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Hi All,
Had my appointment with the cardiologist.
My heart gave the doc a good show today. Usually it seems to quiet down before an appointment and make a liar out of me. LOL. You know how that goes. But i'm having a pretty bad HCM day (week, month) so he got to see and hear all the fireworks.
My blood pressure was 150/90 which is very high for me. It's usually right around 110/80 or close to that. He reiterated that although we should continue to exhaust all drug options, he isn't very confident that drugs alone can tackle my high gradient (and the symptoms). He's setting me up with a Holter monitor on monday to try and get a better picture of what's going on.
I kinda get the impression from him that my HCM is on the downward spiral right now. Although the septal wall thickness doesn't really change over the years, he explained that the high gradient puts a lot of stress on different areas of the heart (mitral valve, etc.) and that over time, symptoms can get progressively worse as the ol' ticker wears out. Makes sense i guess.
He doesn't have any answers for me, but at least he was good enough to come right out and say that, which i respect. He wants me to see a colleague of his at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center who has apparently devoted his practice over the last ten years specifically to HCM. I'll send a message to Lisa and see if she's heard of him.
He was also good enough to write a letter to the chairman of my department at school to outline what's been going on. I was in the hospital last week for one of my midterms, and i've been looking and feeling pretty haggard lately. Even the cardiologist today told me i look like crap and asked me if i was using recreational drugs. Yikes! I know i'm no beauty queen these days... but really
Thanks,
Jim
Had my appointment with the cardiologist.
My heart gave the doc a good show today. Usually it seems to quiet down before an appointment and make a liar out of me. LOL. You know how that goes. But i'm having a pretty bad HCM day (week, month) so he got to see and hear all the fireworks.
My blood pressure was 150/90 which is very high for me. It's usually right around 110/80 or close to that. He reiterated that although we should continue to exhaust all drug options, he isn't very confident that drugs alone can tackle my high gradient (and the symptoms). He's setting me up with a Holter monitor on monday to try and get a better picture of what's going on.
I kinda get the impression from him that my HCM is on the downward spiral right now. Although the septal wall thickness doesn't really change over the years, he explained that the high gradient puts a lot of stress on different areas of the heart (mitral valve, etc.) and that over time, symptoms can get progressively worse as the ol' ticker wears out. Makes sense i guess.
He doesn't have any answers for me, but at least he was good enough to come right out and say that, which i respect. He wants me to see a colleague of his at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center who has apparently devoted his practice over the last ten years specifically to HCM. I'll send a message to Lisa and see if she's heard of him.
He was also good enough to write a letter to the chairman of my department at school to outline what's been going on. I was in the hospital last week for one of my midterms, and i've been looking and feeling pretty haggard lately. Even the cardiologist today told me i look like crap and asked me if i was using recreational drugs. Yikes! I know i'm no beauty queen these days... but really
Thanks,
Jim
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