painless, it started paining a little about 10 minutes in. Pins and needles in right and then left hand started, lasted for about 20-30 secs each.
11:23 a.m. - 9/10/2016 - 117/54 @ 52 BPM; 6.42 L VC, normal FEV/PEF(105%,106%) - Yesterday night was a little uneventful. Other than the choppy sleep after 5, and other then feeling of a left burning chest and left burning neck at 7 and left arm bicep tingling/sensations after catching myself sleeping on my right, and the fact I'm feeling really tired right now as if I didn't get enough quality sleep - nothing particularly 'eventful'.
11:46 a.m. - 116/58 @ 56 BPM; 6.39 L VC, normal FEV1/PEF(103%,107%). Just ate an apple, some leftover tomato rice, string cheese and other goodies. Need to fill up, the last time I ate was effectively 14 hours ago.
12:33 p.m. - 134/65 @ 72 BPM; 6.66 L VC, normal DEV1/PEF(105%,111%). Ate a serving of prunes and a serving of rains along with some spinach (Vitamin C), and then head out to paint the hood. Got the first coat on, waiting for the second coat. I'm thinking I'm more skilled with a paintbrush than with spray paint; with a paintbrush, I can pretty easily blend the applied paint to create a nice even color, but spray paint, I feel like I'm helplessly watching some areas get more paint than others, and then trying to fill in the gaps with additional paint which seems like a half-assed blending solution, lol. Anyway, I'm noticing this duplicolor silver is not quite the same silver as on my truck, lol. Oh well, we'll see how it turns out, and will determine if more paint-layers need to go on later, lol.
12:54 p.m. - 9/10/2016 - done applying what I could of the second layer before the spray can started refusing to spray in the tilted position. So far, it doesn't really look that good (I can see the sanded scratches on the primer underneath the paint; I'm starting to think that it would've been best to apply the paint coat ontop of the primer 30 minutes without sanding it first, lol.), BUT, it definitely looks TONS BETTER than the rusty surface it replaced. Now my main concern is how it fits into the entire color scheme. It looks like it could be OK, but it also looks like it could look really gawdy, like I just stole the hood off a different colored truck. I'll have to remove the newspaper an hour from now and see.
Anyway, I'm being more aggressive with the 'lights out' rule at night. I remember when the electricity went out for an entire week, how the utter darkness of the night suddenly pushed back my sleep time to 12 PM within 2 days, I'm trying to replicate that affect. Not only am I turning off the hallway lights and bedroom, but I also completely turned off the bathroom light and stairway lights to create a /completely/ dark environment. I'm also covering up the nightlights a bit more.
Anyway, it was interesting how all the light sources inside the house (monitor, lights, windows, etc.) looked like a deep orange coming back from outside. It looks okay now, but I suspect the affect lasted for a couple of minutes, definitely at least a minute.
4:51 P.M. just came back from the store getting the colors to repaint with. While making my chocolate, I noticed myself being noticeably more confused than normal, impulsively grabbing for things I didn't need. My midback was hurting earlier, probably from the bumpy car ride. Anyway, just checking vitals.
126/59 @ 62 BPM - 6.4L VC, normal FEV, PFC
Heightened systolic suggests anxiety, maybe caused by my back/neck. Maybe caused by all the interactions during my visits to the stores. I also ate rice 2 hours ago.
9:50 P.M. - 127/62 @ 62 BPM; 6.41 L VC, FEV1 PFC normal (102%,111%) - Feeling just fine. Pretty calm actually. I've been out of exercise for about two days now, I don't think the 8 minute run yesterday counts - I ate at 8:10 p.m., could explain the heightened systolic. I've been thinking that while these blood pressure and spirometric measurements are neat and everything, I really think the kind of insight I need is bloodflow rate measurement. Because, while blood pressure looks 'normal and everything', it's very possible there's a significant decrease in local bloodflow which may explain phenomena like confusion. Like, my blood pressure looks normal, but the pulse strength in my carotids feel relatively weak compared to other people I know, so I would think measuring blood flow rates in the carotids could be more telling. Appears like I could do that with doppler ultrasound; I'm not sure if color doppler is necessary.
It's one of those things... in an ideal world, what kind of parameters would I want to know? Blood pressure can provide some insight, but bloodflow rates and oxygen saturation are really what you want to know (Well, along with blood sugar levels), because those two/three factors are what determines how much energy/nutrients/oxygen parts of the body are getting and, subsequently, how well they are predicted to be performing. If there's a significant decrease in local blood flow rates in the carotids, that'd be far more explanatory of confusion than an individually heightened systolic. (And, of course, if there's decreased blood flow in the carotids, that leads to next question; what's causing that? Cardiac output lower? Why? Is blood reduced due to a combination of plaque at the carotid bifurcation and anxiety-based vasoconstriction? And, much of that can be answered with Doppler.)
Lol. "Your message contains 60012 characters. The maximum number of allowed characters is 60000.". Time for a new post, lol.
EDIT:
Okay, woke up from a 3 hour nap (The nap was induced by drinking cocoa and taking a hot bath; it's questionable whether it would've happened if I didn't take a hot bath.) feeling like I was waking up from a debt of a million naps - Haven't taken a blood thinner in 2 days. I feel fine at the moment (1:18 p.m.). Blood pressure looks normal (114/62 @57BPM). Spirometer values are above average except for FEV1, which seems to vary between 50% and 71%. I've kinked my head, stretched my neck in all directions, drank water, cleared my throat, walked around, and it doesn't seem like this number is budging.
That could be concerning.
I just drank a lot more water and it definitely feels like something is obstructing the flow of water down. It feels like the obstruction is on the left side somewhere near the back of my throat.
Hmmm... I turned my head 'very left' and it felt like something in my throat 'released', and now FEV1 is back upto 103%. That's curious.
I tried reproducing the phenomena by turning my head 'very right', 'very forward' and 'very down, right' and an FEV1 of 103% is sticking.
I believe FEV1 has historically been around 108%, so this value of 103% could be signaling a decline.
I'm very curious as to what's causing this phenomena that I started noticing yesterday. I've never seen it before, and I've used my spirometer many times before, so there's been plenty of opportunity to 'catch it' if it's been some long-standing issue. If it's a new issue of sorts, what is that 'new issue' exactly? Seems a bit weird it's coming on the heels of 2-3 morning episodes with highly suspected/undeniable heart involvement and a day with a very discomforting "I feel like I'm going collapse/KO" sensation. I think when I catch myself with 'tired old man eyes' next time, I'll check my spirometer; I'm suspecting it might be linked to the heart/lungs and might not be an actual throat obstruction.
What the heck? I first noticed a value of 50%, then the next breath was a value of 3%. I'm like what? That doesn't make sense. I don't feel like I'm keeling over, lol. So I just did a normal breath in/out instead of this 3-inhale-cycle and FEV1 was consistently back upto 103% and 105%.
What's going on? I think my spirometer is working, so that would indicate there's something going on with me. But what?
Hot diggety dogs. I figured it out.
Just like blowing my nose and bending my head down seemed to induce cardiac dysfunction, it appears when I do the traditional 'lean-over, take a deep breath in while reaching back up towards the sky, then blow out while bending over' my FEV1 goes down to those abnormally low values, but if I keep my neck straight, I consistently get 103%-105% with the same 3-inhale cycle. Just seems weird I didn't notice abnormally low FEV1 values until yesterday. It's just like yesterday, I discovered I'm able do things that I've otherwise unhappily avoided if I keep my neck straight.
Now the question is what is being affected while bending my head down? Is it my lungs? Airway? Heart? And why is this suddenly a new phenomena?
I have been doing sprints since the day before yesterday (And, I've been sanding my truck since the day before yesterday, too). It's very possible those activities have been loosening up my neck, making that kind of phenomena possible through increased compression of a relevant nerve and/or spinal cord somewhere along the neck or maybe even upper back.
EDIT: 3:52, interestingly, since keeping my head in the upward position, I can't seem to repeat immediately repeat this phenomena (Bend head down -> Abnormally low FEV). I'm suspecting that sitting my chair and laying in my bed 'sets me up', which makes me vulnerable to this affect. Interestingly, on the measurement I was getting 3%, there was a quickly crescendoing burning sensation in my chest that's been associated with sudden pressure in my head as I dipped my head down, but it got cut off early as I quickly rose back up, so it wasn't as severe as past "look down -> burning chest sensation intense head pressure" episodes. It does however, suggest, that past episodes of this type were legitimate "Heart temporarily practically stopped functioning" cause, not something benign like 'panic'. Because if the cause were panic, then (bending my head down->severely reduced FEV1) rule would also have a 'panic' cause, which it obviously did not. Slightly bending my head down for testing wasn't causing me to 'mildly panic', lol (I didn't feel any anxiety; I was just curious. If I were anxious, my anxiety would've persisted into the cases where my neck was straight up, because anxiety doesn't just stop on the turn of a dime.). And 'mild anxiety' definitely wouldn't affect FEV1 that consistently and dramatically!
UPDATE: Now 6:54 p.m.; Okay, so I've confirmed that c5/c6, c6/c7 and c7/T1 periodically pinch nerves, especially when my neck is in certain positions. Are those the only vertebra that are pinching? The fact that entire range seems to be pinching nerves, suggests it might be pinching nerves higher up the neck.
What do the other ones do?
http://www.spine-health.com/conditions/spine-anatomy/cervical-nerves
Pinching of this nerve could understandably lead to a weakened diaphragm muscle which could understandably weaken the ability of the lungs to exhale, thus individually lowering FEV1(It measures the amount of air pushed out in the first second).
According to wikipedia:
Also, interestingly, https://neckandback.com/conditions/symptoms-of-cervical-nerve-injuries/
What about C3?
What about C3 and higher?
http://www.spine-health.com/conditions/spine-anatomy/cervical-nerves
https://neckandback.com/conditions/symptoms-of-cervical-nerve-injuries/
Interesting, I don't remember having these sensations on a regular basis so it seems likely I don't have C1, C2 pinched nerves. C3-C4, maybe/probably. Seems aggravated by sitting in my computer chair.
This still doesn't seem to quite explain the distinct heart events in the past few mornings. I can definitely tell the difference between 'rib sensations' and 'cardiac sensations', and those definitely involved the heart. "feeling tired" and "tired old man eyes", as obviously affected by my neck (Instantly cured by throwing back my neck), can't be merely a diaphragm issue. However, I suppose a weakened diaphragm might be able to tire you out and cause unusual lightheadedness when blowing your nose. I'm not sure what the explanation could be, though. Reduced cardiac output seems to have a more obvious explanation for all the above, especially since "tired old man eyes" when going to bed seems to be associated with cardiac events at night/morning. But, I'm open to a diaphragm explanation if I could come up with one... I'm trying to find one out...
Interesting.
http://pulmccm.org/main/2012/review-articles/diaphragmatic-dysfunction-and-respiratory-illness-review-nejm/
"Getting winded" when blowing my nose when bending neck down, probably means the same thing as dypsnea. And, coincidentally, I have noticed something kind of stiff in the left side of the top of my abdomen (Right below the left rib) at times, seemed to come and go when I pressed on my spine. It's very possible I was triggering the diaphragm from C4, since irritation of c5/c6/c7 was happening at the same time (First four fingers left hand).
This website doesn't make mention of FEV1, instead makes it sound like FVC should be affected. The thing is, when I'm breathing in, C4 isn't pinched when standing straight up, only potentially when bending over, so it wouldn't be expected to affect the FVC during my spirometer tests (However... well, actually, I do remember a slightly diminished FVC when bending my neck over; 5 L vs my normal 6.6 L). It doesn't make mention of FEV1, but it seems intuitive to me that a 'weakened diaphragm muscle' would mean less air is getting pushed out in the first second. It just seems weird that FEV1 would go down to 3% if only one diaphragm membrane was being affected, and I'm not sure how the diaphragm could cause the 'head pressure' sensation following the chest burning. And, I don't see how the diaphragm could explain the distinct cardiac episodes in recent days.
Hmmmm... I'm thinking of it, again, and FEV1 was between 50% to 71%. If the left diapgrahm was completely weakened (paralyzed), I would expect a FEV1 of around 50% at a minimum. I don't remember ever seeing a lower value than that, other than the one time when it was 3%. I should check for left upper abs stiffness that next time I notice this phenomena. If the upper left abs has a noticeable protuberance when looking down, then I have my explanation.
UPDATE: 2:37 A.M. Woke up feeling some great anxiety. Spirometer looked normal. Took 2 aspirin. Anxiety persisted. Ate a bunch of spinach and then measured BP right after. 117/65 @49BPM. Perhaps I'm hypoglycemic? Ate a banana and macaron. Didn't taste as great as hypoglycemia would've made it taste, so likely not hypo. Turned head to the very left, felt significantly better. Turned head right, wow, that was a tremendous pop/click in my neck. What comes next? Hopefully not much...
BP @2:48 112/64 @ 53 BPM. Based on the HR, appears blood-sugar is improving. Midback still feels pained. Some anxiety still present. Vertebra in midback appears responsible for the anxiety; pushing on it improves it. The notable issue with this vertebra is that there's a notable gap between it and the one above it. It seems very likely this was the part of the midback involved in the recumbent bike accident some 5 years ago. Then again, it seems like it probably 'shaped itself' to match the scoliotic sitting posture I had used in my early 20s, since the gap seems to noticeably diminish when assuming the posture. I should mention this at PT, since this little bugger was burning a little during the last run.
UPDATE: 4:28 a.m.; well, apparently not sleeping anyway. I was laying in bed and a crescendoing sense of something severe was happening about 8 minutes ago, neck was burning and I could feel a tingling sensation in my left inner arm and left inner leg. My heart beat was also accelerating as this was happening; I turned over to assume the therapy position, and my heart rate went back to normal and the 'crescendoing sense' of whatever disappeared. However, the tingling remains. What is with these 4:10-4:30 a.m. 'attacks' that happen with such regularity? I've disconnected the clock in my room about 3 days ago so that I personally have no idea what time it is, but that doesn't seem to stop these frockers happening on the hour.
UPDATE: 10:56 a.m., 9/7/2016 ; seemed like I went to sleep sometime around 5. I was laying on my left side, and I kept this sense the muscles on both side of my back would contract on cue when I was thinking certain thoughts. Seemed like my neck had something to do with it, but don't know. A bit discomforting, I laid on my back and those episodes seemed to largely go away. However, episodes of some bad mid-back-pain/nipple-rib-pain that apparently woke me up sure didn't, seemed like it was striking sometime around 10:00 a.m.
BP @ 11:05 - 115/62 @56BPM. Spirometer results were unremarkable; couldn't repeat the severe FEV1 reduction by merely bending my head, upper back down right after waking. I also didn't do sprints yesterday nor did "serious forward bending" work on the truck.
UPDATE: 12:44 p.m, 9/7/2016 - 121/62 @ 74 BPM - ate breakfast about an hour ago. 50 grams of carbs from popcorn, 30 grams of carbs from coconut drinks and 20 grams from a ripe banana; my body obviously liked the coconut drinks in a way it doesn't normally, so I had two. 2 TBSP of olive oil and around 600mg of sodium. Heightened blood glucose is showing in the heart rate. Feeling a bit fatigued, but not sleepy. A 'midback attack' corresponding with rib pressure was starting right before my bath. I weighed 162.2 pounds, I'm trying to increase weight but I don't think the sprints are helping, lol. It also seems like I can only eat so much in a day before my body refuses.
UPDATE: 10:58 p.m., 9/7/2016 - 107/62 @ 68 BPM @ 10:15 - Went for some intense running - was aiming for 30 minutes, but was worn out by 20, lol. I was feeling a bit 'uncomfortable' earlier, but I ate a bunch of spinach and then the main meal, and that seemed to keep the discomfort away. I started running about @ 8:51, ended at 9:14 - I'm not sure if the run did me much good because I was feeling way more uncomfortable in the hour after the run than before it, lol. I'm not sure if it 'messed up'/irritated my spine or just increased anxiety generally or some such - I did notice my HR was staying at 108 BPM for upto 25 minutes after the run. It was down to 96 at the 30 minute mark. And then 68 by the hour mark. It staying elevated that much that long seemed a bit unusual, but I'm guessing maybe it has something to do with the 'high intensity' nature of it, so I'm going to do a 30 minute jog tomorrow and check out the recovery heart rate, see if it is more in line with expectations. If I seriously can't do a 30 minute jog /with ease/ like I used to do in the Navy just a year ago, holy crap, I think I have some real problems that I'm not just imagining! I remember that shit being easy. And, I'm pretty sure the heart rate was below 80 within 10 minutes post-workout. I don't think I'm 'out of fitness' because I was doing interval training on the bike just a month ago or so, and I've been walking miles in the meantime.
Anyway, I might do the test earlier rather than later. It seems my doctor has been... kind of unhelpful. He dismissed these 4 a.m. episodes as 'panic attacks', but these aren't panic attacks. Panic attacks are me with a racing heart and feeling of doom/urgency. These are actual episodes involving simultaneous sudden muscle-flaccidness/burning/aching and a 'disturbed' heart, not merely a racing one. It comes with no real sense of 'anxiety' during the episodes, unlike the panic attacks of old. The anxiety only tends to come after the episode stops, if I just realized it was something possibly serious. He just tells me to go to the emergency room if something traumatic happens. Yeah, except, those 'traumatic' things tend to happen at 4 in the morning, and if I go to the ER, I miss out on a day of sleep (Can't just 'make it up'), and missing a day of sleep just seems to make me even more vulnerable to more traumatic events.
UPDATE: Felt a kind of burning ache in my 'pasternal area' while typing that, had me mildly concerned. I took my heart-rate standing up, it was 66. Huh - A depressed standing heart rate that's practically the same as the resting heart rate seems to normally signify something concerning is going on. So, I went to check my meter, it reported EE during the measure. No. Immediately retook, 121/62. Waited 3 minutes, pumped the arm. 116/58. 121/62 or close to it is believable. Must've been benign 'rib pain'. I would think an actual cardiac event would've had a longer lasting affect on BP.
UPDATE: 12:12 a.m. - 102/57 @ 62 BPM; one of the theories I have is that the curvature at T1/T2/T3 might be pinching nerves while in bed, because I noticed while driving today that pulling my back upwards/back produced a really good stretching sensation in those vertebra. It's possible that sleeping in bed is causing the sympathetic nerves to fire, for whatever reason, causing the heart to speed up. The fact I was able to head off the most recent episode (Tingling left four fingers, tingling left inner thigh [btw, those were areas whose muscles went flaccid one night.], increasing burning sensation in base of neck, increasing heart rate) and return the heart-rate almost immediately back to normal by assuming the therapy position, which straightened out the upperback/neck, definitely suggests this. It's just really weird how it consistently seems to happen at around 4:20 a.m. lately; I wouldn't normally think that 'pinched nerves' follow some kind of circadian rhythm. And, i'm at loss trying to figure out a nerve mapping from the vertebra to the bottom lips (Burning lips episode). Doesn't seem like the bottom lips has ever been triggered except for that one time. I know that the heart apparently maps to the bottom lips somehow, so I suppose that the vertebra->sympathetic-nerves->heart->bottom lips is a plausible pathway, but the question is if the heart's activity that one night was benign. I don't remember feeling chest pain or anything particularly suggestive of traditional 'heart attack' symptoms (Other than the bottom lips burning and the fact the beating felt 'subdued/menaced'), so it seems probable it was benign. But, I don't really know... that episode also happened suddenly (didn't noticeably gradually crescendo), and assuming the therapy position didn't 'halt it in its tracks', it persisted for a minute or two.
Anyway, that's a really low systolic BP - that's the lowest I've ever seen it. I also noticed that I haven't seen a >126 systolic recently. It's like my systolic has uniformly downshifted over the last couple of days. That has me somewhat concerned, since a declining systolic is a hallmark of heart damage. But, it might also be due to the high intensity interval training I just started like 3 days ago and the fact I'm tired and just thought of that reassuring hypothesis. Still, I've never seen it that low, before, even during past interval trainings. The lowest past interval trainings would produce is like 111/60. I've also heard that 'too low' of a systolic is associated with various undesireable phenomena, like dizziness/syncope/etc. But, I'm able to immediately stand up without the obvious affects of orthostatic hypotension and haven't experienced dizziness/syncope, so I can probably assume it's benign. Unless I do have some minor heart damage that's not quite severe enough to cause dizzines/syncope.
Update: Went to bed at 1:10 a.m., woke at 2:43 to myself in the middle of a snore (choking on a snore / woken up by the 'snore' seems more accurate)? Turned over into therapy position (Made a decision to always do that, no matter what), checked pulse, and it seemed like it was rapidly slowing down from 200 BPM, and the pulse was pretty weak. What was going on here?
Update: 8:58 a.m. 9/8/2016 - 115/72 @ 49 BPM - just woke up. Feel a little tired. I woke up about 2 hours earlier finding myself using a pillow and my entire left arm and hand was numb. I could've assumed the worst, but with yesterday's hypothesis (And the fact there was no other obvious simultaneous symptoms), I figured the pillow usage was likely pinching all the left side of the nerves from C5-T1 (And possibly even C5-T3 considering the entire arm was asleep), so I assumed the therapy position and the numbness instantly started to fade away in that characteristic "pinching a nerve, now restoring sensation" kind of way. The prickly stage right in the middle, gets me every time, lol.
Update: 9:26 a.m. 9/8/2016 - 128/68 @ 50 BPM - ate 10 dried figs and drank 2 glasses of water about 15 minutes ago. Fatigue has disappeared, still feel sleepy. Feeling some significant chest 'semipasternal' soreness at random, lasts less than 10 seconds. Suspect rib phenomena (ribs palpably exceptionally sore at the location of this pain).
Update: 11:04 a.m. 116/64 54 BPM - Took an hour nap. Could tell that I woke during the middle of a sleep cycle, as its continuation as I fell asleep was obvious. I suspect sleeping with the pillow, throwing my neck/head forward, made my left arm fall asleep and might've disrupted my sleep to some extent. The fact my heart rate is consistently up from 50BPM(Feels like 57 BPM) is telling me I'm close to satisfying the 'sleep demands'. (Sleepiness, as in the natural sleep cycle variety, typically depresses heart rate by 10 BPM I've noticed).
Update: 12:29 9/8/2016 - definitely feeling like I didn't get enough sleep, though not sleepy. Eyes have that characteristic dry/slightly-burning sensation and my physiological responses to stress seems a bit more dramatic than normal (My threshold for it seems lowered.). I'm blaming the pillow, lol.
Update: Hmmm... http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=122813431 ... livestrong is telling me that this could be due to poor circulation. This guy has low BP and has this problem consistently. My blood pressure last night was unusually low, so I suppose 'poor circulation' could be the reason. I was assuming nerve entrapment due to the pillow, but numbness in the entire arm would need pinched nerves all the way down to T2/T3. My left arm didn't feel notably cold, however, so I assumed it was a nerve phenomena instead of a circulatory phenomena. And, cervical/upper-thoracic nerve explanations have had a lot of explanatory power recently. But, it does seem a bit unusual it was preceded by exceptionally low systolic blood pressure the night before. I wouldn't think 'exceptional vasodilation' causes of low BP (My theory at the time, due to intense exercise, spinach and good mood.) would cause poor circulation, lol. And, no, I wasn't sleeping on my arm. Based on the lack of soreness in my leg muscles today, my extra rice consumption last night was probably appropriate (For muscle repair).
BP at 2:30 P.M. : 116/58 , 54 BPM.
Update: 3:41 P.M. 6.6L for vital capacity. Was feeling more 'restricted'/'stressed'/'tired' this morning, and VC was 5.5L. It's weird how it seems to jump around this much, since my level of 'effort' presumably isn't different. It seems like it's less when I'm stressed, so that could possibly account for that somehow. I'm just really curious how... is it something to do with the lungs? The heart? The digestive tract? The fact it can turn on a dime suggests it's not the digestive tract. That leaves the heart and the lungs. I'm not sure how the lungs would act constricted under stress? And, if it was the heart, I'm not exactly sure how the heart would limit the capacity of the lungs? I guess I could include the diaphragm in there. Perhaps stress affects the diaphragm somehow? I've long assumed that this variance that I've seen from day to day is 'normal', not a sign of underlying health problems, as it didn't seem like I had any health problems two months ago. But, I'm becoming a little bit more suspicious since the difference feels more noticeable, now. And, these 10 second 'heart attack' presages that have been happening since yesterday are a little disturbing. I want to think it's my so called anxiety-inspired 'imagination', but in combination with the extremely low systolic yesterday night, the entire left arm numbness this morning and the fact my heart rate took an exceptionally long time to recover warrants further investigation. Just ate lunch 15 minutes ago, tomato rice garlic olive oil with spinach.
Anyway, got to go pick up some paint. Some primer and some silver.
3:59 P.M. BP - 118/60 @ 64 BPM
Update: 4:33 p.m.; hmmm, interesting difference between this morning and this afternoon. My heart rate was low this morning suggesting I was low in the blood sugar department (indeed, haven't eaten since yesterday night), but the consumption of anything with carbs was met with resistance. Normally delicious things didn't taste good at all. At the same time, I was feeling "under the weather", getting various abnormal sensations (stress 'chill' episodes and short of breath for a second), and I noticed my vital capacity was 5.5L and wasn't budging. After I ate the spinach and the meal, suddenly my mood noticeably improved and my vital capacity jumped to 6.6L. Not only that, but ordinarily delicious things tasted exceptionally deliciously, suggesting I was low in the blood sugar like I previously thought. I'm making wild speculation here, but I'm starting to think that the spinach might've expanded my blood vessels, which /somehow/ caused a significant increase in vital capacity and my body suddenly found that its low blood sugar needed to be satisfied, and carby things were exceptionally delicious. It's pure speculation, but if I'm on the mark, then I wonder about that /somehow/ part. Perhaps it's as benign as relieving (or the affects of) 'anxiety'/'stress', but perhaps it's not.
Update: 5:57 p.m.; 115/58 64BPM - Went for a 2 mile walk and pIcked up the paint and primer. Kept noticing that 'O' in my vision while taking my blood pressure. I'm starting think it stands for oxygen, like, 'lack of oxygen due to sleep apnea', like when I sleep on my back. My ribs in the pasternal area keep paining during key moments and at random, why does it have to be /those/ ribs? lol. I'm sure for most people without 'cardiac anxieties', it'd be a non-concern, but sometimes I wonder, especially the more severe ones during 'key moments'.
Update: 7:21 p.m.; Went for a 20 minute jog through grassy, slightly hilly terrain. Average heart rate was 173, peak was 179. Resting heart rate 1 minute after the stop of the activity (7:18 finish time) was 130. Standing heart rate prior to exercise was 80, resting was 64 (after I ate an apple, banana and grape tomatos), Standing heart rate pretty easily shot upto 120 on a very common mild adrenaline surge, indicating lack of quality sleep. Now I need to capture my resting heart rate at the 30 minute mark (7:48) and compare to guidelines. Btw, jogging the entire thing was pretty easy, about as easy as I remember it was a year ago.
Resting at 7:28 - 100 BPM
Resting at 7:38 - 84 BPM
Resting at 7:48 - 82 BPM
http://www.livestrong.com/article/406811-heart-rate-still-over-100-30-minutes-after-running/
Difference of 39 BPM, no problem.
Uhuh, okay.
Okay, little issues here.
I also noticed I regularly exceeded the max target heart rate of 162 BPM (85% of max HR) pretty regularly, so I suppose my results might be a little invalid. And an apparent lack of quality sleep is another possible issue. No notable issues with breathing while running at 170 BPM. In fact, I would say my breathing was rather light (definitely easy).
8:07 p.m. BP - 115/68 @ 64 BPM. Mid to lower back definitely feels sore, some detectable irritation all along the spine.
9:07 p.m. BP - 107/58 @ 64 BPM. While walking, I noticed a particular spot in my mid-back getting especially irritated and a feeling like an elephant was threatening to sit on my chest. I then burped several times, which seemed like it probably relieved the sensation (Can't tell, wasn't an obvious connection). Seems like the fingers in my left hand seems to be randomly flirting with numbness like this morning. I confirmed 64 BPM like my BP meter suggests. After experiencing that "Feels like an elephant was threatening to sit on my chest", I now know that the feeling of an elephant sitting on your chest is an unmistakable one. Like, no questions about it, lol. Btw, I'm trying to ensure I am in good health before I move to a place 50 miles away from the nearest hospital, that's partially why I'm doing this. The other reason was because the two-three cardiac episodes in the past week were unmistakable, though I don't know they were benign or serious.
9:34 p.m. BP - 116/64 @ 58 BPM. Well, I'm feeling a bit more alive than just 30 minutes ago. I apparently was pretty thirsty, drank a bunch of water. I suspect I'm seeing a connection between 'low blood pressure' (systolic<110) and tiredness, and possible cardiac phenomena. If the low blood pressure was due to diet/exercise, I wouldn't expect it to be so transient and so highly related to tiredness (Which is just as transient). Now the real question is if it has cardiac causes. It seems more than plausible that it could (Cardiac output decreases -> tiredness and lowered BP. Of course, there could be some /relatively/ benign causes behind lowered cardiac output. But, there are definitely possibly not-so-benign ones. The kind of negative emotions that historically could affect cardiac output and induce tiredness seemed like they universally increased BP - that's what cortisol does - it increases BP. I've never seen significantly decreased BP as a response.), but the question is if it does in my case. That's the question. I mean, the "I'm too young for serious heart issues" side of me says most likely not. But, the careful side taking into consideration recent happenings does not.
Dehydration could cause tiredness and a lowered BP, but I definitely don't think I was dehydrated last night and it doesn't seem like hydration made me 'feel alive' again. I was feeling 'more alive' before I fetched the water.
Update: BP 113/60 @ 58 BPM - Thinking this through has brought my mood down a little bit. It seems like the 9:07 p.m. measurement had a distinct emotional trigger - I was complaining about the lack of appropriate comprehensive controlling variables in research studies on the link between egg consumption and diabetes, so I was frustrated there wasn't any research papers that I considered 'good' and supported my reasoned position on eggs. So, I started to realize that my emotions seem to be affecting these hypotensive episodes, in a way that's been completely opposite historically, and they seem to come with cardiac phenomena this time. I know the prescription is 'keep yourself chipper', and while that's sound advice, I don't think it's very likely one can maintain it permanently from here on out. So, yep, if my suspicions are correct... (And, I hope to god they aren't)... well... hmmm... this might end up in a way I didn't like sooner rather than later. Like /much/ later as I've been expecting ever since I was like 3.
Yes, I just hope this is completely OCD theorizing and I'm assuming the absolute worst, which is far from reality, and things won't be nearly as bad as I've been reasoning/assuming them to be.
The one time in the nuke school parking lot where a little voice told me "Don't walk through that parking lot, something really bad will happen." and I brushed it off as completely OCD thinking, and so I ignored it, and then someone came by with their boom box and about 3 seconds after they passed by me, I experienced some significant chest pain that I took some aspirin for and sat in my car. The chest pain went away in like 30 seconds. Of course, one part of me was like "I should've listened to that little voice! It WAS RIGHT!", but the other part of me was like, "Hey, dude, that's just the OCD talking, and that chest pain was just a little panic attack kind of chest pain you've read about online. You were obviously very tense walking through that parking lot. No biggie.".
Hmmm... it's one of those kind of things where I'm not sure if I ever really learned the moral to that situation, lol. (The moral being, "Always heed the warnings the little voice tells you, you'll be sorry if you don't", lol. Or, really, "You really do have OCD/panic problems, don't ya?", lol.)
Anyway, it does a seem a little unusual that the little voice could predict something along those lines, when I obviously couldn't predict it. It's not like blaring boomboxes were a common occurrence at the school; it wasn't especially known as a place for the gangsters and wangsters. And, "listen to the little voice inside your head" is common wisdom. So... hmm...
10:56 p.m. - 117/61 @ 59BPM
11:38 p.m. - Feeling fine at the moment (Feeling less fine with this firefox window which keeps freezing, lol.). Anyway, the left arm going numb this morning was concerning because the last time that happened was the morning after the first night I slept at bootcamp. I wish I was being dramatic and my experience was really the same as everyone elses, but I don't think so - /my experience/ was especially traumatic the first day. I don't want to go into the details, but... I made a few mistakes more than others, got out of line because I needed something I was missing to do the directions right, got /especially/ yelled at for that, after seeing the 'gun needle' where they needed to inject a TB protein into you, something in me snapped and I thought "Okay, this is my last chance. Will I get out of here before they inject full of this toxic poisons? Obviously, life in the civilian world would be much better for me if only I super duper applied myself and never gave up.", and, I tried. Yes, they chased me as I just got up and walked out the door, they chased me good and yes, they were in full on "Yell louder!" mode and I was backed into a corner and I was readying for some frocking kungfu, lol. Worst I thought if that they would kick me out immediately for punching one of the staff, lol. Anyway, at that point, he immediately starting talking like a regular human being, trying to keep reassuring me he wasn't going to harm me or touch me, and I went to see the CO and he tried to keep me in. He reassured me the 'real navy' wasn't anything like bootcamp, and I thought, "That might be true for most, but I bet it won't for me! Get me out!", but I gave in because the climate of South Carolina sounded like paradise compared to my hometown's climate (Think Alberta, Canada), and getting paid to learn about nuclear science sounded pretty awesome. Two things I liked: Atomic science and money. So, I got done with that, and saw my CO and he firmly told me "he hated my guts" in not so subtle words. Yes, so, that was a particularly traumatic experience for me, and the next morning, my left arm was numb and it wasn't numb because I was sleeping on it. I assumed it was numb because my heart just couldn't take it, and I was laying in bed thinking I was going to die in bootcamp. Yes, that is the /last/ time I woke with a numb left arm about 1.5 years ago. And, before that, probably long before that... (Although, I do remember many times in the past sleeping on my arm and it would go numb. But, this morning, I was definitely not sleeping on my arm; I was sleeping on my back. And the BP reading was unusually low and I was pretty tired that night. And, I don't think I was sleeping on my arm in bootcamp, I was sleeping on my right side.)
12:11 a.m. - 116/60 - 57 BPM; ate 7 prunes earlier thinking my HR indicated my blood sugar was low, but I think my heart rate is slowing down because it's entering 'sleeping mode'.
Update: Went to lay down at around 1:00 a.m., 'woke' at 3:15 a.m. Midback vertebra slightly irritated to touch. Entire left hand noticeably tingling (Compared to right). Feels like left inner leg is also tingling. No noticeable cerebral irritation. Seems like tilting the head slightly left to push off the right side of the neck/back (To eliminate the sharp pain/ache in my right ear) noticeably affected / reduced the tingling sensation in my left hand (Though, some tingling is still present).
3:18 a.m. BP - 128/66 @ 60BPM ; spirometer = 6.4L VC (FEV1, PEF is 'normal', i.e., 4.94,11.72, or 104%, 113%. These numbers don't change much, normally.)
Looking at the heart-rate, looks like I never really entered "sleep time". That's a bummer, because I'm trying to push back my bedtime towards the direction of 12:00 p.m., lol.
3:48 a.m. - Laid down and noticed the entire left side (left side from head to toe) tingling spontaneously pick up. I was checking my neck and spine for irritation, didn't feel much except for at C6, most noticeable at the right of C6, and so I pressed on the right side of C6 and the entire left side tingling noticeably increased. Don't understand this. I would think if I were compressing the vertebral artery, I would get dizziness and/or other visual affects, not left side tingling. That suggests that C6 might be compressing the spinal cord or some such.
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Neurology/Facial-Tingling-with-Bulging-C6-C7/show/297675#post_answer_header
Update: 10:38 a.m., 9/9/2016 - 116/58 @ 55 BPM ; spirometer - 6.53L (112%), normal FEV1 and PEF (105%, 107%) [more accurate heart rate at 11:07 - 62 BPM]
Went to sleep sometime around 5, found myself being pulled out from my slumber at 7:30; had that characteristic feeling like something was going to happpen just like that one time I woke and had pain radiating down my left tricep into the pinky and fourth finger (And sudden lower back pain). Quickly ate some spinach, drank some water and laid back in bed. About 3 minutes later, I noticed a pickup in the tingling in my left hand, and a more widespread burning sensation in my neck (Not just the base of the neck) crescendoed along with an burning sensation in my chest, along with an increasingly strong heart rate (Felt like it was speeding up, maybe to 90 BPM). Turning over to the therapy position didn't head it off, lasted about a minute. Didn't notice the chest pain while laying in the therapy position. Just pressed on my upper rib, felt a 'pushing sensation' just left of my midback that lasted for a second. Seemed to be just left of the midback vertebra that's been traditionally bugged (It's right next to the heart and it has a noticeable gap between it and the neighboring vertebra above it; that gap seems to feel irritated at times.) Have a lingering left jaw burning sensation at times sitting here. I didn't take vitals at 7:30 because I felt like I just needed sleep, lol.
Anyway, I'm starting priming and painting today. Yay.
Update: 12:20 p.m., had my cocoa, along with an apple, 5 figs and a mozarella cheese and then some 600 mg of sodium (guessing) and after I ate the salt, I felt 'more awake' and I also started feeling somewhat lightheaded.
12:20 p.m. BP - 123/58 @ 69 BPM ; VC = 6.54L (112%), normal FEV1, PEF (105%,107%)
1:00 p.m. BP - 116/59 @ 67 BPM; VC = 6.84L (117%), normal FEV1, PEF (107%,113%) - I'm took this measurement because I was still feeling 'lighthead' after doing shipping. I initially got a low vital capacity while sitting (5.5L), so I stood up and could feel some underlying anxiety, so I told myself to calm down, which I could feel the difference, and retook in 10 seconds, and VC shot upto 6.84L. I then took it again while sitting down and it was at 6.88L. Somehow, anxiety seems to significantly affect VC. And, I still feel a little weird in this less anxious state, but I don't feel lightheaded anymore. This suggests that ingesting the free-standing salt made me anxious, which is an understandable trigger.
6:24 p.m. BP - 130/57 @ 60 BPM - 6.6L VC, FEV,PFC normal - Coming back from the auto store getting more paint, I was thinking through the move down to Texas and thought about the transition, and I felt a definite change in mood. At the moment I thought about it, it felt like I lost my breath for a second (More accuratley, a feeling like some air was being pushed out of my lungs without my prompting), and I noticed I've coughed like 4 times in the past 10 minutes. When I thought about it, I felt 'noticeably calmer'. But, the feeling of air being pushed out and my blood pressure at the moment... I don't know... but, I guess a higher blood pressure isn't too unexpected when walking around, going places and interacting with store employees. Seems like I'm noticing a barely noticeable tingling in my left hand, could definitely be related to the impact of driving on my neck (established trigger for first four finger tingling).
6:42 p.m. BP - 121/61 @ 58 BPM - 6.04L VC, FEV = 126% (Wow, high), PEF = 114%. Just applied the additional primer to fill in the gaps. I'll be continuing the paint part tomorrow, sun is down. The coughing stopped past those 4-5 coughs. The 'air being pushed out' sensation was preceding by noticeable acidity in my breath, so 'Acid Reflux' is a good guess. It's interesting how a higher systolic tends to correspond with a lower diastolic - it's like the 'pulse pressure' increases. I wonder what mechanism is behind that?
7:59 p.m. - Just starting running a 20 minute jog, but my left knee started really hurting and I started realizing that the somewhat uneven soil might be behind it, so I stopped at 7:54 about 8 minutes after I began. I noticed the heart rate wasn't nearly as volatile today (Got sufficient quality sleep), and my average jogging HR was in the 155 BPM range mostly, instead of 170 like yesterday.
Peak heart rate = 160.
HR after 1 minute of rest = 105.
Resting HR at 8:04 (10 min) = 78.
Resting HR at 8:20 (whoops) = 60.
Looks like I passed the recovery heart rate test with flying colors. But, I only exercised for 8 minutes, so hardly valid.
I speculate on the lack of quality sleep yesterday. One part of me wants to blame the pillow, but another part can't forget the role of the doctor just 'giving up on me' because I was moving to a state he disdained. His accusations were ridiculous in my opinion; "Dude, they have droughts, shootings and ... you just don't want to move there.". I'm like, is this guy kidding me? I lived there when I was in my formative years (ages 5-13) and my experiences definitely didn't square away with his perception of the state. Granted, I lived in military neighborhoods which have a minimum level of standard that can definitely be higher than many civilian neighborhoods, but there were plenty of nice neighborhoods that I recalled when I lived there, and there are plenty of nice neigborhoods in dallas/fort-worth/houston. IMO, there's fewer 'nice neighborhoods' in places like Austin, TX but that's largely because (At least when I last visited) it's a young person's town - the average age is 25. The average 25 year old can only afford so much house compared to the 35/40 year olds in dallas and houston neighborhoods. But don't get me wrong, even though the neighborhoods aren't nearly as well off as some of Houstons/Dallas's, some of Austin's neighorhoods don't lack in charm. I just thought it was funny he was claiming 'austin is a great place', when I /highly/ have my doubts he's ever been there. And, I doubt he's ever been to Dallas/Houston, either. I think he's just reflecting the opinions of online articles, which tends to be naturally tech-centric, and many tech companies are migrating to Round Rock, TX, so of course Austin gets more coverage than Houston/Dallas, but that doesn't mean it's any better. Nuh uh. (However, based on the land values near the Round Rock region, I suspect they have some pretty nice neighborhoods up that way. I've never been in the Round Rock region.)
Anyway, I've been noticing my right pinky/fourth finger have been consistently 'bugged' or something, ever since a couple of days ago. I can't tell what kind of sensation I'm getting in them at the moment, but it's definitely there, almost constantly.
Update: 11:27 - 109/60 @ 59 BPM - 5.24L first measure sitting, 5.5L second measure standing, 6.2L third measure standing, 6.22L fourth measure standing, FEV1 100%, PEF 108%
Just got back from extensive sitting and looking down, might have something to do with the low initial VC. Let's retake the blood pressure now.
113/60 @ 55 BPM (Hand measured 57 BPM)
Anyway, got done watching a movie, felt incredibly relaxed. 109/60 is just about 'the ideal' blood pressure judging from the Kuna's average blood pressure (110/60), and they live the island life with no problems seeing stars and the milky way at night.
Kept seeing an 'O' emerging in my closed eyes. At first I questioned if I just saw a D, because I would immediately think that meant "death", not what I want to see, lol, but since it's O, I'll assume oxygen. Coincidentally, my VC was initially quite low. I wonder if this is a sign? Perhaps I have similarly low oxygen at night and that's what's causing some of these more severe episodes. I wonder what might be causing the low oxygen? Perhaps it's the forward pushing posture of the bed, similar to me bending forward to see my feet; perhaps it's other more serious issues.
Boy, yawning a lot. Quite the tension in my jaw. Google is telling me that would be due to stress/anxiety. Yep, kind of seems right. Would explain both. My dog would yawn a lot when feeling stressed. Now that I've told myself to stop being stressed, the yawning generally disappeared. I seem to be good at stressing myself out, lol. Not an enviable talent, I assure you, lol.
I think back to the time I was operating my business. Thoughts like these generally didn't enter my frame of awareness. And, I was chugging away, day by day. It was actually pretty easy. Now that 2/3rds of my business disappeared, I need to regroup. It's been difficult coming up with tangible plans with all of these distractions (Health concerns, Preparing for moving). After I paint my hood tomorrow, then I can focus on coming up with tangible plans and starting the selling of everything and ascertaining all my financial resources. I just hope that tonight/tomorrow-morning doesn't give me anything particularly significant to worry about. And if it does, hopefully I can either explain it away due to some ultimately minor health cause, or it's just incredibly minor and easily stoppable. Those ones I like, lol. Granted, I would much prefer not dealing with anything, but if I'm forced to deal with /something/ due to whatever reason (And that seems to be the trend, lately), I like it when it's relatively minor and quickly stoppable.
Planning the future generally seems to lift my mood. I guess that's because it gives me something to look forward to and that gives me hope. And hope is generally uplifting. I should probably focus on that more, planning the future. If my problems are largely based on anxiety/stressing-myself-out, or if they are simply making a situation/event far more worse than it should be, then I should be doing what seems to allay it. Planning for the future, making concrete, optimistic, uplifting, jump out the window and freaking hope you fly and then you take off like superman because you knew you would, kind of plans. (I stole that idea from someone, lol.)
UPDATE: 12:26 a.m. - Trying to get a steady read on my vital capacity, doesn't seem like it wants to settle. Keeps jumping anywhere from 5.3L to 6L. Doesn't seem like neck position has a solid connection with VC. Varies all over the place regardless of neck position.
12:26 a.m. BP - 118/58 @ 56 - Possibly anxiety. Seems like anxiety tends to be more volatile towards the twilight and early morning hours. It's especially volatile in the 1-3 hours sleep region, if I happen to ever wake up in that region. That's why I partially think that some of these waking up from 2.5 hour sleep episodes are probably caused/amplified by anxiety, or might just be exacerbating neck phenomena. Or some such. I wasn't really concerned with this morning's episode because, even though it wasn't stoppable, the fact it was beating faster/harder and without significant chest pain, told me that it was likely caused by cortisol/adrenaline. That's just what it does - If it's beating faster and it's subdued, that worries me a little more, since adrenaline isn't known to cause a subdued beat and it's what I might expect more of ischemia. You deprive a muscle of bloodflow, it becomes weaker. And, especially if it's 'sudden', as it seemed to be that one night. But, the chance of an ischemic event happening in the midst of 95+% cervical/adrenaline episodes at my age seems kind of unlikely - I would assume they're all pretty much the same in origin especially since all episodes have had tons of overlapping characteristics, and if 95% are known to be cervical, then there's a very good chance it's also cervical despite it's unique characteristics. (Well, unless those unique characteristics are definitely identifiable as something else.)
1:45 a.m. BP - 121/73 @ 56 BPM - Laying in bed, knowing I'm not really falling asleep, but for some reason, I feel like I'm getting pretty confused. Kind of weird feeling when I'm feeling so awake. I notice the pain in my midback, so I lay on the ground thinking maybe that's acting up. Anyway, based on my BP, it appears like it's probably anxiety. I wish I would fall asleep earlier. Turning off all the lights in trying to help that out just makes me anxious, especially since it seems like I'm not falling asleep at all. In fact, it kind of seems like the time I fall asleep is getting later and later, despite my best efforts. Anyway, I know this computer is not helping, but jeez - that feeling of confusion while being wide awake while laying down feels somewhat concerning. I see that "O" in my vision and I'm thinking it'd be kind of cool to have an oximeter to check my oxygen levels, maybe that's what's behind the confusion while laying on my back, and it's not my midback. Been trying to find it, can't find it. Seems like it got lost the day they returned. Then again, maybe it's my neck.
4:42 - 125/49 @ 62 BPM; 5.6L VC - suddenly awoke from my 2 hour nap, immediately took the therapy position for 60 secs. Vitals taken immediately after.
5:03 - 118/59 @ 55 BPM; 6.27L VC - took the therapy position for another 15 minutes or so. Getting sleepy. Nothing notable. Midback was completely painless, it started paining a little about 10 minutes in. Pins and needles in right and then left hand started, lasted for about 20-30 secs each.
11:23 a.m. - 9/10/2016 - 117/54 @ 52 BPM; 6.42 L VC, normal FEV/PEF(105%,106%) - Yesterday night was a little uneventful. Other than the choppy sleep after 5, and other then feeling of a left burning chest and left burning neck at 7 and left arm bicep tingling/sensations after catching myself sleeping on my right, and the fact I'm feeling really tired right now as if I didn't get enough quality sleep - nothing particularly 'eventful'.
11:46 a.m. - 116/58 @ 56 BPM; 6.39 L VC, normal FEV1/PEF(103%,107%). Just ate an apple, some leftover tomato rice, string cheese and other goodies. Need to fill up, the last time I ate was effectively 14 hours ago.
12:33 p.m. - 134/65 @ 72 BPM; 6.66 L VC, normal DEV1/PEF(105%,111%). Ate a serving of prunes and a serving of rains along with some spinach (Vitamin C), and then head out to paint the hood. Got the first coat on, waiting for the second coat. I'm thinking I'm more skilled with a paintbrush than with spray paint; with a paintbrush, I can pretty easily blend the applied paint to create a nice even color, but spray paint, I feel like I'm helplessly watching some areas get more paint than others, and then trying to fill in the gaps with additional paint which seems like a half-assed blending solution, lol. Anyway, I'm noticing this duplicolor silver is not quite the same silver as on my truck, lol. Oh well, we'll see how it turns out, and will determine if more paint-layers need to go on later, lol.
12:54 p.m. - 9/10/2016 - done applying what I could of the second layer before the spray can started refusing to spray in the tilted position. So far, it doesn't really look that good (I can see the sanded scratches on the primer underneath the paint; I'm starting to think that it would've been best to apply the paint coat ontop of the primer 30 minutes without sanding it first, lol.), BUT, it definitely looks TONS BETTER than the rusty surface it replaced. Now my main concern is how it fits into the entire color scheme. It looks like it could be OK, but it also looks like it could look really gawdy, like I just stole the hood off a different colored truck. I'll have to remove the newspaper an hour from now and see.
Anyway, I'm being more aggressive with the 'lights out' rule at night. I remember when the electricity went out for an entire week, how the utter darkness of the night suddenly pushed back my sleep time to 12 PM within 2 days, I'm trying to replicate that affect. Not only am I turning off the hallway lights and bedroom, but I also completely turned off the bathroom light and stairway lights to create a /completely/ dark environment. I'm also covering up the nightlights a bit more.
Anyway, it was interesting how all the light sources inside the house (monitor, lights, windows, etc.) looked like a deep orange coming back from outside. It looks okay now, but I suspect the affect lasted for a couple of minutes, definitely at least a minute.
4:51 P.M. just came back from the store getting the colors to repaint with. While making my chocolate, I noticed myself being noticeably more confused than normal, impulsively grabbing for things I didn't need. My midback was hurting earlier, probably from the bumpy car ride. Anyway, just checking vitals.
126/59 @ 62 BPM - 6.4L VC, normal FEV, PFC
Heightened systolic suggests anxiety, maybe caused by my back/neck. Maybe caused by all the interactions during my visits to the stores. I also ate rice 2 hours ago.
9:50 P.M. - 127/62 @ 62 BPM; 6.41 L VC, FEV1 PFC normal (102%,111%) - Feeling just fine. Pretty calm actually. I've been out of exercise for about two days now, I don't think the 8 minute run yesterday counts - I ate at 8:10 p.m., could explain the heightened systolic. I've been thinking that while these blood pressure and spirometric measurements are neat and everything, I really think the kind of insight I need is bloodflow rate measurement. Because, while blood pressure looks 'normal and everything', it's very possible there's a significant decrease in local bloodflow which may explain phenomena like confusion. Like, my blood pressure looks normal, but the pulse strength in my carotids feel relatively weak compared to other people I know, so I would think measuring blood flow rates in the carotids could be more telling. Appears like I could do that with doppler ultrasound; I'm not sure if color doppler is necessary.
It's one of those things... in an ideal world, what kind of parameters would I want to know? Blood pressure can provide some insight, but bloodflow rates and oxygen saturation are really what you want to know (Well, along with blood sugar levels), because those two/three factors are what determines how much energy/nutrients/oxygen parts of the body are getting and, subsequently, how well they are predicted to be performing. If there's a significant decrease in local blood flow rates in the carotids, that'd be far more explanatory of confusion than an individually heightened systolic. (And, of course, if there's decreased blood flow in the carotids, that leads to next question; what's causing that? Cardiac output lower? Why? Is blood reduced due to a combination of plaque at the carotid bifurcation and anxiety-based vasoconstriction? And, much of that can be answered with Doppler.)
Lol. "Your message contains 60012 characters. The maximum number of allowed characters is 60000.". Time for a new post, lol.
marty
10 MW
Suspect ya might be possessed by demons or other spiritual entities?
Please see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demonic_possession
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_possession
and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exorcism
How to perform an exorcism? Look at the internet
https://www.google.com/#q=how+to+perform+an+exorcism
Please see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demonic_possession
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_possession
and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exorcism
How to perform an exorcism? Look at the internet
https://www.google.com/#q=how+to+perform+an+exorcism
Dauntless
100 TW
Almost a day and a half with no symptoms posted. Think he checked out?
marty
10 MW
Swbluto's still with us. This post:Dauntless said:Almost a day and a half with no symptoms posted. Think he checked out?
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=82223&start=175#p1220346
Edited 41 times in total.
Last edited by swbluto on Thu Sep 08, 2016 5:50 pm, edited 41 times in total. View post history.
Hang in there Swbluto. Have no fear. Dr Marty here.
Dauntless
100 TW
By the time I get here to read this, it's up to 44 times. I wonder if OCS can cause any of his symptoms.
nutnspecial
10 MW
Uhhh, wtf that isn't some digital demonic activity though, I hope?
(was just watching 'friend request' 2016)
(was just watching 'friend request' 2016)
Dauntless
100 TW
nutspecial said:Uhhh, wtf that isn't some digital demonic activity though, I hope?
(was just watching 'friend request' 2016)
I could probably have a great response to that if I could just make some sense of it. I feel an opportunity has been lost.
nutnspecial
10 MW
Go in all directions you were thinking daunty, I'm really curious now 
Btw that pic above :lol: I'm sure bluto doesn't take too much offense and has to also admit that's a good one lol Peace bro's, try not to die, (or get possessed). Lol possession. Just like crazy or sick, you're never any more than you wanna be.
Btw that pic above :lol: I'm sure bluto doesn't take too much offense and has to also admit that's a good one lol
Peace bro's, try not to die, (or get possessed). Lol possession. Just like crazy or sick, you're never any more than you wanna be.
Dauntless
100 TW
Oh, the PICTURE! I thought you meant him editing 3-4 times every hour was digital possession or something. OCS = Obsessive Compulsive Symptoms. Maybe I should have said OCRD. (Related Disorder.) the idea being that he is not OCD but has a comorbidity. (Maiking an edit of my own, I'll point out that he was at 55 when I opened the post and started the response, he's at 60 by the time I make the edit.)
Maybe you were thinking OCS referred to the pic. This was for the woman being out cold, but the flash in the others' eyes was a nice touch considering the previous pic. I wasn't trying to hint that there was evil afoot from it.
I figure Bluto does all this for the attention. He might be as crazy as he seems online, but he's still putting on an act. One of the concepts I throw out that surprises people is that faking mental illness is in fact mental illness. It's like they feel they're in control if they get you believing they're crazy the way they want you believing they're crazy. Sounds crazy, right? Well you are right, it is. But not crazy the way they'll make you think it is.
Maybe you were thinking OCS referred to the pic. This was for the woman being out cold, but the flash in the others' eyes was a nice touch considering the previous pic. I wasn't trying to hint that there was evil afoot from it.
I figure Bluto does all this for the attention. He might be as crazy as he seems online, but he's still putting on an act. One of the concepts I throw out that surprises people is that faking mental illness is in fact mental illness. It's like they feel they're in control if they get you believing they're crazy the way they want you believing they're crazy. Sounds crazy, right? Well you are right, it is. But not crazy the way they'll make you think it is.
Dauntless
100 TW
So it was becoming disturbing again because it had been more than an hour since he'd made an edit. I decided to look to see if there's a pattern to the edits; as the page of edits opened it brought a new edit that wasn't on the original, so looks like he's okay again. (Or, depending on the usage of 'O.K. . . .')
So I was thinking two things:
1) Nobody is going to even know to read those edits.
2) Hillary is threatening to "Go to WAR. . . ." (Her words) against people who make a living the way you're trying to, without a job. Terribly considerate of her, eh? You might want to think about that if that's what you're buying property for. If Hillary should accidentally become president afterall. . . .
So I was thinking two things:
1) Nobody is going to even know to read those edits.
2) Hillary is threatening to "Go to WAR. . . ." (Her words) against people who make a living the way you're trying to, without a job. Terribly considerate of her, eh? You might want to think about that if that's what you're buying property for. If Hillary should accidentally become president afterall. . . .
Adverse Effects
10 W
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2016
- Messages
- 73
i am just wondering if he is delusional
he must be to think we even care to read all his crap (including the ones he has to wipe his @$$ after)
he must be to think we even care to read all his crap (including the ones he has to wipe his @$$ after)
Dauntless
100 TW
Or perhaps he enjoys being made fun of. Some people do, including some of the most egotistical people I've known.
Or maybe he's dark matter, which is in crisis right now. http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/07/opinions/dark-matter-analysis-lincoln/index.html If he's NOT dark matter himself, maybe he could turn his attention to something more productive and help dark matter in these troubling times.
Or maybe he's dark matter, which is in crisis right now. http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/07/opinions/dark-matter-analysis-lincoln/index.html If he's NOT dark matter himself, maybe he could turn his attention to something more productive and help dark matter in these troubling times.
nutnspecial
10 MW
"gravitons" too . . . not to be confused with 'gravity': molecular weight, bouancy, and density.
That end of science appears to be WILD guessing and conjecture at worst. At best, 'educated' guesses passed off as nearly absolute. Not bashing it, just hope we continue moving ahead, unafraid to rethink anything/everything. I'm bored with the lame presuppositions made to excuse the stalemate between classical and quantum.
That end of science appears to be WILD guessing and conjecture at worst. At best, 'educated' guesses passed off as nearly absolute. Not bashing it, just hope we continue moving ahead, unafraid to rethink anything/everything. I'm bored with the lame presuppositions made to excuse the stalemate between classical and quantum.
Continued from the last post. Got that "Maximum of 60000 characters" message, lol.
Update: 9/10/2016 - 10:33 p.m. - 118/55 @ 57 BPM. 5.6L VC, FEV1, PEF normal (103%,114%) - Was just outside looking at stars. Saw a shooting star right after I looked up. Thinking about the property. The nearest neighbor is 300 feet away (Compares to the school yard building in the distance). Everyone's lights, if they're running any, are blocked by the surrounding forest. Streetlights aren't a huge issue in this area, I'm guessing. The nearest 'serious suburbs'(Not just scattered houses on 5 acre plots) are some 20 miles away. My view of the milky way galaxy and the stars of the night sky will be almost completely unimpeded. At the same time, I'll have access to the beach. I'm thinking seagulls and crashing waves. There just /has/ to be seagulls somewhere, lol. Where-ever they are, I will find them! I can't say I have that luxury where I currently live
. The only place where one can find seagulls here is at the local high-school's parking lot during schooldays (Kids litter the lots with food), and it's just not right not seeing them next to the ocean, lol. And world-class malls, neighborhoods, and being able to find almost everything I'm looking for will be kind of awesome. If I want shipping containers, for whatever reason (I can't immediately see why I would want one), they're like 50 miles away! And flights, by virtue of not being a 'spoke' city but by being a major 'hub' city, are almost by default about $150-250 cheaper than where I currently live. That makes the idea of flying somewhere for the weekend much more appealing. For example, major conventions in San Francisco or some such. And, my location is effectively on a dead-end so traffic should be non-existent. No traffic, no artificial lights, this is like 'being one with nature' perfection with all the amenities of a world-class port city. And the highs in the coldest parts of the year are 60 degrees! Wow, amazing! It's actually kind of warm, lol. That's like the highs in my current city like RIGHT NOW, lol. Some might claim an inferior 'culture' compared to, say, Seattle but I've lived in a southern port towns, and they definitely have really nice areas, and I don't doubt Houston is the same way. I would say that's probably especially true of Houston. Being fairly close to the french-centric area around of New Orleans, I don't doubt at least a few areas of Houston have that french/coastal refinement.
Really, the biggest issue will be mosquitos. I'll have to figure out the most satisfying setup for insect exclusion zones, lol.
Update: 8:07 - 118/68 @ 48 BPM 9/11/2016 - Feeling some chest tight - Feeling a little lightheaded - Not really staying asleep - Heart rate seems to be staying a bit low - Be kind of nice to have my ECG meter right now. I did turn off the lights a little earlier than normal (12 PM) but I doubt I actually fell asleep at 1 and woke at 6, getting a full 5 hours. So tried going back to sleep, don't really think I was asleep, and woke up feeling like this. Ate more than enough yesterday. Midback feels especially irritated, and T1-T3 definitely feels irritated more than normal
Update: 8:20 a.m. - Upto 50 BPM.
Update: 8:49 a.m. - ate 10 figs about 15 mins ago - Upto 56 BPM - Seemed like pushing in on my midback helped in relieving the aura of pain in the mid-to-upper-spine, and specifically around the bugged middle vertebra (The one furthest back in the 's curve'). And now I'm feeling a little sleepy.
Update: 9:18 a.m. - Upto 63 BPM.
Update: 10:54 a.m. - Took a nap - 118/61 @ 64 BPM. - Feeling a little tired as if I didn't really much quality sleep, but doing OK. Continuing on with the final paint.
Update: 1:13 p.m. - 121/59 @ 69 BPM - ate 50g carbs of popcorn about 45 minutes ago, along with broccoli. That pain right in the midback vertebra is unyielding - seems like it's centered around one particular vertebra, both top and bottom of the vertebra are palpably pained. I can definitely feel the tiredness in my eyes when closing them. I'm thinking I might need to go for a run. Might help out the back. Will most likely help out the tiredness. Might help out both for the same underlying reason.
I might just take the truck up there. The track is close enough, but far enough away to dissuade walking there.
FInished the paint job - it looks pretty darn good. I think the darkness in the "storm grey" color helps mask the lines and variation between the dark/lighter areas, something that bright silver doesn't seem to naturally do as well, lol.
Also, I think I've figured out the mystery of the "O" mind's eye figures. I was on the laptop, and closed my eyes, and saw a distinctive "laptop outline" shape in much the same color/form as the "O" i keep seeing when measuring my blood pressure. I was measuring my blood pressure, and I closed my eyes and saw the 'O' and immediately realized I was seeing the shape of the blood pressure meter, lol. Oh, that's so funny, methinking it had some special significance, lol.
That does seem quite puzzling, however, I kept seeing a flashing "C" followed by a flashing "O" about 3 years ago. And, my encounters with the Nuke CO were pretty significant. That would seem to be a bit unusual.
Update: 5:00 PM 9/11/2016 - - Went for a 20 minute jog starting at 4:04, finished at 4:25.
peak = 165 (Actually 180, but that's before I found the "target heart rate" pace.)
1 minute = 105
10 minute = 79
30 minute = 72
Anyway, during the run, I found it exceptionally easy to achieve the target heart rate. In fact, it almost seemed too easy. It seemed maintaining 160 BPM required jogging at 3mph. Considering I did 7 laps in about 20.5 minutes, that would make it more accurately (1.75mile) / (20.5/60) = 5.121 mph. Oh, well, it SEEMED SLOW, lol. I think the later half was probably actually closer to 4.5 mph, since I was a bit speedier the first 3 laps until I saw my heart rate go to 180, and I was trying to key in the 'target heart rate' pace (~4.5 mph produced 160 BPM on average).
It does seem consistent with my hilly grass runs, since I usually have to keep my jogging below 3-4 mph to keep my HR below 170 BPM when jogging on grassy terrain.
While running the faster pace during the first 3 laps (maybe 6.5 mph), I felt noticeable tingling in my bottom lips.
Similar Issue.
Huh, I'm pretty sure my carotids were pounding during my run and I didn't notice myself getting dizzy/confused/etc.; I did get a small headache at the very beginning, but that quickly wore off.
Anyway, it's interesting this guy mentions this, because the firefighter asked me, "Does it feel like your lips are tingling?" as if to confirm I was having some kind of cardio problem. Considering this 50-something firefighter probably has seen his share of heart attack victims in his lifetime, and they definitely ask "What are your symptoms?" and take your EKG, I'm sure he has enough real world experience to establish definitive trends. And tingling lips is most likely one of them.
it's very possible that this lips tingling sensation indicates lack of sufficient coronary artery blood flow, causing a weakening of the heart muscle, and thus insufficient cardio output (Bloodflow output) to meet demands.
Anyway, my head kept getting that uncomfortable 'sickening' feeling, I'm not sure the cause.
Anyway, I need to look up some charts for comparison. I wonder if a 4.5 mph jog is normally expected to produce 160BPM at my age?
Hmmm... interesting, VO2 max corresponds to 175BPM-185BPM, I was easily achieving that with 7 mph or thereabouts.
7 mph corresponds to, http://www.topendsports.com/weight-loss/energy-met.htm, around 12 METS
Well, here's another research paper. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2826719/
It looks like their criteria is >= 10 METs and lower than < 85% max HR for very low incidence of ischemia.
Considering a 4.5 mph jog was achieving 85% max HR, that corresponds to 6 METS according to the topendsports METs chart.
That's pretty significant, since I was a top 10% runner in my class about a year ago, all of whom must meet minimum standards which is fairly higher than the civilian norms.
Yep, I would definitely think I'm a qualified candidate for an exercise stress test. And, my intuition about this entire thing has probably not been wrong.
6:33 p.m. - 9/11/2016 - 121/60 @ 70 BPM - ate about a cup of rice(Wet)[50 grams of carbs] about an hour ago.
Other sources suggest that 3-6 METs is 'moderate intensity', and 'moderate intensity' corresponds to 50%-70% of HRmax. That implies 6 METs(4.5 mph jog) should correspond to 70% of HRmax, or 133. It was corresponding to about a HR of 160 in my case and this doesn't seem to be an 'abnormally high value' for me based on my HR trends when jogging on hilly grassy terrain. So, yes, more evidence I'm not close to attaining the METs/HR norms for my age when jogging. That's more support for the "I could use a stress test" camp.
Update: Around 9 p.m., I was in bed and the familiar numbness in my left hand was starting up and I started feeling like I hadn't slept in 1000 nights or some such (Granted, I was in the last half of the wine inebriation at this point - maybe that's it.). I started feeling slightly nauseous here and there, and just generally not feeling good. Anyway, about 10-20 minutes before that, I drank some red wine, ate some fish and had some herbed up rice, and so I was massaging and then I got up and about 20 minutes later - Wow, I feel just fine. I feel some slight sleepiness in my eyes, but definitely not the "I hadn't slept in 1000 nights" tiredness. Anyway, I started thinking that massaging my rib/back muscles might aid in sleep (Since they felt pretty sore, and massaging them definitely seemed to trigger the immense sleepiness.), so I'm going to start doing that. Anyway, I drank the red wine because someone else commented she never gets numb arms when she drinks wine with her dinner, so I thought that was a good sign that red wine isn't just some substance with 'largely hypothetical benefits'. I used to regularly drink red wine because it was a putative source of the french's relatively good health, and I generally admire French culture. Especially their history.
Anyway, I noticed that this heart rate monitor I'm wearing wasn't tracking my HR accurately when at rest. I suspect that's because my pulse was too weak earlier today. It was showing flareups upto 120 BPM, but I started measuring and my pulse was actually 76 BPM, like expected. I think it becomes more accurate when I'm exercising, because my pulse is stronger. It was usually accurate based on quick checks when I was exercising (It was measuring 180, and I was generally getting around 3 beats per second). I don't want to read too much into this, because it very well could be that this device wasn't necessarily designed to measure 'resting pulse rates' accurately for 98+% of the population, since it's designed for tracking exercise. It measures pulse rates via infrared through the wrist, which seems like it'd be inherently less sensitive than metallic chest electrodes.
Anyway, I've thought that usually when people start out, they start fairly alive and active. Then when they get closer to death, they generally start slowing down and being less active. Sleeping more. More fatigued. And then somewhere along the way, they breath their last. Essentially becoming more and more like death by being less alive/active, until finally they succumb to the eternal slumber. Well, that's probably true of heart failure and cancer which seems like what most americans eventually succumb to (Tellingly, the vast majority of the Kuna succumb to neither. Of course, that does leave open the question of what do they mostly succumb to?). That's probably not true of hemorrhages, ruptured aneurysms and 'bleeding to death' kind of deaths. This idea seems confirmed by the outcomes of the depressed; being a disorder characterized by essentially by 'being less alive'/'being more like death' (They sleep and lay around significantly more than the average person), eventually that sets them up for an apparently 4x increased risk of cardiovascular death. In the context of American society, that is a pretty significant risk modifier.
10:35 P.M. - 9/11/2016 - 124/62 @ 64 BPM. 6.34L VC, FEV1,PFC normal (104%,107%) - Feeling a little gloomy.
I think I need get back into doing the soccer ball sprints. I'm not sure if it was the sprints, or the fact I was chasing a soccer ball (Engaging one of life's fundamentally satisfying instincts - the chase instinct.), or maybe it was because I had thought my issues were entirely cervical/spinal at the time which is why I've been off the blood thinners for the last 3 days. My systolic blood pressure numbers were notably better than (Well, at least I think they were 'better'. It's unknown whether lower is truly 'better', since too low seems to be associated with its own undesireable phenomena. My mood was definitely chipper.)
I thought maybe I was fooling myself with how grand this property was. I mean, all of its putative benefits are true. I wasn't lying. But, it definitely has downsides, at least most people would normally think that. It doesn't really seem like my neighbors are close enough to really have a sense of 'neighborhood', but 'the neighbors' that one sees when heading out somewhere don't look very appealing. I think most of them are old folks living on social security/disability, and they probably found this property through very similar means as I. Granted, perhaps they're native texans, but perhaps they were like me.
They were thinking about joining quartzsite for the winter because that just sounds kind of awesome. But then late spring comes, and quartzsite finishes, and then the question becomes "Now where?". The so-called 'summertime long term living areas', while situated in quite a nice place (Don't get me wrong, Yellowstone is pretty cool), is like 200+ miles from the nearest big city and at least 50 miles from a standard city. Don't forget the 2 mile climbs getting to and from that city; that'll eat into the gas bill. And then you have places like New Mexico, which is also kind of cool, but the idea of hopping every 2 weeks and traveling who knows how many miles to get frequent business done (Mail deliveries, groceries,etc.) is just very inefficient. You might as well rent a $200/month trailer park spot with the rest of the druggies; that will alone pay for itself in terms of gas savings for near daily deliveries. After a while, they realized, "This is crazy" and decided to buy land and just set up there. And this particular area is pretty darn neat. Awesome winter climate, awesome city, awesome economics involved in that city (cheap flights, can find almost anything you want, etc.), awesome neigbhorhoods with integrated bike paths (Masterplanned communities), awesome proximity to the beach, awesome closeness to the French Quarter, awesome proximity to Austin, TX, awesome fruit/vegetable growing potential, just plain awesome all around.
11:06 - 126/61 @ 62 BPM; 6.22L VC, normal FEV1, PEF (105%,112%) - Feeling a bit more upbeat than the earlier measurement. Feeling a little bit nauseous and that familiar subtle 'left spinal' phenomena, hard to tell what it is exactly. Feels like it's a sensation involving the muscles/spine/ribs/nerves on the left side or some such.
Anyway, the paint job on my truck is done. Yep, it looks pretty darn good. The "sparkly dark grey" just looks kind of awesome, and the color scheme fits.
11:44 Reading up on pulse pressure. Notice my pulse pressure has been kind of consistently high lately. It seems like my pulse pressure was a bit lower (40-50) when I was doing sprints, instead of target heart rate jogging. I highly suspect that having 'sore muscles' (Especially in the largest muscle groups, like the legs), provides a proportional constant drain on blood glucose, keeping pulse pressure in check. It might also have other theoretical benefits through other pathways I'm unaware of (Possibly affects nitric oxide production). I'm suspecting that because I notice my legs aren't really sore with the moderate jogging, but yet I hypothetically worked out 'nearly just as much'(In terms of energy output), but yet, it's not really reflecting in my blood pressure stats (Pulse pressure) and general feeling of well-being. People back in the old days, and modern societies who do physical labor, "work hard" and I can guarantee they consistently had sore muscles of some sort. (Well, either they had sore muscles needing blood glucose for repair, or they had huge muscles that generally demanded higher levels of blood glucose to sustain them.) They didn't do the equivalent to moderate jogging for 20 minutes, lol.
Anyway, I do suspect a link between pulse pressure and blood glucose. The fact that anxiety, which increases blood glucose through cortisol production, increases pulse pressure in addition to the fact that diabetes typically corresponds to heightened pulse pressure, suggests this. Having a drain on blood glucose throughout day, via worked out muscles needing glucose for repair, is key, methinks.
Anyway, yep, I'm doing sprints first thing in the morning. Probably some pushups to go along with it.
Anyway, I forget to mention, I keep getting reminders I probably had a TIA of some sort. As inexplicable as the TIA event seems, under times of stress usually during the most vulnerable parts of the day, I've noticed I do get a distinctive "right lobe" phenomena I've never really noticed before the TIA event (Doesn't mean it never happened, I never noticed it before.), but I definitely started noticing afterwards. I'm not talking about "right side of my head", or "right temple", or "right side of my face", but literally a very distinctive inside my head / "The right lobe" kind of phenomena. Today, it was feeling of some pressure that lasted for about 2 seconds.
12:59 a.m. - 9/12/2016 - 105/56 @ 56 BPM - VC varying from 5.5-6.4L, random, normal FEV1,PFC - Not really feeling tired at the moment but time to turn off the lights.
7:36 a.m. - another 'pulled from my sleep' kind of things, tends to be the 'pretty eventful kind' at this minute/hour - took therapy position for 60 secs - 128/68 @ 53 BPM - 5.47L VC, FEV1, PEF normal (103%,109%)
7:53 a.m. - 15 min checkup. 110/66 @ 56 BPM. No particularly notable events at the moment. Seems like these recent low systolic values tend to happen when I think about what happened yesterday at the track [calculated accidental encounter].
8:01 a.m. - 111/56 @ 54 BPM. Just getting a collection of values at this particular time. 6.19L VC, FEV1, PFC normal (100%,107%)
10:26 a.m. - 115/60 @ 58 BPM. 5.5L VC, normal FEV1,PFC. Took a nap, feels like I've fully fulfilled my sleep requirements. My head is getting that slightly nauseous feeling and I feel hints of the lightheadedness I was feeling yesterday morning. I've learned to distrust all HR measurements on my BP meter in the last two days if it ever reads below 57. It was saying it was 50, but I personally clocked it at 58/60 at two different measurements. All particularly low HR measurements shown before 2 days ago should be taken with a grain of salt. (The 45 HR measurement during yesterday morning's lightheadedness episode was actually accurate.)
I'm going to take a few more measurements to gather more data points for this 'pulse pressure'='blood glucose' hypothesis, and then fuel up, and go for some short exercise / HR testing followed by sprints and pushups.
10:47 a.m. - 111/62 @ 54 BPM. 5.52L VC, normal FEV1, PFC.
10:55 a.m. - 112/62 @ 51 BPM. 5.44L VC, normal FEV1, PFC (101%,108%) - Feeling wide awake.
11:02 a.m. - 113/59 @ 54 BPM, 5.55L VC, normal FEV1 PEF (103%,106%) - Still feeling wide awake. Time to eat.
11:15 a.m. - Just ate an egg, carrot, some spinach followed by 1/4 cup of raisins and 2 medium sized ripe, unspotted bananas.
11:19 - 115/62 @ 51 BPM, 5.45L VC, normal FEV1, PEF (102%, 107%) - Feeling fine. Feels like I've been getting periodic tension or some kind of vague heaviness in my upper chest this morning (From front to back). Won't read too much into it, especially since the upper spine / ribs all seem somewhat irritated.
12:21 p.m. 123/59 @ 68 BPM, also had a small apple with string cheese, a large handful of pistachios, and 2 TBSP cocoa with a TBSP of blackstrap molasses about 30 minutes ago. I'm going to sit a little while, take a few more measurements, then head out for exercise. While talking about moving Houston, talking about its advantages, I could definitely tell I had a underlying sense of fear when talking about it and I felt this very distinct crescendoing phenomena in my upper chest as if I were going to have a coronary. It /definitely/ did not seem like 'Acid Reflux', 'Anxiety' or some such. It seemed to be way more significant than that. It started dissipating as I went to drank my cocoa and backed a little off the subject.
Anyway, I know that fear is definitely a trigger for heart attacks. I remember seeing a video of a black-man walking a tightrope, I believe he lost his balance and the safety wire caught him, and shortly after hanging in mid-air, he died. Can't seem to find it now. I was having some deep momentary chest pain while biking a year ago, and I landed my front wheel and whatever was happening at the time, it seemed like I was going to lose control and fall off at speed, and that unleashed some deep fear which induced the momentary mid-chest deep chest pain. Didn't really think much of it since it was temporary and that was especially scary; I figured that getting momentary chest pain during large spikes in fear was normal.
Huh, if it was related to intense fear, I'd expect it be along the lines of 'panic attack' kind of chest pains and according to mayo clinic,
That definitely wasn't a muscle contraction in my ribs. It definitely felt unmistakably deeper than that right around the mid chest.
12:34 p.m. - 9/12/2016 - 122/59 @ 66 BPM. 5.58L VC, FEV1, PEF normal (105%,102%)
12:45 p.m. - 120/59 @ 63 BPM. 6.35L VC (standing), FEV1, PEF normal (107%,110%) [For reference, almost all spirometer measurements taken in the last 2 days were sitting. I should probably just stand for all of them for standardization.]
1:56 p.m. - 134/64 @ 75 BPM; was jogging for 5 minutes at 6 mph on grassy terrain about 10 minutes ago. HR monitor wasn't accurate (Reporting 105 when it should've been 150-170), so came back to retrieve a more accurate one. Just found out, that none of the heart rate monitors really work, so monitoring heart rate activity 'in the field' is a little harder. I mean, I can stop, start my stopwatch for 10 seconds and count my pulse and then just keep on running, but that's kind of inconvenient. Will have to figure out some kind of viable protocol. The school is going to be using the field in about 15 minutes, so I'm tied up until 6 p.m.; This whole, "I want to get it finished now!" but then it gets finished at the end of the day or a day later due to some technicality is just so... uggg... feels like it's screwing up my schedule. I don't want to do anything else until it gets done, essentially. But, getting it finished by 7 p.m. is not really a huge problem.
Anyway, just got up to go put in the rice and got that familiar 'pulse' sensation in the left of my left wrist closest to the pinky very shortly after standing. For a while I thought it was likely due to the left side of C8 (Bottom nerve of C7) getting bugged, but I'm increasingly starting to think it's actually temporary cardiac insufficiency due to orthostatic hypotension or some such, and it sends a pulse along the cardiac path. Even if I had thought that, I would've normally thought it was benign phenemena, but I've been recently finding it harder to stomach that assumption based on more recent experiences and evidence. But hey, I figure, if I'm ultimately worrying about nothing, then nothing should happen, and all is good in the end - it doesn't really matter that I'm concerned in that event.
2:37 p.m. - 9/12/2016 - 109/53 @ 58 BPM
2:44 p.m. - 104/50 @ 48 BPM - kind of feels like something is happening. Tightening midback. Familiar irritation on left side of spine. Both sides of the ribs sore. An achy/sharp pain palpable in the sternum. Increasing irritation in that familiar midback vertebra. No obvious irritation in T1/T2/T3 as of 2:48. I feel wide awake at the moment.
2:52 p.m. - 114/54 @ 61 BPM - Still feel that achy midback vertebra.
3:16 p.m. - 121/61 @ 60 BPM - Just ate some tomato sauce + 1/2 cup rice(dry)[70 grams of carbs] + garlic + 3 tbsp of thyme [About 900 grams sodium]. I intended to eat a little over half of it, saving the rest for later, but it seemed like my mind decided it wanted the whole thing! lol. Anyway, I crinked back my neck and then the left side of C8 started feeling like it was burning (Possible culprit, but perhaps it's a symptom and not the cause?). Now T1/T2/T3 have that familiar 'pins and needles' sore sensation when palpated and the entire upper back starting from that midback vertebra feels sore when touched. Ribs feel slightly sore and sternum feels mildly achy when palpated. Seems like I have some kind of subtle sensation stretching from my midback vertebra, along the first four fingers left side, the entire left chest stretching all the way upto the entire left half of the head. Doesn't seem to be any tongue involvement or 'central cranial nerve involvement" ("onion phenomena, just the outer layer/i.e.,/skin), would suggest nerves. Left of back of head (Along the skin) randomly pained, suggests C2/C3 might be getting bugged. Possible tingling on the side of the inner left leg. Alternatively, I just had some kind of cardiac event which somehow induced a clot in the right carotid, which is now causing left sided tingling. I would normally expect that kind of tingling to include central features, like the tongue.
3:44 p.m. - 134/59 @ 60 BPM - Just had some fun. I was getting heavy pressure in my chest and some irritation in the midback vertebra and the right side of T1/T2/T3 had some sharp pains going through them, but I figured I just had an acidic meal so the chest pressure was probably acid reflux and just powered through it. The involvement of T1/T2/T3 may be correlated or may not be; If it had sharp pains going through them, I would assume they had direct nerve stimulation which given the circumstances, most likely was benign in origin. I did end up burping a bit when I stood up, which half-confirmed my hypothesis.
It's kind of interesting that the pain in my left inner foot was becoming pretty sore/painful shortly before the run, and during the run, but now it's not sore at all. I can feel a little soreness walking around, but definitely not /nearly/ as much earlier. The soreness definitely was felt when the foot hit the floor. If this was some kind of "sprain" or some such of the ligament, I wouldn't think it'd just happen to flare up right before running and be rather quiet at all other times. Compared to my right foot, the skin around the soreness appears to be discolored a light tan color and appears to be bulging out a little bit. It's very possible this could be localized swelling around an injured bone/ligament, or perhaps it's the start of pulmonary edema related to heart failure, and it happens to flare up right before running precisely because the heart becomes 'stressed'. It seems to correlate with other left-sided phenomena, but I don't remember which ones exactly. Palpating, it feels like the underlying bone is irritated.
Based on this diagram, it appears to be the navicular bone.
http://www.podiatrytoday.com/what-you-should-know-about-navicular-stress-fractures
Really? I sprinted like 3 times for 20 minutes each and I already have a stress fracture? 4 months to heal? This is ridiculous.
4:28 p.m. - 9/12/2016 - 117/54 @ 64 BPM - Feeling a little down. I'm not sure what I can do for exercise, now. Right before taking my pulse, I was coming up from the down position and I noticed my heart rate was quickly slowing. Might've just been the difference between standing and sitting. Anyway, I wonder if I can find my old blood pressure logs for comparison? They're in a journal somewhere.
5:01 p.m. - 116/52 @ 66 BPM - Feeling kind of tired and slightly nauseous. Couldn't immediately find my historic logs. I definitely remember seeing them somewhere in recent history, though, so they're around here somewhere.
I wonder if I can increase my diastolic by improving my mood?
https://www.uab.edu/mix/stories/diastolic-blood-pressure-how-low-is-too-low
Getting tired. Yes, seems about right.
So, I've improved my mood and my blood pressure is now...
5:10 p.m. - 121/55 @ 65 BPM. Seems like I only really increased my systolic, lol.
Why is that diastolic so low? I want to find my historic logs to see if this was an old issue; I also want to check my historic pulse pressure.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/142243-causes-low-diastolic-pressure/
That might be possible.
I like assuming more common phenomena, first. Let's assume folate insufficiency; my spinach consumption just isn't enough. What herbs do I have to treat this?
Looks like spearmint is the clear winner. However, dried thyme at 274mcg per 100 gram serving (Apparently a TBSP is 4 grams) is 69% of DV for folate. It appears you'd need 25 TBSP to get 69% folate DV. With spearmint, at 530mcg per 100 TBSP, you'd need roughly 13 TBSP to get the same amount.
Wow, what are more effective ways of getting enough folate?
https://www.healthaliciousness.com/articles/foods-high-in-folate-vitamin-B9.php
An entire avacado is 41% DV of folate. Beans/Lentils are also effective sources. So, an avacado and some beans in addition to my spinach and I should be good. And, some bananas (6% DV each).
5:30 p.m. - 123/61 @ 68 BPM - This has been 4 days without blood thinners. I've noticed I've gone below 56 diastolic twice today, both slightly episodic, whereas I hadn't in recent days. Although the morning was uneventful, the early afternoon when talking about Houston was among the most eventful in recent history. I'm going to try to ensure adequate folate consumption, but I'm assuming emotional factors might be more prominent causal factors today. It's also been a while since I've done sprints... Well, I'll eat an avacado and a banana and I'll be off to do some sprints. I'm changing up my sprints by not 'exploding', but by gradually increasing speed upto full speed and the same with the slowdown (Keeping acceleration down).
6:36 p.m. - 5.39L VC, FEV1 normal, PEF = 97% - Just got done doing sprints. Did one 1/4 mile lap jog and then 4x 1/8 mile sprints, and at the end of the fourth sprint, my heart felt like it was racing and just about to freaking explode into a huge fireball burning its way out of my chest. It flashed 'fire' about 2-3x in the span of 2 seconds and then it kind of calmed back down after 5-7 seconds, and then I measured my heart rate 15 seconds later and it was going about 180 beats/min.
Anyway, I didn't really need to look up METs/heart-rate charts to know I'm under par today. These guys in about the same age bracket were doing lap after lap of what looked like a comfortable jog to me, and then I started following them for the first lap for the warmup (Doing the same pace), and I had to immediately stop at the 1/4th mile mark and I was huffing and puffing and felt like I was almost going to collapse from exhaustion, whereas they looked like they kept going and going without breathing hard at all; definitely had to cool down a little bit before doing the first sprint. Each 1/8mile sprint took it completely out of me, and I had to cool down for a like 1-2 minutes before doing the next set. The fourth one, which ended with that very uncomfortable chest sensation that I never remember EVER HAVING BEFORE, is what made me decide to end today's exercises.
Anyway, I sprinted from 6:04-6:15. It felt like I got enough sleep today. Anyway, I did eat an avacado and banana before exercising.
6:46 p.m. - 9/12/2016 - 122/57 @ 103 BPM. (Standing) 5.44L VC, 106% FEV1, 100% PEF
7:23 p.m. - 126/59 @ 87 BPM. (Standing) 5.63L VC, 106%, 105% PEF - Just did about 25 pushups about a minute ago in effort to make my arm/pectoral muscles sore (Trying to get my whole body sore). Felt rather lightheaded for a couple seconds after standing up from them.
7:36 p.m. - 112/49 @ 80 BPM. (Standing) 5.54L FVC, FEV1 106%, PEF 106% - Felt rather lightheaded standing up to go take my blood pressure.
7:51 p.m. - 119/57 @ 75 BPM. (Standing) 5.59L FVC, FEV1 104%, PEF 103% - Just ate 2.5 handfuls of raisins and spinach. Face feels rather flush after eating the raisins. (Known effect of red grapes)
8:18 p.m. - 112/53 @ 68 BPM. (Standing) 6.32L FVC, FEV1 105%, PEF 107%
http://scarysymptoms.com/2013/02/doctor-explains-cause-of-chest-burning/
Oh well, this guy makes it seem like it's no alarm. Can't copy and paste, but "If you suddenly decide to do 'sprints', don't be surprised if you get chest burning sensations."
http://www.livestrong.com/article/366086-causes-of-burning-in-the-chest-after-exercise/
Not quite as alarming here.
It just seems more alarming in the context of what else has been happening today and in recent history, lol. However, livestrong does warn,
My physician just tells me to call the ER if it gets really bad, lol. I get the sense my doctor doesn't really want to investigate further and treat any underlying conditions UNTIL AFTER something catastrophic happens. On one hand, that might be a fairly reasonable approach for a random average 20 something male, but .... you see... I don't like playing Russian Roulette with my health. And, I feel like I have somewhat compelling evidence/experiences.
Update 8:18 p.m. - 8:18 p.m. - 112/53 @ 68 BPM. (Standing) 6.32L FVC, FEV1 105%, PEF 107% - The persisting low diastolic today kind of concerns me, since it seems to coincide with symptoms. I guess I'll try to increase water and potassium intake, maybe it'll make a difference. If sodium is the cause (Doesn't seem like my sodium intake has been that high today...) according to https://www.uab.edu/mix/stories/diastolic-blood-pressure-how-low-is-too-low, then potassium and magnesium is the hypothetical antidote.
Looking back on the logs, it looks like the low diastolic started around 2:37 p.m. today. I might either assume anxiety related causes or ischemic related causes. I'm going to give the spinach/cucumber some time to absorb and I'm going to tell myself to stop being anxious (Usually works), lol, and if that doesn't do anything, I'll take some blood thinners and see if that helps.
http://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2458-11-601
Wow, a diastolic at the 2.5 SD. That's like the lowest 1% percentile. That seems like it's kind of significant. And this paper predicts a diastolic being lowered by like 1 point by a combination of anxiety/depression, lol. This is looking kind of significant. I won't assume ischemia until I've ruled out anxiety-depression/inadequate-magnesium-potassium-intake.
8:56 116/64 @ 60 BPM. 5.59L VC, FEV1 104%, PEF 107% - This is looking promising. Now the question is, if the key was potassium/magnesium/nitric-oxide-production, did it effectively expand the blood vessels relieving any hypothetical ischemia? Or, was it the anxiety decreasing the diastolic by that much? And, if so, was it decreasing it by that much by inducing ischemia? Basically, I'm wondering, if any of the possible solutions (Assuming it's a persisting solution - pending further testing) effectively worked by relieving ischemia, not by merely reversing the effects of salt and/or anxiety. Anyway, I noticed both hands were quite cold about 10 minutes ago, but they are feeling pretty warm now. Normally an indication the anxiety is gone. It might possibly be an indication of other events, but anxiety is normally (Almost always) the explanation.
9:12 110/56 @ 60 BPM. 5.56L VC, FEV1 105%, PEF 109% - Hmmm. Maybe my earlier reasoning increased my anxiety? Both hands now feel kind of tepid. I guess I can possibly rule out the magnesium/potassium hypothesis as the explanation for the previous higher value, lol. That leaves anxiety as a possible explanation. Okay, will tell myself to stop being anxious and stop having anxiety-inducing reasonings and stop focusing on them, lol.
9:19 109/56 @ 60 BPM. Hmmm, kept feeling some prickly feelings going from my middle vertebra up my upper spine into my neck while measuring. It seems like irritated nerves from the 'hunched forward' posture when measuring, but perhaps it's more sinister. I won't assume that. I'm trying to keep the anxiety down, lol.
9:29 116/58 @ 60 BPM. Feels like costochondriatical general chest tightness. Some pain in the base of my neck when leaning the head back. Starting to feel hungry. Time to eat some standard food.
9:41 116/63 @ 54 BPM. Ate two ripe bananas, an apple and a string cheese, was trying to eat a nut/chocolate bar but I definitely didn't feel like eating it after I ate half of it, so I put it down. I definitely felt like I needed the bananas, lol. Anyway, some general left spine/chest tightness and midback soreness pain along with some soreness in the left arm pit, radiating into the left jaw. I think I'm going to take some blood thinners.
9:53 116/61 @ 54 BPM. It seemed like tilting my spine slightly left gave an almost immediate improvement to some of the above symptoms. Like, the left underarm soreness. It just seemed so unusual my pulse rate would drop so much after eating fruit, and I would start experiencing the above symptoms at the same time. I wonder if acid reflux can lower the pulse-rate by activation of the vasovagal nerve?
It's just that if there was a cardiovascular phenomena going on, I would expect a more noticeable affect on BP. My HR is now 56 (10:04 p.m.).
10:08 136/61 @ 72 BPM. Well, that was a very unusual sensation getting up and going to measure my blood pressure, lol. Felt like a sore achy thing behind my ribs as I walked. I'm not sure if it was a panic kind of thing (The blood pressure HR definitely suggests panic right now, lol) or something that was really happening. Perhaps it was my upperback/ribs playing tricks on me.
10:17 120/70 @ 60 BPM. I'm feeling a little calmer now, can tell from the lower systolic/HR. That diastolic seems a little high, though, not usually what I'd expect from 'calming down', lol. I won't read too much into it, perhaps it's a delayed reaction to panic.
10:26 122/66 @ 60 BPM. Hmm... I'm going to keep track of this blood pressure for a little while. I'm not sure if the higher diastolic is a sign of some continuing issue, or if it's a sign of a previous persisting issue that's now been (at least somewhat) resolved, or perhaps it's a reaction to panic that's now fading away. Time will tell.
10:34 116/61 @ 60 BPM. Oh, my hands are warm and we're back to normal BP trends... Oh, probably just a delayed reaction to panic. A heightened diastolic usually indicates distress, while a heightened systolic usually corresponds to fear/anxiety. It seems quite probable that 'distress' of some sort would soon follow after panic. On the plus side, I don't really feel much of the subtle left back/underarm/jaw/chest soreness now (Midback vertebra is still sore when palpated). Could very well be due to the painkilling properties of aspirin. It is curious that HR appears to be back to normal and radiating sore symptoms are gone after taking the aspirin. Then again, the low pulse rate may very well have been transient to begin with.
10:50 114/57 @ 60 BPM. Feeling a little tired now and hands are warm. Think my upper-rib may have been playing tricks on me. Felt a similar, but far less apparent, sensation when I recently stood up and it traced back to the upper rib. Let's see, I've got the magnesium/potassium from the ample greens and aspirin blood thinners have kicked in, and my diastolic still dares to go below 60 and obviously correlate with this tiredness. Grrr, lol. Perhaps... just perhaps... this low diastolic corresponds to stress which can cause tiredness.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/31369-raise-diastolic-pressure/
What is this spikenard?
Oh, interesting. Valerian, that's a calming herb. What about this?
Oh, it too is a calming herb. Interesting implications. That implies these valerian hops I have should increase my diastolic (Assuming it's of relatively benign origin.).
Still, a diastolic in the 1% percentile. That has me a bit concerned. Then again, the healthiest people in the world, the Kuna, have a blood pressure of 110/60. I imagine if the average Kuna were to become distressed, their diastolic would probably lower to some value less than 60 and they too would become tired. But, hey, they live the island life with crashing waves, views of the milky way and constant view of the ocean, all in a close knit community - do they ever really get stressed? lol.
And, now that I think about it, that's merely /the average/. You know there's going be some variation around that average, so in the context of the Kuna, a diastolic in the 50s may be completely unremarkable. Perhaps I should be comparing my blood pressure to the healthiest society in the world, the Kuna, not to one of the least healthiest societies in the world, the first world.
Eh, never mind.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuna_people
I guess my diastolic is just simply way too low. I sure hope it's not because of permanent or progressive conditions.
Update: 11:21 - 113/60 @ 60 BPM.
11:31 p.m. 115/63 @ 54 BPM. Seems like the common trend behind this low pulse rate with noticeable 'symptoms' is going upstairs. Both times, I did lift my arms into the air to open the cabinets, so perhaps that's contributing. Still 54 BPM at 11:34 p.m.; I'm suspecting that the experience is emotionally 'stressful', which induces the bradycardia with symptoms. But, I suppose a spinal/cervical explanation could be possible. Then again, maybe the climbing of stairs induces the bradycardia with symptoms. It really feels like, however, the tension just builds while I'm up there.
11:43 p.m. 113/54 @ 54 BPM. Oh, yeah, I'm seeing what's happening with that diastolic. It seems to have a delayed reaction.
11:49 p.m. Wow, felt like something crazy was going on there. I don't know how to describe, but a crescendoing feeling of intensity or some such. I'm not sure the cause. Cervical from being on the computer and looking forward so much or self-induced stress or what-not. Had to stand up and stretch things and tell myself to 'not freak out' because it almost seemed like that was what was going to happen. Like, I was going to get super mad or something. Except, I don't feel like I'm actually going mad (Seems to be weird to going mad over that); it just 'feels like it'.
11:54 p.m. - 134/75 @ 57 BPM. Seems like I'm on the "cool down" from whatever that was. Mouth was dry, hands are cool. Suggests, perhaps, I was indeed "Going mad". When hands become warm again, and I'm assuming they will, I'll probably be roughly back to normal. 12:01 Perhaps I wasn't going 'mad' per se (I don't really feel like beating anything up, usually I would if I was 'mad'.)... maybe 'going crazy'? I don't know. I don't want to assume it was some cardiac phenomena. It definitely felt like something was quickly building up where I was going to soon feel extremely compelled to yell at the top of my lungs.
12:06 a.m. - 119/69 @ 60 BPM. Mouth is now moist, hands are becoming tepid. I definitely noticed how measuring the pulse during the last measurement (11:54) was exceptionally easy. Definitely not hard to feel that pulse, lol. No one would claim I had a weak pulse. I've been reading that systolic ordinarily increases during exercise, and I also noticed I had no problems feeling my pulse while I was exercising, so it definitely seems like systolic pressure = pulse strength. I wonder if 115 systolic normally feels weak? Because the relative weakness kind of concerns me, but 115 systolic normally wouldn't. And, anyway, now that I've figured that out - my systolic increases during exercise - that tells me I don't have 'atypical angina' or similar.
12:19 a.m. - 117/62 @ 56 BPM. Jeez, I sure hope it doesn't flare up again. I just want to go to sleep in peace and wake up tomorrow feeling good to go, lol.
12:55 a.m. - 154/84 @ 66 BPM. Went to eat an apple, thinking I had 'cooled down' (Telling myself it was anxiety, and I noticed the tension ease a little bit after eating the apple), and so I was going to take my blood pressure and all of a sudden it felt like the room wobbled as soon as I sat down. Woah, weird, so I stood back on my knees and took it and this was the reading. Something is going wrong, and I don't know what it is. Seems like a possible cervical issue if sitting down triggered it.
1:02 a.m. - okay, I started bending down to pick up the BP meter and I noticed a similar sensation. What was this? I started slowly bending over and it felt like something wiggled in my left lower midback when I bent over? Is that my heart? And is bending over triggering it somehow?
1:07 a.m. 134/77@62 BPM. Feeling fine at the moment. It appears 'something' was triggered when I sat down to take my blood pressure measurement that caused the room to wobble. This 'something' appears like it's located lower side of the left of my midback, based on the wiggle phenomena when bending over. What is it? I have no idea. How it could induce vertigo through I'm assuming adrenaline, or maybe the heart, is a good question.
Seems like bending over is having little affect, now.
1:14 a.m. 143/79@77 BPM. Feels like something is going bonkers with my heart. Feel the left handed sensation.
1:39 a.m. 152/89@65 BPM. Standing by the ready at the phone, it seems like there's a spinal/neck thing going on I don't understand. The right side of my spine, unusually, now feels irritated and not the left side. I assume when the 'wiggle' phenomena happened, something jumped to the other side of the spine, and it's now irritating the right side. All the while, it's pumping my system full of adrenaline. Or maybe measuring my blood pressure has that affect. I don't know, but I'm going to try the therapy position.
10:43 a.m. - 113/70 @ 57 BPM. Had to sleep it off. I figured it was probably acid reflux at the heart of it since there was plenty of that going on and that's known to trigger higher blood pressure readings like that (Or so I think), possibly triggered via spinal/cervical means, so I got comfortable, breathed deeply(Which seemed to help a bit) and tried sleeping through it. Slept for about 5 hours, from 5:30-10:20 a.m.; seems like I have a periodic random light palpitation(feels like a light kick) in my midback vertebra. My blood pressure was pretty much at 152/84 for much of the night between 2-5 a.m., 60 BPM.
11:13 - 9/13/2016 - 127/70 @ 66 BPM - been taking the 'official' blood pressure values in the kneeling position since 1:07 a.m. (Unofficially in the sleeping position), might be incomparable to past values. Ate a banana. Something seems a little off. Like maybe a slightly irregular heartbeat. Had a famtodine tablet. Definitely seems like there's some kind of neck irritation going on. Looking right/left definitely seems to trigger the 'going crazy feeling'.
11:26 a.m. - 9/13/2016 - 119/63 @ 63 BPM - Trying a new seated position for blood pressure taking. These values are probably more accurate/consistent with past results since it ensures a level height with the heart. The past kneeling values may have been higher/lower than the heart, possibly uniformly increasing both numbers. However, there definitely was cortisol going on (Couldn't just get to sleep with /that/ feeling), so no doubt blood pressure was heightened last night. I just hope it was of benign origin, like Acid Reflux. Anyway, I'm going to be a bit less focused on the BP readings. I suspect that, maybe, focusing on it so much 'set me up' yesterday. But, the sprints on the hardish track is as good a guess as any, in terms of loosening vertebra and irritating nerves.
11:46 a.m. - 9/13/2106 - 116/63 @ 66 BPM - Definitely feeling a soreness in the base of my neck leaning back. Feels pretty good.
1:15 p.m - feeling lightheaded, trying to telling myself to stop feeling anxious, lol - 131/61 @ 60 BPM.
4:00 p.m. - 135/65 @ 66 BPM; stopped feeling lightheaded after about the first half the physical therapy; If I didn't know any better, I think the 'door stretch' (Stretches the chest) somehow released my heart and resolved the lightheadedness. Heart rate seems somewhat irregular, normal pace here, slower pace there. Not sure if there's some kind of adrenaline trigger responsible, probably in my back/neck. Seems like the sprints yesterday 'messed up' my back/neck good.
4:06 p.m. - 121/52 @ 68 BPM; might've measured it a bit too early.
4:17 p.m. - 125/67 @ 66 BPM - walked for about 5 minutes, and then rested about 2 minutes.
8:49 p.m. - 138/63 @ 72 BPM ate supper about 45 minutes ago and just done with work - rice, tomato sauce, garlic, turmeric and olive oil + avacado + steamed brocollette + spinach + 3 oz salmon; Definitely feels like something's been amiss today. Suspecting my neck/back or some such. The neck is definitely more bugged than normal, probably due to the high impact activity of sprinting on a hard surface. Jeez, I should've remembered that old rule - avoid high impact activities. Then again, I've actually been working today. Feels like I'm about to faint at random times, when I turn around or some other movement. Today's work is done. Anyway, my heartbeat is technically not irregular in the sense of afib, it's more or less variable. And, there definitely seems to be some increased spinal/nerve activity today, no doubt yesterday's high impact activity has had some hand in it; kneeling in a certain way seems to trigger a pattern of nerve activity that streaks across the left side of the back and to certain parts, such as the left armpit. My standing heart rate seems to be mostly normal. Feeling a crescendoing sensation (of stress?) when doing some kind of work, and I quickly shift away from it, and it rapidly dissipates. The stress doesn't return when I return back to the work. So, I need to watch out for those 'crescendoing things' and shift focus quickly.
9:01 p.m. 131/62 @ 70 BPM - seems like I need to avoid pressing on the midback and keeping the neck straight up.
9:29 p.m. 132/69 @ 70 BPM - I finished the PT thoracic exercises. I think I'm going to skip the roller foam angel ones because I noticed that uncomfortable 'squished face/head' feeling following the exercise. I think it was triggered because my roller foam isn't long enough to support my head, so I end up bending my head back towards the grounds, and I /suspect/ that reduces cranial blood flow somewhere, which gives that discomforting sensation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertebrobasilar_insufficiency
Now I'm beginning to wonder if I can get the blood pressure back to normal.
This is not what I had in mind by increasing my diastolic, lol! Oh well, I guess it's the like The Genie from "Thousand and One Nights", be careful what you wish for.
Update: 10:05 p.m., so I'm watching a film and feel a little calmer. Took my BP.
138/73 @ 60 BPM. Oh man, why has my blood pressure been trending so high since yesterday night? My original hypothesis was "acid reflux", but I've been taking acid reducers today and I don't really notice any significant acid reflux. The other hypothesis is some kind of cervical/spinal adrenaline trigger. And then there are other explanations that seem like they could be a lot worse, but I'm not entirely sure what the explanations would be. I don't really want high blood pressure tonight because that tends to portend poor sleep. I think I'll measure my BP in the original position, and just hope I don't lose consciousness.
10:14 p.m. - in the classic sitting position (All values before 1:07 a.m. today were done in the sitting position, the standard position; ensures the heart is at the same level as the cuff.) - 130/63 @ 60 BPM. It seems like measuring from the table in my computer chair, as I've been doing today, does artificially elevate the BP by some amount of points. Anyway, I did feel like I got momentarily woozy (Felt like my back triggered it somehow) when I sat down indian style, but thankfully, I did not lose consciousness, lol. Adjusting the above values for this discrepancy suggests my systolic has been relatively normal today. (115-129 range) Now the question is if my diastolic has been normal... seems like it's probably been low...
http://www.livestrong.com/article/294551-dizziness-when-sitting-down/
Antihistamines?
You're telling me that pepcid AC is an antihistamine? Oh man, I was hoping that I could keep using it, lol.
Update: Noticed my upper midback feels bugged (Prickly irritation sensation when palpated). I started pressing along the upper back, and this one particular vertebra somewhere around T5/T6, when pressed, will reliably produce a tickling sensation in the back of the throat and a soon to follow cough. What's going on there? I get a strange feeling it's connected to the 'dizzy when sitting down' sensation which also seems to be triggered in my midback somewhere. Oh, well, huh - I guess it could be benign. Perhaps it's triggering muscle spasms behind the lungs, which causes the cough. Or some similar mechanism. It's quite obvious my upper midback has been triggering muscle happenings/sensations in my back recently when assuming certain postures, and the prickly sensation in the vertebra on palpation should be no surprise. It's weird how it seems like it can cause short dizzy/vertigo sensations. I don't really have the explanation for that.
http://www.healthboards.com/boards/brain-nervous-system-disorders/857979-dizzy-lightheaded-1-thing-my-docs-missed.html
Oh, it seems like a muscle contraction in the upperback can somehow cause dizziness. And, when I bend over, no doubt one of my irritated vertebra 'pinches a nerve' on the way, causing a relevant muscle contraction. The solution is to resolidify the upper back. Avoid high impact activity, avoid anything that directly touches it and exerts force on it.
Update: 9/10/2016 - 10:33 p.m. - 118/55 @ 57 BPM. 5.6L VC, FEV1, PEF normal (103%,114%) - Was just outside looking at stars. Saw a shooting star right after I looked up. Thinking about the property. The nearest neighbor is 300 feet away (Compares to the school yard building in the distance). Everyone's lights, if they're running any, are blocked by the surrounding forest. Streetlights aren't a huge issue in this area, I'm guessing. The nearest 'serious suburbs'(Not just scattered houses on 5 acre plots) are some 20 miles away. My view of the milky way galaxy and the stars of the night sky will be almost completely unimpeded. At the same time, I'll have access to the beach. I'm thinking seagulls and crashing waves. There just /has/ to be seagulls somewhere, lol. Where-ever they are, I will find them! I can't say I have that luxury where I currently live
. The only place where one can find seagulls here is at the local high-school's parking lot during schooldays (Kids litter the lots with food), and it's just not right not seeing them next to the ocean, lol. And world-class malls, neighborhoods, and being able to find almost everything I'm looking for will be kind of awesome. If I want shipping containers, for whatever reason (I can't immediately see why I would want one), they're like 50 miles away! And flights, by virtue of not being a 'spoke' city but by being a major 'hub' city, are almost by default about $150-250 cheaper than where I currently live. That makes the idea of flying somewhere for the weekend much more appealing. For example, major conventions in San Francisco or some such. And, my location is effectively on a dead-end so traffic should be non-existent. No traffic, no artificial lights, this is like 'being one with nature' perfection with all the amenities of a world-class port city. And the highs in the coldest parts of the year are 60 degrees! Wow, amazing! It's actually kind of warm, lol. That's like the highs in my current city like RIGHT NOW, lol. Some might claim an inferior 'culture' compared to, say, Seattle but I've lived in a southern port towns, and they definitely have really nice areas, and I don't doubt Houston is the same way. I would say that's probably especially true of Houston. Being fairly close to the french-centric area around of New Orleans, I don't doubt at least a few areas of Houston have that french/coastal refinement.
Really, the biggest issue will be mosquitos. I'll have to figure out the most satisfying setup for insect exclusion zones, lol.
Update: 8:07 - 118/68 @ 48 BPM 9/11/2016 - Feeling some chest tight - Feeling a little lightheaded - Not really staying asleep - Heart rate seems to be staying a bit low - Be kind of nice to have my ECG meter right now. I did turn off the lights a little earlier than normal (12 PM) but I doubt I actually fell asleep at 1 and woke at 6, getting a full 5 hours. So tried going back to sleep, don't really think I was asleep, and woke up feeling like this. Ate more than enough yesterday. Midback feels especially irritated, and T1-T3 definitely feels irritated more than normal
Update: 8:20 a.m. - Upto 50 BPM.
Update: 8:49 a.m. - ate 10 figs about 15 mins ago - Upto 56 BPM - Seemed like pushing in on my midback helped in relieving the aura of pain in the mid-to-upper-spine, and specifically around the bugged middle vertebra (The one furthest back in the 's curve'). And now I'm feeling a little sleepy.
Update: 9:18 a.m. - Upto 63 BPM.
Update: 10:54 a.m. - Took a nap - 118/61 @ 64 BPM. - Feeling a little tired as if I didn't really much quality sleep, but doing OK. Continuing on with the final paint.
Update: 1:13 p.m. - 121/59 @ 69 BPM - ate 50g carbs of popcorn about 45 minutes ago, along with broccoli. That pain right in the midback vertebra is unyielding - seems like it's centered around one particular vertebra, both top and bottom of the vertebra are palpably pained. I can definitely feel the tiredness in my eyes when closing them. I'm thinking I might need to go for a run. Might help out the back. Will most likely help out the tiredness. Might help out both for the same underlying reason.
I might just take the truck up there. The track is close enough, but far enough away to dissuade walking there.
FInished the paint job - it looks pretty darn good. I think the darkness in the "storm grey" color helps mask the lines and variation between the dark/lighter areas, something that bright silver doesn't seem to naturally do as well, lol.
Also, I think I've figured out the mystery of the "O" mind's eye figures. I was on the laptop, and closed my eyes, and saw a distinctive "laptop outline" shape in much the same color/form as the "O" i keep seeing when measuring my blood pressure. I was measuring my blood pressure, and I closed my eyes and saw the 'O' and immediately realized I was seeing the shape of the blood pressure meter, lol. Oh, that's so funny, methinking it had some special significance, lol.
That does seem quite puzzling, however, I kept seeing a flashing "C" followed by a flashing "O" about 3 years ago. And, my encounters with the Nuke CO were pretty significant. That would seem to be a bit unusual.
Update: 5:00 PM 9/11/2016 - - Went for a 20 minute jog starting at 4:04, finished at 4:25.
peak = 165 (Actually 180, but that's before I found the "target heart rate" pace.)
1 minute = 105
10 minute = 79
30 minute = 72
Anyway, during the run, I found it exceptionally easy to achieve the target heart rate. In fact, it almost seemed too easy. It seemed maintaining 160 BPM required jogging at 3mph. Considering I did 7 laps in about 20.5 minutes, that would make it more accurately (1.75mile) / (20.5/60) = 5.121 mph. Oh, well, it SEEMED SLOW, lol. I think the later half was probably actually closer to 4.5 mph, since I was a bit speedier the first 3 laps until I saw my heart rate go to 180, and I was trying to key in the 'target heart rate' pace (~4.5 mph produced 160 BPM on average).
It does seem consistent with my hilly grass runs, since I usually have to keep my jogging below 3-4 mph to keep my HR below 170 BPM when jogging on grassy terrain.
While running the faster pace during the first 3 laps (maybe 6.5 mph), I felt noticeable tingling in my bottom lips.
Similar Issue.
Huh, I'm pretty sure my carotids were pounding during my run and I didn't notice myself getting dizzy/confused/etc.; I did get a small headache at the very beginning, but that quickly wore off.
Anyway, it's interesting this guy mentions this, because the firefighter asked me, "Does it feel like your lips are tingling?" as if to confirm I was having some kind of cardio problem. Considering this 50-something firefighter probably has seen his share of heart attack victims in his lifetime, and they definitely ask "What are your symptoms?" and take your EKG, I'm sure he has enough real world experience to establish definitive trends. And tingling lips is most likely one of them.
it's very possible that this lips tingling sensation indicates lack of sufficient coronary artery blood flow, causing a weakening of the heart muscle, and thus insufficient cardio output (Bloodflow output) to meet demands.
Anyway, my head kept getting that uncomfortable 'sickening' feeling, I'm not sure the cause.
Anyway, I need to look up some charts for comparison. I wonder if a 4.5 mph jog is normally expected to produce 160BPM at my age?
Hmmm... interesting, VO2 max corresponds to 175BPM-185BPM, I was easily achieving that with 7 mph or thereabouts.
7 mph corresponds to, http://www.topendsports.com/weight-loss/energy-met.htm, around 12 METS
Well, here's another research paper. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2826719/
It looks like their criteria is >= 10 METs and lower than < 85% max HR for very low incidence of ischemia.
Considering a 4.5 mph jog was achieving 85% max HR, that corresponds to 6 METS according to the topendsports METs chart.
That's pretty significant, since I was a top 10% runner in my class about a year ago, all of whom must meet minimum standards which is fairly higher than the civilian norms.
Yep, I would definitely think I'm a qualified candidate for an exercise stress test. And, my intuition about this entire thing has probably not been wrong.
6:33 p.m. - 9/11/2016 - 121/60 @ 70 BPM - ate about a cup of rice(Wet)[50 grams of carbs] about an hour ago.
Other sources suggest that 3-6 METs is 'moderate intensity', and 'moderate intensity' corresponds to 50%-70% of HRmax. That implies 6 METs(4.5 mph jog) should correspond to 70% of HRmax, or 133. It was corresponding to about a HR of 160 in my case and this doesn't seem to be an 'abnormally high value' for me based on my HR trends when jogging on hilly grassy terrain. So, yes, more evidence I'm not close to attaining the METs/HR norms for my age when jogging. That's more support for the "I could use a stress test" camp.
Update: Around 9 p.m., I was in bed and the familiar numbness in my left hand was starting up and I started feeling like I hadn't slept in 1000 nights or some such (Granted, I was in the last half of the wine inebriation at this point - maybe that's it.). I started feeling slightly nauseous here and there, and just generally not feeling good. Anyway, about 10-20 minutes before that, I drank some red wine, ate some fish and had some herbed up rice, and so I was massaging and then I got up and about 20 minutes later - Wow, I feel just fine. I feel some slight sleepiness in my eyes, but definitely not the "I hadn't slept in 1000 nights" tiredness. Anyway, I started thinking that massaging my rib/back muscles might aid in sleep (Since they felt pretty sore, and massaging them definitely seemed to trigger the immense sleepiness.), so I'm going to start doing that. Anyway, I drank the red wine because someone else commented she never gets numb arms when she drinks wine with her dinner, so I thought that was a good sign that red wine isn't just some substance with 'largely hypothetical benefits'. I used to regularly drink red wine because it was a putative source of the french's relatively good health, and I generally admire French culture. Especially their history.
Anyway, I noticed that this heart rate monitor I'm wearing wasn't tracking my HR accurately when at rest. I suspect that's because my pulse was too weak earlier today. It was showing flareups upto 120 BPM, but I started measuring and my pulse was actually 76 BPM, like expected. I think it becomes more accurate when I'm exercising, because my pulse is stronger. It was usually accurate based on quick checks when I was exercising (It was measuring 180, and I was generally getting around 3 beats per second). I don't want to read too much into this, because it very well could be that this device wasn't necessarily designed to measure 'resting pulse rates' accurately for 98+% of the population, since it's designed for tracking exercise. It measures pulse rates via infrared through the wrist, which seems like it'd be inherently less sensitive than metallic chest electrodes.
Anyway, I've thought that usually when people start out, they start fairly alive and active. Then when they get closer to death, they generally start slowing down and being less active. Sleeping more. More fatigued. And then somewhere along the way, they breath their last. Essentially becoming more and more like death by being less alive/active, until finally they succumb to the eternal slumber. Well, that's probably true of heart failure and cancer which seems like what most americans eventually succumb to (Tellingly, the vast majority of the Kuna succumb to neither. Of course, that does leave open the question of what do they mostly succumb to?). That's probably not true of hemorrhages, ruptured aneurysms and 'bleeding to death' kind of deaths. This idea seems confirmed by the outcomes of the depressed; being a disorder characterized by essentially by 'being less alive'/'being more like death' (They sleep and lay around significantly more than the average person), eventually that sets them up for an apparently 4x increased risk of cardiovascular death. In the context of American society, that is a pretty significant risk modifier.
10:35 P.M. - 9/11/2016 - 124/62 @ 64 BPM. 6.34L VC, FEV1,PFC normal (104%,107%) - Feeling a little gloomy.
I think I need get back into doing the soccer ball sprints. I'm not sure if it was the sprints, or the fact I was chasing a soccer ball (Engaging one of life's fundamentally satisfying instincts - the chase instinct.), or maybe it was because I had thought my issues were entirely cervical/spinal at the time which is why I've been off the blood thinners for the last 3 days. My systolic blood pressure numbers were notably better than (Well, at least I think they were 'better'. It's unknown whether lower is truly 'better', since too low seems to be associated with its own undesireable phenomena. My mood was definitely chipper.)
I thought maybe I was fooling myself with how grand this property was. I mean, all of its putative benefits are true. I wasn't lying. But, it definitely has downsides, at least most people would normally think that. It doesn't really seem like my neighbors are close enough to really have a sense of 'neighborhood', but 'the neighbors' that one sees when heading out somewhere don't look very appealing. I think most of them are old folks living on social security/disability, and they probably found this property through very similar means as I. Granted, perhaps they're native texans, but perhaps they were like me.
They were thinking about joining quartzsite for the winter because that just sounds kind of awesome. But then late spring comes, and quartzsite finishes, and then the question becomes "Now where?". The so-called 'summertime long term living areas', while situated in quite a nice place (Don't get me wrong, Yellowstone is pretty cool), is like 200+ miles from the nearest big city and at least 50 miles from a standard city. Don't forget the 2 mile climbs getting to and from that city; that'll eat into the gas bill. And then you have places like New Mexico, which is also kind of cool, but the idea of hopping every 2 weeks and traveling who knows how many miles to get frequent business done (Mail deliveries, groceries,etc.) is just very inefficient. You might as well rent a $200/month trailer park spot with the rest of the druggies; that will alone pay for itself in terms of gas savings for near daily deliveries. After a while, they realized, "This is crazy" and decided to buy land and just set up there. And this particular area is pretty darn neat. Awesome winter climate, awesome city, awesome economics involved in that city (cheap flights, can find almost anything you want, etc.), awesome neigbhorhoods with integrated bike paths (Masterplanned communities), awesome proximity to the beach, awesome closeness to the French Quarter, awesome proximity to Austin, TX, awesome fruit/vegetable growing potential, just plain awesome all around.
11:06 - 126/61 @ 62 BPM; 6.22L VC, normal FEV1, PEF (105%,112%) - Feeling a bit more upbeat than the earlier measurement. Feeling a little bit nauseous and that familiar subtle 'left spinal' phenomena, hard to tell what it is exactly. Feels like it's a sensation involving the muscles/spine/ribs/nerves on the left side or some such.
Anyway, the paint job on my truck is done. Yep, it looks pretty darn good. The "sparkly dark grey" just looks kind of awesome, and the color scheme fits.
11:44 Reading up on pulse pressure. Notice my pulse pressure has been kind of consistently high lately. It seems like my pulse pressure was a bit lower (40-50) when I was doing sprints, instead of target heart rate jogging. I highly suspect that having 'sore muscles' (Especially in the largest muscle groups, like the legs), provides a proportional constant drain on blood glucose, keeping pulse pressure in check. It might also have other theoretical benefits through other pathways I'm unaware of (Possibly affects nitric oxide production). I'm suspecting that because I notice my legs aren't really sore with the moderate jogging, but yet I hypothetically worked out 'nearly just as much'(In terms of energy output), but yet, it's not really reflecting in my blood pressure stats (Pulse pressure) and general feeling of well-being. People back in the old days, and modern societies who do physical labor, "work hard" and I can guarantee they consistently had sore muscles of some sort. (Well, either they had sore muscles needing blood glucose for repair, or they had huge muscles that generally demanded higher levels of blood glucose to sustain them.) They didn't do the equivalent to moderate jogging for 20 minutes, lol.
Anyway, I do suspect a link between pulse pressure and blood glucose. The fact that anxiety, which increases blood glucose through cortisol production, increases pulse pressure in addition to the fact that diabetes typically corresponds to heightened pulse pressure, suggests this. Having a drain on blood glucose throughout day, via worked out muscles needing glucose for repair, is key, methinks.
Anyway, yep, I'm doing sprints first thing in the morning. Probably some pushups to go along with it.
Anyway, I forget to mention, I keep getting reminders I probably had a TIA of some sort. As inexplicable as the TIA event seems, under times of stress usually during the most vulnerable parts of the day, I've noticed I do get a distinctive "right lobe" phenomena I've never really noticed before the TIA event (Doesn't mean it never happened, I never noticed it before.), but I definitely started noticing afterwards. I'm not talking about "right side of my head", or "right temple", or "right side of my face", but literally a very distinctive inside my head / "The right lobe" kind of phenomena. Today, it was feeling of some pressure that lasted for about 2 seconds.
12:59 a.m. - 9/12/2016 - 105/56 @ 56 BPM - VC varying from 5.5-6.4L, random, normal FEV1,PFC - Not really feeling tired at the moment but time to turn off the lights.
7:36 a.m. - another 'pulled from my sleep' kind of things, tends to be the 'pretty eventful kind' at this minute/hour - took therapy position for 60 secs - 128/68 @ 53 BPM - 5.47L VC, FEV1, PEF normal (103%,109%)
7:53 a.m. - 15 min checkup. 110/66 @ 56 BPM. No particularly notable events at the moment. Seems like these recent low systolic values tend to happen when I think about what happened yesterday at the track [calculated accidental encounter].
8:01 a.m. - 111/56 @ 54 BPM. Just getting a collection of values at this particular time. 6.19L VC, FEV1, PFC normal (100%,107%)
10:26 a.m. - 115/60 @ 58 BPM. 5.5L VC, normal FEV1,PFC. Took a nap, feels like I've fully fulfilled my sleep requirements. My head is getting that slightly nauseous feeling and I feel hints of the lightheadedness I was feeling yesterday morning. I've learned to distrust all HR measurements on my BP meter in the last two days if it ever reads below 57. It was saying it was 50, but I personally clocked it at 58/60 at two different measurements. All particularly low HR measurements shown before 2 days ago should be taken with a grain of salt. (The 45 HR measurement during yesterday morning's lightheadedness episode was actually accurate.)
I'm going to take a few more measurements to gather more data points for this 'pulse pressure'='blood glucose' hypothesis, and then fuel up, and go for some short exercise / HR testing followed by sprints and pushups.
10:47 a.m. - 111/62 @ 54 BPM. 5.52L VC, normal FEV1, PFC.
10:55 a.m. - 112/62 @ 51 BPM. 5.44L VC, normal FEV1, PFC (101%,108%) - Feeling wide awake.
11:02 a.m. - 113/59 @ 54 BPM, 5.55L VC, normal FEV1 PEF (103%,106%) - Still feeling wide awake. Time to eat.
11:15 a.m. - Just ate an egg, carrot, some spinach followed by 1/4 cup of raisins and 2 medium sized ripe, unspotted bananas.
11:19 - 115/62 @ 51 BPM, 5.45L VC, normal FEV1, PEF (102%, 107%) - Feeling fine. Feels like I've been getting periodic tension or some kind of vague heaviness in my upper chest this morning (From front to back). Won't read too much into it, especially since the upper spine / ribs all seem somewhat irritated.
12:21 p.m. 123/59 @ 68 BPM, also had a small apple with string cheese, a large handful of pistachios, and 2 TBSP cocoa with a TBSP of blackstrap molasses about 30 minutes ago. I'm going to sit a little while, take a few more measurements, then head out for exercise. While talking about moving Houston, talking about its advantages, I could definitely tell I had a underlying sense of fear when talking about it and I felt this very distinct crescendoing phenomena in my upper chest as if I were going to have a coronary. It /definitely/ did not seem like 'Acid Reflux', 'Anxiety' or some such. It seemed to be way more significant than that. It started dissipating as I went to drank my cocoa and backed a little off the subject.
Anyway, I know that fear is definitely a trigger for heart attacks. I remember seeing a video of a black-man walking a tightrope, I believe he lost his balance and the safety wire caught him, and shortly after hanging in mid-air, he died. Can't seem to find it now. I was having some deep momentary chest pain while biking a year ago, and I landed my front wheel and whatever was happening at the time, it seemed like I was going to lose control and fall off at speed, and that unleashed some deep fear which induced the momentary mid-chest deep chest pain. Didn't really think much of it since it was temporary and that was especially scary; I figured that getting momentary chest pain during large spikes in fear was normal.
Huh, if it was related to intense fear, I'd expect it be along the lines of 'panic attack' kind of chest pains and according to mayo clinic,
That definitely wasn't a muscle contraction in my ribs. It definitely felt unmistakably deeper than that right around the mid chest.
12:34 p.m. - 9/12/2016 - 122/59 @ 66 BPM. 5.58L VC, FEV1, PEF normal (105%,102%)
12:45 p.m. - 120/59 @ 63 BPM. 6.35L VC (standing), FEV1, PEF normal (107%,110%) [For reference, almost all spirometer measurements taken in the last 2 days were sitting. I should probably just stand for all of them for standardization.]
1:56 p.m. - 134/64 @ 75 BPM; was jogging for 5 minutes at 6 mph on grassy terrain about 10 minutes ago. HR monitor wasn't accurate (Reporting 105 when it should've been 150-170), so came back to retrieve a more accurate one. Just found out, that none of the heart rate monitors really work, so monitoring heart rate activity 'in the field' is a little harder. I mean, I can stop, start my stopwatch for 10 seconds and count my pulse and then just keep on running, but that's kind of inconvenient. Will have to figure out some kind of viable protocol. The school is going to be using the field in about 15 minutes, so I'm tied up until 6 p.m.; This whole, "I want to get it finished now!" but then it gets finished at the end of the day or a day later due to some technicality is just so... uggg... feels like it's screwing up my schedule. I don't want to do anything else until it gets done, essentially. But, getting it finished by 7 p.m. is not really a huge problem.
Anyway, just got up to go put in the rice and got that familiar 'pulse' sensation in the left of my left wrist closest to the pinky very shortly after standing. For a while I thought it was likely due to the left side of C8 (Bottom nerve of C7) getting bugged, but I'm increasingly starting to think it's actually temporary cardiac insufficiency due to orthostatic hypotension or some such, and it sends a pulse along the cardiac path. Even if I had thought that, I would've normally thought it was benign phenemena, but I've been recently finding it harder to stomach that assumption based on more recent experiences and evidence. But hey, I figure, if I'm ultimately worrying about nothing, then nothing should happen, and all is good in the end - it doesn't really matter that I'm concerned in that event.
2:37 p.m. - 9/12/2016 - 109/53 @ 58 BPM
2:44 p.m. - 104/50 @ 48 BPM - kind of feels like something is happening. Tightening midback. Familiar irritation on left side of spine. Both sides of the ribs sore. An achy/sharp pain palpable in the sternum. Increasing irritation in that familiar midback vertebra. No obvious irritation in T1/T2/T3 as of 2:48. I feel wide awake at the moment.
2:52 p.m. - 114/54 @ 61 BPM - Still feel that achy midback vertebra.
3:16 p.m. - 121/61 @ 60 BPM - Just ate some tomato sauce + 1/2 cup rice(dry)[70 grams of carbs] + garlic + 3 tbsp of thyme [About 900 grams sodium]. I intended to eat a little over half of it, saving the rest for later, but it seemed like my mind decided it wanted the whole thing! lol. Anyway, I crinked back my neck and then the left side of C8 started feeling like it was burning (Possible culprit, but perhaps it's a symptom and not the cause?). Now T1/T2/T3 have that familiar 'pins and needles' sore sensation when palpated and the entire upper back starting from that midback vertebra feels sore when touched. Ribs feel slightly sore and sternum feels mildly achy when palpated. Seems like I have some kind of subtle sensation stretching from my midback vertebra, along the first four fingers left side, the entire left chest stretching all the way upto the entire left half of the head. Doesn't seem to be any tongue involvement or 'central cranial nerve involvement" ("onion phenomena, just the outer layer/i.e.,/skin), would suggest nerves. Left of back of head (Along the skin) randomly pained, suggests C2/C3 might be getting bugged. Possible tingling on the side of the inner left leg. Alternatively, I just had some kind of cardiac event which somehow induced a clot in the right carotid, which is now causing left sided tingling. I would normally expect that kind of tingling to include central features, like the tongue.
3:44 p.m. - 134/59 @ 60 BPM - Just had some fun. I was getting heavy pressure in my chest and some irritation in the midback vertebra and the right side of T1/T2/T3 had some sharp pains going through them, but I figured I just had an acidic meal so the chest pressure was probably acid reflux and just powered through it. The involvement of T1/T2/T3 may be correlated or may not be; If it had sharp pains going through them, I would assume they had direct nerve stimulation which given the circumstances, most likely was benign in origin. I did end up burping a bit when I stood up, which half-confirmed my hypothesis.
It's kind of interesting that the pain in my left inner foot was becoming pretty sore/painful shortly before the run, and during the run, but now it's not sore at all. I can feel a little soreness walking around, but definitely not /nearly/ as much earlier. The soreness definitely was felt when the foot hit the floor. If this was some kind of "sprain" or some such of the ligament, I wouldn't think it'd just happen to flare up right before running and be rather quiet at all other times. Compared to my right foot, the skin around the soreness appears to be discolored a light tan color and appears to be bulging out a little bit. It's very possible this could be localized swelling around an injured bone/ligament, or perhaps it's the start of pulmonary edema related to heart failure, and it happens to flare up right before running precisely because the heart becomes 'stressed'. It seems to correlate with other left-sided phenomena, but I don't remember which ones exactly. Palpating, it feels like the underlying bone is irritated.
Based on this diagram, it appears to be the navicular bone.
http://www.podiatrytoday.com/what-you-should-know-about-navicular-stress-fractures
Really? I sprinted like 3 times for 20 minutes each and I already have a stress fracture? 4 months to heal? This is ridiculous.
4:28 p.m. - 9/12/2016 - 117/54 @ 64 BPM - Feeling a little down. I'm not sure what I can do for exercise, now. Right before taking my pulse, I was coming up from the down position and I noticed my heart rate was quickly slowing. Might've just been the difference between standing and sitting. Anyway, I wonder if I can find my old blood pressure logs for comparison? They're in a journal somewhere.
5:01 p.m. - 116/52 @ 66 BPM - Feeling kind of tired and slightly nauseous. Couldn't immediately find my historic logs. I definitely remember seeing them somewhere in recent history, though, so they're around here somewhere.
I wonder if I can increase my diastolic by improving my mood?
https://www.uab.edu/mix/stories/diastolic-blood-pressure-how-low-is-too-low
Getting tired. Yes, seems about right.
So, I've improved my mood and my blood pressure is now...
5:10 p.m. - 121/55 @ 65 BPM. Seems like I only really increased my systolic, lol.
Why is that diastolic so low? I want to find my historic logs to see if this was an old issue; I also want to check my historic pulse pressure.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/142243-causes-low-diastolic-pressure/
That might be possible.
I like assuming more common phenomena, first. Let's assume folate insufficiency; my spinach consumption just isn't enough. What herbs do I have to treat this?
Looks like spearmint is the clear winner. However, dried thyme at 274mcg per 100 gram serving (Apparently a TBSP is 4 grams) is 69% of DV for folate. It appears you'd need 25 TBSP to get 69% folate DV. With spearmint, at 530mcg per 100 TBSP, you'd need roughly 13 TBSP to get the same amount.
Wow, what are more effective ways of getting enough folate?
https://www.healthaliciousness.com/articles/foods-high-in-folate-vitamin-B9.php
An entire avacado is 41% DV of folate. Beans/Lentils are also effective sources. So, an avacado and some beans in addition to my spinach and I should be good. And, some bananas (6% DV each).
5:30 p.m. - 123/61 @ 68 BPM - This has been 4 days without blood thinners. I've noticed I've gone below 56 diastolic twice today, both slightly episodic, whereas I hadn't in recent days. Although the morning was uneventful, the early afternoon when talking about Houston was among the most eventful in recent history. I'm going to try to ensure adequate folate consumption, but I'm assuming emotional factors might be more prominent causal factors today. It's also been a while since I've done sprints... Well, I'll eat an avacado and a banana and I'll be off to do some sprints. I'm changing up my sprints by not 'exploding', but by gradually increasing speed upto full speed and the same with the slowdown (Keeping acceleration down).
6:36 p.m. - 5.39L VC, FEV1 normal, PEF = 97% - Just got done doing sprints. Did one 1/4 mile lap jog and then 4x 1/8 mile sprints, and at the end of the fourth sprint, my heart felt like it was racing and just about to freaking explode into a huge fireball burning its way out of my chest. It flashed 'fire' about 2-3x in the span of 2 seconds and then it kind of calmed back down after 5-7 seconds, and then I measured my heart rate 15 seconds later and it was going about 180 beats/min.
Anyway, I didn't really need to look up METs/heart-rate charts to know I'm under par today. These guys in about the same age bracket were doing lap after lap of what looked like a comfortable jog to me, and then I started following them for the first lap for the warmup (Doing the same pace), and I had to immediately stop at the 1/4th mile mark and I was huffing and puffing and felt like I was almost going to collapse from exhaustion, whereas they looked like they kept going and going without breathing hard at all; definitely had to cool down a little bit before doing the first sprint. Each 1/8mile sprint took it completely out of me, and I had to cool down for a like 1-2 minutes before doing the next set. The fourth one, which ended with that very uncomfortable chest sensation that I never remember EVER HAVING BEFORE, is what made me decide to end today's exercises.
Anyway, I sprinted from 6:04-6:15. It felt like I got enough sleep today. Anyway, I did eat an avacado and banana before exercising.
6:46 p.m. - 9/12/2016 - 122/57 @ 103 BPM. (Standing) 5.44L VC, 106% FEV1, 100% PEF
7:23 p.m. - 126/59 @ 87 BPM. (Standing) 5.63L VC, 106%, 105% PEF - Just did about 25 pushups about a minute ago in effort to make my arm/pectoral muscles sore (Trying to get my whole body sore). Felt rather lightheaded for a couple seconds after standing up from them.
7:36 p.m. - 112/49 @ 80 BPM. (Standing) 5.54L FVC, FEV1 106%, PEF 106% - Felt rather lightheaded standing up to go take my blood pressure.
7:51 p.m. - 119/57 @ 75 BPM. (Standing) 5.59L FVC, FEV1 104%, PEF 103% - Just ate 2.5 handfuls of raisins and spinach. Face feels rather flush after eating the raisins. (Known effect of red grapes)
8:18 p.m. - 112/53 @ 68 BPM. (Standing) 6.32L FVC, FEV1 105%, PEF 107%
http://scarysymptoms.com/2013/02/doctor-explains-cause-of-chest-burning/
Oh well, this guy makes it seem like it's no alarm. Can't copy and paste, but "If you suddenly decide to do 'sprints', don't be surprised if you get chest burning sensations."
http://www.livestrong.com/article/366086-causes-of-burning-in-the-chest-after-exercise/
Not quite as alarming here.
It just seems more alarming in the context of what else has been happening today and in recent history, lol. However, livestrong does warn,
My physician just tells me to call the ER if it gets really bad, lol. I get the sense my doctor doesn't really want to investigate further and treat any underlying conditions UNTIL AFTER something catastrophic happens. On one hand, that might be a fairly reasonable approach for a random average 20 something male, but .... you see... I don't like playing Russian Roulette with my health. And, I feel like I have somewhat compelling evidence/experiences.
Update 8:18 p.m. - 8:18 p.m. - 112/53 @ 68 BPM. (Standing) 6.32L FVC, FEV1 105%, PEF 107% - The persisting low diastolic today kind of concerns me, since it seems to coincide with symptoms. I guess I'll try to increase water and potassium intake, maybe it'll make a difference. If sodium is the cause (Doesn't seem like my sodium intake has been that high today...) according to https://www.uab.edu/mix/stories/diastolic-blood-pressure-how-low-is-too-low, then potassium and magnesium is the hypothetical antidote.
Looking back on the logs, it looks like the low diastolic started around 2:37 p.m. today. I might either assume anxiety related causes or ischemic related causes. I'm going to give the spinach/cucumber some time to absorb and I'm going to tell myself to stop being anxious (Usually works), lol, and if that doesn't do anything, I'll take some blood thinners and see if that helps.
http://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2458-11-601
Wow, a diastolic at the 2.5 SD. That's like the lowest 1% percentile. That seems like it's kind of significant. And this paper predicts a diastolic being lowered by like 1 point by a combination of anxiety/depression, lol. This is looking kind of significant. I won't assume ischemia until I've ruled out anxiety-depression/inadequate-magnesium-potassium-intake.
8:56 116/64 @ 60 BPM. 5.59L VC, FEV1 104%, PEF 107% - This is looking promising. Now the question is, if the key was potassium/magnesium/nitric-oxide-production, did it effectively expand the blood vessels relieving any hypothetical ischemia? Or, was it the anxiety decreasing the diastolic by that much? And, if so, was it decreasing it by that much by inducing ischemia? Basically, I'm wondering, if any of the possible solutions (Assuming it's a persisting solution - pending further testing) effectively worked by relieving ischemia, not by merely reversing the effects of salt and/or anxiety. Anyway, I noticed both hands were quite cold about 10 minutes ago, but they are feeling pretty warm now. Normally an indication the anxiety is gone. It might possibly be an indication of other events, but anxiety is normally (Almost always) the explanation.
9:12 110/56 @ 60 BPM. 5.56L VC, FEV1 105%, PEF 109% - Hmmm. Maybe my earlier reasoning increased my anxiety? Both hands now feel kind of tepid. I guess I can possibly rule out the magnesium/potassium hypothesis as the explanation for the previous higher value, lol. That leaves anxiety as a possible explanation. Okay, will tell myself to stop being anxious and stop having anxiety-inducing reasonings and stop focusing on them, lol.
9:19 109/56 @ 60 BPM. Hmmm, kept feeling some prickly feelings going from my middle vertebra up my upper spine into my neck while measuring. It seems like irritated nerves from the 'hunched forward' posture when measuring, but perhaps it's more sinister. I won't assume that. I'm trying to keep the anxiety down, lol.
9:29 116/58 @ 60 BPM. Feels like costochondriatical general chest tightness. Some pain in the base of my neck when leaning the head back. Starting to feel hungry. Time to eat some standard food.
9:41 116/63 @ 54 BPM. Ate two ripe bananas, an apple and a string cheese, was trying to eat a nut/chocolate bar but I definitely didn't feel like eating it after I ate half of it, so I put it down. I definitely felt like I needed the bananas, lol. Anyway, some general left spine/chest tightness and midback soreness pain along with some soreness in the left arm pit, radiating into the left jaw. I think I'm going to take some blood thinners.
9:53 116/61 @ 54 BPM. It seemed like tilting my spine slightly left gave an almost immediate improvement to some of the above symptoms. Like, the left underarm soreness. It just seemed so unusual my pulse rate would drop so much after eating fruit, and I would start experiencing the above symptoms at the same time. I wonder if acid reflux can lower the pulse-rate by activation of the vasovagal nerve?
It's just that if there was a cardiovascular phenomena going on, I would expect a more noticeable affect on BP. My HR is now 56 (10:04 p.m.).
10:08 136/61 @ 72 BPM. Well, that was a very unusual sensation getting up and going to measure my blood pressure, lol. Felt like a sore achy thing behind my ribs as I walked. I'm not sure if it was a panic kind of thing (The blood pressure HR definitely suggests panic right now, lol) or something that was really happening. Perhaps it was my upperback/ribs playing tricks on me.
10:17 120/70 @ 60 BPM. I'm feeling a little calmer now, can tell from the lower systolic/HR. That diastolic seems a little high, though, not usually what I'd expect from 'calming down', lol. I won't read too much into it, perhaps it's a delayed reaction to panic.
10:26 122/66 @ 60 BPM. Hmm... I'm going to keep track of this blood pressure for a little while. I'm not sure if the higher diastolic is a sign of some continuing issue, or if it's a sign of a previous persisting issue that's now been (at least somewhat) resolved, or perhaps it's a reaction to panic that's now fading away. Time will tell.
10:34 116/61 @ 60 BPM. Oh, my hands are warm and we're back to normal BP trends... Oh, probably just a delayed reaction to panic. A heightened diastolic usually indicates distress, while a heightened systolic usually corresponds to fear/anxiety. It seems quite probable that 'distress' of some sort would soon follow after panic. On the plus side, I don't really feel much of the subtle left back/underarm/jaw/chest soreness now (Midback vertebra is still sore when palpated). Could very well be due to the painkilling properties of aspirin. It is curious that HR appears to be back to normal and radiating sore symptoms are gone after taking the aspirin. Then again, the low pulse rate may very well have been transient to begin with.
10:50 114/57 @ 60 BPM. Feeling a little tired now and hands are warm. Think my upper-rib may have been playing tricks on me. Felt a similar, but far less apparent, sensation when I recently stood up and it traced back to the upper rib. Let's see, I've got the magnesium/potassium from the ample greens and aspirin blood thinners have kicked in, and my diastolic still dares to go below 60 and obviously correlate with this tiredness. Grrr, lol. Perhaps... just perhaps... this low diastolic corresponds to stress which can cause tiredness.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/31369-raise-diastolic-pressure/
What is this spikenard?
Oh, interesting. Valerian, that's a calming herb. What about this?
Oh, it too is a calming herb. Interesting implications. That implies these valerian hops I have should increase my diastolic (Assuming it's of relatively benign origin.).
Still, a diastolic in the 1% percentile. That has me a bit concerned. Then again, the healthiest people in the world, the Kuna, have a blood pressure of 110/60. I imagine if the average Kuna were to become distressed, their diastolic would probably lower to some value less than 60 and they too would become tired. But, hey, they live the island life with crashing waves, views of the milky way and constant view of the ocean, all in a close knit community - do they ever really get stressed? lol.
And, now that I think about it, that's merely /the average/. You know there's going be some variation around that average, so in the context of the Kuna, a diastolic in the 50s may be completely unremarkable. Perhaps I should be comparing my blood pressure to the healthiest society in the world, the Kuna, not to one of the least healthiest societies in the world, the first world.
Eh, never mind.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuna_people
I guess my diastolic is just simply way too low. I sure hope it's not because of permanent or progressive conditions.
Update: 11:21 - 113/60 @ 60 BPM.
11:31 p.m. 115/63 @ 54 BPM. Seems like the common trend behind this low pulse rate with noticeable 'symptoms' is going upstairs. Both times, I did lift my arms into the air to open the cabinets, so perhaps that's contributing. Still 54 BPM at 11:34 p.m.; I'm suspecting that the experience is emotionally 'stressful', which induces the bradycardia with symptoms. But, I suppose a spinal/cervical explanation could be possible. Then again, maybe the climbing of stairs induces the bradycardia with symptoms. It really feels like, however, the tension just builds while I'm up there.
11:43 p.m. 113/54 @ 54 BPM. Oh, yeah, I'm seeing what's happening with that diastolic. It seems to have a delayed reaction.
11:49 p.m. Wow, felt like something crazy was going on there. I don't know how to describe, but a crescendoing feeling of intensity or some such. I'm not sure the cause. Cervical from being on the computer and looking forward so much or self-induced stress or what-not. Had to stand up and stretch things and tell myself to 'not freak out' because it almost seemed like that was what was going to happen. Like, I was going to get super mad or something. Except, I don't feel like I'm actually going mad (Seems to be weird to going mad over that); it just 'feels like it'.
11:54 p.m. - 134/75 @ 57 BPM. Seems like I'm on the "cool down" from whatever that was. Mouth was dry, hands are cool. Suggests, perhaps, I was indeed "Going mad". When hands become warm again, and I'm assuming they will, I'll probably be roughly back to normal. 12:01 Perhaps I wasn't going 'mad' per se (I don't really feel like beating anything up, usually I would if I was 'mad'.)... maybe 'going crazy'? I don't know. I don't want to assume it was some cardiac phenomena. It definitely felt like something was quickly building up where I was going to soon feel extremely compelled to yell at the top of my lungs.
12:06 a.m. - 119/69 @ 60 BPM. Mouth is now moist, hands are becoming tepid. I definitely noticed how measuring the pulse during the last measurement (11:54) was exceptionally easy. Definitely not hard to feel that pulse, lol. No one would claim I had a weak pulse. I've been reading that systolic ordinarily increases during exercise, and I also noticed I had no problems feeling my pulse while I was exercising, so it definitely seems like systolic pressure = pulse strength. I wonder if 115 systolic normally feels weak? Because the relative weakness kind of concerns me, but 115 systolic normally wouldn't. And, anyway, now that I've figured that out - my systolic increases during exercise - that tells me I don't have 'atypical angina' or similar.
12:19 a.m. - 117/62 @ 56 BPM. Jeez, I sure hope it doesn't flare up again. I just want to go to sleep in peace and wake up tomorrow feeling good to go, lol.
12:55 a.m. - 154/84 @ 66 BPM. Went to eat an apple, thinking I had 'cooled down' (Telling myself it was anxiety, and I noticed the tension ease a little bit after eating the apple), and so I was going to take my blood pressure and all of a sudden it felt like the room wobbled as soon as I sat down. Woah, weird, so I stood back on my knees and took it and this was the reading. Something is going wrong, and I don't know what it is. Seems like a possible cervical issue if sitting down triggered it.
1:02 a.m. - okay, I started bending down to pick up the BP meter and I noticed a similar sensation. What was this? I started slowly bending over and it felt like something wiggled in my left lower midback when I bent over? Is that my heart? And is bending over triggering it somehow?
1:07 a.m. 134/77@62 BPM. Feeling fine at the moment. It appears 'something' was triggered when I sat down to take my blood pressure measurement that caused the room to wobble. This 'something' appears like it's located lower side of the left of my midback, based on the wiggle phenomena when bending over. What is it? I have no idea. How it could induce vertigo through I'm assuming adrenaline, or maybe the heart, is a good question.
Seems like bending over is having little affect, now.
1:14 a.m. 143/79@77 BPM. Feels like something is going bonkers with my heart. Feel the left handed sensation.
1:39 a.m. 152/89@65 BPM. Standing by the ready at the phone, it seems like there's a spinal/neck thing going on I don't understand. The right side of my spine, unusually, now feels irritated and not the left side. I assume when the 'wiggle' phenomena happened, something jumped to the other side of the spine, and it's now irritating the right side. All the while, it's pumping my system full of adrenaline. Or maybe measuring my blood pressure has that affect. I don't know, but I'm going to try the therapy position.
10:43 a.m. - 113/70 @ 57 BPM. Had to sleep it off. I figured it was probably acid reflux at the heart of it since there was plenty of that going on and that's known to trigger higher blood pressure readings like that (Or so I think), possibly triggered via spinal/cervical means, so I got comfortable, breathed deeply(Which seemed to help a bit) and tried sleeping through it. Slept for about 5 hours, from 5:30-10:20 a.m.; seems like I have a periodic random light palpitation(feels like a light kick) in my midback vertebra. My blood pressure was pretty much at 152/84 for much of the night between 2-5 a.m., 60 BPM.
11:13 - 9/13/2016 - 127/70 @ 66 BPM - been taking the 'official' blood pressure values in the kneeling position since 1:07 a.m. (Unofficially in the sleeping position), might be incomparable to past values. Ate a banana. Something seems a little off. Like maybe a slightly irregular heartbeat. Had a famtodine tablet. Definitely seems like there's some kind of neck irritation going on. Looking right/left definitely seems to trigger the 'going crazy feeling'.
11:26 a.m. - 9/13/2016 - 119/63 @ 63 BPM - Trying a new seated position for blood pressure taking. These values are probably more accurate/consistent with past results since it ensures a level height with the heart. The past kneeling values may have been higher/lower than the heart, possibly uniformly increasing both numbers. However, there definitely was cortisol going on (Couldn't just get to sleep with /that/ feeling), so no doubt blood pressure was heightened last night. I just hope it was of benign origin, like Acid Reflux. Anyway, I'm going to be a bit less focused on the BP readings. I suspect that, maybe, focusing on it so much 'set me up' yesterday. But, the sprints on the hardish track is as good a guess as any, in terms of loosening vertebra and irritating nerves.
11:46 a.m. - 9/13/2106 - 116/63 @ 66 BPM - Definitely feeling a soreness in the base of my neck leaning back. Feels pretty good.
1:15 p.m - feeling lightheaded, trying to telling myself to stop feeling anxious, lol - 131/61 @ 60 BPM.
4:00 p.m. - 135/65 @ 66 BPM; stopped feeling lightheaded after about the first half the physical therapy; If I didn't know any better, I think the 'door stretch' (Stretches the chest) somehow released my heart and resolved the lightheadedness. Heart rate seems somewhat irregular, normal pace here, slower pace there. Not sure if there's some kind of adrenaline trigger responsible, probably in my back/neck. Seems like the sprints yesterday 'messed up' my back/neck good.
4:06 p.m. - 121/52 @ 68 BPM; might've measured it a bit too early.
4:17 p.m. - 125/67 @ 66 BPM - walked for about 5 minutes, and then rested about 2 minutes.
8:49 p.m. - 138/63 @ 72 BPM ate supper about 45 minutes ago and just done with work - rice, tomato sauce, garlic, turmeric and olive oil + avacado + steamed brocollette + spinach + 3 oz salmon; Definitely feels like something's been amiss today. Suspecting my neck/back or some such. The neck is definitely more bugged than normal, probably due to the high impact activity of sprinting on a hard surface. Jeez, I should've remembered that old rule - avoid high impact activities. Then again, I've actually been working today. Feels like I'm about to faint at random times, when I turn around or some other movement. Today's work is done. Anyway, my heartbeat is technically not irregular in the sense of afib, it's more or less variable. And, there definitely seems to be some increased spinal/nerve activity today, no doubt yesterday's high impact activity has had some hand in it; kneeling in a certain way seems to trigger a pattern of nerve activity that streaks across the left side of the back and to certain parts, such as the left armpit. My standing heart rate seems to be mostly normal. Feeling a crescendoing sensation (of stress?) when doing some kind of work, and I quickly shift away from it, and it rapidly dissipates. The stress doesn't return when I return back to the work. So, I need to watch out for those 'crescendoing things' and shift focus quickly.
9:01 p.m. 131/62 @ 70 BPM - seems like I need to avoid pressing on the midback and keeping the neck straight up.
9:29 p.m. 132/69 @ 70 BPM - I finished the PT thoracic exercises. I think I'm going to skip the roller foam angel ones because I noticed that uncomfortable 'squished face/head' feeling following the exercise. I think it was triggered because my roller foam isn't long enough to support my head, so I end up bending my head back towards the grounds, and I /suspect/ that reduces cranial blood flow somewhere, which gives that discomforting sensation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertebrobasilar_insufficiency
Now I'm beginning to wonder if I can get the blood pressure back to normal.
This is not what I had in mind by increasing my diastolic, lol! Oh well, I guess it's the like The Genie from "Thousand and One Nights", be careful what you wish for.
Update: 10:05 p.m., so I'm watching a film and feel a little calmer. Took my BP.
138/73 @ 60 BPM. Oh man, why has my blood pressure been trending so high since yesterday night? My original hypothesis was "acid reflux", but I've been taking acid reducers today and I don't really notice any significant acid reflux. The other hypothesis is some kind of cervical/spinal adrenaline trigger. And then there are other explanations that seem like they could be a lot worse, but I'm not entirely sure what the explanations would be. I don't really want high blood pressure tonight because that tends to portend poor sleep. I think I'll measure my BP in the original position, and just hope I don't lose consciousness.
10:14 p.m. - in the classic sitting position (All values before 1:07 a.m. today were done in the sitting position, the standard position; ensures the heart is at the same level as the cuff.) - 130/63 @ 60 BPM. It seems like measuring from the table in my computer chair, as I've been doing today, does artificially elevate the BP by some amount of points. Anyway, I did feel like I got momentarily woozy (Felt like my back triggered it somehow) when I sat down indian style, but thankfully, I did not lose consciousness, lol. Adjusting the above values for this discrepancy suggests my systolic has been relatively normal today. (115-129 range) Now the question is if my diastolic has been normal... seems like it's probably been low...
http://www.livestrong.com/article/294551-dizziness-when-sitting-down/
Antihistamines?
You're telling me that pepcid AC is an antihistamine? Oh man, I was hoping that I could keep using it, lol.
Update: Noticed my upper midback feels bugged (Prickly irritation sensation when palpated). I started pressing along the upper back, and this one particular vertebra somewhere around T5/T6, when pressed, will reliably produce a tickling sensation in the back of the throat and a soon to follow cough. What's going on there? I get a strange feeling it's connected to the 'dizzy when sitting down' sensation which also seems to be triggered in my midback somewhere. Oh, well, huh - I guess it could be benign. Perhaps it's triggering muscle spasms behind the lungs, which causes the cough. Or some similar mechanism. It's quite obvious my upper midback has been triggering muscle happenings/sensations in my back recently when assuming certain postures, and the prickly sensation in the vertebra on palpation should be no surprise. It's weird how it seems like it can cause short dizzy/vertigo sensations. I don't really have the explanation for that.
http://www.healthboards.com/boards/brain-nervous-system-disorders/857979-dizzy-lightheaded-1-thing-my-docs-missed.html
Oh, it seems like a muscle contraction in the upperback can somehow cause dizziness. And, when I bend over, no doubt one of my irritated vertebra 'pinches a nerve' on the way, causing a relevant muscle contraction. The solution is to resolidify the upper back. Avoid high impact activity, avoid anything that directly touches it and exerts force on it.
Adverse Effects
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hmm must be "VD"
(Verbal Diarrhea)
(Verbal Diarrhea)
Update: 9:26 a.m. - 9/14/2016 - Woke at 6:10 a.m., had that sweaty sensation (Without the sweat) in my head and felt like I could go back to bed, so I did. Had a dream, kind of cool. Bunch of girls flocking around me, one girl in particular really wanting to be near me after having talked to me earlier. That tends to happen in real life, I've noticed. Kind of makes me think that's why it's showing up in my dreams.
This kind of sweating doesn't exactly seem like the type that anxiety/heart-attack-articles are talking about (It seems like they're talking about real sweat), so...
Oh wikipedia to the rescue!
(Oh, I just noticed, it seems the sensation appears to be on the left side of my face. A familiar place for all sorts of sensations.)
Coincidentally, it does seem like I'm having some noticeable pain between the left side of C6/C7 when tilting my head back. I wish I never used that decompression cervical device and acquired probably ligament damage in the neck strain that followed and subsequent intermittent nerve irritation that produces neuropathic symptoms like these that needlessly worry me at 6 a.m. that I'm having a prelude to a heart attack, lol.
Anyway, it does kind of seem like my policy of lights out at 12:30 a.m. might be working. Then again, perhaps I really needed to make up for the lack of quality sleep yesterday, going to bed with as much anxiety as I did. (Yeah, I felt really out of it up until the first half of PT at 1:30 p.m. yesterday. I thought wine might help since I assumed I was anxious and at that point, I'm just like frock it, I need to drink, lol, but that only seemed to make the lack of coherence worse, lol.)
Seems like these low diastolic readings are normal.
http://patient.info/forums/discuss/low-diastolic-pressure-257955
Granted, these people are telling me they have meds lowering their BP. I'm like... I'm not on meds, lol. And, I'm also not 66 years old.
But then there's this girl who's probably not 60+ and not on BP meds...
Seems like these 50+ ratings tend to happen on certain days. Anyway, I'm not going to focus on taking measurements all day. I think it needlessly worries and upsets me when it's not going the way I think it should, and seems like it might be putting me at risk of undesireable events that even worry me more. Granted, maybe it's actually forewarning me of said events, lol, but it's very well that the device itself ultimately leads upto them through the reducing in my calm.
I've been noticing that eating the 'red berries' and their derivatives, tends to make the face flush red. Seems like it (Stereotypically) happens with red wine, but it also happens with grape tomatos and raisins. I just thought that was interesting, how these small fruits that are the color of blood, would in turn help the blood circulate. I wonder if the chromatic similarity has a sound physical basis behind this circulatory mechanism, or if it's just coincidental.
Update: 12:15 p.m. - took a bath and apparently a 1.5-2 hour nap afterwards. Boy, sleeping a lot today (11 hours so far?). It seems like that upper/mid-back vertebra can:
1) Make me cough when pushed
2) Cause my heart to race when irritated (I caught it in the middle of sleeping as it was rapidly falling from a really high rate of beating.) - (This is an assumption)
3) Make me momentarily dizzy when irritated
4) Make me tired when irritated
I don't totally understand the nature of this vertebra, but it appears looking at the total combination of its affects, it appears to be acting on the heart through some mechanism. I don't know if it's acting on the sympathetic nerves or if it's irritating nearby muscles, or if it's causing adrenaline surges that produce those kinds of affects at whatever state/condition my heart is currently in. I've only noticed the coughing and dizziness since two days ago. I think the tiredness affect has been there forever, and the 'racing heart' has been there ... well... I can only assume it's been like that since January of this year when the nocturnal panic attacks started up.
This particular vertebra can definitely be felt when rotating the spine clockwise and bending down.
-------------------------------------------------
Update: 4:47 p.m.
Okay, I've definitely noticed that there seems to be some kind of detachment between C6 and C7 in "forward head position". I noticed this morning's ongoing "lightheadedness"(and the "Chest seizing" earlier today that happened within that period) has been solved by merely keeping my neck straight up, and presumably keeping C6 and C7 more aligned. I can really feel the grind between them with a certain movement of my head/neck, confirming its presence. As yesterday, the wine certainly didn't make the ongoing lightheadedness, sense like I didn't get enough sleep, and apparent confusion go away, it actually worsened it. But keeping the neck straight suddenly made everything crystal clear and the confusion disappeared and I feel wide awake. So, yep, I think I've figured out the culprit. Likely weakened ligaments between C6 and C7 that allows C6 to move out of position and cause something to happen - Nerve root irritation? Spinal cord compression? Vertebral artery compression? Who knows - that requires imaging equipment I don't have. Of course, there may be cardiovascular damage I might now be dealing with that I wasn't before. The lightheadedness and coughing is relatively new phenomena.
Anyway, adding black beans to my diet for the folate. Who knew these boogers took 1.5 hours to cook?
Update: 6:33 p.m. - 9/14/2016 - Just did a mile run, entirely with an upright neck. Could definitely notice the difference from the last run - After jogging the first lap, I felt like I was breathing really easily. Like, my breaths were still 'shortish' (Not deep breaths), but I wasn't breathing nearly as hard. I would say I was probably breathing 3 times less hard, and I literally mean 3 times less oxygen per minute. I also wasn't nearly as tired or exhausted to keep on going - I rested like 20 seconds before continuing the rest of the jog which was a relatively fast jog. I had to pace around for 2-3 minutes waiting for my breathing to quiet down before continuing with the sprints just 2 days ago.
I finished it in 7minutes and 20 seconds, extrapolating, that would be an 11 minute 1.5 mile which is roughly what I did a year ago (Often 10 minute 50 seconds). Seem to be coughing a bit now, after sitting in this chair. I did eat a ripe spotted banana before the run, could be acid reflux - perhaps allergies - perhaps it's something else less benign. During the second lap, it felt my heart beat in my chest (palpitate), and it felt a little sore. I'm not sure if the soreness was from the heart feeling sore or the ribs in front feeling sore. The ribs in that area are definitely sore.
Wow, this coughing is just not ending. I'm not entirely convinced it's acid reflux at this point.
Well, livestrong has the answer.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/469616-dry-cough-after-running/
It did take 10-15 minutes to get home and sit in this chair...
Oh yeah, I could definitely hear that wheezing sound for a second, lol.
Edit: Well, maybe it was acid reflux. I definitely could feel that big 'banana flavored burp' later on.
Update: 7:39 a.m. - 9/15/2016 - thinking about that one time exercising three days ago. Breathing in "3 times more oxygen in per minute" to recover.
I started thinking about how the lungs work yesterday, because I was trying to figure out why my spirometer VC readings seems to jump between two distinct numerical regions almost seemingly at random (But seems to correlate to relaxation).
Anyway, I figured out that the body will breath taking in something like 70% nitrogen, 20% oxygen and 10% other stuff. It will absorb some percentage of the oxygen from that oxygen. Now, if someone is breathing in 3 times more air per minute, that's telling me that they're absorbing 3 times less oxygen per breath. The fact I felt 'exhausted' would agree with this assumption. If you're absorbing less oxygen, your muscles aren't getting the oxygen they need to restore the glycogen AND create the ATP the muscles use as 'fuel' for contraction/expansion, and because the oxygen absorption rate is less, ultimately, your steady-state work output capabilities (Exercise tolerance) will be less.
Now... The question was why was my body absorbing less oxygen per breath?
There are two different possibilities I can think of.
1) Panic attack or similar. Hyperventilation increases the levels of CO2 or similar in the bloodstream, displacing and effectively reducing the amount of oxygen absorbed.
2) Heart attack, heart failure or something similar that decreases cardiac output. A decreased blood flow rate reduces the amount of blood flowing past the lungs, effectively reducing the amount of oxygen that can be absorbed with each breath.
Interesting conclusion based on the last fact. Your diaphragm will still be able to fully expand and take in and exhale air, so I wouldn't expect Vital Capacity to be significantly affected during a heart attack. You'll merely /feel/ short of breath, because the oxygen absorbed, due to lowered blood flow rate past the lungs, would be decreased. So, really, no one really knows how much oxygen your absorbing in during each breath. An oximeter to measure oxygen saturation levels would be more telling, especially when comparing values during periods of exercise. The global demand for oxygen is not that much at rest, so the reduction on oxygen saturation levels might not seem to be that significant, but when the demand for oxygen is higher (Say, during aerobic exercise), this deficit in rates of oxygen absorption would be more pronounced and would likely show up in oxygen saturation levels.
9/15/2016 - 3:34 p.m. - Wow, I must've been confused when I was running my models yesterday at around 2:46 p.m.; The 'error rate' was far higher than normal. Incomplete models and incorrect settings used being the most obvious problems. Much more errors than expected for the relatively small amount of models needed to get done. Let's look back at my logs...
I believe I didn't eat until sometime after 2:30 (Didn't know that blackbeans took that long to cook), so it's possible I might've had hypoglycemia or some such yesterday at that time. My mood obviously significantly improved in the hours after eating lunch. Breakfast was relatively light, probably 60grams of carbs at around 9. I don't believe I had a problem with sleep yesterday, but it seems more than likely I had problems in the days previous, so that might be contributing. The worst case scenario is I've been having ischemia that's been leading to dementia, possibly even via stroke or some such. But, I don't like to assume the worst case given its relative rarity. I plan on getting an oximeter later today. I already have like two of them, but I've lost both of them in this house. It seems like this house is good at getting my small medical devices lost, lol. I kind of liked that aspect about the small dorm room that I previously lived in; if I lost something, a quick 5 minute rummage was sure to find it. Thinking about getting a hemaglobin meter, to test for anemia. I suspect I have it (Or have had it but it's now improving), but I'm unsure. Anyway, other than the chest pressure and high blood pressure and "wide awake"/definitely-not-going-to-sleep feeling about 2 days ago, I haven't really had any significant nocturnal episodes. Even though I'm not sleepy, I kind of feel like I'm dragging today with that slight tiredness in my eyes (Not the "tired old man" feeling; just regular.), suggesting maybe I didn't get enough sleep yesterday night like I suspected. I'm going to eat a lighter meal tonight because the acid reflux it seemed I was getting yesterday was not fun and wasn't quieting down quickly enough for me. I'll probably eat it a little earlier, too.
Update: 9:54 P.M. Went to the store to pick some goodies for my sick family members (I'm not sick yet - Maybe my cocoa/wine/garlic consumption is keeping me protected? lol.), also picked up an oximeter. Conclusions - using the oximeter and focusing on it increases my anxiety, which will obviously decrease my oxygen saturation levels, at least today (I apparently didn't get enough sleep last night). lol
So, the secret is, don't focus on anything that induces anxiety and you'll keep yourself healthier, lol.
Yeah, so, that one day where I was freaking exhausted on the track might be simply explained away via anxiety, which may've been amplified by presumably poor sleep (There are other anxiety triggers, like poor nutrition.). If anxiety is reducing pulmonary artery bloodflow, then it will decrease the amount of oxygen absorbed by the lungs and distributed to the muscles, so increased exhaustion and excessive breathing is somewhat expected. So, the secret is...
Sleep well
Eat well
Live well
Update: 10:20 a.m. - 9/16/2016 - 132/69 @ 70 at about 9 a.m.; My body apparently thought that 8 p.m. was the start of the day after I had that huge rice+bean meal 2 days ago, so it tried going to sleep at 5 p.m.; I woke up after 1.5 hours because I had things to do. I turned off the lights at 12 p.m. and tried forcing myself to go to sleep.
Woke up 1.5-2 hours later and noticed my oxygen% was consistently at 98-99%. Oh, so my body thinks that was a nap and now it's ready for the rest of the day, lol.
I tried forcing myself to go to sleep. I did appear to rest to some extent.
Anyway, this morning at 7, I woke up and started my day. I was walking around with this "feels like something's wrong" feeling, but I disregarded it and kept on eating because I wanted to make this time 'the start of the day'. During the middle of eating a carrot, I suddenly got that shooting sensation in my head (Almost felt like a really quick blackout but I'm not sure if that was just my reaction.) and I grabbed my oxymeter and the oxygen% was fine (97-98%) and the pulse rate was 140 BPM. I speculate it was a little higher at the time of the shooting sensation, but looking back, it might've been something benign like shooting cervical nerve pain and the heightened pulse and temporary black out was my reaction to it. My body acts like it didn't really get enough sleep or something; my standing pulse rate is too variable (Jumps from 74-90 easily at times.). Kept feeling that underlying anxiety, before and after that (This was unusual since this 'feeling of doom' was persistent instead of going away after 30 minutes.), and so I decided to drink my cocoa (Apparently didn't add molasses), and about 30 seconds after that, that feeling of doom just kind of melted away. My oxygen% might've increased by a percentage point (From 95%->96%), no affect on HR.
I don't really feel like I'm in the clear yet. The last time this kind of persisting anxiety hit, it was at 11:30 p.m. about 3 days ago, and it was later followed by chest pressure that lasted for about 3-4 hours. Seems like taking tums, laying down and breathing deeply got it down. I took a pepcid AC pill about 30 minutes ago to calm down any contributing acid reflux this time. It /seems/ there's a correlation between acid reflux (with symptoms like coughing, acidic feeling in the breath, lump in the throat, the fact I ate a huge meal of beans/rice just 10 minutes ago, etc.) and that feeling of persisting anxiety, so I've been assuming it's an acid reflux phenomena at the heart of it, so far. Seems like sugary/carb-dense foods tend to more obviously directly contribute to the anxiety; I'm assuming they contribute to acid reflux. But, perhaps there's vascular explanations - it sure does happen awfully fast for a vascular explanation, however, and I guarantee I'm not afraid of raisins. I would go over those possibilities, but I don't think now is the best time, lol.
By sugary/carb-dense foods, in this most recent meal, that would be things like processed grains and dried fruit. Specifically, crackers and raisins. I think I might try to lower my carb consumption and up my fat/protein/herb/leafy-vegetable consumption. I think the black beans I started consuming two days ago might be directly contributing to this rather obvious uptick in presumably-acid-reflux/persisting-anxiety episodes that I've never really had before. (It is puzzling that pure cocoa partially relieved the anxiety symptoms, when sources across the net are telling me that chocolate aggravates acid reflux. But, perhaps store chocolate bars, with its high sugar content, is more to blame, and not strictly cocoa powder? I don't understand how the cocoa works, however, since it's not high in calcium. Maybe the increase in serotonin directly acts on the anxiety, and does little to relieve the underlying acid reflux? So, perhaps, I should be looking at this issue as a two-sided issue, the mental and gastrological sides.)
Okay, drank a bunch of water and took two tums. I took my oximeter readings (I now have cold hands) and my oxy% is consistently 98-99%, up from 95-96% just like 10 minutes ago. It seems (probable)/possible that perhaps the tums kept the acid reflux down, which improved my oxy%. Anyway, that's notable because I've always measured my oxy% at 98-99% like 1-2 years ago, never lower than that, so it's been kind of worrying me that it's been hanging around 94-96% much of the time, recently, with no obvious explanation. I still don't feel like I've proved that acid reflux is lowering my oxy%, but it seems like a pretty reasonable inference and seems statistically likely assuming I'm like any normal 29 year old male. However, I do have a medical history that can complicate things... (Haven't really completely ruled out other possibilities, and acid reflux doesn't seem to entirely explain all the recent phenomena.)
https://treato.com/GERD,Oxygen+Saturation/?a=s#!
Well, that's a vote of confidence for the Acid Reflux camp, lol.
It kind of concerns me when I see my oximeter pulse reading flatline for 2 seconds, lol. I saw the same phenomena on my ECG meter and I chalked it up to 'device reading error', but the oximeter pulse meter wasn't moving around and had the same amount of contact with the skin before and after that event, so that does seem a bit unusual it would also flatline like that. I'm not going to read too much into it, since it's not exactly reading electrical signals and it's not very obvious what /could/ happen in the bloodstream that would cause the infrared sensor to read a "0" position, when it's never reading a "0" position when the blood is pulsing, so it's not very obvious what the "0" position indicates other than possibly 'read error'(Couldn't get the data from the sensor for 2 seconds/etc.).
(now 12:01 p.m. - 9/16/2016) Anyway, I continuously looked down to see the affect on looking down on oxy% and HR trends, since doing that precipitated a few very concerning events some time ago.
As soon as I looked down, my HR pretty much didn't do much, it actually seemed to gradually decrease to 66 BPM from 72 BPM. My oxy% went from 98% and decreased to 93% over the course of 8 seconds and then climbed back upto 96-97% in 4 seconds. I don't the reason why the oxy% decreased like that, but my guess it that it might've triggered an adrenaline pulse, which temporarily reduced cardiac output but it climbed back upto to 'normal levels' within 12 seconds. I actually don't know if the 96% it was now showing was indicating a reduced cardiac output (I've suspected this relationship for some time), or simply a partial breathing obstruction of some sort with a bent neck.
Since sitting here typing that, it seems like my oxy% has declined to 94% in the sitting position and 96% in the standing position. I wonder if walking around somehow improves my oxy% (Feeling a bit tired now)?
Walked around a bit and now feeling a bit less tired, and my oxy% is now consistently 98%. (Standing HR is 60, kind of low)
Sat back down and now I'm a bit tired, lol. Perhaps I need a nap, lol
Edit: SInce adding the beans to my diet, it seems to be causing me to rack up a sleep debt via causing conflicts with my established sleep schedule that I suspect hasn't been helping; the increase in acid reflux it appears to have been causing might also be contributing. So, I'm going to have to figure out another way to add folate to my diet. Preferably a non-carb source or low-carb source.
Update: My oxy% has been trending 94%-95% recently in the sitting position. Feeling awake now, though I can definitely feel like I need sleep (feel it in my eyes; Panic seems to touch off just a little bit too easily). Just had some popcorn, could possibly be aggravating reflux. I'll take some molasses, see if it helps. Looking at the waveform charts on the oxymeter, I can see where my HR randomly goes really fast (130 BPM-200BPM) for a few seconds, and then goes almost immediately back to normal. While I'm feeling a little panic prone today with the lack of sleep... considering what's happened in the last few days.... and the fact I've never seen /that/ pattern before... I'm thinking I might go to urgent care tomorrow to get my EKG checked.
Had some molasses, looks like it's back down to 95%. I think I'll try some tums.
came back:
4:20 - 98 (stays at this value for 30 seconds)
4:20:30 - 96
4:20:40 - 95
4:21:30 - 95
4:31:30 - 95 (Okay we've stabilized)
4:31:40 - 96
4:31:50 - 95
*taking 2 tums*
4:22:20 - 97
4:22:40 - 96
4:23:00 - 96
4:23:30 - 96
4:24:00 - 97
4:24:10 - 96
4:24:30 - 96
4:24:40 - 97
4:25:00 - 97
4:25:20 - 96
4:25:40 - 95
4:25:50 - 94
4:26:00 - 95
4:26:20 - 95
4:26:40 - 96
4:27:00 - 95 (Well, that was shortlived)
What's interesting about these values is that other discussions online with these kind of values go like, "I'm on a ventilator 100%", "I get shortness of breath". Granted, these people have COPD or some such, but ... it does make me wonder. I'm told from various sources that 95-100 is 'normal', and many people seem to be having really no problems with these values. However, I seem to be having problems of some sort... huh
I've been assuming acid reflux, and my assumption is that sitting in this chair 'kicks it up' possibly via activating the sympathetic nerve system in the upper spine (Or possibly even the midspine, where that perma-bugged mid-vertebra is. It'd make sense that the midspine would map to the stomach.), but of course, I'm concerned it could be something much much worse and I'm well aware this lack of quality sleep and napping wouldn't be helping.
So, I tried sitting straight up thinking that'd reduce the path for acid reflux to travel up the esophagus, and so the oxy% would generally improve. What actually happened was that at some particular angle, an adrenaline surge was triggered (HR suddenly went to 90+ and oxy% immediately dipped to 93) and there was some barely detectable tingling irritation in the midspine (I wasn't palpating it), and if kept there, the oxy% went up a little and back down and then stabilized at 93%. I didn't have any particularly noticeable discomfort in this state, but it was insightful.
This is insightful because one time when I was doing this exercise (Legs up against the wall, back on floor), on the 3rd time I did it or so (I was overdoing it because it seemed like such an effective exercise), I suddenly became confused, my head felt funny (Like I was barely there) and could barely speak. I could put together simple sentences with great effort and a bit of hesistance, but the complex thoughts that I usually had no problems expressing suddenly became impossible to stitch together mentally. It felt like there was a general lack of blood flow to my head. Anyway, that lasted for the rest of the night, and I went to sleep, and it was gone in the morning. It was, however, extremely concerning at the time. I tried expressing my concern to my parents at the time, but they just generally laughed and didn't seem concerned at all while I struggled to put together simple thoughts to convey what happened. I'm not sure if I was understanding the situation correctly at the time, but I remember it seemed like they were laughing at me. Anyway, it didn't take long before I vowed off that particular exercise, lol.
So, yes, this midback vertebra seems more important than I thought. I had long questioned if it was 'a cause' of cardiac issues, or if it was an indicator of underlying cardiac issues. Anyway, I've sort of confirmed it can be a cause, just as it was a cause a couple days ago when bending down would suddenly make me lightheaded and make the room spin (Seemed to be acting via the miback vertebra). I still don't know if it's an indicator.
I wonder how exactly it's a cause. It has no nerve mappings to the heart as far as I know, and the other really notable thing about it is it's really close to the heart. I suspect that maybe when it's bugged, it's firing off nerve signals which perfuse the local area, which makes its way to the heart somehow and affects it.
Anyway, it seems the oximeter is now trending between 93 and 97%, tending to average at 95%, sitting in the normal position. I think I might've messed up the vertebra by straightening out my back. I was feeling better and better as the day went on, and then I did that, and this morning's 'panicky' feelings kind of came back.
Update: 11:47 p.m. - 11:53 p.m. - Took a nap at 10:00 p.m., woke up now. Just took a Pepcid AC tablet, hoping for a reflux acid-less night. If situation is same or worse tomorrow as this morning, I'm going to urgent care. While 'morning anxiety' and 'anxiety after eating' seems to be somewhat common, this morning was just absolutely ridiculous compared to my own history. I've never gotten anxious about eating raisins and carbs in general, or even eating in general, but it sure was happening this morning out of the blue! Someone else online also reports that this happened to them (The user had a male name too, 'Sam'. These kinds of issues seem to stereotypically happen to women judging from the threads I see.), then the doctor took his EKG and he was sent directly to the ER for emergency surgery. While I know I have true blue anxiety to some degree, this morning was just absolutely ridiculous. I sure wish I had my handheld EKG, this waveform on my pulse-meter looks kind of funny while my standing HR races to 110 and oxy% stabilizes at 96%. I'm hoping this is just 'Acid Reflux' causing all of this. If that's the case, this Pepcid AC tablet and upcoming moderate spinach intake right before bed should help.
Anyway, the middle of my chest hurts to touch, and it also hurts /right there/ to breath in. I can tell I irritated some muscle/rib when doing my 30 pushups this evening, so totally not worried. I noticed my left hand started tingling for about 20 minutes after doing the pushups; I'm not sure if it was the 'carpal tunnel' fingers or the entire hand. It seemed like it was the entire hand at first, but it became increasingly apparent to be the 'carpal tunnel' fingers later on. Anyway, I was feeling rather lightheaded after doing pushups some 3 days ago, which happened shortly after my exhausting sprints, which was also the day where my mind/heart seemed like it was going berserk and I thought I eventually figured out it was Acid Reflux, probably exacerbated by the 2 bananas I had eaten earlier and panic about the newly discovered 'room is spinning' phenomenon when I bent down earlier that night, which I later figured out happened by somehow bugging my midback vertebra, probably made vulnerable by the sprints earlier that night, but I don't really know if that's actually the case...
Anyway, now 12:09 a.m. - oxy% while standing stabilizes to 96% and HR converges to 72-76, which is a normal standing heart rate when I've had an appropriate amount of sleep. My standing has been fluctuating between 82-100 earlier today, indicating a lack thereof, which I already knew I had as soon as I woke up in the middle of my nap to call PT to cancel my appointment.
Anyway, I believe I had caught an abnormal EKG one time in the past during one of my nocturnal panic attacks earlier this year. I actually caught it during one of my 'milder ones' where I just suddenly woke up without any obvious panic, but it followed 'the pattern' as recent past panic attacks. However, that was before I learned how to consistently use my EKG correctly, so my earlier finding is suspect. I never really cared to measure it after I learned how to correctly use it, because avoiding the increasingly violent nocturnal panic attacks was at the top of my priority list at the time(Which I was successfully doing at the time by sleeping on my back instead of my right.). Those ones didn't involve 'just waking up for no obvious reason', lol. Being severely short of breath is no fun.
Anyway, I was going to turn the lights off at 12:30 p.m. and try to sleep, but something didn't feel right (Might've just been that burp I just burped, lol), so I don't think I'm going to aggressively push it tonight like last night.
Standing heart rate at 12:36 a.m. - 9/17/2016 - 60 BPM 96%oxy
Sitting heart rate at same time - 60 BPM 96%oxy
Wow, that standing heart rate is kind of low. I could also feel that 'prickly irritation' in my midback vertebra as I stood. It might indicate my body is getting sleepy, but if it is, I'm not noticing yet, lol.
Update: 8:20 a.m. - 9/17/2016 - Just woke up. It was shortly after 1 a.m. yesterday and I noticed I wasn't feeling sleepy but yet I was twitching my foot. I thought maybe I had some kind of 'blood sugar' issue thwarting my sleep, so riding on my theory that sore muscles act as a drain on blood sugar (or some such), I started doing some 'air chairs' (i.e., 'squats'). Did about 3 of them, and very shortly afterwards, I instantly felt very sleepy. I also noticed my oxy% went from 96% standing prior to 98-99% standing after. While sleeping, I noticed my midback hurt and my breathing was short/rapid/distressed. So I got up and took an aspirin, and then my body refused to go back to sleep and then my stomach just casually 'got hungry', so I thought maybe I needed to feed it before my body would go back to sleep (I've been eating lightly the day before. I thought maybe the rice and beans 'overloaded my system' somehow causing the current food anxiety, so I ate gingerly throughout the day to avoid stirring up that panicky sense of doom that I assume my body was trying to warn me with.). Ate an apple and later burped a small burp presumably from the apple. Was able to fall sleepy in about another 5 minutes after eating the apple.
Anyway, my standing HR (now) is trending from 80-96 BPM and oxy% was 98. I'll retake it in a couple of minutes. I think I'm going into urgent care later today to get my EKG checked. The immense anxiety / sense of doom I was getting from eating 'carby things' yesterday morning was absolutely unreal and completely bonkers. That's definitely not my normal self, and I usually have no problems eating pretty much anything. The healthiest cultures eat a lot of carbs, so I definitely don't have any psychological hangups on it.
8:40 a.m. - (Standing) oxy% varies from 95-96%, standing HR from 76-85. Seems a little high and somewhat variable, indicating some need for quality sleep.
Update: Took a nap around 9:00 a.m., woke at around 10:35 a.m., had a dream. It was kind of cool.
10:39 a.m. - oxy% from 96-97%, standing HR from 72-80 BPM. Seems like I'm done with 'quality sleep' for today. Will take measurements in 20 minutes or so, then eat, then probably head off to urgent soon. I've also determined to consume the herbs/vitamins/miners/whatnot at the beginning of the day so that any deficiencies won't be affecting me as badly throughout the day. Seemed like the anxiety yesterday calmed /a bit/ by consumption of a little bit of salt. I stopped eating the salt when it no longer tasted 'good', and merely tasted salty.
10:56 a.m. - oxy% from 96-97%, standing HR from 57-60 BPM. Feeling a rumble in my tummy, take this as a possible sign I need to eat.
11:34 a.m. - Anyway, reaching for milder explanations for this 'mealtime' anxiety phenomenon, I do notice my anxiety uptick oftentimes right before a burp. I'm not consciously aware of the impending burp or its immediate physical affects, but I definitely notice the anxiety that often is relieved after the burp.
(Again, reiterating I'm looking at milder explanations here.)
I suspect the beans had effectively overcolonized my digestive tract, including my stomach, which significantly increased the amount of gas being produced by gas-producing foods, namely carbs (Which bacteria easily ferment, with the exception of glucose). The solution to this overcolonization is the consumption of fermented foods and antibacterial foods. Cocoa is an antibacterial... maybe that's why it helped yesterday morning... Fermented foods are things like kimchee, natural yogurt(greek yogurt), blue cheese, Natto(fermented beans)... and minimization of bacteria-growing foods like easily digested carbs (Dried fruits/processed grains).
11:46 a.m. - Standing: oxy% 98-99%, HR varies between 76-90. Ate about 30 minutes ago: 1 large ripe unspotted banana, 2 TBSP cocoa+1 TBSP molasses, 1.3 TBSP thyme, dipped the salt until satisfied, 1/4 cup popcorn with 2 TBSP of olive oil and 200 mg of sodium (A pinch), 1/2 a cup of european style yogurt.
Feel awake right now, perhaps a little too awake, lol. Seems like I had momentary left jaw burning sensation about a minute ago, lasted like 4 seconds.
Probably should go munch on some vegetables.
Update: 4:32 p.m.
So, I was eating and I felt this subtly mounting anxiety and I was wondering, "What's happening?", and then suddenly I felt a 'popping sensation' near the back right of my head, was concerned perhaps I just experienced a hemmorhage or some such. Monitored the left side of my body and the familiar tingling in the left side of my tongue did not start up, at least not in the time shortly thereafter.
Anyway, I'm reading things online of this particular experience and people report more benign things like "Ear canal popped" or some such (Of course, a few other people report more 'boogie man' kind of diagnoses, like MS or Lyme. Don't get me wrong, those disorders actually do exist, but they tend to be used as a catch-all for almost any and all inexplicable symptoms that can't be readily explained by other 'real' disorders.) and, surely enough, my right ear feels intermittently open / clogged unlike my left ear, lol. So, probably just some ear canal thing. And the right side of my head kind of hurts. I've long noticed that side of the head has had a 'strange sensation' to it when I opened my mouth, but I long thought it was due to my right jaw which I injured about 1.5 years ago in a football accident. It appears it might actually might be my ear.
It does make me wonder if this has anything to with the positional vertigo a couple of days ago. Some kind of of vestibular something or another doesn't seem incredibly unlikely.
Update - 9:11 P.M. - 9/17/2016:
I'm researching this 'popping' sensation even more. Various threads suggest it could be related to:
-Muscles twitching ("releasing nitrogen")
-Hemorrhage (Or precursors to one)
-Ear canal phenomena (The eustachian tube becoming clogged/unclogged, etc.)
It seems if one has the popping sensation in conjunction with a feeling of warmth in the area, it can be a precursor to a future hemmrogic stroke or subarachnoid hemmorage - it can also immediately precede either one. (Leaking blood feels warm, yes.)
If it's associated with 'leaking of blood in the inner top of head' and 'followed by a severe migraine' (Like one poster put it), I would immediately think hemorrhage. That's kind of a no brainer.
No definitive associations with the ear canal judging from threads, but I do know my right ear was intermittently clogging/unclogging quite a bit at the time and it's been feeling a little sore recently. Something to do with the eustachian tube.
Anyway, apparently hemorrhages can be caused by:
https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/000701.htm
Even though I'm feeling kind of confident, lol, that the popping sensation was likely associated with my right ear and I don't remember feeling a sensation of warmth and I'm pretty sure I would've noticed that - I was looking out for subsequent symptoms - the fatality rates of hemmoragic strokes is high enough and there's been enough people on the threads (Like this http://www.steadyhealth.com/topics/weird-feeling-popping-in-head--1?page=2 ) that have had obvious hemorrhagic episodes to cause me concern. Okay, that's it, I'm immediately stopping the use of blood thinners and hell, I would use antianxiety medication like they prescribe these people to keep the blood pressure down if I could, lol. The fact that several nocturnal episodes involving the cranial nerves suggests that perhaps I've been having hemorrhagic episodes, perhaps precipitated by anxiety and the use of blood thinners. The fact is, the first episode of sudden left arm and leg paralysis was preceded by the use of aspirin 1.5-2 hours earlier, which is why I was hesitant to further use it.
And really, statistically, a stroke is far likelier than a heart attack at my age. And, I don't know enough about it to know the probability of a hemorrhagic stroke in my demographic, but I know generally the 10-year probability is like 3% and I know hemmhorages make up some 30% of strokes /generally/. The use of a daily aspirin increases the risk of a hemmorage or other 'serious bleeding events' by 50%, so it'd probably increase the 10-year stroke risk to around 4 percent, with somewhere around a 50% chance of hemorrhage and 50% chance of ischemia.
Anyway, I can feel soreness at the location of the popping sensation on my scalp, so it's not incredibly unlikely it might've been muscular in origin. It appears to be where the trapezius muscles attach to the head near the back, and my right trapezius muscle has been notably sore off and on for the last month. Seems to be strongly associated with c5/c6/c7 nerve irritation, and it was far more problematic/significant 2-3 weeks ago than it is now. And, my neck was obviously strongly irritated by the truck ride and this popping sensation happened during lunch which immediately followed after arriving home.
Oh, anyway, I didn't get an ECG like I intended. But... she didn't act too concerned. Anyway, she confirmed my hemaglobin levels were excellent. Well, that's interesting considering I don't eat iron-enriched processed foods. I just eat foods that naturally contain iron and folate (Like spinach), so it's interesting I have no problems with hemaglobin. Perhaps this confirms that my dietary insights and planning are perfect the way they are, despite the warnings I receive from family members.
(They claim I don't eat enough, but I know exactly what would happen if I didn't eat enough. I would get headaches, just like all these girlfriends I see mentioned online, and I don't get headaches. I simply eat natural foods when my stomach rumbles and I'm doing OK, apparently. Getting a vitamin/mineral panel on Monday to confirm how OK/not-OK my diet really is. The reason why people get headaches if they don't eat enough is because of cortisol, which is released during periods of hypoglycemia to convert lipids and proteins into serum glucose. Cortisol also causes vasoconstriction, which can cause headaches if there's enough of it. I never get headaches. I never get headaches, even when my cortisol is obviously flowing like mad for whatever reason. The last cortisol flowing like mad episode, I'm blaming Acid Reflux, perhaps fueled by mortal anxiety following an inexplicable positional vertigo episode that had enough overlap with 'dizziness', in my opinion, that one often sees in cardiac symptoms. And, the lightheadedness following pushups earlier that day, yes. And the fact running was 3x more exhausting/gasping/tiring than 'normal' that particular day. And, the fact I was having a feeling of my heart beating like mad and flashing chest burning pains at the end of the fourth sprint earlier that day.
Update: 11:38 p.m. - Just typed in the word ':bugs' in my latest post, and I got a sudden pounding sensation that felt like it originated from the bottom right base of my neck (possibly carotid artery origin, perhaps cervical/spinal) and extended upto my right lobe where a sudden rather noticeable throb or pulse sensation was felt. Judging from the pounding sensation, it had that 'lub-dub' character that one might expect from a heartbeat, where the lub was much more 'noticeable'/"louder" than the 'dub' that quickly followed. That was about 10 minutes ago, and no obvious symptoms since then. It's obvious that using that word 'freaked me out', which somehow produced that very unusual sensation, so my guess is it was probably originating from the artery somehow. Okay, well, now(11:41) I'm starting to notice my right eardrum 'flickering' or some such.
Well, pulsatile tinnitus. http://www.askdoctork.com/is-it-unhealthy-that-i-can-hear-my-pulse-in-my-ear-201307195158
Sounds almost like what's been happening today in that ear. Hearing my breathing, chewing, etc.
Interestingly...
Oh, so you're telling me that if I find that stethoscope that's long been lost and is on the 'to find' list, I could possibly conduct this test myself? Oh, that's kind of cool. I sure hope I come back with a negative answer, lol. I don't like serious problems, lol.
Update: 8:09 a.m. - 9/18/2016 - I was laying in bed in that 'twilight state' where it seems like I have heightened sense of my internals, and I could definitely feel a pulsing sensation in that particular spot on the top of my head (back right side, above ear, close to the middle parting line) that matched my hearbeat. This was the very probable location of that 'popping sensation' I had yesterday. Looking at diagrams, it doesn't appear the ear or the eustachian tube is anywhere near this location. Anyway, this is a questionable observation, but it did feel like the popping/snapping sensation was underneath the scalp. Can't really speculate past that, but if it happened towards the outer layer of the brain (the subarrachnoid space), this is associated with a subarrachnoid hemmhorage. Fairly deadly and always disabling. I'm not going to speculate that I have an impending SAH in the near future; it is pretty darn rare (rates of SAH are like 5 per 100,000 person-years in my demographic. 10 year probability would be 50/100,000= 1/1000.). But, I will be stopping the ongoing use of blood thinners.
I wonder if a popping sensation is associated with other forms of hemmorage? I'm looking and it seems to be exclusively associated with SAH. I've looked into subdural, epidural, etc. and apparently no association.
Hmmmm... 9:20 a.m. ... just recently bending down and got back up, felt a bit lightheaded. Perhaps orthostatic hypotension, but it seemed to be associated with my neck bent forward that produces this sensation. But, now I have a new theory, leaking brain blood vessels. When bending down, it increases pressure on the head, which causes more local blood loss thus the sensation of that sickly lightheadedness. To test this theory, I got down to the ground but instead of bending my upperbody/head down, I kept my head at or above the same level as my body at all times. No similar sensation was produced. Granted, I still didn't disprove the 'neck' hypothesis, which has quite a bit of evidence going for its overall symptom-producing significance of various sorts (So, it's definitely a known issue; just not sure if it's associated with this particular sensation.). And, of course, localized orthostatic hypotension in the head when coming back up from the "head/upperbody bent down position", seems almost too logical.
11:18 a.m. - took a follow up nap, that should complete sleep for today. Felt some random pricklies on the left half. Kind of hope that I don't suddenly suffer a sudden severe headache in the right half. Seems like this 'popping sensation' happens often enough in the general population, it's just that in my case, there's been a history of blood thinner use and sudden hemiparesis when turning on my right side in the middle of the night about 2 hours after using an aspirin (Left side paralysis), and that sudden pounding in my right lobe yesterday night that happened when I got a little scared which happened after the popping sensation earlier in the afternoon, so I'm a little more concerned. If you guys find that my posts suddenly stop, you can probably safely assume what happened. The chance of that might be really really slim in actuality, but it seems that I clearly have a greater chance than the average person at the moment.
Anyway, two days ago, while i was sleeping, I had this dream. At the time, my breathing was short/quick/felt-distressed. In this dream, contained a dark cloaked(black) creature of some sort. I don't know what the creature was exactly, but it was a pale green something with a large bulbous head and no obvious neck (The rest of the body was hidden in his cloak, so not sure what the rest looked like). He looked back and gave me this awfully devious grin. I took it this guy was symbolic of death, and he might've been death for all I know. Detecting the distressed breathing and feeling some kind of pain sensation in my left hand, I woke to check. Nope, no real problems, so I went to take a baby aspirin that I was avoiding that night and slept off the night. [Looking back, it'd be awfully ironic if this creature was essentially tricking me into taking that aspirin which he knew would certainly contribute to my demise. That almost seems too predictable if he was trying to essentially recruit me into his legions by trickery. Almost seems stereotypical of recruiters, 'selling the dream' and the such. Which, by the way, Nuke School was actually kind of awesome - I don't feel like the recruiters really "tricked me" into that one. It'd be only considered trickery if it actually sucked much worse than I expected. And, there were a lot of young pups who thought nuke school sucked - probably because they were comparing it to high school and not what they should've been comparing it to, a job. As a job, it was actually pretty freaking sweet. Granted, the local BX(NEX)/Commissary was a bit diminutive compared to the ones in my youth, but the self sufficient 'unbusy small town feel' was pretty cool, nestled inside a much larger city. Most small neighborhoods, as far as I know, don't happen to have a swimming pool, theater, library, gas station, department store, grocery store and convenience store (And others, like a chapel, bank,etc.) all within walking/biking distance. Most neighborhoods will have one or two of the essentials, but definitely not 'all of them'. That's kind of what I like about military neigbhorhoods - they're small, easy to traverse and pretty much all inclusive. Granted, they usually aren't 'the best' in their particular categories in the local area, but the fact they're there and so close/easy-to-access along peaceful/scenic routes is just too cool. That's one of the weaknesses of typical 'small towns' - they typically aren't all inclusive and the routes aren't always peaceful/scenic/beautiful.
Anyway, I usually discount these things as 'meaningless dreams' and 'fanciful imaginings'. But, with what's been happening yesterday, I wonder if it actually meant anything? I don't usually get those kind of dreams. Like, I've never had a dream exclusively of some dark, shadowy figure as far as I remember. And since I clearly remember this guy like 3 days later, I'm sure I would've remembered a similar kind of dream like forever, lol.
Well, I sure hope it doesn't mean anything, lol.
Anyway, aneurysms are an old historical fear of mine (Looking back, I was really thinking of 'ruptured aneurysms' or 'hemmorages'), usually happened at night when I was trying to sleep - never happened during the day - never had symptoms during the day. They tended to strike for a week or two at a time and then didn't come back for a long time - the last time it happened was at least 2 years ago. It'd be ironic if it's actually happening for real this time, and they were not on the radar at all, lol. Definitely didn't have the same level of fear last night as I did during those 1-2 week episodes, even though the 'evidence' was much stronger yesterday than in the past (Had absolutely no evidence/symptoms back then, just a baseless fear that kept me up for a little while.).
Anyway, it does concern me a little that the SAH page described the sensation as either a 'popping' or 'snapping' sensation, because it felt like either to me. While I disregarded it as a minor thing at the time due to muscular or aural phenomenon, it does fit the puzzle pieces as far as past inexplicable episodes that involved the cranial nerves and left sided paralysis, and those episodes had recent aspirin use, and the pounding sensation in my right lobe later that night seems to suggest it, and the distinct heightened awareness of internals during the twilight hours in the following morning seems to confirm the location and shape. [Btw, after I had completely awakened, that 'internal awareness' vanished, no matter how much I try to focus.]
Anyway, the momentary feeling of a 'lower level of consciousness' when ... being hostile, I'm guessing ... or stressed ... yeah, I've just been noticing that today. Not sure if it's anything really significant. I get the feeling if a full rupture were to happen, I wouldn't really have time to call 911 because I would've lost consciousness by that point.
Update: 3:25 p.m.
Was eating my carrots and at the end of the first carrot, I noticed my anxiety rapidly increasing and then my left arm quickly went 'numb'. I was expecting some kind of intense pain in the right side of my head soon to follow, but instead, the middle of my chest quickly went vaguely sore for a couple of seconds and then soon vanished. The numbness in my left arm soon disappeared. It might've disappeared because I was straightening out my neck which was recently 'bothered' (I was looking down recently seeing if I could provoke this 'positional vertigo'; I was provoking something, but it wasn't obvious if the sensation was from me provoking my neck or something in my inner ear - I was obviously 'bothering' my neck. Looking down is known to provoke episodes that appear like heart attacks or something similar.), it might've disappeared because it was a transient MI or something another.
Anyway, I haven't had any cocoa since last night and I ran out of spinach last night so didn't have any today and I also didn't take a blood thinner yesterday (or ate any other blood thinning herbs, like garlic), so it might have very well been some kind of ischemic event of some sort. It's just that, if it was... wow. If merely not eating those kind of foods/medicines can provoke it, then I'm like...
Anyway, I'm thinking it'd be quite weird to have hemmorhagic and cardiovascular threats at the same time at my age. Each one is statistically very unlikely, but to have both is pretty much impossible. It does imply some kind of cervical source would likely explain both cases through whatever pathways. (nerve/muscular/ribs/etc)
Anyway, during that episode, the middle of my back had that distinct 'electricity shooting through it' sensation that historically seemed to correspond with an oxy% lowered to 93% from 95%. The rib attaching to that vertebra does map 1 inch above my sternum. So I don't completely understand how a spinal/nerve/ribs explanation could explain an entire left arm being numb, but maybe it does somehow. If you were to irritate the left root nerves from C5-T2, it could possibly create that affect. And they do appear irritated on palpation. And it is just the left side, not the right. So a spinal/nerve/ribs explanation seems plausible, I just don't completely understand how they'd all crescendo at the same time in perfect uniformity. My left hand's fingers and a few parts of my left arm seem to randomly go numb for a few seconds throughout the day. However, it's easy to understand how reduced circulation to the left arm could uniformly decrease sensation.
https://consumer.healthday.com/encyclopedia/heart-health-22/heart-attack-news-357/angina-pectoris-chest-pain-645403.html
Do I really have this?
My episode lasted like 7 seconds, starting from the notable increase in left arm numbness to the vague chest soreness, which itself lasted like 3 seconds.
Oh yeah, just pressed on the left side of my head and had a lingering soreness along the front half of the skull that kind of 'bobbed away'. Seems to likely indicate some cervical nerve source. I must've really frocked up my neck looking down.
I'm brave enough to keep eating carrots. I just noticed that eating carrots seems to cause irritation at the base of my neck (I can kind of feel it), and that the initial chomp down with the two front teeth has the ability to cause a feeling of fairly high pressure at the top of my right skull. Or, at least it did that one time. I'm not sure if it's significant. And, my neck right now is completely loose, or so it seems. Looking down and all the correction that followed seems to have completely loosened my neck. I'm not sure if this is a bad state to be in, but it seemed to be significantly better this morning before I looked down to test the vertigo theory, lol. So the "eating a carrot pinched a nerve/spinal cord/etc. in my neck somewhere" hypothesis has some credibility. It's unknown, however, if it can trigger cardiovascular episodes like that and if that's exactly what it did, somehow. Or if it was purely nerve/ribs/spine/muscular in origin.
This kind of sweating doesn't exactly seem like the type that anxiety/heart-attack-articles are talking about (It seems like they're talking about real sweat), so...
Oh wikipedia to the rescue!
(Oh, I just noticed, it seems the sensation appears to be on the left side of my face. A familiar place for all sorts of sensations.)
Coincidentally, it does seem like I'm having some noticeable pain between the left side of C6/C7 when tilting my head back. I wish I never used that decompression cervical device and acquired probably ligament damage in the neck strain that followed and subsequent intermittent nerve irritation that produces neuropathic symptoms like these that needlessly worry me at 6 a.m. that I'm having a prelude to a heart attack, lol.
Anyway, it does kind of seem like my policy of lights out at 12:30 a.m. might be working. Then again, perhaps I really needed to make up for the lack of quality sleep yesterday, going to bed with as much anxiety as I did. (Yeah, I felt really out of it up until the first half of PT at 1:30 p.m. yesterday. I thought wine might help since I assumed I was anxious and at that point, I'm just like frock it, I need to drink, lol, but that only seemed to make the lack of coherence worse, lol.)
Seems like these low diastolic readings are normal.
http://patient.info/forums/discuss/low-diastolic-pressure-257955
Granted, these people are telling me they have meds lowering their BP. I'm like... I'm not on meds, lol. And, I'm also not 66 years old.
But then there's this girl who's probably not 60+ and not on BP meds...
Seems like these 50+ ratings tend to happen on certain days. Anyway, I'm not going to focus on taking measurements all day. I think it needlessly worries and upsets me when it's not going the way I think it should, and seems like it might be putting me at risk of undesireable events that even worry me more. Granted, maybe it's actually forewarning me of said events, lol, but it's very well that the device itself ultimately leads upto them through the reducing in my calm.
I've been noticing that eating the 'red berries' and their derivatives, tends to make the face flush red. Seems like it (Stereotypically) happens with red wine, but it also happens with grape tomatos and raisins. I just thought that was interesting, how these small fruits that are the color of blood, would in turn help the blood circulate. I wonder if the chromatic similarity has a sound physical basis behind this circulatory mechanism, or if it's just coincidental.
Update: 12:15 p.m. - took a bath and apparently a 1.5-2 hour nap afterwards. Boy, sleeping a lot today (11 hours so far?). It seems like that upper/mid-back vertebra can:
1) Make me cough when pushed
2) Cause my heart to race when irritated (I caught it in the middle of sleeping as it was rapidly falling from a really high rate of beating.) - (This is an assumption)
3) Make me momentarily dizzy when irritated
4) Make me tired when irritated
I don't totally understand the nature of this vertebra, but it appears looking at the total combination of its affects, it appears to be acting on the heart through some mechanism. I don't know if it's acting on the sympathetic nerves or if it's irritating nearby muscles, or if it's causing adrenaline surges that produce those kinds of affects at whatever state/condition my heart is currently in. I've only noticed the coughing and dizziness since two days ago. I think the tiredness affect has been there forever, and the 'racing heart' has been there ... well... I can only assume it's been like that since January of this year when the nocturnal panic attacks started up.
This particular vertebra can definitely be felt when rotating the spine clockwise and bending down.
-------------------------------------------------
Update: 4:47 p.m.
Okay, I've definitely noticed that there seems to be some kind of detachment between C6 and C7 in "forward head position". I noticed this morning's ongoing "lightheadedness"(and the "Chest seizing" earlier today that happened within that period) has been solved by merely keeping my neck straight up, and presumably keeping C6 and C7 more aligned. I can really feel the grind between them with a certain movement of my head/neck, confirming its presence. As yesterday, the wine certainly didn't make the ongoing lightheadedness, sense like I didn't get enough sleep, and apparent confusion go away, it actually worsened it. But keeping the neck straight suddenly made everything crystal clear and the confusion disappeared and I feel wide awake. So, yep, I think I've figured out the culprit. Likely weakened ligaments between C6 and C7 that allows C6 to move out of position and cause something to happen - Nerve root irritation? Spinal cord compression? Vertebral artery compression? Who knows - that requires imaging equipment I don't have. Of course, there may be cardiovascular damage I might now be dealing with that I wasn't before. The lightheadedness and coughing is relatively new phenomena.
Anyway, adding black beans to my diet for the folate. Who knew these boogers took 1.5 hours to cook?
Update: 6:33 p.m. - 9/14/2016 - Just did a mile run, entirely with an upright neck. Could definitely notice the difference from the last run - After jogging the first lap, I felt like I was breathing really easily. Like, my breaths were still 'shortish' (Not deep breaths), but I wasn't breathing nearly as hard. I would say I was probably breathing 3 times less hard, and I literally mean 3 times less oxygen per minute. I also wasn't nearly as tired or exhausted to keep on going - I rested like 20 seconds before continuing the rest of the jog which was a relatively fast jog. I had to pace around for 2-3 minutes waiting for my breathing to quiet down before continuing with the sprints just 2 days ago.
I finished it in 7minutes and 20 seconds, extrapolating, that would be an 11 minute 1.5 mile which is roughly what I did a year ago (Often 10 minute 50 seconds). Seem to be coughing a bit now, after sitting in this chair. I did eat a ripe spotted banana before the run, could be acid reflux - perhaps allergies - perhaps it's something else less benign. During the second lap, it felt my heart beat in my chest (palpitate), and it felt a little sore. I'm not sure if the soreness was from the heart feeling sore or the ribs in front feeling sore. The ribs in that area are definitely sore.
Wow, this coughing is just not ending. I'm not entirely convinced it's acid reflux at this point.
Well, livestrong has the answer.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/469616-dry-cough-after-running/
It did take 10-15 minutes to get home and sit in this chair...
Oh yeah, I could definitely hear that wheezing sound for a second, lol.
Edit: Well, maybe it was acid reflux. I definitely could feel that big 'banana flavored burp' later on.
Update: 7:39 a.m. - 9/15/2016 - thinking about that one time exercising three days ago. Breathing in "3 times more oxygen in per minute" to recover.
I started thinking about how the lungs work yesterday, because I was trying to figure out why my spirometer VC readings seems to jump between two distinct numerical regions almost seemingly at random (But seems to correlate to relaxation).
Anyway, I figured out that the body will breath taking in something like 70% nitrogen, 20% oxygen and 10% other stuff. It will absorb some percentage of the oxygen from that oxygen. Now, if someone is breathing in 3 times more air per minute, that's telling me that they're absorbing 3 times less oxygen per breath. The fact I felt 'exhausted' would agree with this assumption. If you're absorbing less oxygen, your muscles aren't getting the oxygen they need to restore the glycogen AND create the ATP the muscles use as 'fuel' for contraction/expansion, and because the oxygen absorption rate is less, ultimately, your steady-state work output capabilities (Exercise tolerance) will be less.
Now... The question was why was my body absorbing less oxygen per breath?
There are two different possibilities I can think of.
1) Panic attack or similar. Hyperventilation increases the levels of CO2 or similar in the bloodstream, displacing and effectively reducing the amount of oxygen absorbed.
2) Heart attack, heart failure or something similar that decreases cardiac output. A decreased blood flow rate reduces the amount of blood flowing past the lungs, effectively reducing the amount of oxygen that can be absorbed with each breath.
Interesting conclusion based on the last fact. Your diaphragm will still be able to fully expand and take in and exhale air, so I wouldn't expect Vital Capacity to be significantly affected during a heart attack. You'll merely /feel/ short of breath, because the oxygen absorbed, due to lowered blood flow rate past the lungs, would be decreased. So, really, no one really knows how much oxygen your absorbing in during each breath. An oximeter to measure oxygen saturation levels would be more telling, especially when comparing values during periods of exercise. The global demand for oxygen is not that much at rest, so the reduction on oxygen saturation levels might not seem to be that significant, but when the demand for oxygen is higher (Say, during aerobic exercise), this deficit in rates of oxygen absorption would be more pronounced and would likely show up in oxygen saturation levels.
9/15/2016 - 3:34 p.m. - Wow, I must've been confused when I was running my models yesterday at around 2:46 p.m.; The 'error rate' was far higher than normal. Incomplete models and incorrect settings used being the most obvious problems. Much more errors than expected for the relatively small amount of models needed to get done. Let's look back at my logs...
I believe I didn't eat until sometime after 2:30 (Didn't know that blackbeans took that long to cook), so it's possible I might've had hypoglycemia or some such yesterday at that time. My mood obviously significantly improved in the hours after eating lunch. Breakfast was relatively light, probably 60grams of carbs at around 9. I don't believe I had a problem with sleep yesterday, but it seems more than likely I had problems in the days previous, so that might be contributing. The worst case scenario is I've been having ischemia that's been leading to dementia, possibly even via stroke or some such. But, I don't like to assume the worst case given its relative rarity. I plan on getting an oximeter later today. I already have like two of them, but I've lost both of them in this house. It seems like this house is good at getting my small medical devices lost, lol. I kind of liked that aspect about the small dorm room that I previously lived in; if I lost something, a quick 5 minute rummage was sure to find it. Thinking about getting a hemaglobin meter, to test for anemia. I suspect I have it (Or have had it but it's now improving), but I'm unsure. Anyway, other than the chest pressure and high blood pressure and "wide awake"/definitely-not-going-to-sleep feeling about 2 days ago, I haven't really had any significant nocturnal episodes. Even though I'm not sleepy, I kind of feel like I'm dragging today with that slight tiredness in my eyes (Not the "tired old man" feeling; just regular.), suggesting maybe I didn't get enough sleep yesterday night like I suspected. I'm going to eat a lighter meal tonight because the acid reflux it seemed I was getting yesterday was not fun and wasn't quieting down quickly enough for me. I'll probably eat it a little earlier, too.
Update: 9:54 P.M. Went to the store to pick some goodies for my sick family members (I'm not sick yet - Maybe my cocoa/wine/garlic consumption is keeping me protected? lol.), also picked up an oximeter. Conclusions - using the oximeter and focusing on it increases my anxiety, which will obviously decrease my oxygen saturation levels, at least today (I apparently didn't get enough sleep last night). lol
So, the secret is, don't focus on anything that induces anxiety and you'll keep yourself healthier, lol.
Yeah, so, that one day where I was freaking exhausted on the track might be simply explained away via anxiety, which may've been amplified by presumably poor sleep (There are other anxiety triggers, like poor nutrition.). If anxiety is reducing pulmonary artery bloodflow, then it will decrease the amount of oxygen absorbed by the lungs and distributed to the muscles, so increased exhaustion and excessive breathing is somewhat expected. So, the secret is...
Sleep well
Eat well
Live well
Update: 10:20 a.m. - 9/16/2016 - 132/69 @ 70 at about 9 a.m.; My body apparently thought that 8 p.m. was the start of the day after I had that huge rice+bean meal 2 days ago, so it tried going to sleep at 5 p.m.; I woke up after 1.5 hours because I had things to do. I turned off the lights at 12 p.m. and tried forcing myself to go to sleep.
Woke up 1.5-2 hours later and noticed my oxygen% was consistently at 98-99%. Oh, so my body thinks that was a nap and now it's ready for the rest of the day, lol.
I tried forcing myself to go to sleep. I did appear to rest to some extent.
Anyway, this morning at 7, I woke up and started my day. I was walking around with this "feels like something's wrong" feeling, but I disregarded it and kept on eating because I wanted to make this time 'the start of the day'. During the middle of eating a carrot, I suddenly got that shooting sensation in my head (Almost felt like a really quick blackout but I'm not sure if that was just my reaction.) and I grabbed my oxymeter and the oxygen% was fine (97-98%) and the pulse rate was 140 BPM. I speculate it was a little higher at the time of the shooting sensation, but looking back, it might've been something benign like shooting cervical nerve pain and the heightened pulse and temporary black out was my reaction to it. My body acts like it didn't really get enough sleep or something; my standing pulse rate is too variable (Jumps from 74-90 easily at times.). Kept feeling that underlying anxiety, before and after that (This was unusual since this 'feeling of doom' was persistent instead of going away after 30 minutes.), and so I decided to drink my cocoa (Apparently didn't add molasses), and about 30 seconds after that, that feeling of doom just kind of melted away. My oxygen% might've increased by a percentage point (From 95%->96%), no affect on HR.
I don't really feel like I'm in the clear yet. The last time this kind of persisting anxiety hit, it was at 11:30 p.m. about 3 days ago, and it was later followed by chest pressure that lasted for about 3-4 hours. Seems like taking tums, laying down and breathing deeply got it down. I took a pepcid AC pill about 30 minutes ago to calm down any contributing acid reflux this time. It /seems/ there's a correlation between acid reflux (with symptoms like coughing, acidic feeling in the breath, lump in the throat, the fact I ate a huge meal of beans/rice just 10 minutes ago, etc.) and that feeling of persisting anxiety, so I've been assuming it's an acid reflux phenomena at the heart of it, so far. Seems like sugary/carb-dense foods tend to more obviously directly contribute to the anxiety; I'm assuming they contribute to acid reflux. But, perhaps there's vascular explanations - it sure does happen awfully fast for a vascular explanation, however, and I guarantee I'm not afraid of raisins. I would go over those possibilities, but I don't think now is the best time, lol.
By sugary/carb-dense foods, in this most recent meal, that would be things like processed grains and dried fruit. Specifically, crackers and raisins. I think I might try to lower my carb consumption and up my fat/protein/herb/leafy-vegetable consumption. I think the black beans I started consuming two days ago might be directly contributing to this rather obvious uptick in presumably-acid-reflux/persisting-anxiety episodes that I've never really had before. (It is puzzling that pure cocoa partially relieved the anxiety symptoms, when sources across the net are telling me that chocolate aggravates acid reflux. But, perhaps store chocolate bars, with its high sugar content, is more to blame, and not strictly cocoa powder? I don't understand how the cocoa works, however, since it's not high in calcium. Maybe the increase in serotonin directly acts on the anxiety, and does little to relieve the underlying acid reflux? So, perhaps, I should be looking at this issue as a two-sided issue, the mental and gastrological sides.)
Okay, drank a bunch of water and took two tums. I took my oximeter readings (I now have cold hands) and my oxy% is consistently 98-99%, up from 95-96% just like 10 minutes ago. It seems (probable)/possible that perhaps the tums kept the acid reflux down, which improved my oxy%. Anyway, that's notable because I've always measured my oxy% at 98-99% like 1-2 years ago, never lower than that, so it's been kind of worrying me that it's been hanging around 94-96% much of the time, recently, with no obvious explanation. I still don't feel like I've proved that acid reflux is lowering my oxy%, but it seems like a pretty reasonable inference and seems statistically likely assuming I'm like any normal 29 year old male. However, I do have a medical history that can complicate things... (Haven't really completely ruled out other possibilities, and acid reflux doesn't seem to entirely explain all the recent phenomena.)
https://treato.com/GERD,Oxygen+Saturation/?a=s#!
Well, that's a vote of confidence for the Acid Reflux camp, lol.
It kind of concerns me when I see my oximeter pulse reading flatline for 2 seconds, lol. I saw the same phenomena on my ECG meter and I chalked it up to 'device reading error', but the oximeter pulse meter wasn't moving around and had the same amount of contact with the skin before and after that event, so that does seem a bit unusual it would also flatline like that. I'm not going to read too much into it, since it's not exactly reading electrical signals and it's not very obvious what /could/ happen in the bloodstream that would cause the infrared sensor to read a "0" position, when it's never reading a "0" position when the blood is pulsing, so it's not very obvious what the "0" position indicates other than possibly 'read error'(Couldn't get the data from the sensor for 2 seconds/etc.).
(now 12:01 p.m. - 9/16/2016) Anyway, I continuously looked down to see the affect on looking down on oxy% and HR trends, since doing that precipitated a few very concerning events some time ago.
As soon as I looked down, my HR pretty much didn't do much, it actually seemed to gradually decrease to 66 BPM from 72 BPM. My oxy% went from 98% and decreased to 93% over the course of 8 seconds and then climbed back upto 96-97% in 4 seconds. I don't the reason why the oxy% decreased like that, but my guess it that it might've triggered an adrenaline pulse, which temporarily reduced cardiac output but it climbed back upto to 'normal levels' within 12 seconds. I actually don't know if the 96% it was now showing was indicating a reduced cardiac output (I've suspected this relationship for some time), or simply a partial breathing obstruction of some sort with a bent neck.
Since sitting here typing that, it seems like my oxy% has declined to 94% in the sitting position and 96% in the standing position. I wonder if walking around somehow improves my oxy% (Feeling a bit tired now)?
Walked around a bit and now feeling a bit less tired, and my oxy% is now consistently 98%. (Standing HR is 60, kind of low)
Sat back down and now I'm a bit tired, lol. Perhaps I need a nap, lol
Edit: SInce adding the beans to my diet, it seems to be causing me to rack up a sleep debt via causing conflicts with my established sleep schedule that I suspect hasn't been helping; the increase in acid reflux it appears to have been causing might also be contributing. So, I'm going to have to figure out another way to add folate to my diet. Preferably a non-carb source or low-carb source.
Update: My oxy% has been trending 94%-95% recently in the sitting position. Feeling awake now, though I can definitely feel like I need sleep (feel it in my eyes; Panic seems to touch off just a little bit too easily). Just had some popcorn, could possibly be aggravating reflux. I'll take some molasses, see if it helps. Looking at the waveform charts on the oxymeter, I can see where my HR randomly goes really fast (130 BPM-200BPM) for a few seconds, and then goes almost immediately back to normal. While I'm feeling a little panic prone today with the lack of sleep... considering what's happened in the last few days.... and the fact I've never seen /that/ pattern before... I'm thinking I might go to urgent care tomorrow to get my EKG checked.
Had some molasses, looks like it's back down to 95%. I think I'll try some tums.
came back:
4:20 - 98 (stays at this value for 30 seconds)
4:20:30 - 96
4:20:40 - 95
4:21:30 - 95
4:31:30 - 95 (Okay we've stabilized)
4:31:40 - 96
4:31:50 - 95
*taking 2 tums*
4:22:20 - 97
4:22:40 - 96
4:23:00 - 96
4:23:30 - 96
4:24:00 - 97
4:24:10 - 96
4:24:30 - 96
4:24:40 - 97
4:25:00 - 97
4:25:20 - 96
4:25:40 - 95
4:25:50 - 94
4:26:00 - 95
4:26:20 - 95
4:26:40 - 96
4:27:00 - 95 (Well, that was shortlived)
What's interesting about these values is that other discussions online with these kind of values go like, "I'm on a ventilator 100%", "I get shortness of breath". Granted, these people have COPD or some such, but ... it does make me wonder. I'm told from various sources that 95-100 is 'normal', and many people seem to be having really no problems with these values. However, I seem to be having problems of some sort... huh
I've been assuming acid reflux, and my assumption is that sitting in this chair 'kicks it up' possibly via activating the sympathetic nerve system in the upper spine (Or possibly even the midspine, where that perma-bugged mid-vertebra is. It'd make sense that the midspine would map to the stomach.), but of course, I'm concerned it could be something much much worse and I'm well aware this lack of quality sleep and napping wouldn't be helping.
So, I tried sitting straight up thinking that'd reduce the path for acid reflux to travel up the esophagus, and so the oxy% would generally improve. What actually happened was that at some particular angle, an adrenaline surge was triggered (HR suddenly went to 90+ and oxy% immediately dipped to 93) and there was some barely detectable tingling irritation in the midspine (I wasn't palpating it), and if kept there, the oxy% went up a little and back down and then stabilized at 93%. I didn't have any particularly noticeable discomfort in this state, but it was insightful.
This is insightful because one time when I was doing this exercise (Legs up against the wall, back on floor), on the 3rd time I did it or so (I was overdoing it because it seemed like such an effective exercise), I suddenly became confused, my head felt funny (Like I was barely there) and could barely speak. I could put together simple sentences with great effort and a bit of hesistance, but the complex thoughts that I usually had no problems expressing suddenly became impossible to stitch together mentally. It felt like there was a general lack of blood flow to my head. Anyway, that lasted for the rest of the night, and I went to sleep, and it was gone in the morning. It was, however, extremely concerning at the time. I tried expressing my concern to my parents at the time, but they just generally laughed and didn't seem concerned at all while I struggled to put together simple thoughts to convey what happened. I'm not sure if I was understanding the situation correctly at the time, but I remember it seemed like they were laughing at me. Anyway, it didn't take long before I vowed off that particular exercise, lol.
So, yes, this midback vertebra seems more important than I thought. I had long questioned if it was 'a cause' of cardiac issues, or if it was an indicator of underlying cardiac issues. Anyway, I've sort of confirmed it can be a cause, just as it was a cause a couple days ago when bending down would suddenly make me lightheaded and make the room spin (Seemed to be acting via the miback vertebra). I still don't know if it's an indicator.
I wonder how exactly it's a cause. It has no nerve mappings to the heart as far as I know, and the other really notable thing about it is it's really close to the heart. I suspect that maybe when it's bugged, it's firing off nerve signals which perfuse the local area, which makes its way to the heart somehow and affects it.
Anyway, it seems the oximeter is now trending between 93 and 97%, tending to average at 95%, sitting in the normal position. I think I might've messed up the vertebra by straightening out my back. I was feeling better and better as the day went on, and then I did that, and this morning's 'panicky' feelings kind of came back.
Update: 11:47 p.m. - 11:53 p.m. - Took a nap at 10:00 p.m., woke up now. Just took a Pepcid AC tablet, hoping for a reflux acid-less night. If situation is same or worse tomorrow as this morning, I'm going to urgent care. While 'morning anxiety' and 'anxiety after eating' seems to be somewhat common, this morning was just absolutely ridiculous compared to my own history. I've never gotten anxious about eating raisins and carbs in general, or even eating in general, but it sure was happening this morning out of the blue! Someone else online also reports that this happened to them (The user had a male name too, 'Sam'. These kinds of issues seem to stereotypically happen to women judging from the threads I see.), then the doctor took his EKG and he was sent directly to the ER for emergency surgery. While I know I have true blue anxiety to some degree, this morning was just absolutely ridiculous. I sure wish I had my handheld EKG, this waveform on my pulse-meter looks kind of funny while my standing HR races to 110 and oxy% stabilizes at 96%. I'm hoping this is just 'Acid Reflux' causing all of this. If that's the case, this Pepcid AC tablet and upcoming moderate spinach intake right before bed should help.
Anyway, the middle of my chest hurts to touch, and it also hurts /right there/ to breath in. I can tell I irritated some muscle/rib when doing my 30 pushups this evening, so totally not worried. I noticed my left hand started tingling for about 20 minutes after doing the pushups; I'm not sure if it was the 'carpal tunnel' fingers or the entire hand. It seemed like it was the entire hand at first, but it became increasingly apparent to be the 'carpal tunnel' fingers later on. Anyway, I was feeling rather lightheaded after doing pushups some 3 days ago, which happened shortly after my exhausting sprints, which was also the day where my mind/heart seemed like it was going berserk and I thought I eventually figured out it was Acid Reflux, probably exacerbated by the 2 bananas I had eaten earlier and panic about the newly discovered 'room is spinning' phenomenon when I bent down earlier that night, which I later figured out happened by somehow bugging my midback vertebra, probably made vulnerable by the sprints earlier that night, but I don't really know if that's actually the case...
Anyway, now 12:09 a.m. - oxy% while standing stabilizes to 96% and HR converges to 72-76, which is a normal standing heart rate when I've had an appropriate amount of sleep. My standing has been fluctuating between 82-100 earlier today, indicating a lack thereof, which I already knew I had as soon as I woke up in the middle of my nap to call PT to cancel my appointment.
Anyway, I believe I had caught an abnormal EKG one time in the past during one of my nocturnal panic attacks earlier this year. I actually caught it during one of my 'milder ones' where I just suddenly woke up without any obvious panic, but it followed 'the pattern' as recent past panic attacks. However, that was before I learned how to consistently use my EKG correctly, so my earlier finding is suspect. I never really cared to measure it after I learned how to correctly use it, because avoiding the increasingly violent nocturnal panic attacks was at the top of my priority list at the time(Which I was successfully doing at the time by sleeping on my back instead of my right.). Those ones didn't involve 'just waking up for no obvious reason', lol. Being severely short of breath is no fun.
Anyway, I was going to turn the lights off at 12:30 p.m. and try to sleep, but something didn't feel right (Might've just been that burp I just burped, lol), so I don't think I'm going to aggressively push it tonight like last night.
Standing heart rate at 12:36 a.m. - 9/17/2016 - 60 BPM 96%oxy
Sitting heart rate at same time - 60 BPM 96%oxy
Wow, that standing heart rate is kind of low. I could also feel that 'prickly irritation' in my midback vertebra as I stood. It might indicate my body is getting sleepy, but if it is, I'm not noticing yet, lol.
Update: 8:20 a.m. - 9/17/2016 - Just woke up. It was shortly after 1 a.m. yesterday and I noticed I wasn't feeling sleepy but yet I was twitching my foot. I thought maybe I had some kind of 'blood sugar' issue thwarting my sleep, so riding on my theory that sore muscles act as a drain on blood sugar (or some such), I started doing some 'air chairs' (i.e., 'squats'). Did about 3 of them, and very shortly afterwards, I instantly felt very sleepy. I also noticed my oxy% went from 96% standing prior to 98-99% standing after. While sleeping, I noticed my midback hurt and my breathing was short/rapid/distressed. So I got up and took an aspirin, and then my body refused to go back to sleep and then my stomach just casually 'got hungry', so I thought maybe I needed to feed it before my body would go back to sleep (I've been eating lightly the day before. I thought maybe the rice and beans 'overloaded my system' somehow causing the current food anxiety, so I ate gingerly throughout the day to avoid stirring up that panicky sense of doom that I assume my body was trying to warn me with.). Ate an apple and later burped a small burp presumably from the apple. Was able to fall sleepy in about another 5 minutes after eating the apple.
Anyway, my standing HR (now) is trending from 80-96 BPM and oxy% was 98. I'll retake it in a couple of minutes. I think I'm going into urgent care later today to get my EKG checked. The immense anxiety / sense of doom I was getting from eating 'carby things' yesterday morning was absolutely unreal and completely bonkers. That's definitely not my normal self, and I usually have no problems eating pretty much anything. The healthiest cultures eat a lot of carbs, so I definitely don't have any psychological hangups on it.
8:40 a.m. - (Standing) oxy% varies from 95-96%, standing HR from 76-85. Seems a little high and somewhat variable, indicating some need for quality sleep.
Update: Took a nap around 9:00 a.m., woke at around 10:35 a.m., had a dream. It was kind of cool.
10:39 a.m. - oxy% from 96-97%, standing HR from 72-80 BPM. Seems like I'm done with 'quality sleep' for today. Will take measurements in 20 minutes or so, then eat, then probably head off to urgent soon. I've also determined to consume the herbs/vitamins/miners/whatnot at the beginning of the day so that any deficiencies won't be affecting me as badly throughout the day. Seemed like the anxiety yesterday calmed /a bit/ by consumption of a little bit of salt. I stopped eating the salt when it no longer tasted 'good', and merely tasted salty.
10:56 a.m. - oxy% from 96-97%, standing HR from 57-60 BPM. Feeling a rumble in my tummy, take this as a possible sign I need to eat.
11:34 a.m. - Anyway, reaching for milder explanations for this 'mealtime' anxiety phenomenon, I do notice my anxiety uptick oftentimes right before a burp. I'm not consciously aware of the impending burp or its immediate physical affects, but I definitely notice the anxiety that often is relieved after the burp.
(Again, reiterating I'm looking at milder explanations here.)
I suspect the beans had effectively overcolonized my digestive tract, including my stomach, which significantly increased the amount of gas being produced by gas-producing foods, namely carbs (Which bacteria easily ferment, with the exception of glucose). The solution to this overcolonization is the consumption of fermented foods and antibacterial foods. Cocoa is an antibacterial... maybe that's why it helped yesterday morning... Fermented foods are things like kimchee, natural yogurt(greek yogurt), blue cheese, Natto(fermented beans)... and minimization of bacteria-growing foods like easily digested carbs (Dried fruits/processed grains).
11:46 a.m. - Standing: oxy% 98-99%, HR varies between 76-90. Ate about 30 minutes ago: 1 large ripe unspotted banana, 2 TBSP cocoa+1 TBSP molasses, 1.3 TBSP thyme, dipped the salt until satisfied, 1/4 cup popcorn with 2 TBSP of olive oil and 200 mg of sodium (A pinch), 1/2 a cup of european style yogurt.
Feel awake right now, perhaps a little too awake, lol. Seems like I had momentary left jaw burning sensation about a minute ago, lasted like 4 seconds.
Probably should go munch on some vegetables.
Update: 4:32 p.m.
So, I was eating and I felt this subtly mounting anxiety and I was wondering, "What's happening?", and then suddenly I felt a 'popping sensation' near the back right of my head, was concerned perhaps I just experienced a hemmorhage or some such. Monitored the left side of my body and the familiar tingling in the left side of my tongue did not start up, at least not in the time shortly thereafter.
Anyway, I'm reading things online of this particular experience and people report more benign things like "Ear canal popped" or some such (Of course, a few other people report more 'boogie man' kind of diagnoses, like MS or Lyme. Don't get me wrong, those disorders actually do exist, but they tend to be used as a catch-all for almost any and all inexplicable symptoms that can't be readily explained by other 'real' disorders.) and, surely enough, my right ear feels intermittently open / clogged unlike my left ear, lol. So, probably just some ear canal thing. And the right side of my head kind of hurts. I've long noticed that side of the head has had a 'strange sensation' to it when I opened my mouth, but I long thought it was due to my right jaw which I injured about 1.5 years ago in a football accident. It appears it might actually might be my ear.
It does make me wonder if this has anything to with the positional vertigo a couple of days ago. Some kind of of vestibular something or another doesn't seem incredibly unlikely.
Update - 9:11 P.M. - 9/17/2016:
I'm researching this 'popping' sensation even more. Various threads suggest it could be related to:
-Muscles twitching ("releasing nitrogen")
-Hemorrhage (Or precursors to one)
-Ear canal phenomena (The eustachian tube becoming clogged/unclogged, etc.)
It seems if one has the popping sensation in conjunction with a feeling of warmth in the area, it can be a precursor to a future hemmrogic stroke or subarachnoid hemmorage - it can also immediately precede either one. (Leaking blood feels warm, yes.)
If it's associated with 'leaking of blood in the inner top of head' and 'followed by a severe migraine' (Like one poster put it), I would immediately think hemorrhage. That's kind of a no brainer.
No definitive associations with the ear canal judging from threads, but I do know my right ear was intermittently clogging/unclogging quite a bit at the time and it's been feeling a little sore recently. Something to do with the eustachian tube.
Anyway, apparently hemorrhages can be caused by:
https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/000701.htm
Even though I'm feeling kind of confident, lol, that the popping sensation was likely associated with my right ear and I don't remember feeling a sensation of warmth and I'm pretty sure I would've noticed that - I was looking out for subsequent symptoms - the fatality rates of hemmoragic strokes is high enough and there's been enough people on the threads (Like this http://www.steadyhealth.com/topics/weird-feeling-popping-in-head--1?page=2 ) that have had obvious hemorrhagic episodes to cause me concern. Okay, that's it, I'm immediately stopping the use of blood thinners and hell, I would use antianxiety medication like they prescribe these people to keep the blood pressure down if I could, lol. The fact that several nocturnal episodes involving the cranial nerves suggests that perhaps I've been having hemorrhagic episodes, perhaps precipitated by anxiety and the use of blood thinners. The fact is, the first episode of sudden left arm and leg paralysis was preceded by the use of aspirin 1.5-2 hours earlier, which is why I was hesitant to further use it.
And really, statistically, a stroke is far likelier than a heart attack at my age. And, I don't know enough about it to know the probability of a hemorrhagic stroke in my demographic, but I know generally the 10-year probability is like 3% and I know hemmhorages make up some 30% of strokes /generally/. The use of a daily aspirin increases the risk of a hemmorage or other 'serious bleeding events' by 50%, so it'd probably increase the 10-year stroke risk to around 4 percent, with somewhere around a 50% chance of hemorrhage and 50% chance of ischemia.
Anyway, I can feel soreness at the location of the popping sensation on my scalp, so it's not incredibly unlikely it might've been muscular in origin. It appears to be where the trapezius muscles attach to the head near the back, and my right trapezius muscle has been notably sore off and on for the last month. Seems to be strongly associated with c5/c6/c7 nerve irritation, and it was far more problematic/significant 2-3 weeks ago than it is now. And, my neck was obviously strongly irritated by the truck ride and this popping sensation happened during lunch which immediately followed after arriving home.
Oh, anyway, I didn't get an ECG like I intended. But... she didn't act too concerned. Anyway, she confirmed my hemaglobin levels were excellent. Well, that's interesting considering I don't eat iron-enriched processed foods. I just eat foods that naturally contain iron and folate (Like spinach), so it's interesting I have no problems with hemaglobin. Perhaps this confirms that my dietary insights and planning are perfect the way they are, despite the warnings I receive from family members.
(They claim I don't eat enough, but I know exactly what would happen if I didn't eat enough. I would get headaches, just like all these girlfriends I see mentioned online, and I don't get headaches. I simply eat natural foods when my stomach rumbles and I'm doing OK, apparently. Getting a vitamin/mineral panel on Monday to confirm how OK/not-OK my diet really is. The reason why people get headaches if they don't eat enough is because of cortisol, which is released during periods of hypoglycemia to convert lipids and proteins into serum glucose. Cortisol also causes vasoconstriction, which can cause headaches if there's enough of it. I never get headaches. I never get headaches, even when my cortisol is obviously flowing like mad for whatever reason. The last cortisol flowing like mad episode, I'm blaming Acid Reflux, perhaps fueled by mortal anxiety following an inexplicable positional vertigo episode that had enough overlap with 'dizziness', in my opinion, that one often sees in cardiac symptoms. And, the lightheadedness following pushups earlier that day, yes. And the fact running was 3x more exhausting/gasping/tiring than 'normal' that particular day. And, the fact I was having a feeling of my heart beating like mad and flashing chest burning pains at the end of the fourth sprint earlier that day.
Update: 11:38 p.m. - Just typed in the word ':bugs' in my latest post, and I got a sudden pounding sensation that felt like it originated from the bottom right base of my neck (possibly carotid artery origin, perhaps cervical/spinal) and extended upto my right lobe where a sudden rather noticeable throb or pulse sensation was felt. Judging from the pounding sensation, it had that 'lub-dub' character that one might expect from a heartbeat, where the lub was much more 'noticeable'/"louder" than the 'dub' that quickly followed. That was about 10 minutes ago, and no obvious symptoms since then. It's obvious that using that word 'freaked me out', which somehow produced that very unusual sensation, so my guess is it was probably originating from the artery somehow. Okay, well, now(11:41) I'm starting to notice my right eardrum 'flickering' or some such.
Well, pulsatile tinnitus. http://www.askdoctork.com/is-it-unhealthy-that-i-can-hear-my-pulse-in-my-ear-201307195158
Sounds almost like what's been happening today in that ear. Hearing my breathing, chewing, etc.
Interestingly...
Oh, so you're telling me that if I find that stethoscope that's long been lost and is on the 'to find' list, I could possibly conduct this test myself? Oh, that's kind of cool. I sure hope I come back with a negative answer, lol. I don't like serious problems, lol.
Update: 8:09 a.m. - 9/18/2016 - I was laying in bed in that 'twilight state' where it seems like I have heightened sense of my internals, and I could definitely feel a pulsing sensation in that particular spot on the top of my head (back right side, above ear, close to the middle parting line) that matched my hearbeat. This was the very probable location of that 'popping sensation' I had yesterday. Looking at diagrams, it doesn't appear the ear or the eustachian tube is anywhere near this location. Anyway, this is a questionable observation, but it did feel like the popping/snapping sensation was underneath the scalp. Can't really speculate past that, but if it happened towards the outer layer of the brain (the subarrachnoid space), this is associated with a subarrachnoid hemmhorage. Fairly deadly and always disabling. I'm not going to speculate that I have an impending SAH in the near future; it is pretty darn rare (rates of SAH are like 5 per 100,000 person-years in my demographic. 10 year probability would be 50/100,000= 1/1000.). But, I will be stopping the ongoing use of blood thinners.
I wonder if a popping sensation is associated with other forms of hemmorage? I'm looking and it seems to be exclusively associated with SAH. I've looked into subdural, epidural, etc. and apparently no association.
Hmmmm... 9:20 a.m. ... just recently bending down and got back up, felt a bit lightheaded. Perhaps orthostatic hypotension, but it seemed to be associated with my neck bent forward that produces this sensation. But, now I have a new theory, leaking brain blood vessels. When bending down, it increases pressure on the head, which causes more local blood loss thus the sensation of that sickly lightheadedness. To test this theory, I got down to the ground but instead of bending my upperbody/head down, I kept my head at or above the same level as my body at all times. No similar sensation was produced. Granted, I still didn't disprove the 'neck' hypothesis, which has quite a bit of evidence going for its overall symptom-producing significance of various sorts (So, it's definitely a known issue; just not sure if it's associated with this particular sensation.). And, of course, localized orthostatic hypotension in the head when coming back up from the "head/upperbody bent down position", seems almost too logical.
11:18 a.m. - took a follow up nap, that should complete sleep for today. Felt some random pricklies on the left half. Kind of hope that I don't suddenly suffer a sudden severe headache in the right half. Seems like this 'popping sensation' happens often enough in the general population, it's just that in my case, there's been a history of blood thinner use and sudden hemiparesis when turning on my right side in the middle of the night about 2 hours after using an aspirin (Left side paralysis), and that sudden pounding in my right lobe yesterday night that happened when I got a little scared which happened after the popping sensation earlier in the afternoon, so I'm a little more concerned. If you guys find that my posts suddenly stop, you can probably safely assume what happened. The chance of that might be really really slim in actuality, but it seems that I clearly have a greater chance than the average person at the moment.
Anyway, two days ago, while i was sleeping, I had this dream. At the time, my breathing was short/quick/felt-distressed. In this dream, contained a dark cloaked(black) creature of some sort. I don't know what the creature was exactly, but it was a pale green something with a large bulbous head and no obvious neck (The rest of the body was hidden in his cloak, so not sure what the rest looked like). He looked back and gave me this awfully devious grin. I took it this guy was symbolic of death, and he might've been death for all I know. Detecting the distressed breathing and feeling some kind of pain sensation in my left hand, I woke to check. Nope, no real problems, so I went to take a baby aspirin that I was avoiding that night and slept off the night. [Looking back, it'd be awfully ironic if this creature was essentially tricking me into taking that aspirin which he knew would certainly contribute to my demise. That almost seems too predictable if he was trying to essentially recruit me into his legions by trickery. Almost seems stereotypical of recruiters, 'selling the dream' and the such. Which, by the way, Nuke School was actually kind of awesome - I don't feel like the recruiters really "tricked me" into that one. It'd be only considered trickery if it actually sucked much worse than I expected. And, there were a lot of young pups who thought nuke school sucked - probably because they were comparing it to high school and not what they should've been comparing it to, a job. As a job, it was actually pretty freaking sweet. Granted, the local BX(NEX)/Commissary was a bit diminutive compared to the ones in my youth, but the self sufficient 'unbusy small town feel' was pretty cool, nestled inside a much larger city. Most small neighborhoods, as far as I know, don't happen to have a swimming pool, theater, library, gas station, department store, grocery store and convenience store (And others, like a chapel, bank,etc.) all within walking/biking distance. Most neighborhoods will have one or two of the essentials, but definitely not 'all of them'. That's kind of what I like about military neigbhorhoods - they're small, easy to traverse and pretty much all inclusive. Granted, they usually aren't 'the best' in their particular categories in the local area, but the fact they're there and so close/easy-to-access along peaceful/scenic routes is just too cool. That's one of the weaknesses of typical 'small towns' - they typically aren't all inclusive and the routes aren't always peaceful/scenic/beautiful.
Anyway, I usually discount these things as 'meaningless dreams' and 'fanciful imaginings'. But, with what's been happening yesterday, I wonder if it actually meant anything? I don't usually get those kind of dreams. Like, I've never had a dream exclusively of some dark, shadowy figure as far as I remember. And since I clearly remember this guy like 3 days later, I'm sure I would've remembered a similar kind of dream like forever, lol.
Well, I sure hope it doesn't mean anything, lol.
Anyway, aneurysms are an old historical fear of mine (Looking back, I was really thinking of 'ruptured aneurysms' or 'hemmorages'), usually happened at night when I was trying to sleep - never happened during the day - never had symptoms during the day. They tended to strike for a week or two at a time and then didn't come back for a long time - the last time it happened was at least 2 years ago. It'd be ironic if it's actually happening for real this time, and they were not on the radar at all, lol. Definitely didn't have the same level of fear last night as I did during those 1-2 week episodes, even though the 'evidence' was much stronger yesterday than in the past (Had absolutely no evidence/symptoms back then, just a baseless fear that kept me up for a little while.).
Anyway, it does concern me a little that the SAH page described the sensation as either a 'popping' or 'snapping' sensation, because it felt like either to me. While I disregarded it as a minor thing at the time due to muscular or aural phenomenon, it does fit the puzzle pieces as far as past inexplicable episodes that involved the cranial nerves and left sided paralysis, and those episodes had recent aspirin use, and the pounding sensation in my right lobe later that night seems to suggest it, and the distinct heightened awareness of internals during the twilight hours in the following morning seems to confirm the location and shape. [Btw, after I had completely awakened, that 'internal awareness' vanished, no matter how much I try to focus.]
Anyway, the momentary feeling of a 'lower level of consciousness' when ... being hostile, I'm guessing ... or stressed ... yeah, I've just been noticing that today. Not sure if it's anything really significant. I get the feeling if a full rupture were to happen, I wouldn't really have time to call 911 because I would've lost consciousness by that point.
Update: 3:25 p.m.
Was eating my carrots and at the end of the first carrot, I noticed my anxiety rapidly increasing and then my left arm quickly went 'numb'. I was expecting some kind of intense pain in the right side of my head soon to follow, but instead, the middle of my chest quickly went vaguely sore for a couple of seconds and then soon vanished. The numbness in my left arm soon disappeared. It might've disappeared because I was straightening out my neck which was recently 'bothered' (I was looking down recently seeing if I could provoke this 'positional vertigo'; I was provoking something, but it wasn't obvious if the sensation was from me provoking my neck or something in my inner ear - I was obviously 'bothering' my neck. Looking down is known to provoke episodes that appear like heart attacks or something similar.), it might've disappeared because it was a transient MI or something another.
Anyway, I haven't had any cocoa since last night and I ran out of spinach last night so didn't have any today and I also didn't take a blood thinner yesterday (or ate any other blood thinning herbs, like garlic), so it might have very well been some kind of ischemic event of some sort. It's just that, if it was... wow. If merely not eating those kind of foods/medicines can provoke it, then I'm like...
Anyway, I'm thinking it'd be quite weird to have hemmorhagic and cardiovascular threats at the same time at my age. Each one is statistically very unlikely, but to have both is pretty much impossible. It does imply some kind of cervical source would likely explain both cases through whatever pathways. (nerve/muscular/ribs/etc)
Anyway, during that episode, the middle of my back had that distinct 'electricity shooting through it' sensation that historically seemed to correspond with an oxy% lowered to 93% from 95%. The rib attaching to that vertebra does map 1 inch above my sternum. So I don't completely understand how a spinal/nerve/ribs explanation could explain an entire left arm being numb, but maybe it does somehow. If you were to irritate the left root nerves from C5-T2, it could possibly create that affect. And they do appear irritated on palpation. And it is just the left side, not the right. So a spinal/nerve/ribs explanation seems plausible, I just don't completely understand how they'd all crescendo at the same time in perfect uniformity. My left hand's fingers and a few parts of my left arm seem to randomly go numb for a few seconds throughout the day. However, it's easy to understand how reduced circulation to the left arm could uniformly decrease sensation.
https://consumer.healthday.com/encyclopedia/heart-health-22/heart-attack-news-357/angina-pectoris-chest-pain-645403.html
Do I really have this?
My episode lasted like 7 seconds, starting from the notable increase in left arm numbness to the vague chest soreness, which itself lasted like 3 seconds.
Oh yeah, just pressed on the left side of my head and had a lingering soreness along the front half of the skull that kind of 'bobbed away'. Seems to likely indicate some cervical nerve source. I must've really frocked up my neck looking down.
I'm brave enough to keep eating carrots. I just noticed that eating carrots seems to cause irritation at the base of my neck (I can kind of feel it), and that the initial chomp down with the two front teeth has the ability to cause a feeling of fairly high pressure at the top of my right skull. Or, at least it did that one time. I'm not sure if it's significant. And, my neck right now is completely loose, or so it seems. Looking down and all the correction that followed seems to have completely loosened my neck. I'm not sure if this is a bad state to be in, but it seemed to be significantly better this morning before I looked down to test the vertigo theory, lol. So the "eating a carrot pinched a nerve/spinal cord/etc. in my neck somewhere" hypothesis has some credibility. It's unknown, however, if it can trigger cardiovascular episodes like that and if that's exactly what it did, somehow. Or if it was purely nerve/ribs/spine/muscular in origin.
Continued from previous.
4:58 p.m. - 9/18/2016 - walking up the stairs induced left hand tingling with some detectable forearm tingling. Each flight increased the tingling. Leaning back my neck seemed to reduce the tingling by half. Left hand feels noticeably colder than the right. Not sure what the starting temperature was. Will make sure to record it next time after hand temperature stabilizes.
5:05 p.m - Hand temperature stabilized. Tingling subsided.
Doing the front of the hand
Left - 85.3
Right - 84.3
After climbing 8 flights, there's a little bit of tingling in the left hand and not nearly as much last time. Left hand also doesn't feel as cool as it did last time.
measurement - 5:10 p.m.
Left - 82.9
Right - 82.9
Measurement - 5:12 p.m. (Been sitting)
Left 86.5
Right 85.9
Interesting, after the initial exercise, it seems the hand has reduced tingling and, after exercising in general, it seems to increase the hand temperature in both hands after the first two minutes of rest. In past studies, it seems that exercise also temporarily boosts oxy% levels from 96% to 98%. A logical conclusion is that exercise improves circulation and oxygen levels. Improved circulation following the initial exercise may have lead to decreased tingling through increased left arm circulation.
And, typing that out so it was coherent seemed to take a bit of time. Notably increased confusion.
Also, I was recently dry swallowing, and noticed my neck clicking with each swallow. I threw back my neck, and it obviously clicked back into the 'upright position', and the neck clicking stopped. I'm not actually sure if the neck was clicking or if it was the throat, but it seemed like the neck.
Looks like the neck is right next to the esophagus, so more then plausible that swallowing was causing the neck to click in the forward position.
And, now I'm tired. Like, could fall asleep. I thought I had already slept like 9 hours yesterday night?
Well, a spoonful of molasses quickly perked me up.
Anyway, my upperspine/neck is obviously irritated, just like it was yesterday, when I did the correction of my neck after looking down. I think this might be what's causing issues today, but I'm not entirely sure which ones, lol. I just know that I generally felt much better overall before I tested the vestibular dysfunction theory by looking down.
HUH.
Well, I was looking at my logs, and I noticed I was also munching on carrots yesterday when the mounting anxiety started to happen when resulted in a popping/snapping sensation at the top back right of my head. Interesting that the first carrot today would also precipitate anxiety soon followed by left arm numbness and chest soreness. The other commonality was that both times of the day had a "messed up" neck, yesterday by all the driving on the bumpy roads, and today by testing the vestibular theory by looking completely down and the correction that followed. So, it would seem likely that when my neck is 'messed up', eating carrots can precipitate anxiety followed by soon by sensations like that. It's just so freaking inconvenient they seem to cause episodes that mimic deadly medical issues, and I can't really tell if any of them are actually what they seem. I would just 'assume not', but they seem so convincing. And, we're getting shooting scalp pain in the back left of my head today. Woohoo, the C2-C3 nerve is bugged, now I know it's possible. lol
And, if that's possible, it's curious if they're affecting the sympathetic and parasympathetic cardiac nerves that exit C1/C2/C3. Because that suggests it could possibly invoke genuine cardiac episodes of /some sort/, I just don't know what kind. Internet sources don't suggest they could... but I wonder...
Like, if you had myelopathy at C2 (Pinching of the spinal cord or irritation of it, not just irritation of the exiting 'dermatome'.), could that affect the cardiac nerves exiting C2/C3?
Update: 7:54 p.m. - 9/18/2016 - still alive.
Okay, when my neck vertebras were completely loosened this morning by the 'looking down' test, I noticed I felt very off kilter for the hours afterwards and 'not right'. Not only that, but eating carrots triggered some kind of phenomena, likely through bugging the nerves/cord, that universally causes rising anxiety and then had some kind of affect that conveniently mimics some kind of deadly disease process. Oh, lucky me.
Anyway, I've wondered about this and figured out. My neck is probably solidifying 'all over' because that horrendous neck sprain caused by the inflatable cervical decompression device likely weakened all my ligaments, almost seems like permanently. So the neck compensates by solidifying, and then if the solidification is disrupted, the weak ligaments become exposed and all sorts of nerve/spinal-cord mayhem ensues. This solidification is the same process someones back will do when there's a broken vertebra - it will solidify and the vertebra around it will also solidify. So, yep, that's that.
Apparently I have a relatively solid neck that causes mayhem if it gets destroyed by /really/ looking down/leaning-forward. Looking straight doesn't seem to bug it so much, but that's assuming it has had some time to solidify. If it had fairly recently just been 'completely broken', looking straight doesn't help at all. Then again, looking straight back doesn't seem completely symptomless either, it just seems to be the least symptomatic, lol. After its solidified, looking forward is usually OK. Seems like it takes a half a day or more to get to this point, leaning forward still appears to be symptomatic. Leaning forward seems to begin that 'right lobe' pounding sensation of yesterday, or at least it has recently. Anyway, sitting in this chair is awful when trying to avoid leaning forward since the 'lean forward' position is the natural position of this chair.
Update: 9:14 p.m. - sometime around 8 p.m., I started feeling this gentle sensation in my left midribs like it was trying to push out. It lasted for about 20 seconds. I thought, "oh no, this can't be my heart saying "hello, again!", can it?", anyway, it went away - it started shortly after standing up straight, which seemed to alleviate the neck 'looking straight' issues at the time. I found I was able to create a similar, but less noticeable, sensation by leaning my neck back fully, so not too worried. Anyway, the tip of my left shoulder blade feels sore to touch but it's always felt sore to the touch as far as I remember, so I'm not really worried about that, either. Seems to correspond to this usually sore midrib which corresponds to this slightly bugged vertebra one up from the always bugged midback vertebra that almost seems to have its hand in almost everything.
Update: 3:09 a.m. - woke with this burning pain in my neck and this sense of nausea and this heavy feeling in my chest and I noticed that my "deep breath in" breathing in just didn't feel right. My heart was beating hard. Anyway, I took an aspirin because of what happened earlier today, I also took a famtodine tablet just in case it might help. I couldn't find the tums, apparently they absconded with them. Anyway, 3 minutes later as I was walking around, came forth a great burp and a smaller burp and the 'deep breath in breathing difficulty' almost seemingly immediately disappeared. Perhaps the aspirin was just kicking in, but perhaps it was just acid reflux. So, no tums and all I have are these lousy pepcid AC tablets you're supposed to take at least 30 minutes prior when you want it to kick in, lol. Ok, well, I still really have no idea what that was/is, but I guess Acid Reflux might be a good guess, lol.
More specifically, by 'deep breath in breathing difficulty', it felt like I could take a deep breath in, but this incredible sense of distress accompanied the end of the deep inhale ("it just didn't feel right"), seems like I could feel the distress vaguely in my chest and in my mind. That sensation never happens, normally.
Update: 3:39 a.m. - Not sure if this guy is really going away like I would normally expect him to by now. Took 2 spoonfuls of molasses for the calcium content, seemed to make symptoms worse. Not expected for acid reflux.
Update: 11:03 a.m. - 9/19/2016 - My head was feeling a strange discomforting pressure following the two spooonfuls of molasses and I was a bit puzzled. It was only like 20 grams of sugar. Anyway, I reasoned that perhaps the molasses had unfavorably expanded the bacterial populations, so I ate a couple of spoonfuls of plain european style yogurt (No sugar added), and I felt noticeably better. That discomforting head sensation largely abated and I was half capable of falling asleep. Waking up just now, I didn't notice any of the 'pain symptoms' I had in my ribs/back/neck I had when trying to fall asleep or two hours after falling asleep. (Kept getting a recurrent sharp pain in my left rib just above the nipple. Fleeting sharp pain like that doesn't ordinarily worry me since I usually think nerve irritation, but given its location and it happening on the heels of what just happened earlier along with recurrent left sharp shoulder pain and left shoulder blade soreness tends to make me think of worse possible causes.)
Anyway, I need to start my work early today, to get it out of the way while I'm feeling OK. It seems like I can't really predict what the day will bring. Sometimes I'm feeling OK at the end of day to do work, sometimes not.
Update: It's now 7:26 p.m. - other than a burning neck after 'looking down' too much at the store, I'm doing fairly OK, definitely much better than the preceding 2 days. There's some slight irritation when eating foods (Could tell by that transient 'pressure in head' feeling and other phenomena), but I've just avoided the 'hard foods' today (carrots) and seem to be doing OK.
Anyway, walked around trying to find the labs to fulfill my doctor's orders. I looked around the intersection given by the guy (I didn't have the address written down), I swear I couldn't find it all. I confirmed the location earlier with someone else, and she apparently didn't really know where it was, she didn't really know where I was pointing, or she was lying, either way - she was wrong. Kept looking. Finally found /something/ that had the name mentioned by the guy on the way back home, and went in, found out apparently it was "the wrong one" or something, lol. (After they checked me in and I was meeting with the phlebotomist for blood withdrawal) Anyway, she actually knew where the correct one was, and pointed me to it and I finally found it, 3 hours later! lol
Got blood drawn.
And, I was just getting that 'pressure in head sensation'. I'm not sure if my excitement is causing it or if it's because I was leaning forward. Excitement might be a more consistent explanation, but I'd prefer leaning forward. Would seem to have less serious implications (I think?).
Couldn't find the stethoscope despite even more extensive looking.
I did find my ECG meter. My ECG trace looked pretty healthy today, even seemed more normal than I usually remembered it looking like a month ago.
Now I finally have some relevant diagnostic tool that can help me figure out what these nocturnal episodes really are. I've been assuming acid reflux, but giving calcium tablets during a cardiac episode can be a mistake since calcium inhibits aspirin absorption, so I've been giving myself aspirin before the calcium tablets(Tums) just in case. But, I'm trying to avoid aspirin now, so this tool will help me with that. Anyway, I think I might just try yogurt in the future with its probiotics and natural high calcium content before resorting to medicine. Seems to be pretty effective as it is.
Looking online, I confirmed that 'difficulty during inhale' is a sign of acid reflux, while problems with exhale is asthma. So yesterday night probably was acid reflux. Will try to avoid that tonight. And now my neck is burning using this computer, gah, I wanted/needed to work! lol
Update: 5:10 a.m. - 9/21/2016
Fell asleep at 11 p.m. on the couch, an unusually early time for me. Neck/back was getting as bad as the original neck sprain, largely because of the walk to/from and particularly because of PT. While at PT, I was getting noticeable tingling in my left hand, I was experiencing unusually left side phenomenon (The drooping torso sensation) and my demeanor was turning to one of irritation. Usually the "unusually heigtened sense of irritation" itself seems to be normally associated with cardiac events, it being preceded by all that was just a bonus.
Anyway, left and walked to the nearby supplement supply store, looking for cyclodextrin - it was a new store and it was independent, so I thought there was a chance. The store owner/cashier appeared to be a European entrepreneur of some sort. While talking to this big muscular guy, I noticed my right lobe kept getting that exploding sensation. That was odd, because I never got that exploding sensation during PT and I also talked then. Anyway, walking along, I did notice I was particularly anxious as I could later tell from my walking, so I'm guessing this guy scared me or something, lol. Anyway, I've noticed generally the sensation seems to happen when I talk, but it also seems to happen when I catch myself leaning forward. I suspect that maybe I'm leaning forward when I'm talking sometimes.
The walk to/from was more hair-raising than I had anticipated. The path is more scenic, I've found, when riding a bicycle because the trees appear to happen 'more often' simply because you're moving faster, providing a sense of 'tree cover', but the gaps between the trees are far more noticeable when you're walking at a pace of 2-3 mph, lol, so not quite as scenic.
I thought I'd walk there rather than take my truck because I suspected it'd be less consequential. Turns out the PT itself was the most consequential part of the trip, lol.
Anyway, I woke up at 4:50 a.m.; waking after roughly 5 hours of sleep is sort of normal. But, going to sleep this early and waking up this early was a bit unusual, so I checked my ECG. It appeared for the first 20 seconds of measurement (Happened about 20-30 seconds after I woke), there was a barely detectable elevated ST segment (Everything else looked normal). Wasn't experiencing noticeable symptoms, so I can't really tell if it actually signified anything or was a benign measurement artifact based on lead placement. Seems like that particular 'benign' measurement artifact has happened often enough in the past during asymptomatic times, so I don't really read much into it. The lead spacing is not as far apart as it is on standard ECG machines (When they apply the 3 main leads, LA,RA,RR), so lead placement error could definitely be an issue.
Still, I would think that I'd be a candidate for a holter monitor given what's 'been going on', but doctors just brush me off. It's not really 'possible' at my age, until it's undeniable. (I.e., a massive one struck and you now have advanced congestive heart failure, lol. Now you're a candidate, lol.) Granted, the episodes aren't quite as severe as it can be in older people.
Anyway done typing that, was getting some strong left jaw/neck pain typing that. I've been blaming my neck since it's
been bugged, lately. (now 5:38 a.m.)
Anyway, I did have a sweet dream. Made some kind of portal in the ocean, so that fish would swim through and jump out of our portal (on land somewhere) where we collected them. I think the final count at the end after the trickle of fish jumping through slowed was something like 52x 5" or greater, or 223x overall or somesuch, lol. That would be a pretty neat way to catch fish, lol.
Update: 8:39 a.m. - went to sleep at sometime around 5:40 a.m., just woke up. Felt this recurrent sore pain in my midchest about .5" above the bottom of the sternum, left arm kind of pained/tingly (Like etchy nerve pain of some sort). I would've figured out in the past it was likely rib pain, since that feels like its probable location (And the ribs there are sore to the touch and the corresponding part of the midback was definitely irritated when I transferred sleeping from the couch to the bed at 1:15 a.m.), but the pulsating nature of it (about once every 5 seconds) warranted further investigation. Seeing slight ST elevation as earlier, also seeing fairly variable R peak height, sometimes half its normal size (But always larger than the T peak). ST abnormality unknown if benign or significant. Oxi was 96%, 76HR. HR seems to indicate a full night sleep (Even though my eyes feel rather dry).
Anyway, yesterday was notable because of the consumption of 2 eggs, 10 ounces of cheese and consuming 150 grams of candy sugar[WHO advises a daily limit of 25g] in addition to normal carb sources (100grams of carbs in popcorn, and another 100 grams from fruit).
On the other hand... I'm supposed to wait 30 minutes to take the standing HR before declaring if I got enough sleep... normally the standing HR is a little bit higher than its 'steady state' value right after waking up...
Update: 9:01 a.m. - oxi% 99,standing HR - 56; ST segment doesn't appear as elevated as earlier, the T peak looks a bit peaky compared to two days ago (Its been looking peaky since yesterday), when it looked like a perfect small bump.
Update: 9:22 a.m.; oxi% 99, standing HR - 51; Wasn't feel hungry but had two peaches earlier with a string cheese and a TBSP of thyme, anyways, about 10 mins ago. Standing HR seems a bit low. Sitting HR is 47, oxi% of 99.
Found the official definition of STEMI
Seems like this requires equipment that can measure and report mm (Or mV). My device is likely a screening tool, since it doesn't offer either function.
My guess is that my body normally thinks that this time is "time to sleep", so HR matches the 'sleep time' circadian rhythm (Sitting HR is normally around 46-50 during the "time for sleep" part of the sleep cycle), but I'm not really sleepy because I fell asleep at the unusually early time of 11 p.m. yesterday night. Of course, there could be other [significantly worse] explanations but I won't assume it.
9:46 a.m. - ECG looks normal (no obvious ST elevation), standing HR is 59, oxy% is 99, 6.1L VC, 101% FEV1 and 107% PEF. Feeling kind of tired.
12:20 p.m. - Went to bed at 9:55 a.m., woke up just now. Wow, collectively 11.5 hours of sleep? I hope nothing's wrong.
12:27 p.m. - 5.6L VC, oxi 96%, 80-90BPM, ECG looks roughly normal and regular (A little bumpy following the T wave) but there's curious breaks/stops in the graph that last for about 2 seconds at a time happening periodically. Otherwise, feeling fine, I think.
12:50 p.m. - 9/21/2016 - oxi 98%, standing HR 70-80BPM, 5.75L VC, 107% FEV1, 100% PEF, ECG looks normal. It looks like the T-wave is kind of close to the R-wave, but it might just look like that because the HR is higher than normal (More beats compressed on the graph). Probably clinically insignificant.
I just personally know that you don't want the T-wave to get too close to the R-wave (According to the nurse in the house.), because it could devolve into V-fib and sudden cardiac death. But, I'm assuming I'm reading too much into this because of "morning time anxiety" or some such. I'm feeling pretty fine otherwise.
3:54 p.m. - Still alive, nothing particularly noteworthy. Was waiting for my cocoa to cool down and decided to do some squats, and noticed I was able to hold the squat for 90 seconds before tiring. Wow, notable improvement over 70 seconds! After the first rep, I noticed I was getting really tired and lightheaded, so I stopped and then later drank my cocoa and noticed it was exceptionally delicious, so I made a second cup and waited for it to cool down. Did a second set, and also could hold for 90 seconds! Wow, my muscles must've been building up during all that sleeping yesterday. Anyway, drank the cocoa which also was exceptionally delicious (4 tbsp of cocoa in total), and decided I was probably hypoglycemic - I think eating all the candy yesterday was setting me up. So I decided to eat two date-bars, and tried to lower the glycemic loading by eating a substantial amount of pecans with it (Didn't want to set myself up tomorrow). Anyway, been getting that 'exploding/pressure in right head' sensation lately, I wonder if I drank too much cocoa? I think the probability of a hemmorage some days ago was really low, especially since it was soon followed by an apparently patent eustachian tube in the right ear (Kept opening/closing so I could hear my breathing in my right ear.), a sensation I don't normally experience except that one particular day following that 'popping/snapping' sensation on the same side of the head(right). I haven't experienced that phenomena yesterday (Hearing breathing in the ear), the day before or even today, so it was probably something for that one day. But, this 'exploding right head' sensation that's been happening since is kind of buggy, since the nature of the sensation tends to make me assume the worst, despite the seeming utter improbability of it. I assume it's probably my ear creating that sensation(On the verge of opening, I'm guessing), but the sensation is a little unnerving nonetheless. Seems to tend to happen while I'm talking, especially when talking more loudly (Would explain why 'excitement'/'emotional intensity' seemed to have something to do with it), possibly/probably implicating the ear.
Anyway, the nature of the ECG graph during the 'breaks' was distinctive. The trace would suddenly hit the top of the graph (Indicating the voltage maxed out the graph, so it couldn't read any higher), there would be no obvious trace the second beat, and then a tiny beat would soon follow. I don't really know what was going on, but it appears that there was a strong electrical pulse, skipped a beat, then the small beat that followed was because the strong electric pulse broke the graph out of scale. Now, why would the heart have a sudden strong electrical pulse? Is that something adrenaline(i.e., panic) could do? I'm assuming... but, I don't want really want to assume in this matter.
Maybe this is it.
http://www.news-medical.net/health/What-are-Ectopic-heartbeats.aspx
I'm not sure if this 'strong forceful beat' would translate into 'strong electrical ECG signal', but I'm guessing it would. The fact that a heartbeat, or two, was skipped right afterwards would suggest this is the guy. Anyway, unlike the posters on this page, I did not really 'feel it', I only noticed it on my ECG and wondered its significance.
Update: 6:19 p.m. - 121/64 @ 74 BPM(sitting); oxi% 95%, 90-100HR standing; 5.66L VC, 104% FEV1, 101% PFC; ECG looked relatively normal; currently feeling fine, other than that 'pulse' I just felt towards the back right of my neck that lead to the back right of my head when typing this. Possibly cervical-nerve/muscular/ligament in origin (Those feel irritated at c8/T1/T2/T3 atm along the right side and left side. All around.), perhaps vertebral artery, maybe carotid was involved. Historically High HR could probably be explained by the 130G carb + 4 TBSP cocoa consumption about 2.5 hours ago. Will keep track.
Update: 6:49 p.m. - Standing heart rate seems fairly variable for what I assume was a full night sleep. Seems to be jumping between 80-110 BPM standing, hanging normally in the 90s. Oxy% hanging around 95%-96%. It kind of confused me that I was getting somewhat hungry with my HR so high.
7:10 p.m. - just did 2 sets of squats and bicep and tricep exercises for the left and right arm. Hoping that I can 'rip these muscles' so they act as carb drains, hopefully get my blood sugar levels down a little faster (Which I assume are causing the high HR). Noticed I was getting fleeting sharp pains in my pasternal area during the 2nd squats, assumed it was ribs/muscular, they definitely feel sore to the touch ('fleeting sharp' pain just yells muscles/nerves.). Definitely had no issues with lightheadedness after the most recent squats, suggesting the lightheadedness earlier today was due to low blood glucose (The fact that molasses tasted exceptionally good also strongly suggests this).
7:37 p.m. - just did another set of "until exhaustion" bicep and tricep exercises. Pulse rate is still hanging in the 90s. Considering the amount of hypoglycemia I presumably had this morning, a standing HR of 70-80 might seem a bit high (It's actually usually normal when waking up after a full night's sleep, but I'm not usually that hypoglycemic either.). Will keep a watch on this, might become a little more concerned if it's still this high in 2 hours. Think I might walk on the treadmill at the highest incline setting.
8:07 p.m. - Just walked on the treadmill at 12% incline @ 2.5 mph for 15 minutes, and my heart rate was consistently 130 BPM, peak of 134. Resting(sitting) heartrate at the 1 minute mark was 80 BPM. Standing heart rate at the 2 minute mark was 94 BPM. Time to watch this. Interestingly, it doesn't seem like I've ever seen my oxy% above 96% today after eating, regardless of exercise, squats, etc.; I wonder why? Typically walking and/or exercise would boost the oxy% upto 98%-99% from a resting % of 96, at least in the past week. It was at 98% earlier today at 12 p.m., and I don't think anything particularly significant happened since, so I would think it's attainable in the future. While walking on the treadmill, I had a sharp pain feel like it shot straight through my skull from the base of my neck. That was a bit curious, since I know not of a nerve/circulatory path that would explain that pain trajectory. Apparently it happens, though.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/06/think-like-a-doctor-ice-pick-pain-solved/?_r=0http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/06/think-like-a-doctor-ice-pick-pain-solved/?_r=0
Curious, seems like there could be some insight gleaned from this.
Carotydnia or some such seems like it could explain some recent phenomena. The idea of a dissection in the carotid artery following the 'great neck sprain' seems less and less unlikely given what's happened in the past 1.5 months. 'Pulsatile tinnitus' in the right ear, TIA hemiparesis in the left leg and arm at night, somewhat recurring right lobe migraines associated with stroke like features (pulsations of right lobe pain associated with unusually slowed word recall speeds that precedes the 'pain pulse')[this was happening yesterday], left side of tongue going numb for 2 seconds with the rest of the left side (Happened a couple of times; I'm more concerned about episodes having tongue involvement since that's a cranial nerve with direct neural connections to the lobe; i.e.,can't be explained by cervical phenomena, directly implicates lobe activity/inactivity.), and recently, "about to explode"/perssure sensations in the right lobe following high GI carb consumption and getting excited/anxious (Implies heightened blood sugar levels induce this sensation, possibly via vascular means.), etc.
Since strokes have a 60% mortality rate, I should probably get this checked out sooner rather than later. And, doing that walking on the treadmill, while it brought my HR down to the low 70s by 8:10 p.m., also messed my lower neck making it vulnerable to 'eating disturbing the vertebra' and it's more sensitive to head position. Kind of the opposite of what I've been trying to achieve recently.
http://www.jvascsurg.org/article/S0741-5214(11)00425-3/abstract
Long-term outcomes of internal carotid artery dissection
Well, that sounds about right. Hemispheric stroke/TIA and contralateral limb weakness. The good thing is, in this study of 29 patients, no one died of causes directly related to the dissection, or so it appears. But, I kind of wonder if the guy who died because of traumatic injuries might've been led into that situation/outcome by dissection-related phenomena/symptoms?
Mean followup was 3 YEARS? Wait, what, how long did luminal patency usually take? I sure hope it didn't take nearly 3 years.
In another google search, apparently found
But the article linked itself contains no mention of this. Possibly that's because google fetched the content of the paper, whereas I only see the abstract/conclusion from the link. Oh god, 11 months. At least it's better than 3 years. Oh, jesus... wtf... why did my effort to help my symptoms only make them like 10000000x worse and almost seems like it's going to completely screw up this plan of mine?
Oh, this sucks. Well, first things first, seek a correct diagnosis before making too many assumptions. It's just that... hmmm... I'm not entirely sure if CT angiography is going to be likely, lol.
Why didn't that cervical decompression device contain a warning about artery dissection possibilities? Need to find out who this manufacturer is and sue the living daylights out of them, lol. I sure hope it's an American company with deep pockets, lol.
It appears the company is a distributor/reseller of various Chinese imported products. No indication of them actually being the manufacturer, and little to no sign of having deep pockets. Being a likely Chinese import, the ability to sue the /real manufacturer/ (Chinese company) seems a little farfetched.
So, what are the symptoms?
Hmmm... yes, it appears we have (In some form or another, at one time or multiple times):
-weakness on one-side of the body [paralysis]
-difficulty with speech [noticeable during right lobe migraine episodes; I never had these prior to the TIA paralysis.]
-A 'whoosing sound' in one ear [just 3 days ago]
-vision loss in one eye (Felt like it was threatening it on the day following the TIA paralysis night. I later popped a number of aspirin later that day, and the particular symptoms on that particular day notably abated and never came back to the same degree.)
The overlap of my symptoms and these is compelling. Granted, the severity of the 'stereotypical symptoms' they present here seem like they're 10x worse than what I've experienced so far [Almost full on stroke], but the overall 'symptom profile' definitely overlaps to an unnaturally high degree.
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update: 1:25 p.m. - 9/22/2016 - Muscles are sore. Exploding right lobe sensation not really going away. Didn't sleep that well, apparently, so morning time irritation and later anxiety running a little high, I could tell. Felt something wiggle on the right side of my head approximately in the same location as the 'pop/snap' sensation (About 4 days ago now) about 30 seconds after drinking 2 glasses of water - that didn't exactly help help the anxiety, lol. I've been thinking about going to the doctor, but... the worst case scenario seems really unlikely, and I'm thinking maybe I'm mistaking these sensations for nerves/muscles/etc. (Especially since I /obviously/ have ongoing cervical nerve irritation), and the kind of tests for the worst case scenario are a little unfriendly (Spinal tap), so I thought I'd only really go get it checked out if obvious emergency symptoms arose, otherwise, I'm thinking it's probably something really minor. I don't really see "feels like my lobe is going to explode" in connection with aneurysms online, but I do see plenty of connections with ear/nerve/muscular phenomenon. Although, the fact that anxiety can create global head pressure 'feels like it's going to explode' phenomenon, suggests that there's something on the right side of my head that may be increasing right lobe vascular pressure or vascular constriction. Possibly an obstruction, maybe stenosis or what seems to be a bit more likely given the significant neck trauma not too long ago and the matching symptom profile, carotid artery dissection. I'm not sure if an obstruction would actually increase local blood pressure levels... if expanding the artery decreases local BP, then constricting it would increase local BP. But, a local obstruction seems like it'd be more likely to reduce the blood flow through the same amount of vascular volume, thus reducing local BP levels. I'm not exactly sure what could cause heightened BP levels in only the right carotid. Maybe it's not heightened... maybe it's exactly the same, but some other factor gives rise to that sensation.
I'm seeing reports like "tapeworm found in man's brain", and I'm thinking about all these organic fruits/vegetables I'm eating, and I kind of wonder if I 'got it', lol. Tapeworm infections don't seem incredibly common.
Anyway, I was looking for high incline treadmills and 'padded treadmills', and some guy's amazon review mentioned virtual walks powered by google maps available through ifit. Oh, that sounded pretty cool. Then I found 'virtual walk' videos available on Youtube and available through various independent studios, and that also sounds like a pretty neat way to pass the time on the treadmill. Anyway, high incline walking on the treadmill sounds like a viable way of getting that low impact, leg-muscle-building cardiovascular workout 'climbing up hills' on flatland. No need to waste money creating physical mountains, physically locating oneself next to one, or paying for the transport and time costs getting to one. Granted, ideally I'd be like that guy who walked around the mountains all day, living off the land, and living into his 100s, but that's a little less practical if you also want 'city benefits' and the kind of mountains one can just walk around without getting harassed by private property owners and park rangers tends to be rare in modern America. But, there are people who've done it, and one of such guys (Who did it initially to run from his creditors) apparently 'loves the life'.
Anyway, yeah. I don't personally own a treadmill and won't own one in the foreseeable future. But, seems like a viable not-so-boring way to get "hill walking" benefits in.
Also, I've noticed I don't seem to "burp that much (at all) / get acid reflux" when I eat popcorn. I figured out that corn is primarily glucose, with little fructose or sucrose, and bacteria doesn't ferment glucose unlike the other sugar types, so eating corn apparently doesn't grow bacteria populations that much and also doesn't produce that much gas(bacteria produces the gas from carbs/sugars they digest/ferment), so there's little burping and little acid reflux. That's kind of awesome. Corn shall be my go-to carb source for the finishing meal. Apples and bananas, and almost all fruits, definitely seem to contribute to burping/acid-reflux as well as almost all processed-carby-foods/bars/etc.
Anyway, I'm going to try to get in 150 grams of carbs through the base grains (corn/rice), then the other carbs will come from whatever sources. I think I get plenty of protein/fat in through supplemental nut-consumption/oil-consumption(primarily olive)/dairy-consumption/etc.
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Update: 3:30 p.m.
http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/65/1/136.long
Disabling stroke arising five months after internal carotid artery dissection
Several weeks you say? I'd suffered a TIA of probable right carotid artery origin about 3 weeks after the "Great cervical decompression device neck trauma". I'm starting to think this is moving beyond 'probable suspicion' at this point.
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Update: 6:23 P.M. - Today's been kind of a sucky day, didn't feel like I slept well on the 'other bed' yesterday night. I guess I won't do that again. Anyway, I'm watching all of these "virtual" run/walking/france/europe/etc. videos because they look they'd be awesome videos to treadmill to. I personally wouldn't mind going on a few runs/trails/etc. and putting the videos on youtube, but... yeah, I realized ever since getting this truck, I'm a lot more selective in where I'm going with it, lol. Not a whole lot of "just for the adventure of it." kind of trips with this vehicle, lol. Definitely a 'very short trip'/'purposed trips' kind of vehicle.
ECGs been looking good, even during those times I've been sweating. I sweated shortly after the tomato+rice meal just an hour ago, but I think that was because of acid reflux. ECG has looked excellent today. (The ECG two days ago, when I ate all of that candy, actually looked rather 'sickly', though technically OK, and I was feeling pretty lightheaded at the time. More specifically, the R wave was noticeably shortened and just barely higher than the T wave, which looked normal. I wonder what the R wave represents (It's the first peak)? It seems like it'd probably represent the first 'pump' in LUB-dub, or the "LUB". So a shortened R wave seems like it'd probably represent a weakened 'first pump' whatever that technically is. Seems like that would agree with the lightheadedness experienced at the time.)
Well, let's look at more official sources.
http://www.cardionetics.com/ecg-waveforms
And, how exactly does ventricular contraction/depolarization fit?
http://www.gwheartandvascular.org/education/anatomy-and-function-of-the-heart-valves/
So the less the ventricles contract(Presumably with a shorter R wave), the less blood that can flow into the ventricle (Presumably), so the less blood that flows into the aorta and is distributed through the rest of the major arteries in the body(Which connect to the aorta). So, essentially, it represents decreased global blood output via [strike]less blood flowing into the left ventricle[/strike][CORRECTION=a less powerful contraction of the left ventricle into the aorta, which the major arteries connect directly from.]. What arteries supply the left ventricle, I wonder? These arteries might underlie the decrease in left ventricular function.
Well, this could imply decreased bloodflow through the circumflex artery, but this also might imply there could be decreased bloodflow via the LAD. That's the famous artery that's also known as "The Widowmaker" Artery. If you decrease bloodflow completely through the LAD and subsequently completely stop left ventricular function, you get what's known as "The widowmaker", a.k.a. heart attack. For if the left ventricle fails to contract at all, it fails to deliver any blood into the aorta which supplies the major arteries. This includes the carotid/vertebral arteries (The brain), the pulmonary arteries(The lungs), and some other major arteries I'm probably not entirely fully aware of (Abdominal artery, femoral artery, etc.).
Okay, so my next question is if the classic LBBB typically represents a largely absent R wave? I suspect it does, since this is the 'dangerous' bundle branch block that underlies the deadly stuff.
Looking at V1 (The primary waveform) It looks like the 'r' is the tiny bump /there/, and the 's' is the huge dip down there.
So, this confirms my suspicion, the R wave represents the first beat that sends blood into the aorta and shoots it through the arteries of the body. A decreased R wave would represent decreased amount of blood being sent through the major arteries, and thus could easily explain 'lightheadedness", since that phenomena largely comes from the reduced bloodflow through the cerebral arteries (vertebral/carotid). A decreased R wave would put suspicion on the bloodflow through the supplying arteries to the left ventricle, the LAD and circumflex arteries.
So, the purpose of the blood to the supplying myocardium is to deliver glucose and oxygen. However, excess glucose can inhibit oxygen absorption. So, excess blood glucose levels (In the case of high candy intake, like that one particular day) could hypothetically inhibit oxygen absorption, and impair muscular function. So, reduced left ventricular function may or may not necessarily indicate dysfunction in the LAD/circumflex arteries. A way to tell, I would assume, is to administer a bloodthinner like aspirin. If the bloodthinner significantly improves left ventricular function, that would imply partial ischemia through the supplying arteries, through either 'small vessels' or 'arthersclerosis' or some combination thereof. However, if it does not, that might suggest that high blood glucose levels are inhibiting oxygen uptake and impairing muscle function.
This does make me question if eating too much sugar/candy commonly makes people lightheaded?
http://www.livestrong.com/article/511694-lightheaded-shaky-after-eating-sugar/
Livestrong suggests its the 'sugar crash' that causes lightheadedness. I suppose low blood sugar levels could hypothetically impair myocardium function, especially if cortisol was released in response (causes vasoconstriction). I'm not exactly sure if I was 'hypo' at that time, however, it didn't seem like I was. I don't remember a hypoglycemic headache or other obvious low blood sugar signs.
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101209055148AAMZib6
Seems like it's happening to this 26 year old female. I guess it's fairly common, it's too bad she didn't take her ECG trace so we could compare results. Not taking her ECG trace, what a loser, lol.
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Well, with this new understanding what the R wave actually means (It represents the contraction of the left ventricle which pushes blood through the major arteries of the body through the aorta; that is, the large first peak in the ECG graph (On V1/lead 1) is the 'big heartbeat' everyone can feel by putting their hand on their chest.), I'm actually starting to understand what the graphs mean at http://lifeinthefastlane.com/ecg-library/st-segment/ . And, I noticed all the you're-going-to-die ECG signals had a largely absent or really diminished R wave, which totally makes sense. If the R wave is absent or largely diminished, that means the 'big heartbeat' is no longer a 'big heartbeat', but rather a tiny one, which has rather obvious problems.
So, anyways, I will happily report I've never seen an ECG signal on myself where the R wave was absent or 'highly diminished'. I've seen it cut in half during my lightheadedness episodes following high sugar consumption, but I've never seen it 'largely gone', which is the important thing. Asto the 'st elevation' episodes I've noted previously in the morning time, that was actually an elevated S wave I was looking at. Which, I will look into. It seems all the ST elevation patterns at http://lifeinthefastlane.com/ecg-st-segment-evaluation/ associated with myocardial infarction is also pared with a largely absent R wave, which is the more obvious problem, in my opinion, than the ST elevation itself.
I can't seem to find much info on elevated S waves. Doesn't seem immediately associated with anything concerning on that site, as far as I could find. It seems the S wave represents late depolarization, so an elevated one would indicate... something to do with the contraction of the rim of the left ventricle... and a slightly less effective 'big heartbeat'? But, I guess that would make complete sense if you just woke up. I'd assume people's hearts aren't pumping at 100% in the morning time as it's just getting started, and this manifests in that slight-tiredness/not-quite-fully-awake-feeling right after waking up, which seems like a completely normal phenomenon. I guess I've been making a big deal out of nothing. Of course, I've not exactly grabbed my ECG meter for my more extreme episodes (Was lost at the time), and the ones that seem more highly suspicious as cardiac in nature have been too quick/transient to catch (And my priority is often trying to stop it rather than measuring it.). But, yeah, anyway... nope, I haven't seen anything really concerning on my ECG meter just yet. And, if there was something more /permanently/ concerning going on, I'd be able to catch it by now. Now if I go off all the bloodthinners(cocoa,wine,garlic,fish) and vasodilators(spinach)... I wonder if I can 'catch anything'? I'm not really sure if I want to...
But... if I did... and I still didn't see anything concerning... well, that'd be kind of comforting.
But, regardless, the more concerning matter at this point is the probable carotid artery dissection.
And maybe a slight risk for a ruptured blood vessel. Or stenosis.
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Update: 9/23/2016 - 10:51 a.m. - Went to bed at 12:30 a.m., woke at roughly 8:15 a.m., so thinking this was a good time to mark as 'the start of the day' and the fact my body didn't feel like it was going to rebel if I tried, I ate 100 grams of carbs and then did a 33 minute tread mill walk to this guy, the last 23 minutes done at 3mph @ 12% incline. My HR was pretty steady at 150 BPM. It's interesting my oxy% goes down to 96% throughout the day, seems like after I eat breakfast. I don't remember my oxy% ever going lower than 99% just 3-4 years ago, and I guarantee I ate worse then (Maybe that's why, lol).
The difference between my breakfast and Jack Lelaine's breakfast is he adds a bit of protein/fat (meat/eggs/butter) and does like 40-50 grams of carbs (A piece of toast and a fruit, apple/banana). Maybe I should try for more of a Jack Lelaine breakfast?
[youtube]ejZHB5rKQ2Q[/youtube]
Pretty neat 'virtual walk'/'virtual run', the main feature is at the 32 minute mark which is a nice rewarding ending to a ~30 exercise.
My right lobe has been kind of sore off and on. Can't really tell if it's my lobe or the trapezius muscles connecting to my right scalp. The right trapezius muscle is definitely sore along with my right shoulder, and I seem to be experiencing little to no cognitive/speech difficulties everytime I've tested (Blimey, I forgot the words to Twinkle Twinkle little star during the walk... but, now I can recall them no problem, interesting.), so probably muscular. I'd begin to get a little more worried with....
-noticeable cognitive/speech difficulties (Word access speeds during sentence formation slowed downed like 10x - very noticeable when you're talking. Instead of talking at a rate of 4-5 words per second, your talking suddenly slows down to 1 word every 2-3 seconds. Really really noticeable, especially if it happens mid-sentence. You're like, after the fact, "Why was it taking so long to get the next word? Freaky.")
-persistent left side facial and/or arm weakness. Particularly if the facial weakness involves the tongue, indicating cranial nerves are being affected.
-left side paralysis (anywhere)
-persistent ache/pain behind the eye.
-persistent right side headache (In combination with any of the above)
Anyway, I'm more interested in preventing a stroke than recognizing and quickly treating one. The 'go-to' emergency treatment for ischemic stroke is TPA ... BUT the medicine includes a 7% mortality rate from the hemmorhaging risks it causes. So, in my humble opinion, it's best to prevent a stroke than to treat one. The treatment is no panacea, at least not its modern form. (But, there have been research articles that address TPA's hemmorage risks and highly mitigate them with other non-lethal drugs. Just that... new medicine practices take so long to become established in America, so I don't think it's wise to depend on them, lol.)
It's too bad there's a notable lack of free 'virtual walks' of major european cities on youtube. There's plenty of teaser clips of paid providers. I'm thinking I'll launch a kickstarter or gofundme of some sort to pay for my trip to Europe so I can create these videos which people could use for free. I'd try for the same format as this guy: a little sugar here, a little spice there, and then the main dessert shortly after 30 minutes, wherever that format would work.
------------------------
So wondering about the connection between diabetes(heightened blood sugar levels) and oxygen saturation, I googled. And, I found this.
http://www.rightdiagnosis.com/symptoms/decreased_oxygen_saturation/diabetes.htm
Oh, that's comforting, lol. I was hoping for something more common like GERD. (Seems there's an association between GERD and Diabetes.)
I wonder if GERD is anywhere in their list of 37 causes.
http://www.rightdiagnosis.com/symptoms/decreased_oxygen_saturation/causes.htm
Nope, nope, I guess not. I'd assume this is not a completely reliable source.
4:58 p.m. - 9/18/2016 - walking up the stairs induced left hand tingling with some detectable forearm tingling. Each flight increased the tingling. Leaning back my neck seemed to reduce the tingling by half. Left hand feels noticeably colder than the right. Not sure what the starting temperature was. Will make sure to record it next time after hand temperature stabilizes.
5:05 p.m - Hand temperature stabilized. Tingling subsided.
Doing the front of the hand
Left - 85.3
Right - 84.3
After climbing 8 flights, there's a little bit of tingling in the left hand and not nearly as much last time. Left hand also doesn't feel as cool as it did last time.
measurement - 5:10 p.m.
Left - 82.9
Right - 82.9
Measurement - 5:12 p.m. (Been sitting)
Left 86.5
Right 85.9
Interesting, after the initial exercise, it seems the hand has reduced tingling and, after exercising in general, it seems to increase the hand temperature in both hands after the first two minutes of rest. In past studies, it seems that exercise also temporarily boosts oxy% levels from 96% to 98%. A logical conclusion is that exercise improves circulation and oxygen levels. Improved circulation following the initial exercise may have lead to decreased tingling through increased left arm circulation.
And, typing that out so it was coherent seemed to take a bit of time. Notably increased confusion.
Also, I was recently dry swallowing, and noticed my neck clicking with each swallow. I threw back my neck, and it obviously clicked back into the 'upright position', and the neck clicking stopped. I'm not actually sure if the neck was clicking or if it was the throat, but it seemed like the neck.
Looks like the neck is right next to the esophagus, so more then plausible that swallowing was causing the neck to click in the forward position.
And, now I'm tired. Like, could fall asleep. I thought I had already slept like 9 hours yesterday night?
Well, a spoonful of molasses quickly perked me up.
Anyway, my upperspine/neck is obviously irritated, just like it was yesterday, when I did the correction of my neck after looking down. I think this might be what's causing issues today, but I'm not entirely sure which ones, lol. I just know that I generally felt much better overall before I tested the vestibular dysfunction theory by looking down.
HUH.
Well, I was looking at my logs, and I noticed I was also munching on carrots yesterday when the mounting anxiety started to happen when resulted in a popping/snapping sensation at the top back right of my head. Interesting that the first carrot today would also precipitate anxiety soon followed by left arm numbness and chest soreness. The other commonality was that both times of the day had a "messed up" neck, yesterday by all the driving on the bumpy roads, and today by testing the vestibular theory by looking completely down and the correction that followed. So, it would seem likely that when my neck is 'messed up', eating carrots can precipitate anxiety followed by soon by sensations like that. It's just so freaking inconvenient they seem to cause episodes that mimic deadly medical issues, and I can't really tell if any of them are actually what they seem. I would just 'assume not', but they seem so convincing. And, we're getting shooting scalp pain in the back left of my head today. Woohoo, the C2-C3 nerve is bugged, now I know it's possible. lol
And, if that's possible, it's curious if they're affecting the sympathetic and parasympathetic cardiac nerves that exit C1/C2/C3. Because that suggests it could possibly invoke genuine cardiac episodes of /some sort/, I just don't know what kind. Internet sources don't suggest they could... but I wonder...
Like, if you had myelopathy at C2 (Pinching of the spinal cord or irritation of it, not just irritation of the exiting 'dermatome'.), could that affect the cardiac nerves exiting C2/C3?
Update: 7:54 p.m. - 9/18/2016 - still alive.
Okay, when my neck vertebras were completely loosened this morning by the 'looking down' test, I noticed I felt very off kilter for the hours afterwards and 'not right'. Not only that, but eating carrots triggered some kind of phenomena, likely through bugging the nerves/cord, that universally causes rising anxiety and then had some kind of affect that conveniently mimics some kind of deadly disease process. Oh, lucky me.
Anyway, I've wondered about this and figured out. My neck is probably solidifying 'all over' because that horrendous neck sprain caused by the inflatable cervical decompression device likely weakened all my ligaments, almost seems like permanently. So the neck compensates by solidifying, and then if the solidification is disrupted, the weak ligaments become exposed and all sorts of nerve/spinal-cord mayhem ensues. This solidification is the same process someones back will do when there's a broken vertebra - it will solidify and the vertebra around it will also solidify. So, yep, that's that.
Apparently I have a relatively solid neck that causes mayhem if it gets destroyed by /really/ looking down/leaning-forward. Looking straight doesn't seem to bug it so much, but that's assuming it has had some time to solidify. If it had fairly recently just been 'completely broken', looking straight doesn't help at all. Then again, looking straight back doesn't seem completely symptomless either, it just seems to be the least symptomatic, lol. After its solidified, looking forward is usually OK. Seems like it takes a half a day or more to get to this point, leaning forward still appears to be symptomatic. Leaning forward seems to begin that 'right lobe' pounding sensation of yesterday, or at least it has recently. Anyway, sitting in this chair is awful when trying to avoid leaning forward since the 'lean forward' position is the natural position of this chair.
Update: 9:14 p.m. - sometime around 8 p.m., I started feeling this gentle sensation in my left midribs like it was trying to push out. It lasted for about 20 seconds. I thought, "oh no, this can't be my heart saying "hello, again!", can it?", anyway, it went away - it started shortly after standing up straight, which seemed to alleviate the neck 'looking straight' issues at the time. I found I was able to create a similar, but less noticeable, sensation by leaning my neck back fully, so not too worried. Anyway, the tip of my left shoulder blade feels sore to touch but it's always felt sore to the touch as far as I remember, so I'm not really worried about that, either. Seems to correspond to this usually sore midrib which corresponds to this slightly bugged vertebra one up from the always bugged midback vertebra that almost seems to have its hand in almost everything.
Update: 3:09 a.m. - woke with this burning pain in my neck and this sense of nausea and this heavy feeling in my chest and I noticed that my "deep breath in" breathing in just didn't feel right. My heart was beating hard. Anyway, I took an aspirin because of what happened earlier today, I also took a famtodine tablet just in case it might help. I couldn't find the tums, apparently they absconded with them. Anyway, 3 minutes later as I was walking around, came forth a great burp and a smaller burp and the 'deep breath in breathing difficulty' almost seemingly immediately disappeared. Perhaps the aspirin was just kicking in, but perhaps it was just acid reflux. So, no tums and all I have are these lousy pepcid AC tablets you're supposed to take at least 30 minutes prior when you want it to kick in, lol. Ok, well, I still really have no idea what that was/is, but I guess Acid Reflux might be a good guess, lol.
More specifically, by 'deep breath in breathing difficulty', it felt like I could take a deep breath in, but this incredible sense of distress accompanied the end of the deep inhale ("it just didn't feel right"), seems like I could feel the distress vaguely in my chest and in my mind. That sensation never happens, normally.
Update: 3:39 a.m. - Not sure if this guy is really going away like I would normally expect him to by now. Took 2 spoonfuls of molasses for the calcium content, seemed to make symptoms worse. Not expected for acid reflux.
Update: 11:03 a.m. - 9/19/2016 - My head was feeling a strange discomforting pressure following the two spooonfuls of molasses and I was a bit puzzled. It was only like 20 grams of sugar. Anyway, I reasoned that perhaps the molasses had unfavorably expanded the bacterial populations, so I ate a couple of spoonfuls of plain european style yogurt (No sugar added), and I felt noticeably better. That discomforting head sensation largely abated and I was half capable of falling asleep. Waking up just now, I didn't notice any of the 'pain symptoms' I had in my ribs/back/neck I had when trying to fall asleep or two hours after falling asleep. (Kept getting a recurrent sharp pain in my left rib just above the nipple. Fleeting sharp pain like that doesn't ordinarily worry me since I usually think nerve irritation, but given its location and it happening on the heels of what just happened earlier along with recurrent left sharp shoulder pain and left shoulder blade soreness tends to make me think of worse possible causes.)
Anyway, I need to start my work early today, to get it out of the way while I'm feeling OK. It seems like I can't really predict what the day will bring. Sometimes I'm feeling OK at the end of day to do work, sometimes not.
Update: It's now 7:26 p.m. - other than a burning neck after 'looking down' too much at the store, I'm doing fairly OK, definitely much better than the preceding 2 days. There's some slight irritation when eating foods (Could tell by that transient 'pressure in head' feeling and other phenomena), but I've just avoided the 'hard foods' today (carrots) and seem to be doing OK.
Anyway, walked around trying to find the labs to fulfill my doctor's orders. I looked around the intersection given by the guy (I didn't have the address written down), I swear I couldn't find it all. I confirmed the location earlier with someone else, and she apparently didn't really know where it was, she didn't really know where I was pointing, or she was lying, either way - she was wrong. Kept looking. Finally found /something/ that had the name mentioned by the guy on the way back home, and went in, found out apparently it was "the wrong one" or something, lol. (After they checked me in and I was meeting with the phlebotomist for blood withdrawal) Anyway, she actually knew where the correct one was, and pointed me to it and I finally found it, 3 hours later! lol
Got blood drawn.
And, I was just getting that 'pressure in head sensation'. I'm not sure if my excitement is causing it or if it's because I was leaning forward. Excitement might be a more consistent explanation, but I'd prefer leaning forward. Would seem to have less serious implications (I think?).
Couldn't find the stethoscope despite even more extensive looking.
I did find my ECG meter. My ECG trace looked pretty healthy today, even seemed more normal than I usually remembered it looking like a month ago.
Now I finally have some relevant diagnostic tool that can help me figure out what these nocturnal episodes really are. I've been assuming acid reflux, but giving calcium tablets during a cardiac episode can be a mistake since calcium inhibits aspirin absorption, so I've been giving myself aspirin before the calcium tablets(Tums) just in case. But, I'm trying to avoid aspirin now, so this tool will help me with that. Anyway, I think I might just try yogurt in the future with its probiotics and natural high calcium content before resorting to medicine. Seems to be pretty effective as it is.
Looking online, I confirmed that 'difficulty during inhale' is a sign of acid reflux, while problems with exhale is asthma. So yesterday night probably was acid reflux. Will try to avoid that tonight. And now my neck is burning using this computer, gah, I wanted/needed to work! lol
Update: 5:10 a.m. - 9/21/2016
Fell asleep at 11 p.m. on the couch, an unusually early time for me. Neck/back was getting as bad as the original neck sprain, largely because of the walk to/from and particularly because of PT. While at PT, I was getting noticeable tingling in my left hand, I was experiencing unusually left side phenomenon (The drooping torso sensation) and my demeanor was turning to one of irritation. Usually the "unusually heigtened sense of irritation" itself seems to be normally associated with cardiac events, it being preceded by all that was just a bonus.
Anyway, left and walked to the nearby supplement supply store, looking for cyclodextrin - it was a new store and it was independent, so I thought there was a chance. The store owner/cashier appeared to be a European entrepreneur of some sort. While talking to this big muscular guy, I noticed my right lobe kept getting that exploding sensation. That was odd, because I never got that exploding sensation during PT and I also talked then. Anyway, walking along, I did notice I was particularly anxious as I could later tell from my walking, so I'm guessing this guy scared me or something, lol. Anyway, I've noticed generally the sensation seems to happen when I talk, but it also seems to happen when I catch myself leaning forward. I suspect that maybe I'm leaning forward when I'm talking sometimes.
The walk to/from was more hair-raising than I had anticipated. The path is more scenic, I've found, when riding a bicycle because the trees appear to happen 'more often' simply because you're moving faster, providing a sense of 'tree cover', but the gaps between the trees are far more noticeable when you're walking at a pace of 2-3 mph, lol, so not quite as scenic.
I thought I'd walk there rather than take my truck because I suspected it'd be less consequential. Turns out the PT itself was the most consequential part of the trip, lol.
Anyway, I woke up at 4:50 a.m.; waking after roughly 5 hours of sleep is sort of normal. But, going to sleep this early and waking up this early was a bit unusual, so I checked my ECG. It appeared for the first 20 seconds of measurement (Happened about 20-30 seconds after I woke), there was a barely detectable elevated ST segment (Everything else looked normal). Wasn't experiencing noticeable symptoms, so I can't really tell if it actually signified anything or was a benign measurement artifact based on lead placement. Seems like that particular 'benign' measurement artifact has happened often enough in the past during asymptomatic times, so I don't really read much into it. The lead spacing is not as far apart as it is on standard ECG machines (When they apply the 3 main leads, LA,RA,RR), so lead placement error could definitely be an issue.
Still, I would think that I'd be a candidate for a holter monitor given what's 'been going on', but doctors just brush me off. It's not really 'possible' at my age, until it's undeniable. (I.e., a massive one struck and you now have advanced congestive heart failure, lol. Now you're a candidate, lol.) Granted, the episodes aren't quite as severe as it can be in older people.
Anyway done typing that, was getting some strong left jaw/neck pain typing that. I've been blaming my neck since it's
been bugged, lately. (now 5:38 a.m.)
Anyway, I did have a sweet dream. Made some kind of portal in the ocean, so that fish would swim through and jump out of our portal (on land somewhere) where we collected them. I think the final count at the end after the trickle of fish jumping through slowed was something like 52x 5" or greater, or 223x overall or somesuch, lol. That would be a pretty neat way to catch fish, lol.
Update: 8:39 a.m. - went to sleep at sometime around 5:40 a.m., just woke up. Felt this recurrent sore pain in my midchest about .5" above the bottom of the sternum, left arm kind of pained/tingly (Like etchy nerve pain of some sort). I would've figured out in the past it was likely rib pain, since that feels like its probable location (And the ribs there are sore to the touch and the corresponding part of the midback was definitely irritated when I transferred sleeping from the couch to the bed at 1:15 a.m.), but the pulsating nature of it (about once every 5 seconds) warranted further investigation. Seeing slight ST elevation as earlier, also seeing fairly variable R peak height, sometimes half its normal size (But always larger than the T peak). ST abnormality unknown if benign or significant. Oxi was 96%, 76HR. HR seems to indicate a full night sleep (Even though my eyes feel rather dry).
Anyway, yesterday was notable because of the consumption of 2 eggs, 10 ounces of cheese and consuming 150 grams of candy sugar[WHO advises a daily limit of 25g] in addition to normal carb sources (100grams of carbs in popcorn, and another 100 grams from fruit).
On the other hand... I'm supposed to wait 30 minutes to take the standing HR before declaring if I got enough sleep... normally the standing HR is a little bit higher than its 'steady state' value right after waking up...
Update: 9:01 a.m. - oxi% 99,standing HR - 56; ST segment doesn't appear as elevated as earlier, the T peak looks a bit peaky compared to two days ago (Its been looking peaky since yesterday), when it looked like a perfect small bump.
Update: 9:22 a.m.; oxi% 99, standing HR - 51; Wasn't feel hungry but had two peaches earlier with a string cheese and a TBSP of thyme, anyways, about 10 mins ago. Standing HR seems a bit low. Sitting HR is 47, oxi% of 99.
Found the official definition of STEMI
Seems like this requires equipment that can measure and report mm (Or mV). My device is likely a screening tool, since it doesn't offer either function.
My guess is that my body normally thinks that this time is "time to sleep", so HR matches the 'sleep time' circadian rhythm (Sitting HR is normally around 46-50 during the "time for sleep" part of the sleep cycle), but I'm not really sleepy because I fell asleep at the unusually early time of 11 p.m. yesterday night. Of course, there could be other [significantly worse] explanations but I won't assume it.
9:46 a.m. - ECG looks normal (no obvious ST elevation), standing HR is 59, oxy% is 99, 6.1L VC, 101% FEV1 and 107% PEF. Feeling kind of tired.
12:20 p.m. - Went to bed at 9:55 a.m., woke up just now. Wow, collectively 11.5 hours of sleep? I hope nothing's wrong.
12:27 p.m. - 5.6L VC, oxi 96%, 80-90BPM, ECG looks roughly normal and regular (A little bumpy following the T wave) but there's curious breaks/stops in the graph that last for about 2 seconds at a time happening periodically. Otherwise, feeling fine, I think.
12:50 p.m. - 9/21/2016 - oxi 98%, standing HR 70-80BPM, 5.75L VC, 107% FEV1, 100% PEF, ECG looks normal. It looks like the T-wave is kind of close to the R-wave, but it might just look like that because the HR is higher than normal (More beats compressed on the graph). Probably clinically insignificant.
I just personally know that you don't want the T-wave to get too close to the R-wave (According to the nurse in the house.), because it could devolve into V-fib and sudden cardiac death. But, I'm assuming I'm reading too much into this because of "morning time anxiety" or some such. I'm feeling pretty fine otherwise.
3:54 p.m. - Still alive, nothing particularly noteworthy. Was waiting for my cocoa to cool down and decided to do some squats, and noticed I was able to hold the squat for 90 seconds before tiring. Wow, notable improvement over 70 seconds! After the first rep, I noticed I was getting really tired and lightheaded, so I stopped and then later drank my cocoa and noticed it was exceptionally delicious, so I made a second cup and waited for it to cool down. Did a second set, and also could hold for 90 seconds! Wow, my muscles must've been building up during all that sleeping yesterday. Anyway, drank the cocoa which also was exceptionally delicious (4 tbsp of cocoa in total), and decided I was probably hypoglycemic - I think eating all the candy yesterday was setting me up. So I decided to eat two date-bars, and tried to lower the glycemic loading by eating a substantial amount of pecans with it (Didn't want to set myself up tomorrow). Anyway, been getting that 'exploding/pressure in right head' sensation lately, I wonder if I drank too much cocoa? I think the probability of a hemmorage some days ago was really low, especially since it was soon followed by an apparently patent eustachian tube in the right ear (Kept opening/closing so I could hear my breathing in my right ear.), a sensation I don't normally experience except that one particular day following that 'popping/snapping' sensation on the same side of the head(right). I haven't experienced that phenomena yesterday (Hearing breathing in the ear), the day before or even today, so it was probably something for that one day. But, this 'exploding right head' sensation that's been happening since is kind of buggy, since the nature of the sensation tends to make me assume the worst, despite the seeming utter improbability of it. I assume it's probably my ear creating that sensation(On the verge of opening, I'm guessing), but the sensation is a little unnerving nonetheless. Seems to tend to happen while I'm talking, especially when talking more loudly (Would explain why 'excitement'/'emotional intensity' seemed to have something to do with it), possibly/probably implicating the ear.
Anyway, the nature of the ECG graph during the 'breaks' was distinctive. The trace would suddenly hit the top of the graph (Indicating the voltage maxed out the graph, so it couldn't read any higher), there would be no obvious trace the second beat, and then a tiny beat would soon follow. I don't really know what was going on, but it appears that there was a strong electrical pulse, skipped a beat, then the small beat that followed was because the strong electric pulse broke the graph out of scale. Now, why would the heart have a sudden strong electrical pulse? Is that something adrenaline(i.e., panic) could do? I'm assuming... but, I don't want really want to assume in this matter.
Maybe this is it.
http://www.news-medical.net/health/What-are-Ectopic-heartbeats.aspx
I'm not sure if this 'strong forceful beat' would translate into 'strong electrical ECG signal', but I'm guessing it would. The fact that a heartbeat, or two, was skipped right afterwards would suggest this is the guy. Anyway, unlike the posters on this page, I did not really 'feel it', I only noticed it on my ECG and wondered its significance.
Update: 6:19 p.m. - 121/64 @ 74 BPM(sitting); oxi% 95%, 90-100HR standing; 5.66L VC, 104% FEV1, 101% PFC; ECG looked relatively normal; currently feeling fine, other than that 'pulse' I just felt towards the back right of my neck that lead to the back right of my head when typing this. Possibly cervical-nerve/muscular/ligament in origin (Those feel irritated at c8/T1/T2/T3 atm along the right side and left side. All around.), perhaps vertebral artery, maybe carotid was involved. Historically High HR could probably be explained by the 130G carb + 4 TBSP cocoa consumption about 2.5 hours ago. Will keep track.
Update: 6:49 p.m. - Standing heart rate seems fairly variable for what I assume was a full night sleep. Seems to be jumping between 80-110 BPM standing, hanging normally in the 90s. Oxy% hanging around 95%-96%. It kind of confused me that I was getting somewhat hungry with my HR so high.
7:10 p.m. - just did 2 sets of squats and bicep and tricep exercises for the left and right arm. Hoping that I can 'rip these muscles' so they act as carb drains, hopefully get my blood sugar levels down a little faster (Which I assume are causing the high HR). Noticed I was getting fleeting sharp pains in my pasternal area during the 2nd squats, assumed it was ribs/muscular, they definitely feel sore to the touch ('fleeting sharp' pain just yells muscles/nerves.). Definitely had no issues with lightheadedness after the most recent squats, suggesting the lightheadedness earlier today was due to low blood glucose (The fact that molasses tasted exceptionally good also strongly suggests this).
7:37 p.m. - just did another set of "until exhaustion" bicep and tricep exercises. Pulse rate is still hanging in the 90s. Considering the amount of hypoglycemia I presumably had this morning, a standing HR of 70-80 might seem a bit high (It's actually usually normal when waking up after a full night's sleep, but I'm not usually that hypoglycemic either.). Will keep a watch on this, might become a little more concerned if it's still this high in 2 hours. Think I might walk on the treadmill at the highest incline setting.
8:07 p.m. - Just walked on the treadmill at 12% incline @ 2.5 mph for 15 minutes, and my heart rate was consistently 130 BPM, peak of 134. Resting(sitting) heartrate at the 1 minute mark was 80 BPM. Standing heart rate at the 2 minute mark was 94 BPM. Time to watch this. Interestingly, it doesn't seem like I've ever seen my oxy% above 96% today after eating, regardless of exercise, squats, etc.; I wonder why? Typically walking and/or exercise would boost the oxy% upto 98%-99% from a resting % of 96, at least in the past week. It was at 98% earlier today at 12 p.m., and I don't think anything particularly significant happened since, so I would think it's attainable in the future. While walking on the treadmill, I had a sharp pain feel like it shot straight through my skull from the base of my neck. That was a bit curious, since I know not of a nerve/circulatory path that would explain that pain trajectory. Apparently it happens, though.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/06/think-like-a-doctor-ice-pick-pain-solved/?_r=0http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/06/think-like-a-doctor-ice-pick-pain-solved/?_r=0
Curious, seems like there could be some insight gleaned from this.
Carotydnia or some such seems like it could explain some recent phenomena. The idea of a dissection in the carotid artery following the 'great neck sprain' seems less and less unlikely given what's happened in the past 1.5 months. 'Pulsatile tinnitus' in the right ear, TIA hemiparesis in the left leg and arm at night, somewhat recurring right lobe migraines associated with stroke like features (pulsations of right lobe pain associated with unusually slowed word recall speeds that precedes the 'pain pulse')[this was happening yesterday], left side of tongue going numb for 2 seconds with the rest of the left side (Happened a couple of times; I'm more concerned about episodes having tongue involvement since that's a cranial nerve with direct neural connections to the lobe; i.e.,can't be explained by cervical phenomena, directly implicates lobe activity/inactivity.), and recently, "about to explode"/perssure sensations in the right lobe following high GI carb consumption and getting excited/anxious (Implies heightened blood sugar levels induce this sensation, possibly via vascular means.), etc.
Since strokes have a 60% mortality rate, I should probably get this checked out sooner rather than later. And, doing that walking on the treadmill, while it brought my HR down to the low 70s by 8:10 p.m., also messed my lower neck making it vulnerable to 'eating disturbing the vertebra' and it's more sensitive to head position. Kind of the opposite of what I've been trying to achieve recently.
http://www.jvascsurg.org/article/S0741-5214(11)00425-3/abstract
Long-term outcomes of internal carotid artery dissection
Well, that sounds about right. Hemispheric stroke/TIA and contralateral limb weakness. The good thing is, in this study of 29 patients, no one died of causes directly related to the dissection, or so it appears. But, I kind of wonder if the guy who died because of traumatic injuries might've been led into that situation/outcome by dissection-related phenomena/symptoms?
Mean followup was 3 YEARS? Wait, what, how long did luminal patency usually take? I sure hope it didn't take nearly 3 years.
In another google search, apparently found
But the article linked itself contains no mention of this. Possibly that's because google fetched the content of the paper, whereas I only see the abstract/conclusion from the link. Oh god, 11 months. At least it's better than 3 years. Oh, jesus... wtf... why did my effort to help my symptoms only make them like 10000000x worse and almost seems like it's going to completely screw up this plan of mine?
Oh, this sucks. Well, first things first, seek a correct diagnosis before making too many assumptions. It's just that... hmmm... I'm not entirely sure if CT angiography is going to be likely, lol.
Why didn't that cervical decompression device contain a warning about artery dissection possibilities? Need to find out who this manufacturer is and sue the living daylights out of them, lol. I sure hope it's an American company with deep pockets, lol.
It appears the company is a distributor/reseller of various Chinese imported products. No indication of them actually being the manufacturer, and little to no sign of having deep pockets. Being a likely Chinese import, the ability to sue the /real manufacturer/ (Chinese company) seems a little farfetched.
So, what are the symptoms?
Hmmm... yes, it appears we have (In some form or another, at one time or multiple times):
-weakness on one-side of the body [paralysis]
-difficulty with speech [noticeable during right lobe migraine episodes; I never had these prior to the TIA paralysis.]
-A 'whoosing sound' in one ear [just 3 days ago]
-vision loss in one eye (Felt like it was threatening it on the day following the TIA paralysis night. I later popped a number of aspirin later that day, and the particular symptoms on that particular day notably abated and never came back to the same degree.)
The overlap of my symptoms and these is compelling. Granted, the severity of the 'stereotypical symptoms' they present here seem like they're 10x worse than what I've experienced so far [Almost full on stroke], but the overall 'symptom profile' definitely overlaps to an unnaturally high degree.
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update: 1:25 p.m. - 9/22/2016 - Muscles are sore. Exploding right lobe sensation not really going away. Didn't sleep that well, apparently, so morning time irritation and later anxiety running a little high, I could tell. Felt something wiggle on the right side of my head approximately in the same location as the 'pop/snap' sensation (About 4 days ago now) about 30 seconds after drinking 2 glasses of water - that didn't exactly help help the anxiety, lol. I've been thinking about going to the doctor, but... the worst case scenario seems really unlikely, and I'm thinking maybe I'm mistaking these sensations for nerves/muscles/etc. (Especially since I /obviously/ have ongoing cervical nerve irritation), and the kind of tests for the worst case scenario are a little unfriendly (Spinal tap), so I thought I'd only really go get it checked out if obvious emergency symptoms arose, otherwise, I'm thinking it's probably something really minor. I don't really see "feels like my lobe is going to explode" in connection with aneurysms online, but I do see plenty of connections with ear/nerve/muscular phenomenon. Although, the fact that anxiety can create global head pressure 'feels like it's going to explode' phenomenon, suggests that there's something on the right side of my head that may be increasing right lobe vascular pressure or vascular constriction. Possibly an obstruction, maybe stenosis or what seems to be a bit more likely given the significant neck trauma not too long ago and the matching symptom profile, carotid artery dissection. I'm not sure if an obstruction would actually increase local blood pressure levels... if expanding the artery decreases local BP, then constricting it would increase local BP. But, a local obstruction seems like it'd be more likely to reduce the blood flow through the same amount of vascular volume, thus reducing local BP levels. I'm not exactly sure what could cause heightened BP levels in only the right carotid. Maybe it's not heightened... maybe it's exactly the same, but some other factor gives rise to that sensation.
I'm seeing reports like "tapeworm found in man's brain", and I'm thinking about all these organic fruits/vegetables I'm eating, and I kind of wonder if I 'got it', lol. Tapeworm infections don't seem incredibly common.
Anyway, I was looking for high incline treadmills and 'padded treadmills', and some guy's amazon review mentioned virtual walks powered by google maps available through ifit. Oh, that sounded pretty cool. Then I found 'virtual walk' videos available on Youtube and available through various independent studios, and that also sounds like a pretty neat way to pass the time on the treadmill. Anyway, high incline walking on the treadmill sounds like a viable way of getting that low impact, leg-muscle-building cardiovascular workout 'climbing up hills' on flatland. No need to waste money creating physical mountains, physically locating oneself next to one, or paying for the transport and time costs getting to one. Granted, ideally I'd be like that guy who walked around the mountains all day, living off the land, and living into his 100s, but that's a little less practical if you also want 'city benefits' and the kind of mountains one can just walk around without getting harassed by private property owners and park rangers tends to be rare in modern America. But, there are people who've done it, and one of such guys (Who did it initially to run from his creditors) apparently 'loves the life'.
Anyway, yeah. I don't personally own a treadmill and won't own one in the foreseeable future. But, seems like a viable not-so-boring way to get "hill walking" benefits in.
Also, I've noticed I don't seem to "burp that much (at all) / get acid reflux" when I eat popcorn. I figured out that corn is primarily glucose, with little fructose or sucrose, and bacteria doesn't ferment glucose unlike the other sugar types, so eating corn apparently doesn't grow bacteria populations that much and also doesn't produce that much gas(bacteria produces the gas from carbs/sugars they digest/ferment), so there's little burping and little acid reflux. That's kind of awesome. Corn shall be my go-to carb source for the finishing meal. Apples and bananas, and almost all fruits, definitely seem to contribute to burping/acid-reflux as well as almost all processed-carby-foods/bars/etc.
Anyway, I'm going to try to get in 150 grams of carbs through the base grains (corn/rice), then the other carbs will come from whatever sources. I think I get plenty of protein/fat in through supplemental nut-consumption/oil-consumption(primarily olive)/dairy-consumption/etc.
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Update: 3:30 p.m.
http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/65/1/136.long
Disabling stroke arising five months after internal carotid artery dissection
Several weeks you say? I'd suffered a TIA of probable right carotid artery origin about 3 weeks after the "Great cervical decompression device neck trauma". I'm starting to think this is moving beyond 'probable suspicion' at this point.
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Update: 6:23 P.M. - Today's been kind of a sucky day, didn't feel like I slept well on the 'other bed' yesterday night. I guess I won't do that again. Anyway, I'm watching all of these "virtual" run/walking/france/europe/etc. videos because they look they'd be awesome videos to treadmill to. I personally wouldn't mind going on a few runs/trails/etc. and putting the videos on youtube, but... yeah, I realized ever since getting this truck, I'm a lot more selective in where I'm going with it, lol. Not a whole lot of "just for the adventure of it." kind of trips with this vehicle, lol. Definitely a 'very short trip'/'purposed trips' kind of vehicle.
ECGs been looking good, even during those times I've been sweating. I sweated shortly after the tomato+rice meal just an hour ago, but I think that was because of acid reflux. ECG has looked excellent today. (The ECG two days ago, when I ate all of that candy, actually looked rather 'sickly', though technically OK, and I was feeling pretty lightheaded at the time. More specifically, the R wave was noticeably shortened and just barely higher than the T wave, which looked normal. I wonder what the R wave represents (It's the first peak)? It seems like it'd probably represent the first 'pump' in LUB-dub, or the "LUB". So a shortened R wave seems like it'd probably represent a weakened 'first pump' whatever that technically is. Seems like that would agree with the lightheadedness experienced at the time.)
Well, let's look at more official sources.
http://www.cardionetics.com/ecg-waveforms
And, how exactly does ventricular contraction/depolarization fit?
http://www.gwheartandvascular.org/education/anatomy-and-function-of-the-heart-valves/
So the less the ventricles contract(Presumably with a shorter R wave), the less blood that can flow into the ventricle (Presumably), so the less blood that flows into the aorta and is distributed through the rest of the major arteries in the body(Which connect to the aorta). So, essentially, it represents decreased global blood output via [strike]less blood flowing into the left ventricle[/strike][CORRECTION=a less powerful contraction of the left ventricle into the aorta, which the major arteries connect directly from.]. What arteries supply the left ventricle, I wonder? These arteries might underlie the decrease in left ventricular function.
Well, this could imply decreased bloodflow through the circumflex artery, but this also might imply there could be decreased bloodflow via the LAD. That's the famous artery that's also known as "The Widowmaker" Artery. If you decrease bloodflow completely through the LAD and subsequently completely stop left ventricular function, you get what's known as "The widowmaker", a.k.a. heart attack. For if the left ventricle fails to contract at all, it fails to deliver any blood into the aorta which supplies the major arteries. This includes the carotid/vertebral arteries (The brain), the pulmonary arteries(The lungs), and some other major arteries I'm probably not entirely fully aware of (Abdominal artery, femoral artery, etc.).
Okay, so my next question is if the classic LBBB typically represents a largely absent R wave? I suspect it does, since this is the 'dangerous' bundle branch block that underlies the deadly stuff.
Looking at V1 (The primary waveform) It looks like the 'r' is the tiny bump /there/, and the 's' is the huge dip down there.
So, this confirms my suspicion, the R wave represents the first beat that sends blood into the aorta and shoots it through the arteries of the body. A decreased R wave would represent decreased amount of blood being sent through the major arteries, and thus could easily explain 'lightheadedness", since that phenomena largely comes from the reduced bloodflow through the cerebral arteries (vertebral/carotid). A decreased R wave would put suspicion on the bloodflow through the supplying arteries to the left ventricle, the LAD and circumflex arteries.
So, the purpose of the blood to the supplying myocardium is to deliver glucose and oxygen. However, excess glucose can inhibit oxygen absorption. So, excess blood glucose levels (In the case of high candy intake, like that one particular day) could hypothetically inhibit oxygen absorption, and impair muscular function. So, reduced left ventricular function may or may not necessarily indicate dysfunction in the LAD/circumflex arteries. A way to tell, I would assume, is to administer a bloodthinner like aspirin. If the bloodthinner significantly improves left ventricular function, that would imply partial ischemia through the supplying arteries, through either 'small vessels' or 'arthersclerosis' or some combination thereof. However, if it does not, that might suggest that high blood glucose levels are inhibiting oxygen uptake and impairing muscle function.
This does make me question if eating too much sugar/candy commonly makes people lightheaded?
http://www.livestrong.com/article/511694-lightheaded-shaky-after-eating-sugar/
Livestrong suggests its the 'sugar crash' that causes lightheadedness. I suppose low blood sugar levels could hypothetically impair myocardium function, especially if cortisol was released in response (causes vasoconstriction). I'm not exactly sure if I was 'hypo' at that time, however, it didn't seem like I was. I don't remember a hypoglycemic headache or other obvious low blood sugar signs.
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101209055148AAMZib6
Seems like it's happening to this 26 year old female. I guess it's fairly common, it's too bad she didn't take her ECG trace so we could compare results. Not taking her ECG trace, what a loser, lol.
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Well, with this new understanding what the R wave actually means (It represents the contraction of the left ventricle which pushes blood through the major arteries of the body through the aorta; that is, the large first peak in the ECG graph (On V1/lead 1) is the 'big heartbeat' everyone can feel by putting their hand on their chest.), I'm actually starting to understand what the graphs mean at http://lifeinthefastlane.com/ecg-library/st-segment/ . And, I noticed all the you're-going-to-die ECG signals had a largely absent or really diminished R wave, which totally makes sense. If the R wave is absent or largely diminished, that means the 'big heartbeat' is no longer a 'big heartbeat', but rather a tiny one, which has rather obvious problems.
So, anyways, I will happily report I've never seen an ECG signal on myself where the R wave was absent or 'highly diminished'. I've seen it cut in half during my lightheadedness episodes following high sugar consumption, but I've never seen it 'largely gone', which is the important thing. Asto the 'st elevation' episodes I've noted previously in the morning time, that was actually an elevated S wave I was looking at. Which, I will look into. It seems all the ST elevation patterns at http://lifeinthefastlane.com/ecg-st-segment-evaluation/ associated with myocardial infarction is also pared with a largely absent R wave, which is the more obvious problem, in my opinion, than the ST elevation itself.
I can't seem to find much info on elevated S waves. Doesn't seem immediately associated with anything concerning on that site, as far as I could find. It seems the S wave represents late depolarization, so an elevated one would indicate... something to do with the contraction of the rim of the left ventricle... and a slightly less effective 'big heartbeat'? But, I guess that would make complete sense if you just woke up. I'd assume people's hearts aren't pumping at 100% in the morning time as it's just getting started, and this manifests in that slight-tiredness/not-quite-fully-awake-feeling right after waking up, which seems like a completely normal phenomenon. I guess I've been making a big deal out of nothing. Of course, I've not exactly grabbed my ECG meter for my more extreme episodes (Was lost at the time), and the ones that seem more highly suspicious as cardiac in nature have been too quick/transient to catch (And my priority is often trying to stop it rather than measuring it.). But, yeah, anyway... nope, I haven't seen anything really concerning on my ECG meter just yet. And, if there was something more /permanently/ concerning going on, I'd be able to catch it by now. Now if I go off all the bloodthinners(cocoa,wine,garlic,fish) and vasodilators(spinach)... I wonder if I can 'catch anything'? I'm not really sure if I want to...
But... if I did... and I still didn't see anything concerning... well, that'd be kind of comforting.
But, regardless, the more concerning matter at this point is the probable carotid artery dissection.
And maybe a slight risk for a ruptured blood vessel. Or stenosis.
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Update: 9/23/2016 - 10:51 a.m. - Went to bed at 12:30 a.m., woke at roughly 8:15 a.m., so thinking this was a good time to mark as 'the start of the day' and the fact my body didn't feel like it was going to rebel if I tried, I ate 100 grams of carbs and then did a 33 minute tread mill walk to this guy, the last 23 minutes done at 3mph @ 12% incline. My HR was pretty steady at 150 BPM. It's interesting my oxy% goes down to 96% throughout the day, seems like after I eat breakfast. I don't remember my oxy% ever going lower than 99% just 3-4 years ago, and I guarantee I ate worse then (Maybe that's why, lol).
The difference between my breakfast and Jack Lelaine's breakfast is he adds a bit of protein/fat (meat/eggs/butter) and does like 40-50 grams of carbs (A piece of toast and a fruit, apple/banana). Maybe I should try for more of a Jack Lelaine breakfast?
[youtube]ejZHB5rKQ2Q[/youtube]
Pretty neat 'virtual walk'/'virtual run', the main feature is at the 32 minute mark which is a nice rewarding ending to a ~30 exercise.
My right lobe has been kind of sore off and on. Can't really tell if it's my lobe or the trapezius muscles connecting to my right scalp. The right trapezius muscle is definitely sore along with my right shoulder, and I seem to be experiencing little to no cognitive/speech difficulties everytime I've tested (Blimey, I forgot the words to Twinkle Twinkle little star during the walk... but, now I can recall them no problem, interesting.), so probably muscular. I'd begin to get a little more worried with....
-noticeable cognitive/speech difficulties (Word access speeds during sentence formation slowed downed like 10x - very noticeable when you're talking. Instead of talking at a rate of 4-5 words per second, your talking suddenly slows down to 1 word every 2-3 seconds. Really really noticeable, especially if it happens mid-sentence. You're like, after the fact, "Why was it taking so long to get the next word? Freaky.")
-persistent left side facial and/or arm weakness. Particularly if the facial weakness involves the tongue, indicating cranial nerves are being affected.
-left side paralysis (anywhere)
-persistent ache/pain behind the eye.
-persistent right side headache (In combination with any of the above)
Anyway, I'm more interested in preventing a stroke than recognizing and quickly treating one. The 'go-to' emergency treatment for ischemic stroke is TPA ... BUT the medicine includes a 7% mortality rate from the hemmorhaging risks it causes. So, in my humble opinion, it's best to prevent a stroke than to treat one. The treatment is no panacea, at least not its modern form. (But, there have been research articles that address TPA's hemmorage risks and highly mitigate them with other non-lethal drugs. Just that... new medicine practices take so long to become established in America, so I don't think it's wise to depend on them, lol.)
It's too bad there's a notable lack of free 'virtual walks' of major european cities on youtube. There's plenty of teaser clips of paid providers. I'm thinking I'll launch a kickstarter or gofundme of some sort to pay for my trip to Europe so I can create these videos which people could use for free. I'd try for the same format as this guy: a little sugar here, a little spice there, and then the main dessert shortly after 30 minutes, wherever that format would work.
------------------------
So wondering about the connection between diabetes(heightened blood sugar levels) and oxygen saturation, I googled. And, I found this.
http://www.rightdiagnosis.com/symptoms/decreased_oxygen_saturation/diabetes.htm
Oh, that's comforting, lol. I was hoping for something more common like GERD. (Seems there's an association between GERD and Diabetes.)
I wonder if GERD is anywhere in their list of 37 causes.
http://www.rightdiagnosis.com/symptoms/decreased_oxygen_saturation/causes.htm
Nope, nope, I guess not. I'd assume this is not a completely reliable source.
9/23/2016 - 7:25 p.m. - just took a bath. Gleaned some pretty good insight. I knew the bath would throw my head forward, which traditionally causes that 'vibrating' sensation like my left lobe is about to explode and a "feels like I'm going to lose consciousness" sensation if it's thrown too far forward.
Well, towards the end of the bath, I could clearly hear my heartbeat in my right ear (A pulsing sound in tune with my heart.). I stood up so that I could rectify my neck, and the sound immediately vanished. Well, hotdogs, I have a clue what's going on:
Leaning forward my neck, for whatever reason, is obstructing the carotid artery.
Well, before jumping to conclusions, I should see if pulsatile tinnitus is associated with vertabasillar insufficiency.
Doesn't seem like there's a particular association, except with subclavian steal syndrome. But, I think that's kind of unlikely in my case.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3719451/
Okay, so my theory is that there exists a hematoma or vascular tear in the lining(Dissection), and that leaning forward the neck causes a stretching and subsequent narrowing of the carotid artery, reducing the amount of 'open area' for the blood to flow past the hematoma or vascular tear, thus first producing turbulent bloodflow (The vibrating sensation I get) and if leaning the neck forward enough, enough narrowing and subsequent turbulence to cause a significant reduction in bloodflow (Feeling of losing consciousness) [And, in the bathtub, it induced pulsatile tinnitus in the right ear]. It's also possible that this turbulence may throw a clot, thus possibly causing a TIA or stroke. If I keep my neck straight, it minimizes the stretching of the carotid artery which keeps the vessel wide enough to minimize turbulence past the dissection and subsequent symptoms.
So these factors would expect to affect this sensation:
-Blood thickness/thinness
-Vasodilators
-Vasoconstrictors (Such as cortisol/stress/anxiety)
-Neck angle (Determines how much the carotid artery is getting stretching/narrowed)
Now that I have a solid theory, time to get this frocker checked out! :lol:
I've already been getting it checked out, by two different doctors, but my doctors have been clueless! (or, they just don't really investigate further, brushing the TIA off as a one time event.)
On the other hand, there does appear to be some swollen soreness in my neck under the tip of the right jaw that isn't present in my left jaw. This could very well be a sign of carotid stenosis. Well, I'm tracing the sore pain, and it seems to follow a tubelike structure near the carotid toward the top that apparently begins to feel like a muscle towards the ribcage and connects to the clavicle. Nevermind. Just one of the many sore neck muscles on my right.
Well, looking into that other one, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibromuscular_dysplasia
TIA and subarachnoid hemorrhage. I guess I can't entirely rule this one out. Just the fact that this is happening right on the heels of "The Great Cervical Decompression Neck Strain" and never happened before it, leads me to believe it was involved somehow. Although, it's been true for a while that 'looking down' made me feel kind of sick. I wish it was still like that, lol.
UPDATE: 11:26 p.m. - So I earlier ate some candy with 9g of sugar, and then I started getting that characteristic cold/hot sensations about 10 minutes later. I took my ECG and the waveform looked 'fine' but it seemed like the baseline was meandering a bit. Anyway, the cold hot sensations continued and then I started getting some tightness in my chest, and I thought, "It can't hurt to eat some vasodilators", so I started munching on the spinach, making sure to thoroughly chew it to maximize the overall rate of nitrate absorption, and sure enough, very shortly afterwards, the uncomfortable hot/cold sensations went away and they've been staying away. Okay, now I'm becoming more and more convinced refined sugars and grains should be put on the verboten list. Granted, it's very possible that the sugar was kicking up the gastritis, and the spinach just simply calmed that down, but the ECG trace baseline was meandering a bit... and sugary treats seem to historically negatively affect heart function... so, yep.
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UPDATE: 12:54 p.m. - 9/24/2016 - Wow, last night kicked my butt.
Felt unearthly tired last night following a period of hot-cold sensations and chest tightness; granted, I did a 30 minute 12% hill climb at 3mph earlier that day (Calculators online telling me I burned 330 calories), but still a bit extreme. I slept, woke up, felt like it was still kicking my butt. I also got a 'back kick' of some sort while sleeping that instantly woke me up. Not fun. Seems like my neck had been rebelling this morning, particularly sensitive. Saw on a site "feeling dizzy AND have a stiff neck? Go to the ER!", lol. I know that hypothetically indicates a possible intracerebral hemmorhage, of if accompanied by a fever, meningitis, but I was missing what would've been a rather obvious immense headache. And, I checked my heart stats (ECG + oxy), looked perfectly healthy, so I concluded it was probably my back+neck being a bitch, lol. Or possibly something to do with my right carotid, seems to be in the spotlight lately for a highly suspected carotid dissection.
Anyway, I can put this 'normal' EKG trace into layman's terms, woohoo (A sign of my advancing ECG knowledge).
[CORRECTION: This isn't entirely accurate; the major veins dump into the right atria/ventricle where they get pushed into the lungs to become oxygenated, and then they dump into the atria mentioned below. The right atria/ventricle that's used before the blood gets oxygenated via the lungs isn't seen on V1. However, I believe it's seen on the other leads. The one that people really care about is the left ventricle/atria, since those pump the oxygenated blood through the major arteries; you have problems with those, you have some major problems. Coincidentally, this is seen on the first lead, V1. However, problems with the right ventricle/atria can definitely cause issues, and the ED appears to check all 12 leads to localize the likely problem location and artery. I don't really have that kind of training; I don't have a 12 lead ECG.)
1. So the P bump represents the atria contracting, which pushes blood into the left ventricle. The atria previously got its blood during diastole (The period where diastolic blood pressure is measured which is when the main heartbeat, represented by the peak R, isn't happening), when the major veins of the body were dumping blood into the atria.
2. The R wave/peak repesents the 'big hearbeat', or contraction of the left ventricle, which pushes blood into the major arteries of the body through the aorta.
3. The T wave represents when the left ventricle which had just contracted(The big heartbeat), now relaxes, getting ready to receive the blood from the atria in the first step.
Yep, just that simple. With that understanding, it's easy to look at an ECG at a glance to see if the heart is working properly. You want to make sure the atria is pushing blood into the left ventricle (P bump), the left ventricle is pushing blood through the major arteries of the body(The 'big hearbeat', the R Wave), and that left ventricle relaxes (T wave) getting ready to receive blood from the atria during the next p wave. In my opinion, the most obvious one to look out for is the R wave, for the body absolutely depends on blood being pushed out of the heart into the major arteries.
Anyway, I find it interesting I can barely see the P wave on my ECG meter...
I hope it's not really missing... and my ECG meter is just kind of pathetic...
If it is missing... that could explain a lot of phenomena...
And might have something to do with low diastolic blood pressure; a low diastolic blood pressure means not enough blood filling up the atria during diastole...
And what could lead to that? Possibly that term I've seen hanging around, "venous insufficiency", which spider veins are the first sign of. Which I've started noticing in my feet a couple of years back and was concerned they were the first sign of a future trend of 'not good health'... (That is, I didn't believe they were naturally present in an optimally healthy person at my age, like those of the Kuna. However, I thought that this trend would likely play out, if I didn't do anything about it, or couldn't do much about it, into my 40s/50s/60s/70s, not my later 20s.)
Venous insufficiency -> low diastolic blood pressure -> Less blood filling into the atria during diastole -> less blood pushed into the left ventricle -> less blood pumped throughout the body -> all the signs and symptoms of reduced blood output rates - tiredness, fatigue, dizziness, lightheartedness, difficulty breathing(less pulmonary artery flow), etc.
So, now the question is what causes/aggravates venous insufficiency? I think I might be catching the culprit behind my low diastole numbers.
9:45 p.m. - 9/24/2016 - Tried out a new method of riding in my truck. I figured that resting on the back of the chair ended up bypassing the cushion I had, causing truck vibrations to pass directly to me via my spine. So, I leaned forward, while keeping my neck straight, to force almost all of the vibrations through the seat cushion. When I arrived at the first store, yep, worked pretty well. Arrived at the second store, I think I was still doing kind of well, sort of (The road was pretty bumpy), but definitely not by the end (I had to look down at a few products; those bottom shelves kick my butt, lol.). Anyway, my neck is doing OK right now, so definitely not as bad as past travels. I have a feeling there's really no sparing my neck on a 2000 mile journey, no matter how I try to ride it out.
Anyway, looking back at my past measurement system for blood pressure. I think the numbers are kind of unreliable. Theoretically my system was accurate, but in practice, I would lay my head down on the table causing my chest to lower a bit, causing my arm to be up a little higher than normal above my heart, causing a depression in the reported numbers. So those days where it was in the 50s and I felt tired; it was probably that low because I was laying down my head during measurement because I was tired, lol, not because it was really that low.
Anyway, I've noticed I have not had the "tired old man's eyes" in the past two weeks or so. That seems a little curious. I wonder if the exercise has been keeping it away? Would make sense. I kind of wonder if it's because of anything else... (Maybe my eating habits have improved? Maybe my neck isn't 'as messed up', even though it still seems plenty messed up.)
I've also noticed that 'intense exercise' seems to cause my body to kick my butt at night, like my heart seems like it's having fits. My ECG seems to be OK (Of what I can see, the R and T waves. Maybe I'm missing a P, and that's the problem...), but it seems like my heart is still having issues of some sort towards the later hours, like it's saying "You overworked me, now you're going to pay!".
Seems kind of ridiculous that a 30minute 150BPM workout would cause that. But, it is hill-climbing, which exercises the major leg muscles, so it's not /merely/ a cardio workout, it's also a major leg muscle building workout unlike jogging on flat terrain. Maybe that's the key difference. Maybe having all those thirsty ripped muscles is kicking my heart's butt. I swear I'm eating enough, though. Maybe too much...
Anyway, just seems like a major difference from last year when I was in the navy. Doing the daily strength-training and cardio exercises wasn't causing my heart to kick my ass during the day or at night, but now it kind of seems to.
Anyway, it's kind of important discovering these 'limits' of mine. When I began the purchase of this land, I didn't have any physical limits as far as I knew (In fact, I kind of thought I was essentially 'limitless' given I had enough carb intake, cocoa and motivation, at least up until ordinary muscle fatigue.), so discovering these 'limits' is kind of important in realistically re-evaluating my plan. It's kind of hard believing my heart actually has some kind of physical limit, though... at least not this low of a limit... I wouldn't think climbing a 12% hill at 3mph for 30 minutes would be something that'd cause the body to self-destruct... not at my age, anyway. It didn't seem like I was breathing too hard or 'working too hard'... definitely not as hard as sprints...
And, if doing something like that /is/ causing my heart to self-destruct... that would seem to have some major implications for my predicted longevity.
Anyway, there was a case like this in the navy. She was really fat and seemed to be bipolar (Exuberantly excited one moment, massively depressed the next.), at least when she spoke. She would be running and then all of a sudden... something would happen half way through... and she couldn't run anymore. Something to do with her heart. I'm not sure if she became breathless or what... but her heart stopped functioning at the level required and she simply couldn't run. I don't seem to be having that issue, exactly, but it almost seems like something along those lines. Like it can only 'work hard' for so much, more than that, then it acts like it starts later shutting down or something.
Oh, got my lab results back. Apparently was within normal levels (including for folate), except for vitamin D. "A bit low" according to the doctor.
So, I was trying to find cod liver oil in the local area. Couldn't really find any, except for an inhouse brand, which didn't seem to have as much Vitamin D as I would've expected.
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Update: 3:20 a.m. - 9/25/2016 - At around 12:45 a.m., I felt I little bit of pain around my chest area that didn't feel like my ribs, and I became a little concerned but not too concerned. At around 1:10 a.m., I became pretty tired and realized I overshot my time to fall asleep by about 30 minutes or so, no biggie I thought. Then I went to bed and felt distinct tingling in both the left and right pinkie/fourth finger, I thought that might've been a little concerning, but I did recently irritate my neck lately, so it's possible to be T8 irritation. Then I woke up about 10 minutes ago 3:11 a.m., and I thought that's kind of odd (I don't usually awake this early), but I thought maybe this was one of those 'mini-awakenings' that people do between each 90-120 sleep cycle (Total of 4 in the night). Well, I grabbed my ECG meter because I thought 'why not', and didn't notice anything particularly concerning, I mean, the graph was doing its usual 'unusually strong heartbeat'/'graph readjustment' bits here and there, but I figured that was normal when waking up by now. Ectopic beats I think they were called. First graph looked pretty good. Okay, let's keep watching....
Then I started seeing hyperacute T waves and around this time (WIder and larger than normal T waves), got a pretty distinct chest pain, felt like a cool burning sensation underneath my ribs.
I just recently read that hyperacute T waves are usually the first signs of a STEMI in progress.
I didn't actually think I was initiating a STEMI, it was more than likely transient in nature.
But, it's good to know that 'cool burning sensation' is not the innocent burning sensation I've thought it was! I've long thought it was the cool burning sensation associated with GERD/acid reflux/gastric juices being splashed up into the esophagus. This was the cool burning sensation I was getting that one day where my running seemed like it was 3 times more fatiguing, and I was breathing 3 times harder than normal; it followed the fourth sprint where at first it felt like my heart was going crazy, then I started getting 3 distinct flashes of that 'cool burning' sensation in my ribs. A later livejournal entry quickly confirmed my worries were unfounded, and they were most likely Gastric/Gerd/Esophageal and benign in nature.
Update: 2:00 p.m. - 9/25/2016 - Took a baby aspirin last night and my tummy was hungry, so I ate an apple. Napped here and there, not sure of the total amount of sleep, but somewhere between 4-6 hours is my guess, despite attempting to sleep for 8.5 hours total. By 11:00 a.m., it was obvious I wasn't falling asleep anytime soon so I started my day.
Cocoa seemed to have a noticeably positive affect on reducing symptoms, this morning. This was after eating like 80g of carbs total from an apple, peach and 50g of popcorn. Also ate some nuts, thinking I need more fat/protein with the carbs. My stomach seemed to appreciate that.
Anyway, I noticed my oxy% was 99% recently - a bit unusual in recent days after eating the first meal, usually goes down to 95-97% and stays there all day. I wonder if this trend will persist...
If it does... I wonder if this 99% oxy is because of aspirin use?
Just got done mowing the lawn (Physically intense work), and my oxy% is down to 95-96% currently. I rolled up my sleeves for the extra sun exposure - I was told my vitamin D was low and just found out that window glass filters out ultraviolet B which is essential for vit D production, so this effort of boosting my vitamin D by hanging near a window has been ineffective all along, lol. Anyway, I'm going to try to source some cod liver oil which naturally has vitamin D in it.
I just found out the penalty for being late to register your car (The 15 day mark) is $30, and then $2 a day past that for a maximum of $125. Well, that's cool, that suggests they aren't hunting people down who haven't registered their vehicle, at least not by the 45 day mark. They're betting on them paying the penalty fee when they /eventually/ come in to register it. Since I'm moving to this new place soon enough, I'm thinking about avoiding registering here and then transferring registration there - I'll just register there and pay Texas's registration fees. Pay once instead of twice.
Earlier this morning, shortly after the transient hyperacute T wave in V1 that corresponded with this cool burning chest sensation I've had occasionally in recent weeks, it felt like my chest was a brick wall for a second or two. Seems like the guys here have had similar sensations...
Feels like a brick on my chest...
http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=28844
Two of them are smokers. The third one, I'm not sure. I'm personally not a smoker.
Anyway, I'm seeing it being plausible I may have some atherosclerosis of the LAD, and during times of distress/panic (The first two hours of awaking, apparently), it seems the cortisol is sufficient to produce transient ischemic symptoms. This is probably compounded on by late night hypoglycemia, since I've been avoiding eating 3 hours before bedtime recently to avoid what I've suspected is nocturnal heartburn episodes. I don't know if it's serious or not... I'd imagine if the symptoms were less transient, and not fleeting like my 2-hours-of-sleep anxiety tends to be, they probably would be... Anyway, I suspect there's some CAD going on because other periods of the day involving hypoglycemia (early morning) also produce that cool burning sensation in other parts of the body(left jaw) until I eat. I'd imagine most people experience similar levels of hypoglycemia in the morning, and they just simply feel hungry without the jaw pain. So this is what I suspect. And, if that's really the case... and it's not /just anxiety/ like I'm always hoping it is, that kind of sucks, lol. Because, I'm quickly learning that 'fixing it', like the way modern hospitals do (CABG, stent), is something of a hazardous bandaid solution [The fixes involve their own not-so-insignificant mortality risks] and not having anything to fix to begin with would be far preferable.
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Update: 5:16 p.m. - 9/25/2016 - Just ate lunch about 30 minutes ago. Anyway, after doing the last set of arm exercises (First round) (I was laying on the bed, face down, effectively pushing my head slightly back), I noticed I suddenly became very tired. I figured I must've exhausted all my energy, though I didn't think that arm strength training was all that energy intensive so that would surprise me if true. About 4 minutes later, I started getting that cool burning sensation in my left jaw. I vowed to myself to only use the ECG if symptoms present, never just because I'm curious (Because I suspect its mere use can cause issues, especially at certain times of the day/morning.), and so I used it. I was earlier reading from a thread that it commonly happens to people with anxiety (Yeah, I guess I've had that so far today.) [suddenly getting tired], but I was also noticing that sudden tiredness can be a manifestation of hidden heart disease on an article (Among many other nutrient deficiencies, which I've been cleared of), so I used my ECG. Yep, everything looked pretty darn normal to me. Could see the little p wave, the R wave was there (it might've been at 85%-90% of its usual height, but definitely not pathologically shorter like that one day I ate like 100g of sugar from candy.), and the T wave looked fine to me. No obvious hyperacute waves or unusually small waves. So, it was a mystery. And, this tiredness seemed a bit more extreme [And it seemed to have an unusual 'not quite simply tiredness' quality about it] than what arm exercises and 5-6 hours of sleep would predict. Earlier, it felt like my breathing was on the verge of being affected, though it doesn't seem like it ever did. Anyway, that 'sudden tiredness' episode with left jaw 'cool burning' jaw pain during the first 4 minutes lasted for about 15-20 minutes.
Granted, perhaps I should've taken my blood sugar for completeness. But, I ran out of test strips and they cost a fortune.
Anyway, I was laying down and I was noticing some pins and needles in my hands, but I didn't notice it to that same degree later. The pins and needles were kind of freaking me out because of that one girl who also had breathlessness, and that would've started freaking me out, lol. That's one thing I've not had, yet, during the day - breathlessness. If I do, I'm calling 911 like right away, lol. I don't seem to 'hyperventilate' like some people apparently do, so if I'm getting 'breathless' all of a sudden, I'm calling. But, yeah, anyway, I did notice that laying on the ground does seem to reduce circulation slightly (oxy% goes down laying down; compressing the back of lungs), so it increases the 'tingling sensation' in the hands, so I can conclude my circulation was probably a little less than normal at the time. Might've had something to do with 1) blood sugar 2) The fact I just mowed the lawn with a partially impaired right wheel 3) I had like 5-6 hours of 'naps'/sleep 4) Coming off a long session of anxiety, tempered by arm strength training. Of course I was freaking about the possibility of heart functioning issues, but my ECG looked pretty normal to me, more normal than most of the time, I'm guessing. Anyway, I figure I need to figure out a way to do those 'hummingbird flying backwards' arm exercises, lol. (pecs/back strength training) I'm strength training and trying to do cardiovascular training (Assuming I'm not on some terminal decline) in preparation for taking down a forest by hand. It seems like my neck is /mostly fine/ now if 1) I eat well 2) I'm not freaking out about it and 3) I don't 'touch it'/'push it' etc. and 4) Don't bend the neck down, bend the entire upper body. [Of course, I haven't tried taking down a forest yet... but I'm just hoping it'll sufficiently improve over the next month and half to be doable.]
Anyway, here's the basic exercises.
1) Bicep curls
2) Triceps dumbell lifts
3) Pecs bowflex
4) Squats
5) Planks
I should include some kind of 'back rotation' strength training exercise (Because I'll be swinging shit), I'm not sure how I'll implement it.
6:57 p.m. - Just did two sets of squats. These are becoming too easy, now upto 2 minutes. I'm thinking the incline walking on the treadmill (12% at 3mph for 30 minutes) must've been a massive muscle builder. Maybe that's why it might've been kicking my butt that day, lol. Today doesn't really feel like a good day for cardiovascular exercise. I'm not really sure if I'm intuiting my cardio capabilities correctly now, or the arm/leg workouts are kicking my butt, or if I'm just chicken. Maybe it was the fact I already mowed the rather thick front lawn with an impaired right wheeled lawn mower earlier today. Anyway, right now just doesn't seem like a good time, lol. Maybe tomorrow. While doing the planks, I noticed it was bending my solid mid-back in which seemed to be producing midback -> center chest pain of some sort. Definitely was causing me to breath hard. I stopped at the 35 second mark because I don't remember those kinds of pain the last time I've done planks, and it was concerning me. ECG looked a little different. Maybe I'll try again later, after my body more fully absorbs these prunes.
Update: 10:27 a.m. - 9/26/2016 - Before going to bed, I had a banana with some walnuts and the 'cool burning sensation' in my left jaw disappeared shortly thereafter and never reappeared. (Didn't even reappear this morning, when I obviously had some hypoglycemia going on.) This morning, I felt pretty tired and I had this lowgrade headache, but it didn't have the same quality as past "not enough sleep" headaches and I didn't feel 'sleepy' at all, so it confused me. I had two bananas, with some nuts, and the tiredness went away and the headache largely disappeared. I also had whatever vegetables are left. So, I'm guessing that was a "hypoglycemic headache" and I'm guessing my torn muscles have been soaking up the glucose at night. I'm not normally hypoglycemic (At least not what that headache would suggest), so I'm guessing the muscles have been soaking up all the carbs I've been eating. Sure, I might hypothesize that possibly some of my glucose has been shuttered away into fat, but I'm not really gaining weight, despite that being my intention with the 150g base carbs + whatever else during the day. So, yeah, apparently torn muscles use up the glucose and help keep away the diabetes, lol.
Anyway, for the 'back rotation' exercises... I couldn't easily envision an adequate method using the dumbbells and my last effort to adapt the bowflex was half-effective(Not fully), so I decided to use this elastic band that PT gave me (It's designed to fit into the hinge of the doorway). And, it was pretty easy, just keep the arms stiff, back straight, and then rotate the body as if you're swinging an axe. Definitely exercised the back muscles I'd be using! lol So, I've found the exercise I'll need. And, it was definitely a workout. Anyway, the major muscle groups I'm targeting...
bicep
tricep
deltoid
pectorals
'rotational back muscles'
And other relevant chest/ab/back muscles that are inevitably included in the above workouts.
Also trying to do full leg workouts(Incline walking is pretty effective and comprehensive) and cardiovascular. I swear to god I should be able to do some kind of cardiovascular today. Sleep was sufficient (And, if it wasn't, I can sleep some more when it wants to) and I'm pretty sure I'm ensuring adequate nutrition, and I haven't done cardio for at least 2 days.
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Update - 8:32 p.m. - 9/26/2016
Nothing notable today. Got some vitamin D noweigan cod liver oil, got a plan to use it. I'm going to use twice the suggested dose for the first week, the suggested dose the second week, and then 1/2 the suggested dose from then on. I also tore off the sleeves off my plain white shirt, to expose more skin real estate to the sun (Couldn't find the beaters). I'm not really worried about sun burn - my spinach, fish and whatever else consumption naturally protects me from sunburn. And this time of year isn't that strong at the 48th parallel.
Seems like my neck, though having fits at times, seems to be OK overall. It's interesting how I seem to be having no neck pain under the influence of red wine, lol. Ok, I've read that alcohol has similar painkilling properties to morphine, so maybe that's why. I've added ginger to my meal. Think I'll start adding cinnamon in somehow. 3 tsp daily, each. I would also be consuming turmeric, but ran out and never restocked.
I'm hoping I can grow some of these herbs on this future property.
Thinking about egg laying chickens. I wonder if I could ever sell 'fresh eggs' in the local area? Seems like Houston/Texas isn't the type where the government ninnies are saying you can't, but Food/Health seems to be pretty universally regulated. I just wonder... "Making productive use of the land"/etc. in ways that helps others, as well as myself. (I'm thinking whatever productive use of the land I'll eventually figure out, will probably exceed my own consumption. And, no, I'm not growing rice, lol. That seems to require 'the tropics', just like cocoa, bananas and coconuts. Man, all the 'good food' is tropical, I wonder why... can't have anything to do with humanity's diaspora out of equatorial Africa some 30,000 years ago, can it?)
My muscles are getting pretty massive. Having mowed the back yard earlier today, I did the 12% 3mph treadmill incline for 20ish minutes. My average heart rate was 142, lower than the 150BPM last time I did this at 10 a.m; Discovered I can do the rotation exercises on the bowflex, need to figure it out. Maintaining proper form using the band and doorway seems hard; seems like legs do much of the twisting, and it just doesn't seem like legs are really doing that much, energy/power wise in 'the stroke'.
I think I'm going to 'carb up' an hour before the cardio workout. The feeling of being 'famished/weak' immediately afterwards just doesn't seem right for a 20 minute 142 BPM workout. I'd be doing my 180-190 BPM 1.5mile runs a year ago (never measured my heartrate, just safely assuming it from the deep huffing and puffing afterwards), and not feel nearly that fatigued/weak. It seems this is a relatively common problem among weight builders, so I'm not going to assume the worst (heart failure), I'm just going to assume I wasn't properly carbed up prior. Basically, I had enough carbs in to 'be alive' at the time, but not enough for that kind of exercise.
If my neck is no problem when I'm drunk, I'm thinking maybe I'll be drunk the entire time I'm taking it down, lol. :lol:
If it's wines anti-anxiety affects that's essentially doing it, maybe I'll just order a bunch of ativan from a canadian pharmacy.
Anyway, no word from the realtor. Surprise, surprise, I'm guessing the surveyor didn't get the paperwork done on time like he said would, lol. Oh well, I'm assuming he will /eventually/. And that works out perfectly OK for me.
Anyway, I feel so special, doing both cardio and weight lifting. I'm sure there's plenty of people who do both, it just seems like 'runners' and 'weightlifters' are some kind of competing factions, and even my doctor seems to be of the 'running' YAY 'weight lifting' POO faction. What kind of doctor won't put aside his tribal biases in understanding/appreciating the glucose/nutrient/mineral/health benefits of massive muscles? Did he ever read the research papers on resting metabolism, A1C, diabetes and muscle mass? I guess my recent history in the navy gives me appreciation for both groups. (Well, actually, I also read the research papers. I'm not the kind to let stereotypes and tribalism thwart my pursuit of knowing what really matters.)
And, the fact is, the CDC recommends both cardio and muscle building for optimal health. And, yes, that's the place where the front gate rent-a-cops threatened to put me in jail for having a closed bottle of wine in my car. I kind of thought to myself, "Is this for real? These rent-a-copsp have more power than the local cops to jail people, just like the guards I've heard about that guard the Federal Reserve?"; I'm assuming they don't actually tell the police, "He had a bottle of wine in his car, jail him.", they probably would lie through their teeth and tell them something like "I caught him trying to scale the fence! Take him away!".
Anyway, I quickly discovered this "CDC museum" being advertised online was not really like any of the other many museums in Atlanta (Like the "Sound of Music" museum, and the "Anne Frank" museum. I wanted to see both.). Why didn't this webpage tell me it /really/ wasn't a public museum?
[Anyway, hint, if you want to get past the guards; it's best to leave the car behind and walk onto campus - less for them to search. Apparently seeing things like fast food wrappers sets them off.]
I think when I get down to Houston, I'll probably get a flight to Atlanta, and go visit ALL THE MUSEUMS, lol.
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2:52 a.m. - 9/27/2016 - Went to bed at 12:43 a.m., woke at 2:44 a.m.; normally wouldn't be too exciting, but getting sore/ache chest pain in the area about 1" above my sternum, took my pulse and it felt like it was racing at around 120 BPM and it felt subdued. Symptoms present -> Immediately captured an ECG. R wave intact, T wave looks slightly larger than normal but not quite hyperacute (Regular heartbeat, baseline is steady), midback curve centered at about 5 vertebra below the shoulderblade feels really sore (It terminates at the top right between the tips of the shoulder blade, this also seems to be how far up the spine the palpable back soreness goes. Lower back below the curve feels mildly sore.), was feeling a kind of mild, but definitely noticeable, burning/ache chest pain in the front bottom ribs (upto an inch above the sternum) [same soreness is palpable from the ribs directly], right jaw has been pretty sore to open lately (known jaw issue due to football accident). Seems I could also detect some soreness from the esophagus right below the sternum and breath feels slightly acidic when breathing in, so I ate the rest of the spinach. Left jaw pain with that 'cool burning sensation' has been missing ever since supper tonight and, especially it seems, after drinking the red wine. Along with the rest of the neck pain. Eyes look particularly red. Palpable sternum soreness pain connects to the palpably sore midback between the shoulder blades to about 6-9 vertebra below it.
(standing)HR was initially seen at 122 BPM, 98-99% oxy
(standing)Declined to 99BPM, 98% oxy at 2:52 a.m. (ECG looked normal, pains are generally less.)
(standing) 80BPM, 97% oxy at 2:59 a.m. (sitting) 60BPM. (Pains feel like they're resolving)
Not tracking at this point(3:07) unless I see a reason. Last carby thing eaten was supper(white rice w/ ginger, thyme, olive oil and tomato sauce) at around 8:15 p.m.
3:19 - esophagus feels less sore after eating the spinach. Will reattempt sleep soon enough; normal resting heart rates at sleep, for me, is 45-60 bpm, so 120 BPM is a bit elevated. Usually only gets that persistently elevated during exercise, though 'anxiety' can hypothetically push it that high. Seems to be about the HR limit for anxiety alone. Any higher generally requires exercise.
9:43 a.m. - Was awake for an hour before going back to bed during that episode (^). I decided I was not going to stay up for 2 hours, like that one time. Don't know how much I slept in total, maybe 4-6 hours. Got up definitely around 9:10 a.m.
Anyway, I saw a research paper make use of the term 'arterial diameter' and that intrigued me. It intrigued me because arterial diameter is essentially involved in both cardiac failure modes, but it's particularly involved in one of them, MVD (Blood cells shrink over time, reducing local bloodflow.), which accounts for 20-40% of cardiac cases according to research. It appears to be just as serious as the other one, and it would seem to likely be responsible for a greater percentage of cases among younger people. Research in this area seems sparse.
Anyway, I moved the definitive ARTERIAL DIAMETER CORRELATES section to this next reserved post because it was getting too long...lol
Update: 2:30 a.m. - 9/28/2016 - Went to sleep at 12:46 feeling tired, woke at 2:28 or there abouts. While standing up, I noticed how standing up seemed a little more difficult feeling than usual (felt a sling feeling in my chest), so I took my ECG. Looked fine for the most part, except for the random flatline that lasts for like 3 seconds and restarts back into normal sinus rhythm. What? At the time of the flatline, I'm getting a vague sore sensation of some sort in the chest, but it's very momentary and vanishes soon.
Okay, I've seen that 'ectopic beat' article, but I didn't seen any particularly strong beats before/after, and that was getting pretty close to a 'sinus arrest' or 'sinus pause'. http://lifeinthefastlane.com/ecg-library/sick-sinus/
My resting heart-rate is now 55 sitting, 60 standing, so I guess that's technically bradycardia, but that's also pretty normal when sleeping at night. It typically goes higher during the day, usually.
Hmmm... considering last night's 122 BPM... (it did slowly decrease over 20 minutes... Didn't suddenly alternate...)... this almost seems technically plausible.
Doesn't seem like I fall in any of the categories under 'Pacing considerations' (HR is never lower than 40 during the day), so probably not this.
I guess it has 'nocturnal wakefulness' right.... lol. [Looks at the time, lol.]
Well, I hope I'm gaining weight because of muscle mass improvements, not because of pulmonary edema. I recognized edema was a possibility, but was hoping 'building muscle' was the more likely explanation (Because, I clearly am.). It is interesting how I've been recently seeing this pattern in recent days/mornings ('sinus pause'), whereas I don't remember ever seeing it like this a month ago. If I saw this a month, when my ECG knowledge was considerably less advanced, I would've been /so/ freaking out way worse, lol.
The 'development' of an intermittent sinus pause that's seen on a daily basis would suggest some recently acquired Degenerative Fibrosis. Fibrosis is typically acquired after ischemia, 'idiopathic Degenerative Fibrosis' seems like something I wouldn't ordinarily expect in a 20-something (Heart muscle in a 29 year old doesn't just spontaneously degenerate for no good reason). I'd be more concerned if I witnessed this event more often during the day and not just within the first two hours of attempted sleep (I haven't been using it throughout the day recently; trying to avoid its use]. Of course, if I'm /only/ seeing it when I try to fall asleep, that might be cause of concern for other reasons (Is my Vagal getting pinched?).
That does make me wonder if those prolonged chest pressure episodes I dismissed as likely GERD actually wasn't. Gee, it would've been nice if my brother hadn't stolen my ECG at the time.
Update: 12:17 p.m. - 9/28/2016 - Okay, loaded up on 2 bananas, sunflower seeds, cocoa ,black tea, some egg whites, spinach and some tomato garlic rice mixture (And the daily fish oil), I noticed I felt exceptionally calm after drinking the black tea. As usual, the left jaw pain disappeared shortly after drinking the cocoa.
I think I'm going to do 45 minutes of walking today, will focus on upperbody tomorrow. I believe I'm upto it.
Anyway, took the 10 minute ECG and it looked pretty normal the entire 10 minutes, no ectopic beats or sinus pauses. I noticed that after 5 minutes of staring at the trace, my R wave was consistently becoming a bit weaker, but after staring at my cell phone with the picture of the port and beach, I noticed the R wave immediately popped up back to full strength. Yes, more evidence I shouldn't be normally spending my time staring at medical instruments, lol. I notice my oximeter seems to converge to 94 percent when I'm looking at it, but if I'm not looking at it, and randomly peek at it, it's normally 96-97 percent. I haven't discounted perhaps the fact my arm is holding up might be causing that phenomena, not because of 'medical instrument monitoring anxiety', lol. But, I get a rather strong feeling it's the anxiety of looking at a medical instrument on me.
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Update: 1:36 p.m. - 9/28/2016 - Just did a 45 minute exercise to this video.
[youtube]_mORHBUs9KU[/youtube]
At all 12% incline:
I walked most of it at 3 mph, and did a 6 mph jogging burst at the beginning for 3 minutes, a 5mph burst later on for 3 minutes, and another 5 mph burst for 1.5 minutes to get the HR backup. HR in the last 3 minutes (3 mph walk) was trending at 151 BPM, 94% oxy (And, that was doing 'peeking' samples at random).
About 30 seconds after the end of the 6 mph jog up the 12% inline, I noticed I felt this kind of vague sickening pressure in my upper chest and it was getting a bit intense, and I was becoming a bit sick but it peaked after about 20 seconds and faded over the next minute. At the end of the 5mph 3 minute jog, the same thing happened, but at much less intensity. At the end of the 5 mph 1.5 minute jog, the same thing happened, again at the same low intensity and about half the duration.
After the jog ended (I cooled down at 9% inline, 2 mph walk for the last 2 minutes), I immediately took my ECG.
R wave significantly shortened, T wave looks normal, or so it appears (It's obvious the R wave is barely higher than the T wave, it should normally be 3-4 times the height). Implies left ventricular dysfunction. I also saw 3 second sinus pauses at random, implying temporary ischemia impairing the sinus node and/or its signal path. This trend continued for a minute while the heart rate persisted at around 140 bpm. My oximeter seemed to sporadically jump from 123 BPM to 140 BPM during the end of the 9% incline 2 mph cooldown after a 3-4 second pause (Possible sinus pause).... I'm not sure if the oximeter was measuring wrong, or if this 140 BPM was the 140 BPM tachycardia the ECG fast line site was talking about that occurs after a sinus pause in bradycardia-tachycardia syndrome. I obviously didn't have the bradycardia... the oximeter has been slow to pick up the proper rate before. But, the wave form did seem a little bit different on the oximeter before the pause and afterwards. It looked like a proper 'double hump' fullsized waveform at the 123 BPM, but like a smaller 'single hump' waveform at 140 BPM after the pause. 140 BPM does seem about right for 9% 2mph walking during the last minute of cooldown... so maybe it was measuring it wrong. And the pause was from lifting my finger; that does seem to reliably flatline the trace.
Exercised finished at 1:34. At 1:44 p.m., R wave is significantly higher (About 80-90% of normal height), about 3 times higher than the T wave. Standing BPM is down to 96 BPM. Didn't notice any sinus pauses in the 20 seconds I looked at it.
Don't know if this is an 'abnormal result', but considering those somewhat discomforting sensations after the burst jogs, I would think this probably is sufficient grounds for an official Stress Test. I have a strange feeling that their might've been signature trace signals during those discomforting sensations that a 12-lead recording ECG would've picked up. Historically, I would've said I never got angina symptoms/episodes during exercise, but I wonder if that might be changing...
I wonder if I should rush order a 12-lead recording ECG and, if abnormal exercise ECG results are found, take them to the doctor and be like "Stop discounting me!".
If something significant is found, I'm not sure what can be done, other than this ongoing diet+exercise program.
Well, I suppose I could have a stent placed before major damage is done, and possibly live a longer life.
But... if the implied rate of arthersclerosis/arteriosclerosis is really /THIS HIGH/, and assuming they continue at roughly the same rate due to whatever underlying reasons that don't seem to be particularly related to diet (My diet is no better nor worse than the average American, so that can't the major explanative factor, can it?), that kind of suggests my days are numbered. It's one thing to have a stent placed at age 55, and another at 29. The implied rate of arthersclerosis/arteriosclerosis is much different, implying a shorter time frame until the next major related event.
I wish this was /only/ HA talking.
I should check if significant R wave shortening is normal during cardiovascular exercise. I suspect it'll be hard finding such information online, so I might need to consult a cardio doctor. They'll too probably discount me, suggesting "you probably, placed the leads wrong". It seems like doctors assume their patients don't know how to take measurements (Which was true a month ago, but I'm much wiser now. I'm consistently getting a 'proper trace' 100% of the time now.)
I suppose it's possible that sensation was heartburn from the tomato+garlic+rice+spinach meal I ate 3 hours ago, that came up after jogging/pounding the pavement.
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3:04 p.m. - 9/28/2016, Okay, did a little background research. It appears researchers have looked into changes in the R waves during exercise.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC482437/?page=3
It shows the R wave decreases by 3 mm 1 minute after exercise in 'normal subjects', and increases by 2mm 1 minute after exercise in 'diseased coronary subjects'.
So severe R wave shortening after 'maximal treadmill exercise' is a completely normal phenomenon. Well, that's comforting.
I wonder how large R waves normally are (in mm)? Can't find a number in google maps, but the going average R wave height judging from normal ECG on google images seems to be between 4-5mm. So, it's normal for R waves to decline to 1-2mm in height 1 minute after exercise. (It looks like T waves average at 1.5mm)
So, I guess the ECG trace I saw directly after exercise was completely normal. Well, that's reassuring.
And, I just burped and got that same discomforting chest sensation (Except, I could also feel it along the entire length of my esophagus - I'm paying more attention sitting down, lol.). Lol, Okay, so it probably was heartburn during exercise, lol.
It's undeniable I saw a sinus pause...
9:48 p.m. - 9/29/2016 - Didn't update this morning because I was feeling too sick, weak and tired really to do anything. I felt too sick to eat anything, but I thought it'd be a bad idea to not eat anything the day after an intense run! Seems like having some juice did the trick, though the tiredness/weakness persisted in a less severe form. ECG was looking... not good... it didn't match any established disorders, but the R wave was about half it's original height, the T wave was practically non-existent at times (Well, an absent T wave on VI actually does match ischemia; will have to confirm that.). Anyway, I think I eventually figured out that the 'intense run' frocked up my back (Like I suspected it would), but instead of turning the night into one where I was waking up every 2 hours, I was no longer going to sleep at all, and only got 3 hours of questionable sleep from 5-8 a.m. Seems like when the midback vertebra gets too loose, which then got highly irritated when sleeping on my back, and definitely irritated on my right, so that "I feel really tired now, I think I'll actually fall asleep this time" and then *laying down, a minute later* "Just kidding!" experience was pervasive yesterday night for no particularly obvious reason (When the midback gets irritated, it just starts messing with my heart; it's not a pain I actually feel unless I purposefully push/rub it, which I wasn't doing when trying to sleep in bed.).
https://drsvenkatesan.com/2011/07/21/please-consult-your-cardiologist-you-have-a-flat-st-segment/
Yep, so like I thought, jogging on the treadmill was a mistake, just moreso than I thought it'd be. Coincidentally, despite my relatively crappy diet and the possibly concerning ECG traces today, I have never felt the radiating left jaw pain despite being obviously famished. I think the "workout HARD, expand those arteries, and minimize symptoms" might've actually worked; too bad my back frocking sucks in oh so subtle, yet, diabolical ways. I figure the only real way in getting an intense workout without the impact on my back is to be climbing on one of those 30-40% inclines at 2mph-2.5mph. (Or actually climb mountains)
Feeling tired/weak once again at 10:27 p.m.; might head back to bed.
Woke at 11:37 p.m., will probably get back to bed soon. Heaviness in chest shortly after awaking?
ECG looked relatively normal (11:52 p.m.), but standing HR is 120-130 and standing oxy% is 93-94. Sitting HR is 95-100. Being feeling recurrent waves of warm/'sweaty' sensations(Not really sweating) since awaking.
Sitting HR is 82-88 @ 12:04 a.m.; I'm possibly seeing evidence of 'elevated cortisol levels' the day following a day of intense exercise. The last carby thing i had was a large, ripe, unspotted banana about 2.5 hours ago. I'm estimating total carb consumption today of around 300 grams. Protein consumption of around 80 grams.
Here's an article on this affect (Intense exercise and heightened cortisol): http://www.livestrong.com/article/86687-exercise-cortisol-levels
Update: 7:51 a.m. - 9/30/2016 ; slept on my left side as much as I could, got up at 7:21, had a couple of dreams. Sitting HR has been 82-92, oxy=96-97%. Just ate a banana about 15 minutes ago. Been feeling a bit weird since getting out of bed, but not tired and weak like yesterday. Felt a sweaty warm feeling in my upper-chest that coincided with an overall sweating sensation about 10 minutes ago, lasted for about 5-10 seconds. Muscles feel largely recovered at this point (Not sore to touch).
Sitting HR in the morning time, after being fully rested, is normally 60, so it's been a bit elevated since at least last night (When I first started recording; likely has been elevated since yesterday morning, if not before then.).
Had 300 mg salt, appears to have gone down to 70-80. Trying to source salt from food, the way I'd prefer to ingest sodium, is a bit difficult with this kitchen.
10:14 a.m. - suddenly got sleepy. around 8:30 a.m., woke about 10 a.m.
I've been noticing on my spirometer I haven't been able to achieve 5.6L since yesterday. This is interesting because 5.6L was the number I used to get like 80% of the time, except when I was relaxed, when it shot up 6.2-6.8L. (See logs)
Recently, it's been either 5.4L, or "when relaxed"/etc. upto 6.0-6.3L. I'll keep an eye on this, but not being able to /ever/ achieve 5.6L would be a bit concerning. Maybe it's due to something less concerning, but pulmonary edema would fit the bill. (Fluid retention in the lungs) I think I'll possibly start taking comprehensive measurements regularly, again.
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10:26 a.m. - 128/71 - 74-76 (sitting) BPM -
5.49L - 103% FEV1 - 102% PFC (sitting)
5.77L - 104% FEV1 - 103% PFC (standing)
6.45L - 103% FEV1 - 102% PFC (standing)
5.62L - 104% FEV1 - 99% PFC (standing)
Well, there we go. I drank my morning cocoa about 15 minutes ago. Been getting that occasional sweaty sensation this morning, as if I didn't get enough sleep. Been feeling occasionally nauseous.
11:20 a.m. - 116/64 - (Sitting) 74-79 BPM - 5.66L (sitting), 104% FEV1, 107% PFC
Been feeling OK now for at least the last 30 minutes - physical exertion seems to quickly induce sleepiness. Left jaw pain has been absent ever since that intense exercise 2 days ago; still true as of right now.
Ideally I'd live next to a mountain or some such.
1:08 p.m. - Found this - http://nypost.com/2016/09/30/american-sisters-found-dead-at-luxe-resort-had-fluid-in-lungs/
So, exercise can cause pulmonary edema. Isn't that interesting?
Coincidentally... (Cocoa is primarily theobromine instead of caffeine)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theobromine#Therapeutic_uses
Apparently marathon running can cause pulmonary edema.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120903143137.htm
Haven't found a running hill climbing power calculator yet, but based on the bicycle calculator I found, it takes roughly 6x as much power to sustain 10 mph on flatland than 6 mph up a 12% incline. I was wondering why my body was acting like it was 'shutting down' from that jog, when I never had that experience in the navy. The answer: I never ran up hills in the navy, it was all flatland. The one sustained exercise I did that was 30-45 minutes long, I did at an average speed of 6-7 mph (on flatland). So, I've never really worked out that hard, ever. So, essentially, "I was entering new territory" as far as 'exercise intensity' went, along with the kind of alarming consequences that followed the day after. I still don't know if that reaction the day after was 'normal' or a sign of something more serious. The iffy EKG traces and utter weakness/fatigue/nausea yesterday, along with the persistent tiredness yesterday night, followed up by the anginal episode this morning (The 5-10 second "Glowing warmth" sensation in my upper chest along with a general sweaty feeling; It was just like that, "suddenly on"/"suddenly off". I wouldn't call it a 'burning sensation' like google seems to insist... I've had sensations in my left-face/left-neck/left-arm that definitely seem more like one would call 'burning'.), and the ongoing 'iffiness' and nausea today...
Anyway, I can say, ever since that 'intense exercise', I've not had that left jaw pain despite probable multiple hypoglycemic episodes, and the spider veins in my feet have never looked better (Like they're vanishing). I'm starting to think these spider veins in my feet and the left jaw pain are linked...
Anyway, tomorrow, I think I'll try the exercise again, but I'll start more slowly. 2.5mph@45 minutes, then 3mph@45min, then doing that one or two more times, then inject 3x 5mph 1 minute sprints. I feel like I'm still 'recovering' from the intense exercise 2 days ago... (I do feel /much/ better than yesterday. Not completely weak/nauseous, only slightly nauseous here and there.)
I'll continue strengh training tomorrow, too. I might just cut out the 'back rotation' exercises... (Seems to more acutely affect my back, lol)
Update: 5:07 p.m. - 9/30/2016 - Feel generally better. Have had 1 cup tea, and my cocoa for today. My sitting HR is now trending at 62-70 (Measured at 4:50), so it 'went back down to normal' sometime in the afternoon.
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MOVED THE NEXT ENTRY TO PAGE 9.
Well, towards the end of the bath, I could clearly hear my heartbeat in my right ear (A pulsing sound in tune with my heart.). I stood up so that I could rectify my neck, and the sound immediately vanished. Well, hotdogs, I have a clue what's going on:
Leaning forward my neck, for whatever reason, is obstructing the carotid artery.
Well, before jumping to conclusions, I should see if pulsatile tinnitus is associated with vertabasillar insufficiency.
Doesn't seem like there's a particular association, except with subclavian steal syndrome. But, I think that's kind of unlikely in my case.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3719451/
Okay, so my theory is that there exists a hematoma or vascular tear in the lining(Dissection), and that leaning forward the neck causes a stretching and subsequent narrowing of the carotid artery, reducing the amount of 'open area' for the blood to flow past the hematoma or vascular tear, thus first producing turbulent bloodflow (The vibrating sensation I get) and if leaning the neck forward enough, enough narrowing and subsequent turbulence to cause a significant reduction in bloodflow (Feeling of losing consciousness) [And, in the bathtub, it induced pulsatile tinnitus in the right ear]. It's also possible that this turbulence may throw a clot, thus possibly causing a TIA or stroke. If I keep my neck straight, it minimizes the stretching of the carotid artery which keeps the vessel wide enough to minimize turbulence past the dissection and subsequent symptoms.
So these factors would expect to affect this sensation:
-Blood thickness/thinness
-Vasodilators
-Vasoconstrictors (Such as cortisol/stress/anxiety)
-Neck angle (Determines how much the carotid artery is getting stretching/narrowed)
Now that I have a solid theory, time to get this frocker checked out! :lol:
I've already been getting it checked out, by two different doctors, but my doctors have been clueless! (or, they just don't really investigate further, brushing the TIA off as a one time event.)
On the other hand, there does appear to be some swollen soreness in my neck under the tip of the right jaw that isn't present in my left jaw. This could very well be a sign of carotid stenosis. Well, I'm tracing the sore pain, and it seems to follow a tubelike structure near the carotid toward the top that apparently begins to feel like a muscle towards the ribcage and connects to the clavicle. Nevermind. Just one of the many sore neck muscles on my right.
Well, looking into that other one, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibromuscular_dysplasia
TIA and subarachnoid hemorrhage. I guess I can't entirely rule this one out. Just the fact that this is happening right on the heels of "The Great Cervical Decompression Neck Strain" and never happened before it, leads me to believe it was involved somehow. Although, it's been true for a while that 'looking down' made me feel kind of sick. I wish it was still like that, lol.
UPDATE: 11:26 p.m. - So I earlier ate some candy with 9g of sugar, and then I started getting that characteristic cold/hot sensations about 10 minutes later. I took my ECG and the waveform looked 'fine' but it seemed like the baseline was meandering a bit. Anyway, the cold hot sensations continued and then I started getting some tightness in my chest, and I thought, "It can't hurt to eat some vasodilators", so I started munching on the spinach, making sure to thoroughly chew it to maximize the overall rate of nitrate absorption, and sure enough, very shortly afterwards, the uncomfortable hot/cold sensations went away and they've been staying away. Okay, now I'm becoming more and more convinced refined sugars and grains should be put on the verboten list. Granted, it's very possible that the sugar was kicking up the gastritis, and the spinach just simply calmed that down, but the ECG trace baseline was meandering a bit... and sugary treats seem to historically negatively affect heart function... so, yep.
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UPDATE: 12:54 p.m. - 9/24/2016 - Wow, last night kicked my butt.
Felt unearthly tired last night following a period of hot-cold sensations and chest tightness; granted, I did a 30 minute 12% hill climb at 3mph earlier that day (Calculators online telling me I burned 330 calories), but still a bit extreme. I slept, woke up, felt like it was still kicking my butt. I also got a 'back kick' of some sort while sleeping that instantly woke me up. Not fun. Seems like my neck had been rebelling this morning, particularly sensitive. Saw on a site "feeling dizzy AND have a stiff neck? Go to the ER!", lol. I know that hypothetically indicates a possible intracerebral hemmorhage, of if accompanied by a fever, meningitis, but I was missing what would've been a rather obvious immense headache. And, I checked my heart stats (ECG + oxy), looked perfectly healthy, so I concluded it was probably my back+neck being a bitch, lol. Or possibly something to do with my right carotid, seems to be in the spotlight lately for a highly suspected carotid dissection.
Anyway, I can put this 'normal' EKG trace into layman's terms, woohoo (A sign of my advancing ECG knowledge).
[CORRECTION: This isn't entirely accurate; the major veins dump into the right atria/ventricle where they get pushed into the lungs to become oxygenated, and then they dump into the atria mentioned below. The right atria/ventricle that's used before the blood gets oxygenated via the lungs isn't seen on V1. However, I believe it's seen on the other leads. The one that people really care about is the left ventricle/atria, since those pump the oxygenated blood through the major arteries; you have problems with those, you have some major problems. Coincidentally, this is seen on the first lead, V1. However, problems with the right ventricle/atria can definitely cause issues, and the ED appears to check all 12 leads to localize the likely problem location and artery. I don't really have that kind of training; I don't have a 12 lead ECG.)
1. So the P bump represents the atria contracting, which pushes blood into the left ventricle. The atria previously got its blood during diastole (The period where diastolic blood pressure is measured which is when the main heartbeat, represented by the peak R, isn't happening), when the major veins of the body were dumping blood into the atria.
2. The R wave/peak repesents the 'big hearbeat', or contraction of the left ventricle, which pushes blood into the major arteries of the body through the aorta.
3. The T wave represents when the left ventricle which had just contracted(The big heartbeat), now relaxes, getting ready to receive the blood from the atria in the first step.
Yep, just that simple. With that understanding, it's easy to look at an ECG at a glance to see if the heart is working properly. You want to make sure the atria is pushing blood into the left ventricle (P bump), the left ventricle is pushing blood through the major arteries of the body(The 'big hearbeat', the R Wave), and that left ventricle relaxes (T wave) getting ready to receive blood from the atria during the next p wave. In my opinion, the most obvious one to look out for is the R wave, for the body absolutely depends on blood being pushed out of the heart into the major arteries.
Anyway, I find it interesting I can barely see the P wave on my ECG meter...
I hope it's not really missing... and my ECG meter is just kind of pathetic...
If it is missing... that could explain a lot of phenomena...
And might have something to do with low diastolic blood pressure; a low diastolic blood pressure means not enough blood filling up the atria during diastole...
And what could lead to that? Possibly that term I've seen hanging around, "venous insufficiency", which spider veins are the first sign of. Which I've started noticing in my feet a couple of years back and was concerned they were the first sign of a future trend of 'not good health'... (That is, I didn't believe they were naturally present in an optimally healthy person at my age, like those of the Kuna. However, I thought that this trend would likely play out, if I didn't do anything about it, or couldn't do much about it, into my 40s/50s/60s/70s, not my later 20s.)
Venous insufficiency -> low diastolic blood pressure -> Less blood filling into the atria during diastole -> less blood pushed into the left ventricle -> less blood pumped throughout the body -> all the signs and symptoms of reduced blood output rates - tiredness, fatigue, dizziness, lightheartedness, difficulty breathing(less pulmonary artery flow), etc.
So, now the question is what causes/aggravates venous insufficiency? I think I might be catching the culprit behind my low diastole numbers.
9:45 p.m. - 9/24/2016 - Tried out a new method of riding in my truck. I figured that resting on the back of the chair ended up bypassing the cushion I had, causing truck vibrations to pass directly to me via my spine. So, I leaned forward, while keeping my neck straight, to force almost all of the vibrations through the seat cushion. When I arrived at the first store, yep, worked pretty well. Arrived at the second store, I think I was still doing kind of well, sort of (The road was pretty bumpy), but definitely not by the end (I had to look down at a few products; those bottom shelves kick my butt, lol.). Anyway, my neck is doing OK right now, so definitely not as bad as past travels. I have a feeling there's really no sparing my neck on a 2000 mile journey, no matter how I try to ride it out.
Anyway, looking back at my past measurement system for blood pressure. I think the numbers are kind of unreliable. Theoretically my system was accurate, but in practice, I would lay my head down on the table causing my chest to lower a bit, causing my arm to be up a little higher than normal above my heart, causing a depression in the reported numbers. So those days where it was in the 50s and I felt tired; it was probably that low because I was laying down my head during measurement because I was tired, lol, not because it was really that low.
Anyway, I've noticed I have not had the "tired old man's eyes" in the past two weeks or so. That seems a little curious. I wonder if the exercise has been keeping it away? Would make sense. I kind of wonder if it's because of anything else... (Maybe my eating habits have improved? Maybe my neck isn't 'as messed up', even though it still seems plenty messed up.)
I've also noticed that 'intense exercise' seems to cause my body to kick my butt at night, like my heart seems like it's having fits. My ECG seems to be OK (Of what I can see, the R and T waves. Maybe I'm missing a P, and that's the problem...), but it seems like my heart is still having issues of some sort towards the later hours, like it's saying "You overworked me, now you're going to pay!".
Seems kind of ridiculous that a 30minute 150BPM workout would cause that. But, it is hill-climbing, which exercises the major leg muscles, so it's not /merely/ a cardio workout, it's also a major leg muscle building workout unlike jogging on flat terrain. Maybe that's the key difference. Maybe having all those thirsty ripped muscles is kicking my heart's butt. I swear I'm eating enough, though. Maybe too much...
Anyway, just seems like a major difference from last year when I was in the navy. Doing the daily strength-training and cardio exercises wasn't causing my heart to kick my ass during the day or at night, but now it kind of seems to.
Anyway, it's kind of important discovering these 'limits' of mine. When I began the purchase of this land, I didn't have any physical limits as far as I knew (In fact, I kind of thought I was essentially 'limitless' given I had enough carb intake, cocoa and motivation, at least up until ordinary muscle fatigue.), so discovering these 'limits' is kind of important in realistically re-evaluating my plan. It's kind of hard believing my heart actually has some kind of physical limit, though... at least not this low of a limit... I wouldn't think climbing a 12% hill at 3mph for 30 minutes would be something that'd cause the body to self-destruct... not at my age, anyway. It didn't seem like I was breathing too hard or 'working too hard'... definitely not as hard as sprints...
And, if doing something like that /is/ causing my heart to self-destruct... that would seem to have some major implications for my predicted longevity.
Anyway, there was a case like this in the navy. She was really fat and seemed to be bipolar (Exuberantly excited one moment, massively depressed the next.), at least when she spoke. She would be running and then all of a sudden... something would happen half way through... and she couldn't run anymore. Something to do with her heart. I'm not sure if she became breathless or what... but her heart stopped functioning at the level required and she simply couldn't run. I don't seem to be having that issue, exactly, but it almost seems like something along those lines. Like it can only 'work hard' for so much, more than that, then it acts like it starts later shutting down or something.
Oh, got my lab results back. Apparently was within normal levels (including for folate), except for vitamin D. "A bit low" according to the doctor.
So, I was trying to find cod liver oil in the local area. Couldn't really find any, except for an inhouse brand, which didn't seem to have as much Vitamin D as I would've expected.
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Update: 3:20 a.m. - 9/25/2016 - At around 12:45 a.m., I felt I little bit of pain around my chest area that didn't feel like my ribs, and I became a little concerned but not too concerned. At around 1:10 a.m., I became pretty tired and realized I overshot my time to fall asleep by about 30 minutes or so, no biggie I thought. Then I went to bed and felt distinct tingling in both the left and right pinkie/fourth finger, I thought that might've been a little concerning, but I did recently irritate my neck lately, so it's possible to be T8 irritation. Then I woke up about 10 minutes ago 3:11 a.m., and I thought that's kind of odd (I don't usually awake this early), but I thought maybe this was one of those 'mini-awakenings' that people do between each 90-120 sleep cycle (Total of 4 in the night). Well, I grabbed my ECG meter because I thought 'why not', and didn't notice anything particularly concerning, I mean, the graph was doing its usual 'unusually strong heartbeat'/'graph readjustment' bits here and there, but I figured that was normal when waking up by now. Ectopic beats I think they were called. First graph looked pretty good. Okay, let's keep watching....
Then I started seeing hyperacute T waves and around this time (WIder and larger than normal T waves), got a pretty distinct chest pain, felt like a cool burning sensation underneath my ribs.
I just recently read that hyperacute T waves are usually the first signs of a STEMI in progress.
I didn't actually think I was initiating a STEMI, it was more than likely transient in nature.
But, it's good to know that 'cool burning sensation' is not the innocent burning sensation I've thought it was! I've long thought it was the cool burning sensation associated with GERD/acid reflux/gastric juices being splashed up into the esophagus. This was the cool burning sensation I was getting that one day where my running seemed like it was 3 times more fatiguing, and I was breathing 3 times harder than normal; it followed the fourth sprint where at first it felt like my heart was going crazy, then I started getting 3 distinct flashes of that 'cool burning' sensation in my ribs. A later livejournal entry quickly confirmed my worries were unfounded, and they were most likely Gastric/Gerd/Esophageal and benign in nature.
Update: 2:00 p.m. - 9/25/2016 - Took a baby aspirin last night and my tummy was hungry, so I ate an apple. Napped here and there, not sure of the total amount of sleep, but somewhere between 4-6 hours is my guess, despite attempting to sleep for 8.5 hours total. By 11:00 a.m., it was obvious I wasn't falling asleep anytime soon so I started my day.
Cocoa seemed to have a noticeably positive affect on reducing symptoms, this morning. This was after eating like 80g of carbs total from an apple, peach and 50g of popcorn. Also ate some nuts, thinking I need more fat/protein with the carbs. My stomach seemed to appreciate that.
Anyway, I noticed my oxy% was 99% recently - a bit unusual in recent days after eating the first meal, usually goes down to 95-97% and stays there all day. I wonder if this trend will persist...
If it does... I wonder if this 99% oxy is because of aspirin use?
Just got done mowing the lawn (Physically intense work), and my oxy% is down to 95-96% currently. I rolled up my sleeves for the extra sun exposure - I was told my vitamin D was low and just found out that window glass filters out ultraviolet B which is essential for vit D production, so this effort of boosting my vitamin D by hanging near a window has been ineffective all along, lol. Anyway, I'm going to try to source some cod liver oil which naturally has vitamin D in it.
I just found out the penalty for being late to register your car (The 15 day mark) is $30, and then $2 a day past that for a maximum of $125. Well, that's cool, that suggests they aren't hunting people down who haven't registered their vehicle, at least not by the 45 day mark. They're betting on them paying the penalty fee when they /eventually/ come in to register it. Since I'm moving to this new place soon enough, I'm thinking about avoiding registering here and then transferring registration there - I'll just register there and pay Texas's registration fees. Pay once instead of twice.
Earlier this morning, shortly after the transient hyperacute T wave in V1 that corresponded with this cool burning chest sensation I've had occasionally in recent weeks, it felt like my chest was a brick wall for a second or two. Seems like the guys here have had similar sensations...
Feels like a brick on my chest...
http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=28844
Two of them are smokers. The third one, I'm not sure. I'm personally not a smoker.
Anyway, I'm seeing it being plausible I may have some atherosclerosis of the LAD, and during times of distress/panic (The first two hours of awaking, apparently), it seems the cortisol is sufficient to produce transient ischemic symptoms. This is probably compounded on by late night hypoglycemia, since I've been avoiding eating 3 hours before bedtime recently to avoid what I've suspected is nocturnal heartburn episodes. I don't know if it's serious or not... I'd imagine if the symptoms were less transient, and not fleeting like my 2-hours-of-sleep anxiety tends to be, they probably would be... Anyway, I suspect there's some CAD going on because other periods of the day involving hypoglycemia (early morning) also produce that cool burning sensation in other parts of the body(left jaw) until I eat. I'd imagine most people experience similar levels of hypoglycemia in the morning, and they just simply feel hungry without the jaw pain. So this is what I suspect. And, if that's really the case... and it's not /just anxiety/ like I'm always hoping it is, that kind of sucks, lol. Because, I'm quickly learning that 'fixing it', like the way modern hospitals do (CABG, stent), is something of a hazardous bandaid solution [The fixes involve their own not-so-insignificant mortality risks] and not having anything to fix to begin with would be far preferable.
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Update: 5:16 p.m. - 9/25/2016 - Just ate lunch about 30 minutes ago. Anyway, after doing the last set of arm exercises (First round) (I was laying on the bed, face down, effectively pushing my head slightly back), I noticed I suddenly became very tired. I figured I must've exhausted all my energy, though I didn't think that arm strength training was all that energy intensive so that would surprise me if true. About 4 minutes later, I started getting that cool burning sensation in my left jaw. I vowed to myself to only use the ECG if symptoms present, never just because I'm curious (Because I suspect its mere use can cause issues, especially at certain times of the day/morning.), and so I used it. I was earlier reading from a thread that it commonly happens to people with anxiety (Yeah, I guess I've had that so far today.) [suddenly getting tired], but I was also noticing that sudden tiredness can be a manifestation of hidden heart disease on an article (Among many other nutrient deficiencies, which I've been cleared of), so I used my ECG. Yep, everything looked pretty darn normal to me. Could see the little p wave, the R wave was there (it might've been at 85%-90% of its usual height, but definitely not pathologically shorter like that one day I ate like 100g of sugar from candy.), and the T wave looked fine to me. No obvious hyperacute waves or unusually small waves. So, it was a mystery. And, this tiredness seemed a bit more extreme [And it seemed to have an unusual 'not quite simply tiredness' quality about it] than what arm exercises and 5-6 hours of sleep would predict. Earlier, it felt like my breathing was on the verge of being affected, though it doesn't seem like it ever did. Anyway, that 'sudden tiredness' episode with left jaw 'cool burning' jaw pain during the first 4 minutes lasted for about 15-20 minutes.
Granted, perhaps I should've taken my blood sugar for completeness. But, I ran out of test strips and they cost a fortune.
Anyway, I was laying down and I was noticing some pins and needles in my hands, but I didn't notice it to that same degree later. The pins and needles were kind of freaking me out because of that one girl who also had breathlessness, and that would've started freaking me out, lol. That's one thing I've not had, yet, during the day - breathlessness. If I do, I'm calling 911 like right away, lol. I don't seem to 'hyperventilate' like some people apparently do, so if I'm getting 'breathless' all of a sudden, I'm calling. But, yeah, anyway, I did notice that laying on the ground does seem to reduce circulation slightly (oxy% goes down laying down; compressing the back of lungs), so it increases the 'tingling sensation' in the hands, so I can conclude my circulation was probably a little less than normal at the time. Might've had something to do with 1) blood sugar 2) The fact I just mowed the lawn with a partially impaired right wheel 3) I had like 5-6 hours of 'naps'/sleep 4) Coming off a long session of anxiety, tempered by arm strength training. Of course I was freaking about the possibility of heart functioning issues, but my ECG looked pretty normal to me, more normal than most of the time, I'm guessing. Anyway, I figure I need to figure out a way to do those 'hummingbird flying backwards' arm exercises, lol. (pecs/back strength training) I'm strength training and trying to do cardiovascular training (Assuming I'm not on some terminal decline) in preparation for taking down a forest by hand. It seems like my neck is /mostly fine/ now if 1) I eat well 2) I'm not freaking out about it and 3) I don't 'touch it'/'push it' etc. and 4) Don't bend the neck down, bend the entire upper body. [Of course, I haven't tried taking down a forest yet... but I'm just hoping it'll sufficiently improve over the next month and half to be doable.]
Anyway, here's the basic exercises.
1) Bicep curls
2) Triceps dumbell lifts
3) Pecs bowflex
4) Squats
5) Planks
I should include some kind of 'back rotation' strength training exercise (Because I'll be swinging shit), I'm not sure how I'll implement it.
6:57 p.m. - Just did two sets of squats. These are becoming too easy, now upto 2 minutes. I'm thinking the incline walking on the treadmill (12% at 3mph for 30 minutes) must've been a massive muscle builder. Maybe that's why it might've been kicking my butt that day, lol. Today doesn't really feel like a good day for cardiovascular exercise. I'm not really sure if I'm intuiting my cardio capabilities correctly now, or the arm/leg workouts are kicking my butt, or if I'm just chicken. Maybe it was the fact I already mowed the rather thick front lawn with an impaired right wheeled lawn mower earlier today. Anyway, right now just doesn't seem like a good time, lol. Maybe tomorrow. While doing the planks, I noticed it was bending my solid mid-back in which seemed to be producing midback -> center chest pain of some sort. Definitely was causing me to breath hard. I stopped at the 35 second mark because I don't remember those kinds of pain the last time I've done planks, and it was concerning me. ECG looked a little different. Maybe I'll try again later, after my body more fully absorbs these prunes.
Update: 10:27 a.m. - 9/26/2016 - Before going to bed, I had a banana with some walnuts and the 'cool burning sensation' in my left jaw disappeared shortly thereafter and never reappeared. (Didn't even reappear this morning, when I obviously had some hypoglycemia going on.) This morning, I felt pretty tired and I had this lowgrade headache, but it didn't have the same quality as past "not enough sleep" headaches and I didn't feel 'sleepy' at all, so it confused me. I had two bananas, with some nuts, and the tiredness went away and the headache largely disappeared. I also had whatever vegetables are left. So, I'm guessing that was a "hypoglycemic headache" and I'm guessing my torn muscles have been soaking up the glucose at night. I'm not normally hypoglycemic (At least not what that headache would suggest), so I'm guessing the muscles have been soaking up all the carbs I've been eating. Sure, I might hypothesize that possibly some of my glucose has been shuttered away into fat, but I'm not really gaining weight, despite that being my intention with the 150g base carbs + whatever else during the day. So, yeah, apparently torn muscles use up the glucose and help keep away the diabetes, lol.
Anyway, for the 'back rotation' exercises... I couldn't easily envision an adequate method using the dumbbells and my last effort to adapt the bowflex was half-effective(Not fully), so I decided to use this elastic band that PT gave me (It's designed to fit into the hinge of the doorway). And, it was pretty easy, just keep the arms stiff, back straight, and then rotate the body as if you're swinging an axe. Definitely exercised the back muscles I'd be using! lol So, I've found the exercise I'll need. And, it was definitely a workout. Anyway, the major muscle groups I'm targeting...
bicep
tricep
deltoid
pectorals
'rotational back muscles'
And other relevant chest/ab/back muscles that are inevitably included in the above workouts.
Also trying to do full leg workouts(Incline walking is pretty effective and comprehensive) and cardiovascular. I swear to god I should be able to do some kind of cardiovascular today. Sleep was sufficient (And, if it wasn't, I can sleep some more when it wants to) and I'm pretty sure I'm ensuring adequate nutrition, and I haven't done cardio for at least 2 days.
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Update - 8:32 p.m. - 9/26/2016
Nothing notable today. Got some vitamin D noweigan cod liver oil, got a plan to use it. I'm going to use twice the suggested dose for the first week, the suggested dose the second week, and then 1/2 the suggested dose from then on. I also tore off the sleeves off my plain white shirt, to expose more skin real estate to the sun (Couldn't find the beaters). I'm not really worried about sun burn - my spinach, fish and whatever else consumption naturally protects me from sunburn. And this time of year isn't that strong at the 48th parallel.
Seems like my neck, though having fits at times, seems to be OK overall. It's interesting how I seem to be having no neck pain under the influence of red wine, lol. Ok, I've read that alcohol has similar painkilling properties to morphine, so maybe that's why. I've added ginger to my meal. Think I'll start adding cinnamon in somehow. 3 tsp daily, each. I would also be consuming turmeric, but ran out and never restocked.
I'm hoping I can grow some of these herbs on this future property.
Thinking about egg laying chickens. I wonder if I could ever sell 'fresh eggs' in the local area? Seems like Houston/Texas isn't the type where the government ninnies are saying you can't, but Food/Health seems to be pretty universally regulated. I just wonder... "Making productive use of the land"/etc. in ways that helps others, as well as myself. (I'm thinking whatever productive use of the land I'll eventually figure out, will probably exceed my own consumption. And, no, I'm not growing rice, lol. That seems to require 'the tropics', just like cocoa, bananas and coconuts. Man, all the 'good food' is tropical, I wonder why... can't have anything to do with humanity's diaspora out of equatorial Africa some 30,000 years ago, can it?)
My muscles are getting pretty massive. Having mowed the back yard earlier today, I did the 12% 3mph treadmill incline for 20ish minutes. My average heart rate was 142, lower than the 150BPM last time I did this at 10 a.m; Discovered I can do the rotation exercises on the bowflex, need to figure it out. Maintaining proper form using the band and doorway seems hard; seems like legs do much of the twisting, and it just doesn't seem like legs are really doing that much, energy/power wise in 'the stroke'.
I think I'm going to 'carb up' an hour before the cardio workout. The feeling of being 'famished/weak' immediately afterwards just doesn't seem right for a 20 minute 142 BPM workout. I'd be doing my 180-190 BPM 1.5mile runs a year ago (never measured my heartrate, just safely assuming it from the deep huffing and puffing afterwards), and not feel nearly that fatigued/weak. It seems this is a relatively common problem among weight builders, so I'm not going to assume the worst (heart failure), I'm just going to assume I wasn't properly carbed up prior. Basically, I had enough carbs in to 'be alive' at the time, but not enough for that kind of exercise.
If my neck is no problem when I'm drunk, I'm thinking maybe I'll be drunk the entire time I'm taking it down, lol. :lol:
If it's wines anti-anxiety affects that's essentially doing it, maybe I'll just order a bunch of ativan from a canadian pharmacy.
Anyway, no word from the realtor. Surprise, surprise, I'm guessing the surveyor didn't get the paperwork done on time like he said would, lol. Oh well, I'm assuming he will /eventually/. And that works out perfectly OK for me.
Anyway, I feel so special, doing both cardio and weight lifting. I'm sure there's plenty of people who do both, it just seems like 'runners' and 'weightlifters' are some kind of competing factions, and even my doctor seems to be of the 'running' YAY 'weight lifting' POO faction. What kind of doctor won't put aside his tribal biases in understanding/appreciating the glucose/nutrient/mineral/health benefits of massive muscles? Did he ever read the research papers on resting metabolism, A1C, diabetes and muscle mass? I guess my recent history in the navy gives me appreciation for both groups. (Well, actually, I also read the research papers. I'm not the kind to let stereotypes and tribalism thwart my pursuit of knowing what really matters.)
And, the fact is, the CDC recommends both cardio and muscle building for optimal health. And, yes, that's the place where the front gate rent-a-cops threatened to put me in jail for having a closed bottle of wine in my car. I kind of thought to myself, "Is this for real? These rent-a-copsp have more power than the local cops to jail people, just like the guards I've heard about that guard the Federal Reserve?"; I'm assuming they don't actually tell the police, "He had a bottle of wine in his car, jail him.", they probably would lie through their teeth and tell them something like "I caught him trying to scale the fence! Take him away!".
Anyway, I quickly discovered this "CDC museum" being advertised online was not really like any of the other many museums in Atlanta (Like the "Sound of Music" museum, and the "Anne Frank" museum. I wanted to see both.). Why didn't this webpage tell me it /really/ wasn't a public museum?
[Anyway, hint, if you want to get past the guards; it's best to leave the car behind and walk onto campus - less for them to search. Apparently seeing things like fast food wrappers sets them off.]
I think when I get down to Houston, I'll probably get a flight to Atlanta, and go visit ALL THE MUSEUMS, lol.
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2:52 a.m. - 9/27/2016 - Went to bed at 12:43 a.m., woke at 2:44 a.m.; normally wouldn't be too exciting, but getting sore/ache chest pain in the area about 1" above my sternum, took my pulse and it felt like it was racing at around 120 BPM and it felt subdued. Symptoms present -> Immediately captured an ECG. R wave intact, T wave looks slightly larger than normal but not quite hyperacute (Regular heartbeat, baseline is steady), midback curve centered at about 5 vertebra below the shoulderblade feels really sore (It terminates at the top right between the tips of the shoulder blade, this also seems to be how far up the spine the palpable back soreness goes. Lower back below the curve feels mildly sore.), was feeling a kind of mild, but definitely noticeable, burning/ache chest pain in the front bottom ribs (upto an inch above the sternum) [same soreness is palpable from the ribs directly], right jaw has been pretty sore to open lately (known jaw issue due to football accident). Seems I could also detect some soreness from the esophagus right below the sternum and breath feels slightly acidic when breathing in, so I ate the rest of the spinach. Left jaw pain with that 'cool burning sensation' has been missing ever since supper tonight and, especially it seems, after drinking the red wine. Along with the rest of the neck pain. Eyes look particularly red. Palpable sternum soreness pain connects to the palpably sore midback between the shoulder blades to about 6-9 vertebra below it.
(standing)HR was initially seen at 122 BPM, 98-99% oxy
(standing)Declined to 99BPM, 98% oxy at 2:52 a.m. (ECG looked normal, pains are generally less.)
(standing) 80BPM, 97% oxy at 2:59 a.m. (sitting) 60BPM. (Pains feel like they're resolving)
Not tracking at this point(3:07) unless I see a reason. Last carby thing eaten was supper(white rice w/ ginger, thyme, olive oil and tomato sauce) at around 8:15 p.m.
3:19 - esophagus feels less sore after eating the spinach. Will reattempt sleep soon enough; normal resting heart rates at sleep, for me, is 45-60 bpm, so 120 BPM is a bit elevated. Usually only gets that persistently elevated during exercise, though 'anxiety' can hypothetically push it that high. Seems to be about the HR limit for anxiety alone. Any higher generally requires exercise.
9:43 a.m. - Was awake for an hour before going back to bed during that episode (^). I decided I was not going to stay up for 2 hours, like that one time. Don't know how much I slept in total, maybe 4-6 hours. Got up definitely around 9:10 a.m.
Anyway, I saw a research paper make use of the term 'arterial diameter' and that intrigued me. It intrigued me because arterial diameter is essentially involved in both cardiac failure modes, but it's particularly involved in one of them, MVD (Blood cells shrink over time, reducing local bloodflow.), which accounts for 20-40% of cardiac cases according to research. It appears to be just as serious as the other one, and it would seem to likely be responsible for a greater percentage of cases among younger people. Research in this area seems sparse.
Anyway, I moved the definitive ARTERIAL DIAMETER CORRELATES section to this next reserved post because it was getting too long...lol
Update: 2:30 a.m. - 9/28/2016 - Went to sleep at 12:46 feeling tired, woke at 2:28 or there abouts. While standing up, I noticed how standing up seemed a little more difficult feeling than usual (felt a sling feeling in my chest), so I took my ECG. Looked fine for the most part, except for the random flatline that lasts for like 3 seconds and restarts back into normal sinus rhythm. What? At the time of the flatline, I'm getting a vague sore sensation of some sort in the chest, but it's very momentary and vanishes soon.
Okay, I've seen that 'ectopic beat' article, but I didn't seen any particularly strong beats before/after, and that was getting pretty close to a 'sinus arrest' or 'sinus pause'. http://lifeinthefastlane.com/ecg-library/sick-sinus/
My resting heart-rate is now 55 sitting, 60 standing, so I guess that's technically bradycardia, but that's also pretty normal when sleeping at night. It typically goes higher during the day, usually.
Hmmm... considering last night's 122 BPM... (it did slowly decrease over 20 minutes... Didn't suddenly alternate...)... this almost seems technically plausible.
Doesn't seem like I fall in any of the categories under 'Pacing considerations' (HR is never lower than 40 during the day), so probably not this.
I guess it has 'nocturnal wakefulness' right.... lol. [Looks at the time, lol.]
Well, I hope I'm gaining weight because of muscle mass improvements, not because of pulmonary edema. I recognized edema was a possibility, but was hoping 'building muscle' was the more likely explanation (Because, I clearly am.). It is interesting how I've been recently seeing this pattern in recent days/mornings ('sinus pause'), whereas I don't remember ever seeing it like this a month ago. If I saw this a month, when my ECG knowledge was considerably less advanced, I would've been /so/ freaking out way worse, lol.
The 'development' of an intermittent sinus pause that's seen on a daily basis would suggest some recently acquired Degenerative Fibrosis. Fibrosis is typically acquired after ischemia, 'idiopathic Degenerative Fibrosis' seems like something I wouldn't ordinarily expect in a 20-something (Heart muscle in a 29 year old doesn't just spontaneously degenerate for no good reason). I'd be more concerned if I witnessed this event more often during the day and not just within the first two hours of attempted sleep (I haven't been using it throughout the day recently; trying to avoid its use]. Of course, if I'm /only/ seeing it when I try to fall asleep, that might be cause of concern for other reasons (Is my Vagal getting pinched?).
That does make me wonder if those prolonged chest pressure episodes I dismissed as likely GERD actually wasn't. Gee, it would've been nice if my brother hadn't stolen my ECG at the time.
Update: 12:17 p.m. - 9/28/2016 - Okay, loaded up on 2 bananas, sunflower seeds, cocoa ,black tea, some egg whites, spinach and some tomato garlic rice mixture (And the daily fish oil), I noticed I felt exceptionally calm after drinking the black tea. As usual, the left jaw pain disappeared shortly after drinking the cocoa.
I think I'm going to do 45 minutes of walking today, will focus on upperbody tomorrow. I believe I'm upto it.
Anyway, took the 10 minute ECG and it looked pretty normal the entire 10 minutes, no ectopic beats or sinus pauses. I noticed that after 5 minutes of staring at the trace, my R wave was consistently becoming a bit weaker, but after staring at my cell phone with the picture of the port and beach, I noticed the R wave immediately popped up back to full strength. Yes, more evidence I shouldn't be normally spending my time staring at medical instruments, lol. I notice my oximeter seems to converge to 94 percent when I'm looking at it, but if I'm not looking at it, and randomly peek at it, it's normally 96-97 percent. I haven't discounted perhaps the fact my arm is holding up might be causing that phenomena, not because of 'medical instrument monitoring anxiety', lol. But, I get a rather strong feeling it's the anxiety of looking at a medical instrument on me.
-----------------------------
Update: 1:36 p.m. - 9/28/2016 - Just did a 45 minute exercise to this video.
[youtube]_mORHBUs9KU[/youtube]
At all 12% incline:
I walked most of it at 3 mph, and did a 6 mph jogging burst at the beginning for 3 minutes, a 5mph burst later on for 3 minutes, and another 5 mph burst for 1.5 minutes to get the HR backup. HR in the last 3 minutes (3 mph walk) was trending at 151 BPM, 94% oxy (And, that was doing 'peeking' samples at random).
About 30 seconds after the end of the 6 mph jog up the 12% inline, I noticed I felt this kind of vague sickening pressure in my upper chest and it was getting a bit intense, and I was becoming a bit sick but it peaked after about 20 seconds and faded over the next minute. At the end of the 5mph 3 minute jog, the same thing happened, but at much less intensity. At the end of the 5 mph 1.5 minute jog, the same thing happened, again at the same low intensity and about half the duration.
After the jog ended (I cooled down at 9% inline, 2 mph walk for the last 2 minutes), I immediately took my ECG.
R wave significantly shortened, T wave looks normal, or so it appears (It's obvious the R wave is barely higher than the T wave, it should normally be 3-4 times the height). Implies left ventricular dysfunction. I also saw 3 second sinus pauses at random, implying temporary ischemia impairing the sinus node and/or its signal path. This trend continued for a minute while the heart rate persisted at around 140 bpm. My oximeter seemed to sporadically jump from 123 BPM to 140 BPM during the end of the 9% incline 2 mph cooldown after a 3-4 second pause (Possible sinus pause).... I'm not sure if the oximeter was measuring wrong, or if this 140 BPM was the 140 BPM tachycardia the ECG fast line site was talking about that occurs after a sinus pause in bradycardia-tachycardia syndrome. I obviously didn't have the bradycardia... the oximeter has been slow to pick up the proper rate before. But, the wave form did seem a little bit different on the oximeter before the pause and afterwards. It looked like a proper 'double hump' fullsized waveform at the 123 BPM, but like a smaller 'single hump' waveform at 140 BPM after the pause. 140 BPM does seem about right for 9% 2mph walking during the last minute of cooldown... so maybe it was measuring it wrong. And the pause was from lifting my finger; that does seem to reliably flatline the trace.
Exercised finished at 1:34. At 1:44 p.m., R wave is significantly higher (About 80-90% of normal height), about 3 times higher than the T wave. Standing BPM is down to 96 BPM. Didn't notice any sinus pauses in the 20 seconds I looked at it.
Don't know if this is an 'abnormal result', but considering those somewhat discomforting sensations after the burst jogs, I would think this probably is sufficient grounds for an official Stress Test. I have a strange feeling that their might've been signature trace signals during those discomforting sensations that a 12-lead recording ECG would've picked up. Historically, I would've said I never got angina symptoms/episodes during exercise, but I wonder if that might be changing...
I wonder if I should rush order a 12-lead recording ECG and, if abnormal exercise ECG results are found, take them to the doctor and be like "Stop discounting me!".
If something significant is found, I'm not sure what can be done, other than this ongoing diet+exercise program.
Well, I suppose I could have a stent placed before major damage is done, and possibly live a longer life.
But... if the implied rate of arthersclerosis/arteriosclerosis is really /THIS HIGH/, and assuming they continue at roughly the same rate due to whatever underlying reasons that don't seem to be particularly related to diet (My diet is no better nor worse than the average American, so that can't the major explanative factor, can it?), that kind of suggests my days are numbered. It's one thing to have a stent placed at age 55, and another at 29. The implied rate of arthersclerosis/arteriosclerosis is much different, implying a shorter time frame until the next major related event.
I wish this was /only/ HA talking.
I should check if significant R wave shortening is normal during cardiovascular exercise. I suspect it'll be hard finding such information online, so I might need to consult a cardio doctor. They'll too probably discount me, suggesting "you probably, placed the leads wrong". It seems like doctors assume their patients don't know how to take measurements (Which was true a month ago, but I'm much wiser now. I'm consistently getting a 'proper trace' 100% of the time now.)
I suppose it's possible that sensation was heartburn from the tomato+garlic+rice+spinach meal I ate 3 hours ago, that came up after jogging/pounding the pavement.
------------
3:04 p.m. - 9/28/2016, Okay, did a little background research. It appears researchers have looked into changes in the R waves during exercise.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC482437/?page=3
It shows the R wave decreases by 3 mm 1 minute after exercise in 'normal subjects', and increases by 2mm 1 minute after exercise in 'diseased coronary subjects'.
So severe R wave shortening after 'maximal treadmill exercise' is a completely normal phenomenon. Well, that's comforting.
I wonder how large R waves normally are (in mm)? Can't find a number in google maps, but the going average R wave height judging from normal ECG on google images seems to be between 4-5mm. So, it's normal for R waves to decline to 1-2mm in height 1 minute after exercise. (It looks like T waves average at 1.5mm)
So, I guess the ECG trace I saw directly after exercise was completely normal. Well, that's reassuring.
And, I just burped and got that same discomforting chest sensation (Except, I could also feel it along the entire length of my esophagus - I'm paying more attention sitting down, lol.). Lol, Okay, so it probably was heartburn during exercise, lol.
It's undeniable I saw a sinus pause...
9:48 p.m. - 9/29/2016 - Didn't update this morning because I was feeling too sick, weak and tired really to do anything. I felt too sick to eat anything, but I thought it'd be a bad idea to not eat anything the day after an intense run! Seems like having some juice did the trick, though the tiredness/weakness persisted in a less severe form. ECG was looking... not good... it didn't match any established disorders, but the R wave was about half it's original height, the T wave was practically non-existent at times (Well, an absent T wave on VI actually does match ischemia; will have to confirm that.). Anyway, I think I eventually figured out that the 'intense run' frocked up my back (Like I suspected it would), but instead of turning the night into one where I was waking up every 2 hours, I was no longer going to sleep at all, and only got 3 hours of questionable sleep from 5-8 a.m. Seems like when the midback vertebra gets too loose, which then got highly irritated when sleeping on my back, and definitely irritated on my right, so that "I feel really tired now, I think I'll actually fall asleep this time" and then *laying down, a minute later* "Just kidding!" experience was pervasive yesterday night for no particularly obvious reason (When the midback gets irritated, it just starts messing with my heart; it's not a pain I actually feel unless I purposefully push/rub it, which I wasn't doing when trying to sleep in bed.).
https://drsvenkatesan.com/2011/07/21/please-consult-your-cardiologist-you-have-a-flat-st-segment/
Yep, so like I thought, jogging on the treadmill was a mistake, just moreso than I thought it'd be. Coincidentally, despite my relatively crappy diet and the possibly concerning ECG traces today, I have never felt the radiating left jaw pain despite being obviously famished. I think the "workout HARD, expand those arteries, and minimize symptoms" might've actually worked; too bad my back frocking sucks in oh so subtle, yet, diabolical ways. I figure the only real way in getting an intense workout without the impact on my back is to be climbing on one of those 30-40% inclines at 2mph-2.5mph. (Or actually climb mountains)
Feeling tired/weak once again at 10:27 p.m.; might head back to bed.
Woke at 11:37 p.m., will probably get back to bed soon. Heaviness in chest shortly after awaking?
ECG looked relatively normal (11:52 p.m.), but standing HR is 120-130 and standing oxy% is 93-94. Sitting HR is 95-100. Being feeling recurrent waves of warm/'sweaty' sensations(Not really sweating) since awaking.
Sitting HR is 82-88 @ 12:04 a.m.; I'm possibly seeing evidence of 'elevated cortisol levels' the day following a day of intense exercise. The last carby thing i had was a large, ripe, unspotted banana about 2.5 hours ago. I'm estimating total carb consumption today of around 300 grams. Protein consumption of around 80 grams.
Here's an article on this affect (Intense exercise and heightened cortisol): http://www.livestrong.com/article/86687-exercise-cortisol-levels
Update: 7:51 a.m. - 9/30/2016 ; slept on my left side as much as I could, got up at 7:21, had a couple of dreams. Sitting HR has been 82-92, oxy=96-97%. Just ate a banana about 15 minutes ago. Been feeling a bit weird since getting out of bed, but not tired and weak like yesterday. Felt a sweaty warm feeling in my upper-chest that coincided with an overall sweating sensation about 10 minutes ago, lasted for about 5-10 seconds. Muscles feel largely recovered at this point (Not sore to touch).
Sitting HR in the morning time, after being fully rested, is normally 60, so it's been a bit elevated since at least last night (When I first started recording; likely has been elevated since yesterday morning, if not before then.).
Had 300 mg salt, appears to have gone down to 70-80. Trying to source salt from food, the way I'd prefer to ingest sodium, is a bit difficult with this kitchen.
10:14 a.m. - suddenly got sleepy. around 8:30 a.m., woke about 10 a.m.
I've been noticing on my spirometer I haven't been able to achieve 5.6L since yesterday. This is interesting because 5.6L was the number I used to get like 80% of the time, except when I was relaxed, when it shot up 6.2-6.8L. (See logs)
Recently, it's been either 5.4L, or "when relaxed"/etc. upto 6.0-6.3L. I'll keep an eye on this, but not being able to /ever/ achieve 5.6L would be a bit concerning. Maybe it's due to something less concerning, but pulmonary edema would fit the bill. (Fluid retention in the lungs) I think I'll possibly start taking comprehensive measurements regularly, again.
-----------------
10:26 a.m. - 128/71 - 74-76 (sitting) BPM -
5.49L - 103% FEV1 - 102% PFC (sitting)
5.77L - 104% FEV1 - 103% PFC (standing)
6.45L - 103% FEV1 - 102% PFC (standing)
5.62L - 104% FEV1 - 99% PFC (standing)
Well, there we go. I drank my morning cocoa about 15 minutes ago. Been getting that occasional sweaty sensation this morning, as if I didn't get enough sleep. Been feeling occasionally nauseous.
11:20 a.m. - 116/64 - (Sitting) 74-79 BPM - 5.66L (sitting), 104% FEV1, 107% PFC
Been feeling OK now for at least the last 30 minutes - physical exertion seems to quickly induce sleepiness. Left jaw pain has been absent ever since that intense exercise 2 days ago; still true as of right now.
Ideally I'd live next to a mountain or some such.
1:08 p.m. - Found this - http://nypost.com/2016/09/30/american-sisters-found-dead-at-luxe-resort-had-fluid-in-lungs/
So, exercise can cause pulmonary edema. Isn't that interesting?
Coincidentally... (Cocoa is primarily theobromine instead of caffeine)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theobromine#Therapeutic_uses
Code:
Following its discovery in the late 19th century, theobromine was put to use by 1916, when it was recommended by the publication Principles of Medical Treatment as a treatment for edema (excessive liquid in parts of the body), syphilitic angina attacks, and degenerative angina.[23]Apparently marathon running can cause pulmonary edema.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120903143137.htm
Haven't found a running hill climbing power calculator yet, but based on the bicycle calculator I found, it takes roughly 6x as much power to sustain 10 mph on flatland than 6 mph up a 12% incline. I was wondering why my body was acting like it was 'shutting down' from that jog, when I never had that experience in the navy. The answer: I never ran up hills in the navy, it was all flatland. The one sustained exercise I did that was 30-45 minutes long, I did at an average speed of 6-7 mph (on flatland). So, I've never really worked out that hard, ever. So, essentially, "I was entering new territory" as far as 'exercise intensity' went, along with the kind of alarming consequences that followed the day after. I still don't know if that reaction the day after was 'normal' or a sign of something more serious. The iffy EKG traces and utter weakness/fatigue/nausea yesterday, along with the persistent tiredness yesterday night, followed up by the anginal episode this morning (The 5-10 second "Glowing warmth" sensation in my upper chest along with a general sweaty feeling; It was just like that, "suddenly on"/"suddenly off". I wouldn't call it a 'burning sensation' like google seems to insist... I've had sensations in my left-face/left-neck/left-arm that definitely seem more like one would call 'burning'.), and the ongoing 'iffiness' and nausea today...
Anyway, I can say, ever since that 'intense exercise', I've not had that left jaw pain despite probable multiple hypoglycemic episodes, and the spider veins in my feet have never looked better (Like they're vanishing). I'm starting to think these spider veins in my feet and the left jaw pain are linked...
Anyway, tomorrow, I think I'll try the exercise again, but I'll start more slowly. 2.5mph@45 minutes, then 3mph@45min, then doing that one or two more times, then inject 3x 5mph 1 minute sprints. I feel like I'm still 'recovering' from the intense exercise 2 days ago... (I do feel /much/ better than yesterday. Not completely weak/nauseous, only slightly nauseous here and there.)
I'll continue strengh training tomorrow, too. I might just cut out the 'back rotation' exercises... (Seems to more acutely affect my back, lol)
Update: 5:07 p.m. - 9/30/2016 - Feel generally better. Have had 1 cup tea, and my cocoa for today. My sitting HR is now trending at 62-70 (Measured at 4:50), so it 'went back down to normal' sometime in the afternoon.
-------------------------------------------------
MOVED THE NEXT ENTRY TO PAGE 9.
Dauntless
100 TW
So he reserves all these new spots, but he goes on editing the old ones.
Oh, I get it. This is one of those love gone wrong things, isn't it?
Or am I just using that as an excuse to post this?
[youtube]Id1ncuVJuys[/youtube]
Oh, I get it. This is one of those love gone wrong things, isn't it?
Or am I just using that as an excuse to post this?
[youtube]Id1ncuVJuys[/youtube]
Any excuse to post good music is always a good excuse! lol
UPDATE - 2:50 p.m. - 9/27/2016: I shall continue my medical journal here.
I shall make this the definitive...
MASTERLIST OF ARTERIAL DIAMETER CORRELATES section
-------------------------------------------------
Type, arterial diameter increase (Brachial seems the most relevant, at least the most popular. It's easiest/cheapest to measure and has close ties to the heart's global output.)
----------------
-Endurance atheletes (84% brachial artery) [Increased risk of atrial flutter and atrial fibrillation among some older endurance athletes; http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/586379_1 - unknown if it's a cause or merely correlation. Could be some older adults with coronary artery disease take up endurance exercise to improve their health, yet, the previous damage done to their heart's electrical networks and/or the current blood flow rates through the partially obstructed coronary arteries increases atrial flutter/fibrillation risks under increased cardiac demands.]
Mixed athletes (265% femoral artery)
Resistance athletes (81% aortic diameter)
Cocoa (6% Brachial artery with 22g/day consumption of raw cocoa powder, 3 TBSP)
Red wine (Brachial artery increase after one and two drinks/day, % not specified in the abstract)
Garlic (4% increase in the "coronary vascular arteries", probably the LAD/Circumflex. Wow, those Germans really know what to measure, don't they?)
(exercise)
http://www.jsams.org/article/S1440-2440(14)00639-2/abstract
I wonder if they measured the diameter in the LAD and circumflex arteries? Anyway, compared to the below arterial diameter modifiers, this obviously indicates exercise/strength-training is BY FAR the king of blood vessel expansion (Bracial artery increase of 84% is significant compared to the 6%-8% mentioned below.).
(cocoa)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24274771
(red wine)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18055508
Garlic
http://www.wingsheartformula.com/research-information/garlic.html
To research...
-Turmeric (Difficulty finding values; apparently restores arterial dysfunction and limits AGE formation/damage - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3557759/)
-Thyme (Difficulty finding values; apparently, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2789773/, "...carvacrol regulates COX-2 expression through its agonistic effect on PPARγ. These results may be important in understanding the antiinflammatory and antilifestyle-related disease properties of carvacrol.")
-Blueberries (http://yadda.icm.edu.pl/yadda/element/bwmeta1.element.agro-article-44990238-1dde-4d2f-9c48-d8991e5f85d7/c/fulltext870.pdf&hl=en&sa=X&scisig=AAGBfm1suseMfTvNEIU1mA74J-Axx0FTFA&nossl=1&oi=scholarr, apparently "Chokeberry juice" increases 'Flow Mediated Dilatation' by >7% in all subjects. Doesn't seem to define how exactly they measured 'Flow mediated Dilatation'; also, difficult to find arterial diameter papers. Well, according to google, "A noninvasive method to measure endothelial dysfunction is % Flow Mediated Dilation (FMD) as measured by Brachial Artery Ultrasound Imaging (BAUI).", seems to measure the diameter increase in the Brachial Artery, what we're looking for. Blueberries seem to be in the same class as Red Grapes(Red wine), as far as anthocyanins. Unknown the extent of functional pathways overlap between the berries, cocoa and garlic. This overlap is important in understanding how these variables interact, and how their effects might be limited when combined. That is, they might not just 'sum up' like one might naively assume, since they might just modify the same underlying variables in the same way.)
-Olive oil
http://content.onlinejacc.org/article.aspx?articleid=1126754
It /reduced/ FMD by 31%? That's a very bad thing, right?
Find more research.
http://ucdintegrativemedicine.com/2016/05/why-you-should-opt-out-of-olive-oil/#gs.9mSQolU
I guess I'm not reading it wrong.
Is Extra Virgin Olive Oil a Healthier Choice?
-Fish oil
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7759696
I disagree with their conclusion...
If the coronary artery diameter declined /less/ than in the control group over 2 years, that implied the fish oil /slowed down artherlosis/expanded/something-beneficial/ in these most likely generally more sedentary/possibly-more-isolated/more-unemployed('retired')/etc. 62 year olds. However, it is not /major/ like they say.
Here's a review paper.
http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/94/9/2337#ref-35http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/94/9/2337#ref-35
Reduced triglycerides by 30%, sudden death rates by 50%. No obvious improvements or decreases elsewhere.
Difficult finding other papers who examine artery diameter and/or FMD.
https://depts.washington.edu/uwmedres/professional/Research/08-09/Shultz%20Anderson.pdf
Hey, it's my old school, the University Of Washington.
I suspect the ingestion of fish, as opposed to fish oils, might be more salubrious. Further research needed. (Whole fish may help slow down the ingestion of carbs when consumed with meals, reducing overall glucose loading. Might explain why the vegetable+rice+fish diet of the traditional Japanese is so healthy, beyond the fact that obviously vegetables are supreme.)
-Eggs
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2904713/
It appears there's either little (6% decrease) to no change in FMD with regular one egg consumption (P value is too high to be conclusive; need a larger test pool. N=20 is too small for the 'one whole egg' group.), but there's a definite increase of 15% in FMD among the 'egg substitute' group (One serving of pure egg whites). Both group had a decrease in triglycerides, the whole egg group by 7.7% and the 'egg substitute' group of 15.4%. No other significant relationships found.
Btw, apparently the addition of sausage to the egg group was notably detrimental to triglycerides and FMD. Surprise, surprise. [I think I've pretty much determined that eating mammals is relatively unhealthy; it generally seems that the more similar you are to what you're eating, the worse it is for you. I.e., humans eating humans < mammals eating mammals < mammals eating birds < mammals eating fish < mammals eating plants.)
-Coffee
http://content.onlinejacc.org/article.aspx?articleid=1764014
Improves 'endothethial function', no association with FMD. (Booyah, cocoa > coffee)
http://www.clinsci.org/content/109/1/55
Caffeinated coffee had a shortterm decline in FMD, decaf did not. Longterm associations not examined.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1347861315000067
Same results as previous, but...
Longterm associations not examined.
-Spinach
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ian_Puddey/publication/51741799_Flavonoid-rich_apples_and_nitrate-rich_spinach_augment_nitric_oxide_status_and_improve_endothelial_function_in_healthy_men_and_women_A_randomized_controlled_trial/links/0c96053a4edab9b88c000000.pdf
FMD up by 1.1% for apple, up .5% for spinach and up .9% for both combined at the 120 minute mark. Longterm consumption not examined.
http://www.jove.com/visualize/abstract/24120618/effects-nitrate-rich-meal-on-arterial-stiffness-blood-pressure
Longterm consumption not examined.
Hard finding papers that examine longterm spinach consumption on FMD.
-Mushrooms
Hard finding research. Just very gross generalizations of mushrooms suspected ability to stop atherosclerosis and the such.
-Tomatos
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-of-nutrition/article/lack-of-effects-of-tomato-products-on-endothelial-function-in-human-subjects-results-of-a-randomised-placebo-controlled-cross-over-study/481EBD1878CEE762CAAF7A0C09570105/core-reader
However, it did increase lycopene levels and lycopene is important...
http://www.nature.com/articles/srep05031
Also...
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9345115
Those with the most lycopene had a 50% risk of MI. Btw, this is way more significant than aspirin.
-Yogurt
Hard to find studies. Existing studies on yogurt consumption seem to primarily focus on weight loss.
-Blue Cheese
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/98/3/677.full
HC = High Carbohydrate
So, the full fat cheese and milk diet increased FMD by 4.5% over the 6 month period. Finding research on blue cheese, in particular, seems impossible at this time (It's important, because it's a favorite among the French. Penicillin cheese, I like to call it.). However, it decreased the "pulse wave velocity" by 1%, as did the HC diet. That seems kind of insignificant, my intuition is telling me.
Not sure how that's important...
Lol, so true. Started getting sharp kidney pains after 3 days of taking sulfa drugs, was on a 7 day course. Drank PLENTY OF WATER like they suggested, and still got them. Was advised by a triage nurse to go the ER immediately. I immediately stopped taking them after the ER doctor told me it was probably kidney stones.
-Walnuts
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3862179/
From the charts therein:
(diet - %FMD)
AAD - 6.1 +- 1.1 (average American diet)
ALA - 8.2 +- 1.0 (walnuts, walnut oil, flax oil)
LA - 6.7 +- 1.0 (reduced saturate fat, walnuts and walnut oil)
So what was the control diet, again?
This study doesn't seem to make a lot of sense. If the AAD improved FMD by 6.1%, and the ALA improved FMD by 8.2%, then how does the ALA diet increase FMD by 34% relative to the control diet(AAD)?
http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/109/13/1609#T2
It's not very clear what exactly 'endothelium-dependent vasodilation' is exactly. It just seems to suggest that walnuts are better than olive oil. And we already established olive oil is horrible, so it's unknown how good walnuts really are. (Just because you're better than Hitler, doesn't mean you're all that good.)
The ideal study I'm looking for would be something like... "We told everyone to eat a bag of walnuts everyday. The FMD changed by +10% after 6 weeks."
-Green Tea
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18525384
Not longterm enough for me.
http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/104/2/151
Black Tea
Ascorbic acid is Vitamin C, btw. Found primarily in green leafy vegetables and fruits, more so in the citrus fruits. Anyway, as to their explanation of why...
OH. So, arterial diameter is not /necessarily/ the same thing as FMD. I should've known better that academics weren't just inventing impressive sounding acronyms for fancily worded simple concepts, lol.
Okay, well then, I would think that studies that suggest an increased arterial diameter could be 'combined' with foods/herbs/etc. that have an increased FMD but no increase in baseline diameter. I should group those that have definite baseline increased diameter together, later.
-Coconut Oil / Virgin Coconut Oil
A randomized study of coconut oil versus sunflower oil on cardiovascular risk factors in patients with stable coronary heart disease
So, coconut oil is as good/bad as sunflower oil. Seeing how olive oil turned out, that's not very comforting.
http://content.onlinejacc.org/article.aspx?articleid=1137827
So, no affect on coconut oil on FMD. It'd be nice if there was a longer term study I could find, and possibly one that used virgin coconut oil. So far... not enough evidence to make a valid conclusion.
-Sun exposure
https://ysjournal.com/article/the-risks-and-benefits-of-sunlight/
Relevant, but inconclusive as far as sun exposure goes. Vitamin D can be obtained from other dietary sources, like fish and mushrooms.
And, actually, this should go in the below category, lol.
-Vitamin D levels
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4460354/
Again showing that FMD is a separate concept from brachial artery diameter.
Other possibly of interest correlates (More 'abstract', Harder to comparably measure, but most likely significant.)
---------------------------
-Exposure to water features
-Anxiety
-Depression
-Isolation
-Unemployment
-Sexual activity
ANY GRAND IMPLICATIONS FROM THE ABOVE DATA
The indoor lifestyle, commonly sedentary and lacking adequate sunlight exposure and in most Western nations, lacking sufficient fish intake(Vitamin D), results in both not enough physical exercise (Much lower brachial arterial diameter), and low vitamin D levels (FMD decreased; 60% higher chance of stroke/heart attack.), that leads to a much higher incidence of cardiovascular events in those 'first world nations'. Countries/cultures that largely work/live outdoors and do physically demanding work have a much lower incidence of cardiovascular diseases, which is commonly found in 'older japan (early 1900s and before)', 'older greece' and modern day Kuna tribal people. Diet seems to have some influence on cardiovascular risk factors (In particular, tomatos, lol. And vitamin D from fish. Need a serving of salmon a day to get %100 vitamin D intake.), but not nearly as much as the combination of a sedentary lifestyle and lack of sufficient outdoor exposure to the sun. I'd imagine more agrarian cultures with less/no dependence on petrol powered machines would probably tend to have much lower rates of the kind of cardiovascular diseases common in the Western nations. I think almost all of the countries, nowadays, depend on some form of petrol powered farming, through imports from those countries that do it[USA's corn and wheat exports, the USA's soybean oil and Canada's rapeseed/canola oil.] or who do it themselves.
I further suspect that the 'tribal' nature of small clans that were more common 'back in the day'(And modern tribal people), helps minimize the 'more abstract' factors, and their probable significant risks, that are probably more common/pronounced in modern first world countries. Probably even becoming more intrinsically problematic with modern communication technologies.
----------------------------
Here are all the studies I've found that indicated a definite increase in arterial diameter, not just merely FMD (Which is affected by other vague endothelial functional parameters).
-garlic (4% increase in 'coronary vascular diameter'.)
-red wine (increase in brachial artery diameter, % not reported in abstract; increased from 3.4 to 3.7mm after 1 drink and to 4.0mm after 2 drinks; measured shortly after BAC peaked. Longterm measurements not taken.)
-cocoa (6% increase in the 'basal diameter and peak diameter of the brachial artery'. Measured after 4 weeks of 22g/day flavonol-rich cocoa consumption.)
Endurance exercise, by far, has the most significant increase on brachial artery diameter of 84%. Resistance exercise with an 81% increase in aortic diameter. So, as good as 'food/herbs/drinks/etc. is/are', exercise/activity is obviously the king of vascular health. Garlic and cocoa appear to be close seconds in terms of longterm results (Chronic daily use), and the longterm affects of red wine consumption is unknown.
UPDATE - 2:50 p.m. - 9/27/2016: I shall continue my medical journal here.
I shall make this the definitive...
MASTERLIST OF ARTERIAL DIAMETER CORRELATES section
-------------------------------------------------
Type, arterial diameter increase (Brachial seems the most relevant, at least the most popular. It's easiest/cheapest to measure and has close ties to the heart's global output.)
----------------
-Endurance atheletes (84% brachial artery) [Increased risk of atrial flutter and atrial fibrillation among some older endurance athletes; http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/586379_1 - unknown if it's a cause or merely correlation. Could be some older adults with coronary artery disease take up endurance exercise to improve their health, yet, the previous damage done to their heart's electrical networks and/or the current blood flow rates through the partially obstructed coronary arteries increases atrial flutter/fibrillation risks under increased cardiac demands.]
Mixed athletes (265% femoral artery)
Resistance athletes (81% aortic diameter)
Cocoa (6% Brachial artery with 22g/day consumption of raw cocoa powder, 3 TBSP)
Red wine (Brachial artery increase after one and two drinks/day, % not specified in the abstract)
Garlic (4% increase in the "coronary vascular arteries", probably the LAD/Circumflex. Wow, those Germans really know what to measure, don't they?)
(exercise)
http://www.jsams.org/article/S1440-2440(14)00639-2/abstract
I wonder if they measured the diameter in the LAD and circumflex arteries? Anyway, compared to the below arterial diameter modifiers, this obviously indicates exercise/strength-training is BY FAR the king of blood vessel expansion (Bracial artery increase of 84% is significant compared to the 6%-8% mentioned below.).
(cocoa)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24274771
(red wine)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18055508
Garlic
http://www.wingsheartformula.com/research-information/garlic.html
To research...
-Turmeric (Difficulty finding values; apparently restores arterial dysfunction and limits AGE formation/damage - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3557759/)
-Thyme (Difficulty finding values; apparently, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2789773/, "...carvacrol regulates COX-2 expression through its agonistic effect on PPARγ. These results may be important in understanding the antiinflammatory and antilifestyle-related disease properties of carvacrol.")
-Blueberries (http://yadda.icm.edu.pl/yadda/element/bwmeta1.element.agro-article-44990238-1dde-4d2f-9c48-d8991e5f85d7/c/fulltext870.pdf&hl=en&sa=X&scisig=AAGBfm1suseMfTvNEIU1mA74J-Axx0FTFA&nossl=1&oi=scholarr, apparently "Chokeberry juice" increases 'Flow Mediated Dilatation' by >7% in all subjects. Doesn't seem to define how exactly they measured 'Flow mediated Dilatation'; also, difficult to find arterial diameter papers. Well, according to google, "A noninvasive method to measure endothelial dysfunction is % Flow Mediated Dilation (FMD) as measured by Brachial Artery Ultrasound Imaging (BAUI).", seems to measure the diameter increase in the Brachial Artery, what we're looking for. Blueberries seem to be in the same class as Red Grapes(Red wine), as far as anthocyanins. Unknown the extent of functional pathways overlap between the berries, cocoa and garlic. This overlap is important in understanding how these variables interact, and how their effects might be limited when combined. That is, they might not just 'sum up' like one might naively assume, since they might just modify the same underlying variables in the same way.)
-Olive oil
http://content.onlinejacc.org/article.aspx?articleid=1126754
It /reduced/ FMD by 31%? That's a very bad thing, right?
Find more research.
http://ucdintegrativemedicine.com/2016/05/why-you-should-opt-out-of-olive-oil/#gs.9mSQolU
I guess I'm not reading it wrong.
Is Extra Virgin Olive Oil a Healthier Choice?
-Fish oil
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7759696
I disagree with their conclusion...
If the coronary artery diameter declined /less/ than in the control group over 2 years, that implied the fish oil /slowed down artherlosis/expanded/something-beneficial/ in these most likely generally more sedentary/possibly-more-isolated/more-unemployed('retired')/etc. 62 year olds. However, it is not /major/ like they say.
Here's a review paper.
http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/94/9/2337#ref-35http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/94/9/2337#ref-35
Reduced triglycerides by 30%, sudden death rates by 50%. No obvious improvements or decreases elsewhere.
Difficult finding other papers who examine artery diameter and/or FMD.
https://depts.washington.edu/uwmedres/professional/Research/08-09/Shultz%20Anderson.pdf
Hey, it's my old school, the University Of Washington.
there was no significant relationship between
fish consumption and FMD, after accounting
for age, gender, race
– ditto for plasma EPA
I suspect the ingestion of fish, as opposed to fish oils, might be more salubrious. Further research needed. (Whole fish may help slow down the ingestion of carbs when consumed with meals, reducing overall glucose loading. Might explain why the vegetable+rice+fish diet of the traditional Japanese is so healthy, beyond the fact that obviously vegetables are supreme.)
-Eggs
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2904713/
It appears there's either little (6% decrease) to no change in FMD with regular one egg consumption (P value is too high to be conclusive; need a larger test pool. N=20 is too small for the 'one whole egg' group.), but there's a definite increase of 15% in FMD among the 'egg substitute' group (One serving of pure egg whites). Both group had a decrease in triglycerides, the whole egg group by 7.7% and the 'egg substitute' group of 15.4%. No other significant relationships found.
Btw, apparently the addition of sausage to the egg group was notably detrimental to triglycerides and FMD. Surprise, surprise. [I think I've pretty much determined that eating mammals is relatively unhealthy; it generally seems that the more similar you are to what you're eating, the worse it is for you. I.e., humans eating humans < mammals eating mammals < mammals eating birds < mammals eating fish < mammals eating plants.)
-Coffee
http://content.onlinejacc.org/article.aspx?articleid=1764014
Improves 'endothethial function', no association with FMD. (Booyah, cocoa > coffee)
http://www.clinsci.org/content/109/1/55
Caffeinated coffee had a shortterm decline in FMD, decaf did not. Longterm associations not examined.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1347861315000067
Same results as previous, but...
Longterm associations not examined.
-Spinach
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ian_Puddey/publication/51741799_Flavonoid-rich_apples_and_nitrate-rich_spinach_augment_nitric_oxide_status_and_improve_endothelial_function_in_healthy_men_and_women_A_randomized_controlled_trial/links/0c96053a4edab9b88c000000.pdf
FMD up by 1.1% for apple, up .5% for spinach and up .9% for both combined at the 120 minute mark. Longterm consumption not examined.
http://www.jove.com/visualize/abstract/24120618/effects-nitrate-rich-meal-on-arterial-stiffness-blood-pressure
Longterm consumption not examined.
Hard finding papers that examine longterm spinach consumption on FMD.
-Mushrooms
Hard finding research. Just very gross generalizations of mushrooms suspected ability to stop atherosclerosis and the such.
-Tomatos
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-of-nutrition/article/lack-of-effects-of-tomato-products-on-endothelial-function-in-human-subjects-results-of-a-randomised-placebo-controlled-cross-over-study/481EBD1878CEE762CAAF7A0C09570105/core-reader
However, it did increase lycopene levels and lycopene is important...
http://www.nature.com/articles/srep05031
Also...
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9345115
Those with the most lycopene had a 50% risk of MI. Btw, this is way more significant than aspirin.
-Yogurt
Hard to find studies. Existing studies on yogurt consumption seem to primarily focus on weight loss.
-Blue Cheese
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/98/3/677.full
HC = High Carbohydrate
So, the full fat cheese and milk diet increased FMD by 4.5% over the 6 month period. Finding research on blue cheese, in particular, seems impossible at this time (It's important, because it's a favorite among the French. Penicillin cheese, I like to call it.). However, it decreased the "pulse wave velocity" by 1%, as did the HC diet. That seems kind of insignificant, my intuition is telling me.
Not sure how that's important...
Lol, so true. Started getting sharp kidney pains after 3 days of taking sulfa drugs, was on a 7 day course. Drank PLENTY OF WATER like they suggested, and still got them. Was advised by a triage nurse to go the ER immediately. I immediately stopped taking them after the ER doctor told me it was probably kidney stones.
-Walnuts
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3862179/
From the charts therein:
(diet - %FMD)
AAD - 6.1 +- 1.1 (average American diet)
ALA - 8.2 +- 1.0 (walnuts, walnut oil, flax oil)
LA - 6.7 +- 1.0 (reduced saturate fat, walnuts and walnut oil)
So what was the control diet, again?
This study doesn't seem to make a lot of sense. If the AAD improved FMD by 6.1%, and the ALA improved FMD by 8.2%, then how does the ALA diet increase FMD by 34% relative to the control diet(AAD)?
http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/109/13/1609#T2
It's not very clear what exactly 'endothelium-dependent vasodilation' is exactly. It just seems to suggest that walnuts are better than olive oil. And we already established olive oil is horrible, so it's unknown how good walnuts really are. (Just because you're better than Hitler, doesn't mean you're all that good.)
The ideal study I'm looking for would be something like... "We told everyone to eat a bag of walnuts everyday. The FMD changed by +10% after 6 weeks."
-Green Tea
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18525384
Not longterm enough for me.
http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/104/2/151
Black Tea
Ascorbic acid is Vitamin C, btw. Found primarily in green leafy vegetables and fruits, more so in the citrus fruits. Anyway, as to their explanation of why...
OH. So, arterial diameter is not /necessarily/ the same thing as FMD. I should've known better that academics weren't just inventing impressive sounding acronyms for fancily worded simple concepts, lol.
Okay, well then, I would think that studies that suggest an increased arterial diameter could be 'combined' with foods/herbs/etc. that have an increased FMD but no increase in baseline diameter. I should group those that have definite baseline increased diameter together, later.
-Coconut Oil / Virgin Coconut Oil
A randomized study of coconut oil versus sunflower oil on cardiovascular risk factors in patients with stable coronary heart disease
So, coconut oil is as good/bad as sunflower oil. Seeing how olive oil turned out, that's not very comforting.
http://content.onlinejacc.org/article.aspx?articleid=1137827
So, no affect on coconut oil on FMD. It'd be nice if there was a longer term study I could find, and possibly one that used virgin coconut oil. So far... not enough evidence to make a valid conclusion.
-Sun exposure
https://ysjournal.com/article/the-risks-and-benefits-of-sunlight/
Relevant, but inconclusive as far as sun exposure goes. Vitamin D can be obtained from other dietary sources, like fish and mushrooms.
And, actually, this should go in the below category, lol.
-Vitamin D levels
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4460354/
Again showing that FMD is a separate concept from brachial artery diameter.
Other possibly of interest correlates (More 'abstract', Harder to comparably measure, but most likely significant.)
---------------------------
-Exposure to water features
-Anxiety
-Depression
-Isolation
-Unemployment
-Sexual activity
ANY GRAND IMPLICATIONS FROM THE ABOVE DATA
The indoor lifestyle, commonly sedentary and lacking adequate sunlight exposure and in most Western nations, lacking sufficient fish intake(Vitamin D), results in both not enough physical exercise (Much lower brachial arterial diameter), and low vitamin D levels (FMD decreased; 60% higher chance of stroke/heart attack.), that leads to a much higher incidence of cardiovascular events in those 'first world nations'. Countries/cultures that largely work/live outdoors and do physically demanding work have a much lower incidence of cardiovascular diseases, which is commonly found in 'older japan (early 1900s and before)', 'older greece' and modern day Kuna tribal people. Diet seems to have some influence on cardiovascular risk factors (In particular, tomatos, lol. And vitamin D from fish. Need a serving of salmon a day to get %100 vitamin D intake.), but not nearly as much as the combination of a sedentary lifestyle and lack of sufficient outdoor exposure to the sun. I'd imagine more agrarian cultures with less/no dependence on petrol powered machines would probably tend to have much lower rates of the kind of cardiovascular diseases common in the Western nations. I think almost all of the countries, nowadays, depend on some form of petrol powered farming, through imports from those countries that do it[USA's corn and wheat exports, the USA's soybean oil and Canada's rapeseed/canola oil.] or who do it themselves.
I further suspect that the 'tribal' nature of small clans that were more common 'back in the day'(And modern tribal people), helps minimize the 'more abstract' factors, and their probable significant risks, that are probably more common/pronounced in modern first world countries. Probably even becoming more intrinsically problematic with modern communication technologies.
----------------------------
Here are all the studies I've found that indicated a definite increase in arterial diameter, not just merely FMD (Which is affected by other vague endothelial functional parameters).
-garlic (4% increase in 'coronary vascular diameter'.)
-red wine (increase in brachial artery diameter, % not reported in abstract; increased from 3.4 to 3.7mm after 1 drink and to 4.0mm after 2 drinks; measured shortly after BAC peaked. Longterm measurements not taken.)
-cocoa (6% increase in the 'basal diameter and peak diameter of the brachial artery'. Measured after 4 weeks of 22g/day flavonol-rich cocoa consumption.)
Endurance exercise, by far, has the most significant increase on brachial artery diameter of 84%. Resistance exercise with an 81% increase in aortic diameter. So, as good as 'food/herbs/drinks/etc. is/are', exercise/activity is obviously the king of vascular health. Garlic and cocoa appear to be close seconds in terms of longterm results (Chronic daily use), and the longterm affects of red wine consumption is unknown.
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