Thursday, October 07, 2010

Patience is a virtue

I was hoping to have the results of my 24-hour EKG earlier this week, but my doctor was out of the office, and today, her first day back, she was already booked, so I have to wait until tomorrow to go over it with her.

Having to wait kind of sucks. I've been pretty calm about things up to now, but I'm still having the fluttery feeling, plus some new annoyances that may or may not be side effects of the medication I'm on, and my patience is getting a little thin.

It's boring to me and to my family to always be paranoid about every little twinge or burp. I'm trying not to complain too much, because John gives me this look, like he's torn between worry and thinking I'm a hypochondriac. :) But this is my blog and I can complain here if I want to.

Most of the physical annoyances are right there on the package insert, so I haven't let myself get too worked up over them. Oddly, I haven't experienced any of the symptoms on the "very frequent" side effect list. But headache, shortness of breath during exertion, stomach ache from the "frequent" list, and pains around the heart area and muscles cramps from the "occasional" list? Check, at least in small doses off and on. As long as they go away again within a day or so, I chalk them up to the medication and don't worry about them. But there is one spot right between my shoulder blades that hurts (and I kept accidentally whacking it against the edge of the kitchen counter while sitting on a stool in there this morning, grrr); it could just be from working at a desk, but I don't like it.

I have also developed a burping problem. Laugh if you like, but it is extremely annoying. Water makes me burp. A banana makes me burp. Not eating anything for over an hour makes me burp. The icing on the cake was some bad reflux last night while sitting on the couch, upright, after one of the healthier meals I've made in a while (baked fish, rice, and stir-fried veg). Now I just need to find out if the chalky antacid I have is ok to use with my medicine. I guess it doesn't matter, because I had to use it last night, and I'm still here this morning.

Maybe tomorrow I'll get some useful news.