Heart Health

Fasting has been something that I have done regularly on a monthly basis where we take the money saved on food and give it to charity to help those who are struggling.  Occasionally, we are asked as part of our church to fast for additional purposes.  Our former pastor and neighbor was recently diagnosed with aggressive leukemia and we were asked to join in a ward fast if we would like to.  I was happy to do so.  I've also heard through educational sources that fasting is good for the body on occasion as well.

We were asked to begin our fast at 4pm and close it the following day after church at 4pm.  About 2pm the following day, I began to have symptoms that scared me.  I experienced splotchy vision and a feeling that I might pass out.  I decided I needed to do something for my own well-being and drank some juice and had a few chips.  Following this, my left arm went numb and I had a headache that throbbed, especially if I lowered my head.  After joining the congregation at the church to end the fast, I then ate a normal meal.

The following day, after a regular breakfast of raisin bran, I went to a clinic to participate in a University Study comparing women who had given birth to healthy babies with those who had had babies with cleft-palates. I was part of the norm group, having had 5 healthy babies.  After drawing my blood for future DNA studies, my blood pressure was taken repetitively for 10 minutes.  After which I was told that my blood pressure was low.  I told the nurse that my blood pressure was usually at the low end of normal.  She said, "This isn't the low end of normal, this is very low!"  She mentioned that the lowest reading was 70 over 50 and the other 3 were 80's over 60's.  I had a headache at this time as well, and suddenly I connected that maybe all my symptoms over the past months may have been blood pressure related.

I have had numerous headaches lately, been tired, had blurred vision, and coupled with the symptoms during fasting that may have effected my blood pressure, I decided it was time to see my doctor.  During surgery to remove the tumor on my thigh last month, the monitors went off repeatedly due to low blood pressure.

My doctor is in the process of running numerous blood tests which included a cortisol study that meant I had to have an IV through which cortisol was administered and blood was drawn 4 times with 30 minutes in between.  He said my heart beat is uncommonly slow, my EKG was abnormal (not the first time this has happened), and had 3 vials of blood drawn at the office to check anything that might be related.

I use reading glasses because of my 45 year old eyes, but my far vision has always been excellent.  Lately, I've had blurred vision that changes - maybe due to blood pressure.  I hope we can get this figured out soon, because I've had to consider that with the vision changes, I may not be a safe driver.  If I can't drive, I can't work, get my kids to Jordan Hills, etc. Joy!  I can't imagine losing my independence, especially since I've already lived through 16 weeks of not driving while my right foot was in a boot and my doctor would not clear me to drive.

I've never thought I was above the law and figured it would be just my luck to get pulled over or in an accident if I'm not doing the right thing... so I try to follow the law.  My ex husband wouldn't hesitate to write me a ticket so I figure I'd better live right!

I hope we'll figure things out soon and that it won't be anything serious!