Much of my life I saw my heart as the enemy. From my first physical at the University of California, as a freshman of 17, and after running up a few flights of stairs, I was told I had a heart murmur and began to view my heart as something to fear.
It didn't help that my father, who was 40 years older than I, had a heart attack... Read more
I apologize for being absent the last few weeks. About six weeks ago, I was in the car ready to head out for a nice drive in the Sierras with friends and my dogs. We had a picnic lunch packed and even some wine from a local vineyard. And then, the oleanders at the other side of my front lawn attracted my attention.
"Wait just a minute," I... Read more
Whenever I go to a doctor, I expect a clean bill of health. In this, I suspect I'm not very different from most people. Even if a symptom is bothering me and I've managed to convince myself that it's serious - the stomach ache that means cancer, the dizzy spell that means stroke (you know, the self-diagnoses we make when our worrywart minds... Read more
The first thing I noticed about atrial fibrillation had nothing to do with my heart or chest. The first thing I noticed was that my lips for some reason felt tingly. I would only notice this in the evenings, when I had settled down and was watching television. My lips would have a strange cold, stingy sensation. After a couple of... Read more
Last time, I talked about cardioversions, and their purpose. In today's blog, I'll talk about my own cardioversion.
Once I was given the diagnosis of Atrial Fibrillation as the reason for my breathlessness and strange feelings in my chest, I decided to go to a cardiologist who specialized in irregular rhythms called an... Read more
