Aa
Help me figure out a plan to live
Hello
I'm 24, male, 17.8BMI, physically semi-active (i have to walk 3-4 hours a day though due to my job), usual BP 120/80
My heritage seems quite healthy, all of my grandparents are still alive(oldest being 87) and my relatives generally seem to drop dead at around 80 from heart failure. As far as i know none of them has chronic diseases that arent age related.
And then there is me with GERD, MVP, scoliosis and health anxiety.
The annoying part started off with GERD, got diagnosed at 20 years old, my gastroenterologist thinks its due to sliding hiatal hernia.. it's mostly very managable with a single antacid when going to bed but sometimes no amount of pills can keep it down. Those rough periods last around 1 week - 2 months during which i take daily 40mg pantoprazole and as much antacids as I'm allowed. This barely lets me sleep at night.. and sometimes it doesn't.
The scoliosis i've had since childhood and i've been working on it.. Regardless, i think somehow in combination with the GERD its causing major back, ribcage and shoulder pains(all on my left side). It feels like a sort of nerve pain or inflamation pain that is very much affected by my posture, it's also making a muscle in my neck very stiff and sensitive. I rarely experience it on its own but its always there on- and worsened by the reflux heavy periods. Usually changing the way i sit or stand helps but sometimes the only things that help are raising my left arm up or a hot shower.
I'm not sure what exactly its caused by but i can also feel every single heartbeat i have when i lie down. Super annoying, started around when i was 18.. off and on and now its stuck on on. The higher my blood pressure, the harder i feel it. In the mornings its barely noticable but when going to sleep, the heartburn seems to hike my bp and then it's like godzilla is coming for me. The only thing that helps here is a tactile distraction, i can fall asleep easily in a moving car for example but when at home i have to twitch my feet or hands or whatever until i doze off..
The MVP diagnosis i got a little while after GERD, got myself checked out due to constant palpitations, my cardiologist said its no big deal since its just 5mm. I usually get around 1-2 PVC's a day that i notice, what really freak me out are the few episodes of ventricular tachycardia i've had, have had it 4 times total, each lasting 1-3 minutes. From what i can tell lieing on my back and heightened BP increases the amount of PVC's i experience quite significantly.
And this is where the health anxiety comes in, specifically about my heart. I'm thinking since during some moths my chest feels like a warzone with all the burning and thumping and pain it was only to be expected... The anxiety runs come suddenly and wont let me sleep at night, sometimes lasting months and are usually triggered during the rough months with my GERD when a PVC feels like a punch in the gut. Feeling my heart when lieing down doesn't help either since its just screaming for attention. I've ended up spending quite a few nights in the ER since during those times, hooked up to a heart monitor is the only way i feel safe enough to fall asleep.
Now all of that said, i would obviously like to not go through those cycles or at least minimize their effect. Last year i lost 6 months (creative job/passion, cant be very creative when either scared out of my mind or trying to fall asleep for 3+ hours) and this year the toll has been 4 already. Every time seems to get a little worse and longer. I keep hoping for a magical underlying super rare syndrome thats easily cured by a single pill :P meh....
I'm 24, male, 17.8BMI, physically semi-active (i have to walk 3-4 hours a day though due to my job), usual BP 120/80
My heritage seems quite healthy, all of my grandparents are still alive(oldest being 87) and my relatives generally seem to drop dead at around 80 from heart failure. As far as i know none of them has chronic diseases that arent age related.
And then there is me with GERD, MVP, scoliosis and health anxiety.
The annoying part started off with GERD, got diagnosed at 20 years old, my gastroenterologist thinks its due to sliding hiatal hernia.. it's mostly very managable with a single antacid when going to bed but sometimes no amount of pills can keep it down. Those rough periods last around 1 week - 2 months during which i take daily 40mg pantoprazole and as much antacids as I'm allowed. This barely lets me sleep at night.. and sometimes it doesn't.
The scoliosis i've had since childhood and i've been working on it.. Regardless, i think somehow in combination with the GERD its causing major back, ribcage and shoulder pains(all on my left side). It feels like a sort of nerve pain or inflamation pain that is very much affected by my posture, it's also making a muscle in my neck very stiff and sensitive. I rarely experience it on its own but its always there on- and worsened by the reflux heavy periods. Usually changing the way i sit or stand helps but sometimes the only things that help are raising my left arm up or a hot shower.
I'm not sure what exactly its caused by but i can also feel every single heartbeat i have when i lie down. Super annoying, started around when i was 18.. off and on and now its stuck on on. The higher my blood pressure, the harder i feel it. In the mornings its barely noticable but when going to sleep, the heartburn seems to hike my bp and then it's like godzilla is coming for me. The only thing that helps here is a tactile distraction, i can fall asleep easily in a moving car for example but when at home i have to twitch my feet or hands or whatever until i doze off..
The MVP diagnosis i got a little while after GERD, got myself checked out due to constant palpitations, my cardiologist said its no big deal since its just 5mm. I usually get around 1-2 PVC's a day that i notice, what really freak me out are the few episodes of ventricular tachycardia i've had, have had it 4 times total, each lasting 1-3 minutes. From what i can tell lieing on my back and heightened BP increases the amount of PVC's i experience quite significantly.
And this is where the health anxiety comes in, specifically about my heart. I'm thinking since during some moths my chest feels like a warzone with all the burning and thumping and pain it was only to be expected... The anxiety runs come suddenly and wont let me sleep at night, sometimes lasting months and are usually triggered during the rough months with my GERD when a PVC feels like a punch in the gut. Feeling my heart when lieing down doesn't help either since its just screaming for attention. I've ended up spending quite a few nights in the ER since during those times, hooked up to a heart monitor is the only way i feel safe enough to fall asleep.
Now all of that said, i would obviously like to not go through those cycles or at least minimize their effect. Last year i lost 6 months (creative job/passion, cant be very creative when either scared out of my mind or trying to fall asleep for 3+ hours) and this year the toll has been 4 already. Every time seems to get a little worse and longer. I keep hoping for a magical underlying super rare syndrome thats easily cured by a single pill :P meh....
CoQ10 is available at Walgreens, Walmart, and most drug stores. It is also available from Amazon and most health food stores and catalogs. It gets pretty expensive.... just so you know.
Ah i should have mentioned, i already take 470mg of magnesium + centrum multivitamin and 75mg of aspirin daily. I have not heard of coq10 nor seen it for sale, i guess ill try and research it.
There is not just one magical pill to help MVP - what helps me is taking CoQ10 and a Magnesium supplement.
CoQ10 has the ability to "control" palpitations whether fast or slow - Yay! :D Anyway, I haven't had too many nights with palpitations unless I forget to take my CoQ10 that morning. Before this I was taking Amitriptyline to control it.
Magnesium supplements also help as they prevent muscle spasms. Did you know some heart attacks are actually a heart spasm? (Kind my daughter has) It can also stop zaps, that choking feeling, tingling, numbness, and a plethora of other "symptoms". Might want to give it a try. I take 250 mg. a day - but I am a petite female. You might need more.
I hope these supplements help. Wishing you the best.....
CoQ10 has the ability to "control" palpitations whether fast or slow - Yay! :D Anyway, I haven't had too many nights with palpitations unless I forget to take my CoQ10 that morning. Before this I was taking Amitriptyline to control it.
Magnesium supplements also help as they prevent muscle spasms. Did you know some heart attacks are actually a heart spasm? (Kind my daughter has) It can also stop zaps, that choking feeling, tingling, numbness, and a plethora of other "symptoms". Might want to give it a try. I take 250 mg. a day - but I am a petite female. You might need more.
I hope these supplements help. Wishing you the best.....
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