OT: Cardiologist Appt | Arthritis Information
I went for my cardiologist appt Wedsnday. I waited 2hrs before seeing him. I did see his nurse practicioner about 1hr 30mins of waiting. She just wrote stuff down and made comments for him on my file.
He is a pretty nice guy. I like him. He is also my FIL's heart Dr, too.
Both cardio Dr & his nurse practicioner commented about how many meds I was on and about how RA has affected me. They both said I was too younger for all these problems.
He is not sure what is causing my rapid pulse. He said it can be many things... RA, inflammation, my meds, not sleeping well, pain, aggravation, thyroid, ect.
He is checking my thyroid again. This time he ordered a d-dine (sp?) test. Some other bloodwork. And he is going to try to do the TEE again. I told him what happened and that the neurologist was using that to help him decide if I had a TIA in March. He said he would like to know the answer to that as well.
He also looked at that "lump" in my thigh. He said he felt what I was talking about. He had to help me unbutton my pants because my hands were non-functional. He is going to order MRI of my right hip. He says it is not muscle spasm if it has not went away since October '07. It never did go away, but it did move though.
He is ordering me a QV scan, to check my lungs for blood clots. Nurse practioner suggested it after listening to me breathe and he said he agreed after he heard me breathe. I do not feel like I am having trouble breathing. Not sure why they would want to check.
He changed my meds. He said the nortripline could cause my rapid pulse because I am on a pretty high dose (80mg). So he wants me to cut down to 40mg. I told him this was before I was put on the 80mg. I was still taking only 30mg when this happened.
He told me to take 20mg of Coreg CR, instead of 40mg. He said good thing I did not go with the 80mg, because it probably would not have brought my pulse down, but my BP. He said Coreg is not a good one to help with rapid pulse. So... now I am on 5mg of Bystolic & 20mg of Croeg CR.
The bystolic knocks me out. It takes about an hour 2 after I take it, and I can feel my whole body just relax. Like it is not working hard. I actually slept good last night.
Thursday... I done an echo- stress test. I walked on the treadmill. He wanted to see how high my pulse gets when I walk while I am in pain and not getting remicade. He was quite unhappy about my RD not letting me have the Remicade. He said the more pain, inflammation, and aggravation I have trying to deal with uncontrolled RA will just raise my pulse even more.
I lasted almost 8 mins. I got to stage 2, and then I noticed it was headed to stage 3, so I asked what happened at stage 3 they said jog. I said no. I have RA my right knee is swelled and my right hip is bad. Then they knocked it back to 3 MPH, but still let it incline. They wanted my pulse to get to 164. Before I gave up from not being able to keep up, my pulse was at 174. Good thing I took an extra 5mg of pred the night before. So I could walk.
Both techs were talking about how I was too young to have RA, and asked when I was DXed told them 18 months old and they said "poor you". Like I really wanted to hear that.
That stress test really pooped me out. I came home laid down and then around 9pm, I took a nap. I almost did not want to get up when hubby woke me up.
Oh and cardio Dr said prednisone could cause me to have a rapid pulse, but he was not going to decrease that since I obviously need something to keep me mobile. He said he will rule out everything else before decreasing my prednisone.
Well... that is my last 2 days in a nutshell.
Sorry so long. If you made it this far, thanks for caring so much. Joonie,
Wow, that was a lot to endure. It seems as though your cardiologist is a very caring doctor and that's a good thing. I'm sending you a cyber hug...Sorry you had to wait so long to see him, and will have to go through all this testing, but hopefully it will answer some questions. It sounds like he is a very caring and thorough doctor. I have my fingers crossed for you Joonie that this is the guy that will figure all this out for you and get you feeling better.
Karen
Wow- I got tired just reading about what you had to go through and now it sounds like some more tests to do!
Wasn't that TEE test the one where they couldn't fit something in your mouth?
Hey Joonie, maybe you'll get some clear cut answers now. I hope so. This doctor sounds like a winner. I was wondering about Corgard being given for a rapid pulse but I didn't mention it, thought that maybe meds had changed or given for different reasons than when I was nursing back in the stone age.
I'm really happy that you're getting decent care and that they're searching for the answers. I'll add to that cyber hug (((J))). Lindy
I had a appoint almost identical to that last month. He also said he did not know who my pulse was elevated and my BP is also elevated. I passed out after the echo-stress test because my BP got so high during it.
Wow--that is a LOT to keep up with. I hope he can sort things out...It sounds like this doc is thourough and very caring, so worth the wait. How often wil you be seeing him? At least next time you'll know to bring a book or something. I hope that when he figures everything out, it'll be easy to correct. As always, my prayers are with you.
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