I just got back from the Emergency Room :\

[Darth Viscera]

I'm ok now, I think. My heartrate is approximately 120. I feel fine, but I'm in a bit of sedation-induced shock.

At 10pm last night I took 30ml of Dayquil because I thought that the 2-week cold that I'm just getting over was coming back. Then I ate some Tacos and ice cream, and started leisurely playing World of Warcraft. At about 3am, I realized that I was having trouble breathing through my mouth, which I think is because I was beginning to get dry mouth. Thinking this was because I was getting an allergy or some other illness that was putting phlegm in my mouth, I took an Allegra at 3:20am, then went into my mom's room to complain that i couldn't breath right. By the time I got there, my heart rate was approximately 150. I put on my sandals and asked her to drive me to the emergency room. When we got there, they put sticky things on my chest and plugged them into an EKG machine, to determine my heart rate, which was 150. They took my blood and urine sample, both of which came out negative, and plugged me into an IV to give me some drugs to ease my anxiety and put some saliva back into my mouth, and to decrease the amount of oxygen my heart was using, or something to that effect. The diagnosis was heart palpitations, and they said something about the probable cause being a prolonged panic attack. I guess that makes sense, considering that I'm sleeping during the day right now and am awake during the night, and I'm always worrying about another CPU fan dying while I'm on the computer (as happened 3 weeks ago, putting my PC offline for a week), or worrying about a cheap power supply (which I've already ordered a replacement of) blowing up.

They basically ordered me to contact a cardiologist who they referred me to, as well as my primary care physician, for an appointment within 2 days. They also gave me a prescription for my heart palpitations and tachycardia, and told me to not take Claritin-D or Allegra, as they can increase my heart rate. They also told me to limit the amount of stress I'm exposed to, get plenty of healthy sleep, and avoid becoming overly-stimulated.

[Yog]

Very scary. Rest as much as possible and try to get plenty of sleep. I pray for your recovery :(

[Darth McBain]

Avoid being overly stimulated? On the day Star Wars comes out?!?!?! That's just not fair... Seriously - get better and take it easy...

[Telan Desaria]

I wont pray - -Ill order it.

Best of wishes, Walther. Recover soon. A galaxy awaits...

[Morgan Evanar]

Drink more water :p

Seriously, get better soon.

[Dasquian Belargic]

:hug take it easy. hope everything's okay.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Get better soon! Panic attacks, etc, are terrible. :hug Try to think calming thoughts, and get on a better sleep pattern.

While I was trying to sleep last night (3:30 am this morning after RotS) I kept waking up all panicky. I think I was so tired that I was forgetting to keep breathing when I nodded off. Or something. Must not have been too serious as I did wake up 12 hours later just fine.

[Loki Ahmrah]

Take care of yourself, matey, and get better soon.

[Mandy with an I]

Originally posted by Lilaena De'Ville
Get better soon! Panic attacks, etc, are terrible. :hug Try to think calming thoughts, and get on a better sleep pattern.

While I was trying to sleep last night (3:30 am this morning after RotS) I kept waking up all panicky. I think I was so tired that I was forgetting to keep breathing when I nodded off. Or something. Must not have been too serious as I did wake up 12 hours later just fine.

^ Been there.

/hugs walter. :) Take care fo yourself, and get better soon.

[Lion El' Jonson]

Poor Visc. Get better, my evil Imperial friend. :)

[Khendon Sevon]

Try to relax, man :) maybe take over an ant farm instead of a planet. Think of all of the dictatorial things you could do!

[AmazonBabe]

Get well soon, Walter. Give me a call if you feel up to it. :)

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Originally posted by Khendon Sevon
Try to relax, man :) maybe take over an ant farm instead of a planet. Think of all of the dictatorial things you could do!

"I decree you will all move earth and move it MORE EFFICIENTLY! Or face the Death Star!" *takes out magnifying glass* >D

[Darth Viscera]

I went to the cardiologist today, and she said the EKG was normal, my blood pressure was normal, the X-rays of my heart look fine. Her preliminary assessment is that I don't have heart disease and that this is brought on by stress, but she scheduled more tests for me to take, basically another blood test, another X-ray, and one of those stress tests where you walk on a treadmill while they monitor your heartrate. She recommended that I go get some counseling and that I exercise 30 minutes a day. I'll do what she says, of course.

She seems to be just going through the motions, reading questions off of a clipboard, like I'm talking to a level 1 tech support person. I really don't know how it's possible for me to have a panic attack that doubles my pulse while I'm just washing my hair in the shower.

This whole thing has me more frightened and desperate than I've ever been. It's a very frightening thing to be lying on the couch trying to relax and keeping your feet elevated while at the same time you can measure your pulse just by listening to your heart pulsate, without using your hands. The doctor gave me some medicine that lowers my heart rate back to slightly-above-normal for when the tachycardia kicks in, but it's still very frightening.

Rie, I was going to call you, but I didn't know if you'd appreciate getting a phone call at 11pm your time.

[Tiberius Anar]

Oh my. Just read this. Somewhat difficult to come up with words to express concern. Get better and keep your spirits up.

[Firebird1]

That Sucks!

I hope thy find out what happened soon.

[Darth Viscera]

The cardiologist put me on a holter monitor (mobile heart beat recording device) from Monday to Tuesday, and I've been taking a pill to reduce anxiety, but I haven't had to take a heart pill since Sunday I think, when it was clear that all the antihistamines and nasal decongestants were out of my system. My heart beat is still elevated whenever I use the computer, though. I guess that's sort of like the victim revisiting the scene of the crime. I wish I could have a dialog with my heart, slap it around a bit and call it names and such.

Yes, you are supposed to be elevated when I do my daily exercise. Yes, you are supposed to go back to 60 beats a minute when I'm lying in bed, reading a book about World War I. No, you're not supposed to be at 100 beats a minute when I'm reclining in a leather chair and leisurely reading my emails and dumping everything into the spam folder. No, you're not supposed to be at 120 beats a minute when I'm flying a helicopter around, shooting at tanks. No, you're not supposed to be at 130 beats a minute and making me short of breath when I play World of Warcraft and go around slaying gnolls. There is no danger here. See? No cold medicine in sight. There's absolutely no cause for alarm. You are a rather stupid heart, aren't you? Haha, just kidding dumb-dumb.

lol, it's off to the psychiatrist for me i guess :P

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Originally posted by Darth Viscera
Yes, you are supposed to be elevated when I do my daily exercise. Yes, you are supposed to go back to 60 beats a minute when I'm lying in bed, reading a book about World War I. No, you're not supposed to be at 100 beats a minute when I'm reclining in a leather chair and leisurely reading my emails and dumping everything into the spam folder. No, you're not supposed to be at 120 beats a minute when I'm flying a helicopter around, shooting at tanks. No, you're not supposed to be at 130 beats a minute and making me short of breath when I play World of Warcraft and go around slaying gnolls. There is no danger here. See? No cold medicine in sight. There's absolutely no cause for alarm. You are a rather stupid heart, aren't you? Haha, just kidding dumb-dumb.


Why is it that that little dialogue can almost sum up all of our conversations? :p

Seriously, you need to relax in the Bahamas or Tahiti.

[Darth Viscera]

Ever since I got back from the ER I've been feeling berserk all the time, unless I take my heart pill, which has the side effect of making me feel ultra-manic-depressive as if I'm going to die before the next commercial break, or unless I take an anti-anxiety pill, which wears out the first time I eat something.

Because of this, in the past 2 weeks I've been unable to keep my cool while posting, and so I've angered people with my posts. Consequently I lost my status as a staff member, and there was a debate as to whether or not I should be a moderator at the Imperial Groups board. That was just the first 2 weeks, and I'm scared that another 2 weeks would end with me being banned or something as I continue my abrupt decline into Crazyville.

For this reason, I've requested that Shawn temporarily ban me for 2 weeks. In 2 weeks time I'll have been to my appointments with a psychiatrist and a therapist as the ER people suggested, and by Monday, June 20th I should be a good, level-headed and mild-mannered Visc, ready to play nice, and my heart will have slowed down.

I'll catch you guys on the flip side.

[Tiberius Anar]

Seems the mature thing to do, and the healthy thing. Hope you feel better when you get back. Looking forward to the RP's to come. :)

[Mirax Kirret]

Get well soon, Visc. We'll be here when you get back. :)

[Darth Viscera]

Oy. Sorry to necropost and all that.

I had another attack today, the first since May 19th, but it wasn't as bad this time. I'm not really sure what brought it on. Here I was at 10:20pm, watching Farscape, minding my own business, not stressed out at all about anything, when all of a sudden I feel like I've got something stuck in my throat, when in fact I haven't. I make myself cough a bit, thinking that'll clear it out, but it doesn't, it gets worse. Now I'm coughing, and having trouble breathing. I get downstairs as quick as I can to get some water, and on the way I put my hand to my chest and notice that my heart is racing, probably 3 beats per second. Oh dear. So now I'm panicking, thinking that I'm on the verge of suffocating and/or palpitating to death, and I take an anti-anxiety pill, then I go and lay down on the couch with my feet up and start bearing down. The worst of the panic attack subsides within 20 minutes. I relax, my pulse goes down to ~120/minute and stops descending there, and I call up my Aunt, who's a doctor in Tehran.

Panic attacks are odd things. When your heart races during a panic attack, it's as though your mind has a residual self-image of your heart, which beats away along with your heart. However, this residual self-image of your heart beats about twice as fast as your actual heart. Worse, you can feel the fake mind-heart pounding away inside your body without actually taking your pulse. Also, questions posed to you pertaining to your well-being tend to be hard to answer:

Mom: Walter, honey? Is everything alright?
Me: What? Yes, everything is...huh. errr...oh.
Mom: Is everything alright?
Me: What? oh yes, that's the one.

I can't understand what brought this on. I woke up at noon, played on the computer, ate a bit of thin crust veggie pizza with turkey pepperoni, then a few hours later did some exercise. A few hours later I made some tacos, went upstairs and turned on farscape, and 90 minutes later I was still watching Farscape when this panic attack kicked in. :huh

[Daiquiri]

Vis, youre perfectly normal, so dont think that youre not. One of my girls has been suffering from panic attacks in the past several months; nothing particular brings it on...they just happen. Her heart races the same way as yours and the only thing to do is just ride it out. She too takes meds for it and most of the time it really helps but it doesnt prevent the attacks from happening...it only helps lessen the number of times it occurs.

Continue taking the meds you were prescribed and after a while, if you feel its not helping, then go back to the doctor and see if theres not a different med he can prescibe.

Just remember, youre not alone...there are thousands who suffer the same. I know its a scary, horrible feeling when an attack happens but try to remember that it will soon pass. :hug

[Darth Viscera]

Originally posted by Daiquiri
She too takes meds for it and most of the time it really helps but it doesnt prevent the attacks from happening.

Did the doctor give her anti-anxiety meds, or some other sort?

[Telan Desaria]

My ex-fiancee suffered from them as well - -and no, it was not ebcause of me. To get rid of them he took some sort of pills, the name escapes me.

[Mu Satach]

What's in the tacos? I mean what are they made from? What are the brands of the ingredients in it, what's on it, how is it processed, what type stuff from the store? or is it home made beans/cheese etc.

You've mentioned you've eaten taco's right before both attacks and certain preservatives and additives cause my throat and body to go wacko.

Find everything you've eaten before each attack and examine the ingredients carefully.

[Darth Viscera]

Old El Paso Taco Shells
Ground Beef, mixed with Giant brand Taco seasoning, after I've cooked it and drained the fat out
a sprinkle of McCormick taco seasoning on top of that
Sour Cream
lettuce
Chalula hot sauce (a mild hot sauce, not nearly so hot as tabasco)
Sargento taco cheese
and maybe some fried mushrooms

I've eaten that same exact sort of taco a thousand times in the last few years, and only twice have I had a panic attack. Though I am inclined to think that it might be a good idea to lay off the hot sauce, it doesn't make sense that I didn't get a thousand separate panic attacks.

[Daiquiri]

Shes on anti-depressants, mood stablizers and anti-anxiety meds.

[Alexis Biede]

Face it, Vis. Your just insane. But dont worry, so are the rest of us. *Huggles* Lay off the spicy foods, btw. It tends to help with the heart stuff. Try eating a little more healthy than just pizza and tacos. Juice and Water is good.

[Boba Fett]

Chalula hot sauce (a mild hot sauce, not nearly so hot as tabasco)

That is the best hot sauce ever!

Spicy foods do tend to trigger panic attacks so I hear as well.

[Darth Viscera]

Originally posted by Alexis Biede
Face it, Vis. Your just insane. But dont worry, so are the rest of us. *Huggles* Lay off the spicy foods, btw. It tends to help with the heart stuff. Try eating a little more healthy than just pizza and tacos. Juice and Water is good.

I don't eat "pizza" per se, but rather my own bastardized version of pizza which is low in fat, low in calories and high in fiber. Also, for a month now I've only drank bottled water.



Originally posted by Boba Fett
Spicy foods do tend to trigger panic attacks so I hear as well.

not fair :( Christin eats whole jalapenos in a single bite and calls them snacks, and I put a little itsy bit of Chalula hot sauce, the wimpiest hot sauce known to man, on my tacos and end up with a panic attack.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Christin is the exception to every rule. :p

[Sanis Prent]

She's a garbage disposal on legs. The things I've seen her eat would make billygoats sick :x

[Aria Sihin]

The mental image that you created Charley .... :x

[Lady Vader]

Originally posted by Sanis Prent
She's a garbage disposal on legs. The things I've seen her eat would make billygoats sick :x

So it doesn't stop at the beer... the can gets eatten as well? O_o

[Sanis Prent]

She'd do it.

[Telan Desaria]

Ib have had the pleasure of dining in her presence and she indeed, ate more than I did!!!

[Darth Viscera]

Originally posted by Telan Desaria
Ib have had the pleasure of dining in her presence and she indeed, ate more than I did!!!

:eek

Surely you jest sir?

[Sanis Prent]

She eats pretty much like a snake does.

She eats only once a month.

When she eats, its enough for one month's worth of sustenance.

Whatever she eats is probably alive.

[Pierce Tondry]

I just laughed so hard at that description of Christin, my teeth fell out (literally!) God I've missed you guys. :)