Friday, November 9, 2012

hypothesis re my chest pain: dehydration

i used to get very rare chest pain, usually just a twinge when i was stressed at work. but during my period last month and this month i had episodes of severe, scary chest pain that felt like a heart attack. i took 4 baby aspirin for both. in the first case the pain went away in about 15 minutes. in the second case it was instantaneous, leading me to believe it wasn't the aspirin at all. it may have been the cup of water i drank with the aspirin?? anyway, the commonalities are that these last 2 very severe episodes didn't happen when i was under physical or psychological stress. they both happened during my period- i tend to have such a heavy flow i have to take aleve to cut it down or have anemia from cumulative blood loss. also around my period i crave sweets and junk more, and i eat clean 90% of the time, so it is a big difference glucose-wise or soybean oil-wise when i eat junk. so my previous 2 hypotheses were that 1) that the pain was due to hormone fluctuation 2) some reaction to a glucose spike, soybean oil, etc. the first one is scary cuz i don't want to manipulate my hormones because of increased chance of getting breast cancer. the junk food one should be easy to do- just don't eat it, especially around my period. but i couldn't resist all those chocolate bars in my daughter's pillow case!!! my third hypothesis is dehydration. eating lower carb + a little more coffee as diuretic + losing fluid from my period + never thirsty/thirst mechanism is messed up = super constipated/chapped lips/dry skin AND it may also be messing with my electrolyte balance and just the necessary amount of water the body needs to function minimally. easy fix. i am making sure i have lots of bone soup and at least 1 bottled water a day. plus i try to have some magnesium at night. my calf muscles have been cramping a lot since i went lower carb. the drive for low carb came when i realized i seem to have impaired glucose tolerance. today i had half an apple though in case i am overdoing it with low carb. i just recently had an echocardiogram to rule out any irregularities. i am waiting for the doctor's follow up phone call. it was fun seeing my cute little valves seem to raise their 'arms' up and down together! so anyway, besides carrying around baby aspirin everywhere just in case, i will be strict no junk food at all around my period. i will also continue to drink more fluids- at least so i don't have constipation and chapped lips!!! then i'll see by my next period if maybe one (or both) of my hypotheses was correct. update: i also have to consider gastric reflux: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/heartburn-gerd/DG00016/NSECTIONGROUP=2

1 comment:

  1. i had my worst episode of heart pain in february. it came 2 days after a cold sore. i was not dehydrated at the time. i had blood work done and my vitamin d was 19, so maybe that let in an infection that was related to the heart pain? i also think i have some bacterial overgrowth (h.pylor?) as i started burping after eating this winter and i have really never burped at all before. maybe the low vitamin d has something to do with that as well. also, the hear pain might have been related to the above precipitating GERD. my no down side response to this is to use my vitamin d lamp (sperti), i propped up the head of my bed a little with books under the mattress, i am sipping through a straw a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in a little water after lunch and dinner, and i want to see if my insurance will pay for a sleep study since i think my never getting a good night's sleep has also run me down.

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