Results!
I'm home from the hospital. I was discharged early this afternoon with a diagnosis of hyponatremia, or low sodium levels. When I got home, I looked up the symptoms online. Irregular or fast, pounding heartbeat, confusion, low blood pressure, restlessness, irritability, muscle cramps or twitching: I had all of those at one time or another. I did NOT, however, have some of the classic symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, and headache. I wondered why people kept asking me if I'd had any nausea. I don't know why, but low sodium doesn't present that way for me.
I had an echocardiogram this morning, basically a sonogram of the heart. It was cool to watch my heart beating away on the screen, valves opening and closing, chambers filling and emptying. The cardiologist told me it looked fine, very good in fact. The blood tests for cardiac enzymes were all negative both last night and this morning. I did not have a heart attack.
So there is nothing wrong with my heart, and there never has been. That's a huge relief to me because throughout my life I have occasionally had episodes of a pounding heart or heart palpitations, often at times of emotional or physical stress. I have worried about my heart, but I never before had it checked out. Now that I know that maybe I should drink some electrolytes (and also calm down).
I'm a whole foodist. Between me and my husband we cook most of our meals. I eat out at restaurants only a few times a week and rarely eat processed foods. What I'm saying is that I eat a diet pretty low in sodium. And I drink lots of water, possibly excessive amounts.
The primary sources of sodium in my diet are swiss chard and canned albacore tuna. Our local grocery store has been out of chard for several weeks in a row. I usually eat one to two cans of tuna a week, but about two weeks ago I decided I was tired of tuna and stopped eating it. That's right about the time my symptoms started.
I have a follow-up appointment with my regular doctor on Monday. I plan to ask him for recommendations for daily amounts of sodium and potassium and ways to make sure I get them in my diet, either with whole foods or supplements. I'm also curious if he can suggest an electrolyte drink that doesn't have either sugar or fake sugar. I could drink Gatoraide in an emergency, but it's loaded with high fructose corn syrup, and am not going to drink that regularly.
It was quite the dramatic day, but I feel much better than I have been, and I finally have some really useful information.
I had an echocardiogram this morning, basically a sonogram of the heart. It was cool to watch my heart beating away on the screen, valves opening and closing, chambers filling and emptying. The cardiologist told me it looked fine, very good in fact. The blood tests for cardiac enzymes were all negative both last night and this morning. I did not have a heart attack.
So there is nothing wrong with my heart, and there never has been. That's a huge relief to me because throughout my life I have occasionally had episodes of a pounding heart or heart palpitations, often at times of emotional or physical stress. I have worried about my heart, but I never before had it checked out. Now that I know that maybe I should drink some electrolytes (and also calm down).
I'm a whole foodist. Between me and my husband we cook most of our meals. I eat out at restaurants only a few times a week and rarely eat processed foods. What I'm saying is that I eat a diet pretty low in sodium. And I drink lots of water, possibly excessive amounts.
The primary sources of sodium in my diet are swiss chard and canned albacore tuna. Our local grocery store has been out of chard for several weeks in a row. I usually eat one to two cans of tuna a week, but about two weeks ago I decided I was tired of tuna and stopped eating it. That's right about the time my symptoms started.
I have a follow-up appointment with my regular doctor on Monday. I plan to ask him for recommendations for daily amounts of sodium and potassium and ways to make sure I get them in my diet, either with whole foods or supplements. I'm also curious if he can suggest an electrolyte drink that doesn't have either sugar or fake sugar. I could drink Gatoraide in an emergency, but it's loaded with high fructose corn syrup, and am not going to drink that regularly.
It was quite the dramatic day, but I feel much better than I have been, and I finally have some really useful information.