| Author | Message | ||
     Redbuell1203 |
Well I am finally home from the ICU at the local hospital. Went in for rapid heart rate and not being able to breath. Luckily I am an emt and went to the station and put myspelf on o2 and hooked up the heart monitor to my surprise my heart was at 250 (at rest) beats a minute and the guys at the station rushed me to the hopsital. They were going to shock me bad thing is I was awake and knew it. Good thing for me was I converted somehow to normal sinus rythm w/ just a few PVC's. So the Dr. now says no stimulates whatsoever, but I am alive to ride in the near future. Just wanted to say I missed not being able to get on this site. | ||
| Fltwistygirl |
Wow, glad you're ok and welcome back. | ||
| Bwbhighspl |
PVC's are the dangerous ones. Your heart has two parts -- electrical and mechanical. By itself, the top half of your heart wants to beat fast (atrium), and the bottom half wants to beat slow (ventricle). The sinus node (your personal pacemaker) keeps it all in sync. That is all the electrical side of things. The electric is what makes things twitch. Note: TWITCH = MOVEMENT. Driven by electrical signal. The physical side is the actual movement. Now, here's where things get goofy. The two parts of your heart have a tendency to beat to their own drum. The sinus node keeps them harmonious. If you rip out the sinus node, then the top beats at one rate, and the bottom at another -- this is not efficient, and you'll pass out. Spoiler alert: When someone "flat lines", there is no electrical signal, and no movement. All the shock treatment in the world won't bring you back. On TV, when someones gets a "shock" to get their heart "going" again -- that's wildly untrue. In the real world, your heart's electrical signals are causing your heart to go too fast. By shocking you, you depolarize everything with the hope your natural pacemaker can start working again. In this case, Redbuell was in fibrillation. A shock would have depolarized his heart, and <hopefully> allowed his natural pacemaker to take over. Probably TMI. ON THE OTHER HAND....a PAC is not dangerous. You'll get this if you have too much caffeine -- it feels like your heart skipped a beat. (Message edited by bwbhighspl on March 08, 2011) | ||
| 86129squids |
Ummm- don't do that no more. Glad to hear you're OK. Diagnosis? (mebbe I missed it in the EMTgeekspeak) Prognosis? | ||
| Littlebuggles |
Wow, Austin, glad you're okay. Welcome back! Clark, that's some interesting info, thank for filling the rest of us in on that. | ||
| Brumbear |
glad to hear you are ok | ||
| Redbuell1203 |
Thanks everyone. My Dr. at the hospital hasn't a clue why or what happened. Just that it converted back to "regular" with the occasional pvc. More test to come this week. | ||
| Josnow |
Update us with the test results, if you dont mind sharing. I have a history with Atrial Fibrillation. Past 4 years ive been in the ICU 3 times, each time they put me on an IV of cardizem and a few shots of something in the stomach to prevent clots. The last time, i wasnt converting in the time frame they wanted me to and the doctor came in and threatened to "shock" me and I think that scared me into sinus rhythm. Several test and they cant find the cause of it. | ||
| Daves |
Glad to hear you are ok! | ||
| Redbuell1203 |
Well I had my echo gram today and was told that I have PVC's that occur frequently. I will continue to have them and was just told to deal with them as bad as they are for me. Feels like I am hit by a bus and it takes the wind right out of you.(sucks) I was told it won't kill ya but it just plain as feels like you are. So just wanted to let anyone know what was going on. Thanks everyone for the post. |
