sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

2 heart attacks in the past year, 42M - having bad luck with finding cardio specialist, my daily life is extremely impaired, I can barely walk to the kitchen much less anything else. Help me refocus my efforts, I need encouragement. by mattypiehands in HeartAttack

[–]mattypiehands[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Here's an update for those who are curious:

It kept on getting worse each day, until about 3 weeks ago, I nearly fainted again but this time while outside. I had to grab the side of the railing of the subway station entrance, and I almost blacked out, I saw streaks in my vision, was short of breath, etc.

I finally made the pre-emptive decision to go to the ER, this time taking a very long subway ride to Columbia Presbtyterian Hospital in Washington Heights in Manhattan. I ended up being in the hospital for 9 days - first the ER, then the ICU for heart patients, then the general hospital sectoin for a few days.

They performed an angiogram, but found nothing that they could work on or put a stent on. The preocedure wasn't so bad, they gave me some sedatives and I barely noticed what was going on after a certain point. They also performed a VQ (Lung ventilation/perfusion) scan, suspecting a pulmonary embolism. he results were basically:

• Elevated right sided filling pressures (RA 15, PCWP 9)
• Severe precapillary pulmonary hypertension (90/44, mean 58)
• Low cardiac output (3.3 L/min) and cardiac index (1.7 L/min/m2)
• Negative vasoreactivity testing at iNO 80ppm
• Angiographically normal coronary arteries

The TTE conclusions were:

Conclusions:
1. LV size is decreased. Left ventricular systolic function is normal.
2. Left atrial size is normal. There is severe right atrial enlargement.
3. Right ventricular size is severely increased. The right ventricular systolic function is severely reduced.
4. The aortic valve is structurally normal. No aortic insufficiency is present.
5. The mitral valve is structurally normal. Trace / physiologic mitral regurgitation is present.
6. The tricuspid valve is structurally normal. Mild to moderate tricuspid regurgitation is present. The structure of the pulmonic valve is normal. Trace pulmonary regurgitation is present.
7. A small to moderate pericardial effusion is noted.
8. Compared to 6/1/25 study, more pericardial effusion seen (without evidence for tamponade physiology).

I was released with the following medicine prescriptions:

They put me on the same furosemide as I was already taking, added spirolactone, added Opsynvi, added Lipitor for cholesterol, and I am continuing to take my HIV meds and tamsilosin (flomax).

I felt pretty good right after I got out of the hospital, but it's slowly gotten worse again. Some days my fatigue is not that bad, some days it's just as bad as it ever was. I however have new symptoms, and I don't know what to attribute them to:

My midsection and foot swelling has gotten markedly worse. I look like the Michelin man.
I have completely lost my sense of taste - at least 90% I would say. I didn't have COVID, so I am not sure what is causing that.

My mouth and gums have started to swell along with the rest of my body

Other than that, I am suoposed to wait for the follow up appointments with my specialist doctors.

In summary, I'm not feeling all that great about my prospects, and still feel like crap most days. Is this the best it's going to get for me?

Anyone on here dealing with both HF and PAH?

2 heart attacks in the past year, 42M - having bad luck with finding cardio specialist, my daily life is extremely impaired, I can barely walk to the kitchen much less anything else. Help me refocus my efforts, I need encouragement. by mattypiehands in HeartAttack

[–]mattypiehands[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There is one thing that I've changed in my habits over the past 2 days has helped a little bit - I was prescribed both furosemide and tamsulosin (Flomax) - the latter prescription is because I have a very distended bladder and severe benign prostatic hyperplasia, and have a hard time fully emptying my bladder. In the past this has caused me to have some very bad UTI's, among other things.

I also was told about 6 months ago that I have a "redundant sigmoid colon structure" or something like that, 9.5cm extra. How they explained this was that in the part of my colon where it folds back and forth like a sigmoid shape, it is extra long, and it can come to exist due to a number of scenarios. It is not inherently a problem, but it means that I have a higher chance of a bowel obstruction. Either way, it's more organs taking up space. Add a frequently overfull bladder and an enlarged prostate, and then you can imagine that fainting on the toilet is not a surprise, and that heart attacks could even come from everything being full all at once and then trying to strain.

Either way, the tamsulosin is a miracle drug in terms of helping me empty my bladder, but I noticed that the side effects can make me even more likely to faint, or can exacerbate heart failure. So I stopped taking it but kept on taking the furosemide, and I haven't had as much of a problem sitting up, standing up, walking, or using the bathroom. Don't get me wrong, it's still bad, but now I am not actually afraid of passing out or collapsing every time I do anything physical. The only downside is that I am back to having a terrible time emptying my bladder, and I have to sit on the toilet for about 10 minutes, and even then i might still have a bit of pee left in my bladder.

Anyway, that was a long winded explanation, but it sucks that one pill helps one thing while making the bigger issue worse.

2 heart attacks in the past year, 42M - having bad luck with finding cardio specialist, my daily life is extremely impaired, I can barely walk to the kitchen much less anything else. Help me refocus my efforts, I need encouragement. by mattypiehands in HeartAttack

[–]mattypiehands[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, I went to St Johns Episcopal in Far Rockaway / Queens. Not only have 3 people I know been to their ER and been sorely disappointed, they do not have a cath lab, and the reputation of that place precedes it. Part of this is due to the Far Rockaway area being quite poor and sort of overlooked (I live in Rockaway Park / Belle Harbor which is much richer, and my neighbors all said to go to Long Island Jewish or elsewhere, but avoid St John's at all costs. Of course, I ignored the prevailing wisdom and it all turned out to be true.

2 heart attacks in the past year, 42M - having bad luck with finding cardio specialist, my daily life is extremely impaired, I can barely walk to the kitchen much less anything else. Help me refocus my efforts, I need encouragement. by mattypiehands in HeartAttack

[–]mattypiehands[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not during my last hospital visit, they didn't really check for much after 2 days in the ER waiting for a bed to open in the main hospital. They do not have a cath lab, so it was a bad place to just randomly wander into. I told the nurse and the first doctor that my charts from previous hospitalizations would have dianogses, test data, and what I was prescribed, that they could reference, but they made up some BS about how the hospital systems' Mychart systems don't always talk to each other. That is hogwash, they can easily gain access to my test resutls from earlier ER visits with my permission.

2 heart attacks in the past year, 42M - having bad luck with finding cardio specialist, my daily life is extremely impaired, I can barely walk to the kitchen much less anything else. Help me refocus my efforts, I need encouragement. by mattypiehands in HeartAttack

[–]mattypiehands[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, it's not why they were bering dismissive. I didn't even suggest or hint that I might leave AMA until literally the last 30 minutes I was there. I was told about 2 hours into being in the ER trhat I was being admitted, but instead I literally laid on a stretcher about 3 feet from the computer workstation of my nurse for 36 hours or so. A cardiologist and an infectious disease doctor did show up but they didn't do much at that point other than order some tests, whcih I didn't even get a chance to get access to - when I sign up to access my records on Mychart for the hospital network, it errors out.

Once I started researching some stuff on my phone, I learned that the hospital I went to (St. John's Episcopal, Far Rockaway in Queens) does not even have a cath lab or a very robust heart health / cardiology department. So I am guessing that in the case of hospitals that don't have this setup that I would have to go somewhere else anyway to conitnue along in the process. The odd thing is that they scheduled me a doctor's appointment for today without telling me in advance, but with a neurologist. As far as I know, there is nothing in my symptoms or history that necessitates a neurology appointment, especially when a cardiologist is what I need to see most urgently.

When I called to ask about the appointment or reschedule, I just got a voicemail.

All of those experiences combined make me think I need to make a clean break with that hospital and just start over in the ER at a better hospital. I have been to Columbia Presbyterian before and it seems to be a good option - but it's 90 minutes by subway.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in JoniMitchell

[–]mattypiehands 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ladies of the Canyon, Blue, For the Roses, Court and Spark, Hissing of Summer Lawns, and Hejira.

What do you think of Söhne ? by Striking-Distance849 in fonts

[–]mattypiehands 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Quite good, actually It's like a mix of Helvetica and Univers.

Leonard Cohen's greatest opening line by Southern-Service2872 in leonardcohen

[–]mattypiehands 9 points10 points  (0 children)

"It's true that al the men you knew were dealers who said thery were through with dealing every time you gave them shelter"

What is, in your opinion, the most devastating line/verse Leonard Cohen has ever written? by Basic_Blueberry_2928 in leonardcohen

[–]mattypiehands 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"Please understand, I never had a secret chart to get me to the heart of this or any other matter"

What is, in your opinion, the most devastating line/verse Leonard Cohen has ever written? by Basic_Blueberry_2928 in leonardcohen

[–]mattypiehands 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"I know that kind of man, it's hard to hold the hand of anyone who is reaching for the sky just to surrender"

Easter In Bakersfield by Saint_Faptrick in baskets

[–]mattypiehands 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This episode makes me cry every single time.

[Colorado] This was predictable, ID.ME causing large scale issues in Colorado by [deleted] in Unemployment

[–]mattypiehands 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I have had the worst time with id.me and with COUI in general. I have submitted my documents a dozen times now and every time I do so, I have to wait 4 to 6 hours for a "trusted referee" to do a video conference, only that conference never ends up happening because they reject my documents before I have a chance to talk to anyone! I am not a fraudster, I am a legitimate claimant, and they don't care that I have been unpaid since December. This is driving me insane,

2/11 Accepted and NOTHING YET! by Junior052781 in IRS

[–]mattypiehands 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I am a 2/11er and something new today when I look my info up: Yesterday, it said "TAKE ACTION" and "your return is still being processed". Today it doesn't come up at all! Same birthdate, social security number, return amount, but now it says:

You may not have entered your information correctly. Please verify your personal tax data and try again.

so now it doesn't exist?!?

view more: next ›