Medication v Surgery
I can't think of how to start this entry off so I'm going to start it by saying I don't know how to start it. Because I can.
This morning I had my appointment in Manchester with Dr. Kim. He explained to me what my heart was doing as far as the extra beats go. He also told me everyone has extra beats throughout the day, they are just less severe and less frequent. I had over 1000 extra beats which isn't normal. But it's nothing to freak out about and nothing that will kill me so that's good. My blood pressure is still too high for the bottom number, though. So he gave me three options for going on from here.
1. Do nothing. It's not going to kill me it's just more of an annoyance. One I cannot live with personally because of my reasons. I just....blech. I can't just live with it.
2. Medication. There are actually two different kinds of medication that work together for people with high blood pressure and PVCs - only drawback mentioned (I'm sure there are other side effects) is fatigue which I'm already struggling with. A lot.
3. Surgery. He could go in there, find this cluster of cells that is causing the extra electric impulse of my heart to beat a second time and fry it. It only has an 80% success rate for a fee reasons. A) The palpitations need to be consistent and prevalent during the surgery. If he can't see the cells working, he can't see them to fry them. B) Sometimes these cells are on the outer wall of the heart and he can't get to them. C) Sometimes it just doesn't work.
So I decided to go with the medication for now and see if it does anything and how much of a slug it makes me. The medication itself may or may not work so pretty much anything is a gamble. This is just a less intrusive gamble. Well, I suppose that depends on how you look at it.
And that is where things stand. I'll just have to see how this plays out I guess.
This morning I had my appointment in Manchester with Dr. Kim. He explained to me what my heart was doing as far as the extra beats go. He also told me everyone has extra beats throughout the day, they are just less severe and less frequent. I had over 1000 extra beats which isn't normal. But it's nothing to freak out about and nothing that will kill me so that's good. My blood pressure is still too high for the bottom number, though. So he gave me three options for going on from here.
1. Do nothing. It's not going to kill me it's just more of an annoyance. One I cannot live with personally because of my reasons. I just....blech. I can't just live with it.
2. Medication. There are actually two different kinds of medication that work together for people with high blood pressure and PVCs - only drawback mentioned (I'm sure there are other side effects) is fatigue which I'm already struggling with. A lot.
3. Surgery. He could go in there, find this cluster of cells that is causing the extra electric impulse of my heart to beat a second time and fry it. It only has an 80% success rate for a fee reasons. A) The palpitations need to be consistent and prevalent during the surgery. If he can't see the cells working, he can't see them to fry them. B) Sometimes these cells are on the outer wall of the heart and he can't get to them. C) Sometimes it just doesn't work.
So I decided to go with the medication for now and see if it does anything and how much of a slug it makes me. The medication itself may or may not work so pretty much anything is a gamble. This is just a less intrusive gamble. Well, I suppose that depends on how you look at it.
And that is where things stand. I'll just have to see how this plays out I guess.