(Potential) Health Problems
September 20th
Today in the morning I went to my dentist for a scheduled appointment for root canal work. The first anesthetic didn’t work, I could still feel sharp pain while the doctor was drilling, so she gave me another one. Within 30 seconds, I could feel there was something wrong with me — there were cold sweats and nausea, and overall weakness in my chest area. I was able to tell my dentist that there is something wrong and that I don’t feel well. The next thing I remember is the faces of my dentist and her two assistants over me telling me to keep my eyes open and breathe and not panic. My feet were propped up, the chair was in a flat position. Apparently, I lost consciousness for a short while and my blood pressure that they took as this happened was 73/39 with a pulse of 41. The ambulance was called and showed up in 20 minutes, the EMT guys took me inside the vehicle and ran different tests. At this point I felt much better, I could walk to the ambulance on my own. The tests overall didn’t show almost anything wrong with me (almost — more on that in a minute). They said that it could be an adverse reaction to anesthetic (which I doubt since I’ve been getting two doses of those injections at my dentist without an issue every single time I go there). They also said it could a reaction to stress, that my body reacted this way to a sudden relaxation from anesthetic after a long time being under pressure (and that is very possible). EMTs also said that my EKG is off (they ran it 3 times and I could tell there were concerned about it) — there is a visible problem with one of my heart valves. They advised that I don’t need to go to the hospital, but I need to check it with my family doctor and cardiologist right away. I had my EKG done a year ago and there were no signs of anything wrong with my heart then. I have set up an appointment with a family doctor for an afternoon tomorrow and for an initial consultation with a cardiologist for Wednesday morning — and I will take it from there. This afternoon, I feel much better — I spent the rest of the day at home, mostly in bed, but there are obvious concerns for me in all that. I did a thorough medical check last year after I started a recovery from my alcoholism, which didn’t show anything much wrong with me. Now, I know some issues still might come up because of decades of the way I abused my body with an addictive substance. The stress from work I’ve been living with for the last months could be a trigger for those issues, as is the genetic history — my mom and her sister and grandmother all suffered and suffer from different cardiac alignments.
For now, my action plan is easy and already set — I want to do a thorough check with all the possible specialists of anything to do with my heart. Based on that — I will follow the advice of doctors on a prescribed therapy and change or adjust my life accordingly to better my health. This is the most important thing in my life — my well-being, my health, and my ongoing recovery.
Everything else, be damned and go to hell. I will take care of myself first.
