<div><span class="gmail_quote">On 8/13/08, <b class="gmail_sendername">Niall Munnelly</b> <<a href="mailto:aleph@aleph-null.net">aleph@aleph-null.net</a>> wrote:</span>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">I was on the beach, idly throwing a stick around for the<br>dogs, when the dizziness hit. There was a sudden pressure<br>
in my chest and my left arm went numb {but it also hurt, if<br>that makes sense}. I thought, "Well, this is a pretty good<br>place for it," and waited for the inevitable to come, but it<br>didn't. I just felt like shit. Shivering and sweating, I<br>
drove to my aunt's house. She's a nurse, so she took my<br>pulse and blood pressure, which were both really high, and<br>she took me to the doctor.<br><br>The doctor has this prosumer ECG thing {they don't say EKG<br>
here} with attendant software that spits out probable<br>results. I looked at the screen while he was away.<br>Possible myocardial infarction. Atrial fibrillation,<br>something something ischemia. Visions of cheeseburgers<br>
danced in my head. When he returned, he took great pains to<br>assure me that the program is very conservative, that is to<br>say liberal in its diagnosis. It's best to err on the side<br>of caution when an overweight guy's talking chest pains.<br>
<br>I spent the night and most of the following day sitting<br>around between batteries of tests, including three or four<br>more ECG readings. Clean slate. Blood tests indicate<br>/slightly/ elevated cholesterol, but no damaged tissue in<br>
the heart. ECGs show a perfectly happy, healthy heart,<br>ticking transient after transient in better time than a 909<br>ever did. I even did that treadmill test and just about hit<br>my target heart rate, but I'd been fasting and ran out of<br>
steam. All this bog-trotting out here's done me some good -<br>I'm healthier than I look.<br><br>So, they sent me home, citing a plethora of probable causes<br>- a strained muscle in the thorax. Pleurisy. Anxiety. My<br>
chest and arm still feel like a great dane is sitting on<br>them.<br><br>--<br>Yours,<br>Niall.<br>.. . . . . . . . . .<br>Aleph Null. A Simple Insinuation Around Silence.<br>
<a href="http://aleph-null.net">http://aleph-null.net</a><br>.. .. gpg public key - <a href="http://aleph-null.net/niall.gpg">http://aleph-null.net/niall.gpg</a> .. ..</blockquote>
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<div>Kinda sounds to me like a stroke or minor heart attack. I hope not, for your sake. FWIW, try to start an exercise regimen if you have the time/money. I don't have much free time, but my wife got me to sign up last year on my birthday to our local Powerhouse gym (where she'd been going for the last 5-7 years) and I can tell you within a few weeks I was feeling stronger and healthier than before. Unfortunately the annual membership fee ran out on my birthday a couple weeks ago and I'm gonna have to wait until I get paid in a week or so to have enough money to re-up for the next year.</div>
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<div>A little cardio and weight training isn't such a bad hobby to have, especially as you get older (37). Keeps you fit, flexible, and hopefully out of the doc's office.</div>
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<div>--komatos</div><br> </div>