I was hospitalized over the weekend after having rapid pulse and tight chest and being unable to breathe deeply. This began toward the end of my 1st half-marathon at Rope Mill trails on Saturday. I'm so used to coming right down to normal pulse and respiration after a hard effort that this really surprised me. I noticed it about 2 miles from the finish. I'm sure my heart rate was 170-180 and my breathing was labored. I was really tired. I had 1 bottle of water to last me the entire race. Dehydrated? I didn't feel dehydrated. Once I finished the race my pulse was still racing and couldn't take a deep breath. This same thing happened last summer during a routine mountain bike ride. I wrote it off as a one-time event. I found an EMT after the race and told him my symptoms. He called another EMT over and they immediately put me on oxygen. They took my blood sugar. It was fine. No other symptoms such as nausea. I did notice a very dull pain in my chest at one point when this began. I thought I could be having a heart attack. No pain in my arms though.
Breathing calmed down after probably 20 minutes on oxygen. Pulse stayed at 140 forever it seemed. Finally after a half hour pulse dropped to 120 and EMTs were satisfied I was ok.
Next morning I went for my swim workout and same thing happens. Rapid pulse and unable to breathe deeply. I decided to go to Urgent Care and they sent me to the ER. I told them symptoms and they immediately thought heart attack. Gave me nitroglycerin and morphine because I said my pain was increasing. Morpine was nice and took care of all my troubles. It was a mild pain on the left side of my chest. Anxiety? Who knows... That pain is now gone. ER doctor had me stay overnight and schedule ECG and Stress Test. Also in the ER, my EKG was normal. Chest Xray negative. Wheeled to my room and I kept thinking, "I don't belong here." But I was really scared. My parents came down on Father's Day. They truly are angels. Speaking of angels, my wife was there practically the whole time and was supportive and upbeat.
Nurses were nice and food was passable for hospital. Took a sleeping pill but it didn't matter because they kept waking me up hourly to test vitals and take blood. My arms are butchered from needles. Woke up at 9am and waited for ECG. ECG (ultrasound) was over in 20 minutes. It was freaky to see and hear my heart. ECG results were negative. Next I went to get the stress test. I wasn't counting on being injected with die so they could photograph my heart! They put me in an MRI-like tube which really made me uncomfortable. I closed my eyes and imagined I was somewhere else. The first session under the camera took 15 minutes. That seemed to take forever. Next I went to the stress test room which had a treadmill. I looked at it with longing because I was so enthused about getting some exercise. They made me wait 20 minutes for the doctor to come in. A lot of waiting! My blood pressure was up and one of the overweight nurses asked me if I was on blood pressure medication. My reply was, "I don't have high blood pressure. That camera machine freaked me out plus I have white coat syndrome. " I didn't say that hospitals freaked me out, I'm totally stressed out from all this and I've just spent the night in a hospital. I don't think they realize what it's like on the patient side sometimes, or most of the time. They said I set a record on the treadmill for taking the longest time to get to 85% Max Heartrate when they can inject the next round of die to photograph my heart. I was proud but I already knew that I'm in great shape. They don't realize who they're dealing with here. Back to the camera for 15 more minutes of photographs. I was more zen this time about it after having got a bit of a workout.
Next back up to the room where Renee was waiting. She was such a trooper. All told, it was another 3 hours before the doctor came in with us waiting on pins and needles for the result. All tests were negative except sodium count was high because I had only had IV fluids over the previous 14 hours. Duh!
Discharged around 4:30pm feeling relieved and slightly embarrassed. I guess piece of mind is a valuable thing.
Today I am feeling some tightness in my chest and feel a little uncomfortable taking a deep breath. This could still be me recovering from my race effort on Saturday, only time will tell.
What caused this? the doctors didn't know. It's strange for an athlete to come in with those types of symptoms. My heart checks out though. My only concern is something pulmonary might be lingering.
PS: Red Bulls and energy drinks in general are bad news apparently. I maybe overdid it on those too. Time to find something else.
Breathing calmed down after probably 20 minutes on oxygen. Pulse stayed at 140 forever it seemed. Finally after a half hour pulse dropped to 120 and EMTs were satisfied I was ok.
Next morning I went for my swim workout and same thing happens. Rapid pulse and unable to breathe deeply. I decided to go to Urgent Care and they sent me to the ER. I told them symptoms and they immediately thought heart attack. Gave me nitroglycerin and morphine because I said my pain was increasing. Morpine was nice and took care of all my troubles. It was a mild pain on the left side of my chest. Anxiety? Who knows... That pain is now gone. ER doctor had me stay overnight and schedule ECG and Stress Test. Also in the ER, my EKG was normal. Chest Xray negative. Wheeled to my room and I kept thinking, "I don't belong here." But I was really scared. My parents came down on Father's Day. They truly are angels. Speaking of angels, my wife was there practically the whole time and was supportive and upbeat.
Nurses were nice and food was passable for hospital. Took a sleeping pill but it didn't matter because they kept waking me up hourly to test vitals and take blood. My arms are butchered from needles. Woke up at 9am and waited for ECG. ECG (ultrasound) was over in 20 minutes. It was freaky to see and hear my heart. ECG results were negative. Next I went to get the stress test. I wasn't counting on being injected with die so they could photograph my heart! They put me in an MRI-like tube which really made me uncomfortable. I closed my eyes and imagined I was somewhere else. The first session under the camera took 15 minutes. That seemed to take forever. Next I went to the stress test room which had a treadmill. I looked at it with longing because I was so enthused about getting some exercise. They made me wait 20 minutes for the doctor to come in. A lot of waiting! My blood pressure was up and one of the overweight nurses asked me if I was on blood pressure medication. My reply was, "I don't have high blood pressure. That camera machine freaked me out plus I have white coat syndrome. " I didn't say that hospitals freaked me out, I'm totally stressed out from all this and I've just spent the night in a hospital. I don't think they realize what it's like on the patient side sometimes, or most of the time. They said I set a record on the treadmill for taking the longest time to get to 85% Max Heartrate when they can inject the next round of die to photograph my heart. I was proud but I already knew that I'm in great shape. They don't realize who they're dealing with here. Back to the camera for 15 more minutes of photographs. I was more zen this time about it after having got a bit of a workout.
Next back up to the room where Renee was waiting. She was such a trooper. All told, it was another 3 hours before the doctor came in with us waiting on pins and needles for the result. All tests were negative except sodium count was high because I had only had IV fluids over the previous 14 hours. Duh!
Discharged around 4:30pm feeling relieved and slightly embarrassed. I guess piece of mind is a valuable thing.
Today I am feeling some tightness in my chest and feel a little uncomfortable taking a deep breath. This could still be me recovering from my race effort on Saturday, only time will tell.
What caused this? the doctors didn't know. It's strange for an athlete to come in with those types of symptoms. My heart checks out though. My only concern is something pulmonary might be lingering.
PS: Red Bulls and energy drinks in general are bad news apparently. I maybe overdid it on those too. Time to find something else.