Fear of congestive heart failure

[torontoCPAPguy]

I have talked with my Cardiologist a lot about CPAP. He is sure that it has helped keep me away from having a Heart Attach due to keeping my airways open while I sleep!

Very likely. CPAP keeps the airway open and keeps the SpO2 up. You want it above 90% ALL the time, especially when awake, but even while asleep. The lower your SpO2, the higher your blood pressure and pulse rate is going to be. I speak from having that T shirt on life support last summer. Your BP can go so high that they will call your family to gather and say their goodbyes as it is tough, very tough to get that BP down the lower your SpO2 goes. Now normally it wont stay low for all that long before your brain wakes you up to tell you to breathe deeply and get SpO2 up. But if you are compromised with pneumonia, flu, bronchitis, whatever and simply cannot get enough oxygen into your lungs and body even when they are ramming it into you? The BP skyrockets and you need to practice bending over backwards cuz you are going to be kissing your butt goodbye. Heart attack, stroke, aneurism, split Aorta, you name it. Something is going to kill you.

The other thing you need to know is that CPAP is going to help keep that SpO2 up and hopefully above 90% while you are asleep and that is a very good thing for your overall health anyways. Your liver and other vital organs will function very well at that level and you will find that things like diabetes responds better to medication, etc.

Good solid SpO2 simply cannot be overemphasized in importance and absolutely everyone that owns a CPAP machine needs to also own a pulse oximeter.... I use the CMS 50E recording oximeter and it works very well. I record every night pretty much and print out in the AM and into a binder. I take it to my pulmonologist every visit. A dropping SpO2 and corresponding rising heart rate is an almost guarantee of skyrocketing blood pressure and alarm bells should be ringing. I have an Accutor automatic BP system that the hospitals use but when the cuff inflates it wakes me up so I don't generally use it at night. What you will find is that when your SpO2 is stable and above 90% all the time your BP will decrease generally. A good thing.

[Calist]

Call ya doctor.

[LoQ]

Do NOT take no for an answer and be like a pit bull. call EVERY day for cancellations and make a pain in the butt of yourself once you have those referals to cardology and pulmonology.

I'm going to suggest that this might not be the best approach. I agree with being your own health advocate and politely insisting on getting what you need, but to make a pest of yourself and deliberately be a pain in the butt may not be in your best interest. Any doctor, at least in America, is free to fire you from his practice. It is a two-way relationship, just like employment.

Doctors are human, too. Just as you don't appreciate bad behavior from them, they don't appreciate the same from you. Most doctors are supportive of their staff. It's human nature. I am simply suggesting that you drop the pit bull act and be polite to everyone at the office.

Here's the difference:

Poor choice: "I DEMAND to be seen today."

Better choice: "Do you have any cancellations today? I hate to be so insistant, but I really feel like I need to be seen as soon as possible. Do you have a cancellation list I could be put on?"

[snuginarug]

You guys are all giving me good advice and much appreciated encouragement. ((( hugs ))) to all!

I receive my healthcare at the county public health center. That sounds sort of barbaric, but actually they are pretty good. However, I have to deal with insane bureaucracy. Many suggestions, such as a cancellation list, after hours service and talking to a NP are out for me. I pretty much can wait for my October 26 appointment, or go to the walk in clinic. The walk in clinic will most likely send me to the ER. But I feel the need to jump through all the hoops, so that is what I'll do... go to the walk in clinic, probably go to the ER, then get started on the referral process. The referral process is a squeaky wheel adventure. They just stick your referral order in a huge pile and leave it there until you call them about it. If you don't know this, you can wait months while your referral order just sits there. From then on, it should be easy to access the care I need, because I will be dealing with private practices from there on out. Going to the ER may expedite the process a bit, as far as referrals go. I believe the hospital can do referrals as well as my PCP, according to how my insurance works. But we'll see.

I feel very nervous about this. I sort of feel like Well, it has waited this long, can't it wait a bit longer? But really it can't. If I have congestive heart failure or am on the road to congestive heart failure, I need to get on the proper medications ASAP, as well as getting into a physio or rehab program, or whatever you call those programs. All this is stressing me out to the point of tears.

[OutaSync]

Hang in there, snug, we're all pulling for you because we care.

Bev

[snuginarug]

Hang in there, snug, we're all pulling for you because we care.

Bev

Thank you Bev, It means a lot to me that people care. I don't have a whole lot of support in real life, so it really helps to know you care.

I am extremely frustrated and upset this morning because i was only able to get 2 hours on the hose, because of nasal congestion. Fewer hours on the hose equals more water retention. More water retention scares me, and also is uncomfortable. I hate this. I wish I had enough money to purchase a FFmask as a back up, but I need car repairs and probably will have to borrow money for that.

[Julie]

What you need to do right now, today, is get to see a doctor, some doctor, wherever you can. At the very least you'll very likely need a diuretic of some kind, but please use what the MD orders, not something from a health food store that the internet advertised. Just get it done and come back here later and let us know what happened.

[M.D.Hosehead]

I think Julie's right. Go to the ER.

[robysue]

Adding my support to Julie's suggestion that you get seen today by getting yourself to an ER.

And when you do, make sure you tell the triage person that you are very, very worried you may have congestive heart failure. That should help minimize the waiting period. You need to be seen far faster than someone with a dislocated knee for instance, no matter how much pain they may be in.

[BobF4]

Snug, my friend,

I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers. Please keep me informed, either in the chat room or in a PM, of how things are going for you.

Bob

[resistance]

Please don't put it off, Snug. Do something today. Just get yourself in there, they'll pay attention to your case one way or another. IMO things will go better than you think and you'll be glad that you took that step.

And just think of it, this may be your first step to a big change and lead to a new healthy life too. You know, sometimes fear motivates people better than everything else.

We do care about you. Please keep us updated.

[Maz7176]

Hi All I am new to this but I would like to tell you my story as I think it would help many of you, the lady who fears congestive heart failure, ECG's can show normal and you can still have a problem, I was having these turns where I would get light headed, feeling very tired and lots of other symptoms, I to am over weight, I did feel a fluttering in my cheast went to the doctors he said all the test were normal this went on for 8 months I was feeling so bad that I though I was dieing. Then when I had these turns I started blacking out and hurting myself when I fell. Went back to the doctors all the test result were normal but I new there was something wrong so I went to a different doctor who sent me to a cardiolicist. And all the test were normal I was so frustrated that I thought all these doctors would think I was nuts. My cardioligist suggest that I have this devise surgicaly implanted that monitors my heart and when I have a turn I had to place this instrument over it to mark and save the cardic reading, so I did within the week I had a turn rang him up and he said to come in and he would check it they attach it to a computor to read. When he read it he would not let me leave his office he told me that I could drop dead any moment that my heart was stopping and I was only having 1 beat every 10 seconds 6 beat/min my pulse was within the hour he order the Royal flying doctors to fly me to the capital city to have a pace maker put in, later they found it was sleep apnea that was making my heart stop. Please if you are going to diet don't do it by yourself do it with a doctor so that he can watch your health while you do it Good luck with it all.

[snuginarug]

Well, I decided to wait until this morning (Monday) to go to the walk in urgent care clinic thing. It turns out that a lot of the discomfort in my torso is from a urinary tract infection.... apparently, I've got quite a raging one. They did an EKG which was normal. My weight is down, but my blood pressure is up. I'll be seeing my regular doctor in 10 days. It was really hard to explain myself, how I became aware there was a problem because it went away. But then it came back. The nurse really had a hard time understanding what i was saying. The doctor understood a bit better. I don't know. I am still a bit concerned about the swelling in my torso, and if, when the antibiotics take effect, I am still having feelings of swelling and discomfort, I'll talk to my doctor about it. My regular doctor really listens to me, a lot more than the RN who saw me today. I could tell he thought I was being dramatic and that he wanted me to go away. But I did get to see the urgent care doctor, despite the RNs reluctance. The urgent care doctor was pretty good, had them do an EKG right on the spot. He understood what I meant when I said I wasn't thinking real clearly pre-cpap. Anyway I feel they took me seriously, did what was necessary, and I am OK except for this huge urinary tract infection. It would be nice if this course of antibiotics took care of things. No one had anything to offer on the topic of feeling breathless upon lying down. But they asked me a ton of questions about my chest pains, and didn't seem concerned. But in 10 days when I see my regular doctor, I will be sure to go over all these things again, point by point, and make thoroughly sure she understands what I am saying.

Thank you all for your support, you guys are really great. It's nice to be taken seriously. (Pfft, that RN made me pretty mad.)

[OutaSync]

I'm so glad that you have an appointment with your regular Dr. in 10 days. A urinary infection is not fun and can lead to more serious infection if not treated, so at least you have that taken care of.

Rest up and feel better soon.

Bev

[Julie]

Hi, glad that you did get moving and see someone, but I'm still a bit worried as UTI's don't generally cause bloating, so now even if congestion isn't necessarily the problem, kidney disease (rather than 'just' a UTI) is not something you even want to flirt with, and I wouldn't necessarily wait the full 10 days if you don't feel better within 3 (the outside time antibiotics should take effect, not that you shouldn't finish their course, however) before seeing someone else.