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Showing posts with the label tachycardia

The See-Saw Hit Bottom During The Night

My health often resembles a see-saw... my health swings upward and I experience relatively good days... then swings down and I experience rather miserable days... back up... back down... sometimes it balances in the middle for a relatively short period if I managed my health effectively and luck was on my side but, more often than not, it seems to move up and down like a pendulum moves side to side. Yesterday afternoon the see-saw started moving downward... after a little bit of dinner (I didn't eat much because I was feeling poorly), I had hoped that my health had leveled out in this short period before bedtime though... no such luck... Apparently, this see-saw continued on its downward swing through the night.  I was quite sick and in the bathroom for far too much of the night when I preferred to be and needed to be sleeping. Actually, I was overwhelmingly exhausted and struggling to keep my eyes open even while I was sick as a dog.  I really hate these nights. It takes a

Yesterday Was A Lousy Day

Oh boy was yesterday a lousy day!  Earlier in the morning, I was feeling quite well. I was looking forward to some exercise and my daily physical therapy. I never got that far though... First, around lunchtime, I began to feel something wasn't right. I couldn't put my finger on the problem but I knew some lousy health to some degree was approaching. I ate lunch and then it started... As I was trying to walk my dishes to the sink, my legs would not cooperate. At first, I wondered if they had just started to fall asleep... and hoped it wasn't a mastocytosis issue... or, was this a result of my spinal injuries? My legs not cooperating to such a debilitating level was a bad sign though... my legs really were not cooperating at all...  I could barely move them. I made my way back to the couch. My bones and joints had been hurting since around Christmastime so that was nothing new and they were still hurting but the hurt was pushed to the background as some new symptoms e

Anaphylaxis In My Sleep, continued...

We had a busy weekend again with the grandchildren. It is always nice to have them around but this weekend my health did not cooperate. I screwed up a dose of medications on Saturday... and, other than a 15 minute snooze in the car on the way back from Burlington, I missed my usual 2 hour daily nap... and now my health is paying for these problems. I could barely keep my eyes open on Sunday (yesterday). I felt as though I had been heavily drugged and was fighting losing consciousness. I finally had a chance to lay on the couch in the afternoon to try to get some much needed rest. I slept for about two hours but I had a very difficult time waking myself up enough to even get up off the couch. I would try to awaken but my eyes wouldn't stay open and I would fall asleep again... and then again... and again.  As I was lying there, fighting falling asleep yet again, I was wondering if I might have experienced anaphylaxis in my sleep again.  The post anaphylaxis symptoms are very o

A Dizzying Day of Nausea

Today was one of those rather lousy days. It wasn't "miserable" nor "grueling" but it was quite lousy. Systemic Mastocytosis causes all sort of transient symptoms, problems, difficulties and obstacles. One day can be vastly different from another. One moment can be vastly different from the next! Today, however, was fairly consistent... quite lousy. This all started late last night with some flushing. Sheila had noticed a splotchy, deep red rash on my face and neck. I felt "okay" at the time so I just let this first sign of impending trouble just slip by with no countermeasures. By the time I laid down in bed last night, I was experiencing palpitations and mild tachycardia (120-130 bpm). This is a sign that my blood pressure was dropping too low... my body would respond naturally by jumping into overdrive to counter the loss in blood pressure (which is a very good thing)... then my blood pressure would drop again... body would respond.... etc. Co

The Snowball Is Getting Bigger

This morning, I wrote about how I missed a dose of medications yesterday... then missed some more medications last night... then missed a medication this morning... and how this sort of thing snowballs into something out of control...  This snowball has indeed enlarged and gotten out of control! This is a dangerous sequence of events for anyone struggling with Systemic Mastocytosis. Today was a "down" day for me... trying to recover from the missed medications... rest up... avoiding the heat and humidity (which trigger anaphylaxis and miserable health)... so, after lunch I laid down on the couch in the air conditioned living room to try to catch up on much needed sleep and to, hopefully, recover. The good news is that I had no problems whatsoever in falling asleep... The bad news is I was awakened very abruptly. My chest was pounding in palpitations... I was groggy... although I awakened suddenly, I was still groggy...  and feeling weak... I still wasn't thinking cl

Poor Health Again Tonight

I am on a roll... or tumble... and the hill I am tumbling down seems to be much bigger than I had originally thought. My health began its roll down this hill a few weeks ago and it just continues to tumble downhill. I slept for about four hours this afternoon and felt pretty good when I awoke. I honestly thought it would be a night of good health and feeling well. Within a half hour things started to deteriorate and things deteriorated rather quickly. First was the nausea... In hindsight, I should have taken this as a sign of impending doom. To make a long story short, I didn't realize that my health had crashed into brief anaphylaxis until my body responded naturally. I had missed all the signs. My body responding naturally to anaphylaxis is a good thing though! It isn't something I like to or should test but it is a good thing! Sometimes, either I am not thinking clearly enough to catch these signs... or, I am feeling so well that impending doom with my health seems so

Ankle Update

I've had debilitating ankle pain for the past 11 days now. The first few days I could not even put any weight whatsoever on my left foot. Since then, I've been hobbling and limping around with a cane. Needless to say, very little has been accomplished around here for the past week and a half. A few days ago I wrote that I realized that I probably injured some nerves while working on the waste plumbing for a new bathroom that I am trying to install. There is no doubt that I was hard on my ankles while crouching on the floor and sitting on my feet on an uneven, unfinished wood floor. I was also crouched down in a tight crawl space for part of the plumbing project. These activities were no help to my ankles, knees, shins and lower back, that is for certain. This morning when I awoke, my ankle pain seemed to get a little bit worse again. It was raining out and the moist rain always affects my bones and joints since I've been struggling with Systemic Mastocytosis (or perhaps

A Systemic Mastocytosis Kind of Day

My Systemic Mastocytosis is rearing its ugly head again this week.  I could be feeling worse... but, I wish I was feeling better.  I feel as though I am in a constant battle which frustratingly involves two steps back and only one step forward, over and over and over... I'm very nauseated this morning...  weak...  overwhelmingly fatigued... mild tachycardia since awaking this morning (now down to 100 bpm... but was up around 120 bpm when I awoke). This is usually a sign that I had an anaphylaxic episode in my sleep before awaking.   During an anaphylaxic episode, if I am awake, I notice a marked weakness and heaviness in my legs, vision becomes narrow, and breathing difficulties start.  These are my usual signs of impending anaphylaxia and I must jump on emergency medications immediately... if I am awake, that is.  If this happens in my sleep, as it sometimes does, I must hope that my body responds naturally and effectively to this sudden drop in blood pressure. On the positi

Hoping for Rest and Recovery

As I had already written previously, I had a very rough night with poor health last night.  I didn't get to bed until 4am...  and then I was up and in the bathroom again at around 8:30am.   I was hoping I could sleep away most of the day and, if luck would have it, I would recover a bit while I was getting some much-needed rest.  Well, no luck today as far as my health is concerned. I ended up suffering from some more episodes of anaphylaxis, although considerably more mild than last night.  My heart-rate was in the 120-140 beats per minute range most of the day making it impossible to sleep.   I've also been very flushed, on and off, all day and all evening tonight.  That is never a good sign.  Flushing on my face, neck and shoulders typically is a precursor to failing health again. This flushing is irritating too...  It gives me a deep burning feeling and I actually look like I have a splotchy sunburn...  when it is a bad case, all of my skin is a solid red that resembles

Post Christmas Poor Health... As Expected

I have been very fortunate this Christmas season!  We have had an exceptionally busy, hectic and exhausting December and, for the most part, my health held up surprisingly well. Now, however, we are a few days past Christmas and my health has crashed... and it has crashed spectacularly. I had a few bouts with anaphylaxis causing dizziness, palpitations, tachycardia, and breathing difficulties which all leads to exhaustion.  Whenever my heart responds to anaphylaxis, my heart-rate jumps to the 120-180 beats per minute range and it can stay there for an hour or two. Having your heart-rate at this chest pounding level is similar to running for a couple of hours... or playing a basketball game for a couple of hours... or any other strenuous activity for hours.  I am left feeling exhausted and my entire body aches for days. The degranulation of mast cells which caused this anaphylaxia also causes nerve irritation and inflammation.  Needless to say, in addition to the overwhelming fatigu