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Hubby and I got up extra special early to brave the ice storm so we could be at the hospital at 6:30 am for my Tilt Table Test. Check in and what not went relatively smooth. Followed the map to the cardio wing and then the EP lab. The nurse came to fetch me and strap me to the table. First though, she had to set an IV, attach 300 leads and wait for the lab to come play "find the vein" so they could get a couple of vials of my life force. Took 4 pokes and 1 exploratory jabbing session. Then I waited..and waited..and waited. Seems the Dr didn't get up extra special early and got stuck on the highway behind the multitude of ice skating trials. So, I had a little cat nap while the nurse kept an eagle eye on my vitals and coordinated all the patients that were waiting for their turn on the tilt-a-whirl. She told me that usually, one needs to rest quietly for 15 minutes before they give you the whirl but I think she got bored with waiting for the dr and we started chatting. He walks in the room and bam! with no warning, she tilts the table. Previously, my blood pressure had been hovering around 100/60 and my HR around 70. All very well. As soon as she tipped me, my HR shot up to 120.. well.. DUH! She startled me! I figured once he arrived we'd start the "resting quietly" stage again. Anyhow, I lolled there on the table for awhile and it seemed as if nothing was going to happen. They give you 20 minutes to have a reaction then lay you back down and try again. I hung in there for about 15 because one of the last things I remember is the dr walking in and asking how long was left and she said 5-6 minutes. I remember looking at the screen that showed the individual responses of the leads and thought "man, that looks funny" Next thing I know everyone is yelling at me to snap out of it and it felt like someone had drenched me in cold water. The rest is what the nurse and dr relayed to me and hubby. Shortly after the dr walked out, he went to the observation deck and noticed the funny squiggles and came back in. My hr had shot up to 150 and then dropped to 40. My bp was 50/20 and then they couldn't get one at all. The automatic one was reading "unobtainable" and I guess the nurse wasn't having any luck with the manual one either. She said they put something in my IV to help me come out of it but I have no idea what and didn't remember to ask. I got to lay on the table another 30 minutes or so, shivering like a leaf in a tornado while they remarked over how quickly the episode came on and asked my husband a myriad of questions about how I reacted during the other incidents. In short, the doctor said "this definitely confirms my diagnosis" and said, I need to evaluate everything here, but for now, let's do this - he wants me to stop the Verapamil, he prescribed Nodolol, 20 mg. He wants me to only take 1/2 a pill for the first 2 weeks to see whether I have any sort of reaction to it and then increase it to a full pill as long as I don't. By reaction, he's referring to my maybe/maybe not asthma, as the beta-blocker can aggrevate it. He said wants to see me in a month and will begin more aggressive treatment then, depending on the number of episodes I have. He also mentioned a stress echo to see what my body is doing when I exercise.
So, I'm shaky, cranky and tired. But then again, what's new??!
So, I'm shaky, cranky and tired. But then again, what's new??!
