When the lifevest sounds..........

I've been writing about sodium because that's what has been taking up most of my time lately but I need to interrupt to discuss my latest development.  As you know, I am wearing a life vest for at least 3 months until my next echocardiogram.  I am following the instructions and I only take the life vest off to shower.  Although I'll admit that in the beginning I was so tempted to take it off for a decent night’s sleep.  Now, I am so used to the sensors in my side and "paddles" on my back, I might actually miss it. 

On Christmas day, my life vest alarm went off twice.  I was moving around and rubbed the sensors so I called the company to see if this was an actual alarm or a false alarm.  Just as I suspected, they said it was a false alarm and that my heart activity was fine.  I've had several alerts from the vest but they are more like friendly gongs that tell you to fix the sensors.  These alerts are a little unnerving, especially at night, but I quickly realize what the alert is for and fix the vest.

 

Fast forward to a couple of weekends ago.  It was about 12:45am on Saturday when my life vest alarm went off.  Not the usual "check your sensors gong" but the audible "bystanders stand back/do not interfere" alarm.  Since I was asleep, the alarm woke me up (which I think could cause anyone to have a heart attack) and I called the company hoping but not expecting them to tell me it was a false alarm.  I didn't do anything to set it off and I wasn't really moving at the moment; I was asleep. 

The customer service rep told me that the vest was working correctly and it picked up an arrhythmia.  My next step should be to call my cardiologist in the morning (Saturday morning) or on Monday.  Of course, I could barely sleep the rest of the morning and I decided at about 8:30am to give them a call.  I was greeted by their answering service and then transferred to the on-call doctor who said that he would pull the report and let my doctor know what type of arrhythmia it was.  While I was asking him if someone would call me back, he hung up.

I am not sure if any of you can imagine but that made for a very anxiety filled weekend and anticipation for Monday.  On Monday morning, I called the office and played phone tag with one of the nurses only to be told that the doctor wanted me to come in for an appointment.  Doctors really need to work on this communication thing.  I think since I already am aware that something is wrong, they should be able to tell me what it is.  Not knowing sometimes is worse than knowing.

My appointment was scheduled for Wednesday so I spent the next few days researching arrhythmias and patient life vest stories.  An arrhythmia is an abnormal heart rhythm where there is a problem with the rate or the rhythm of the heart.  There are many types or arrhythmias.  Some cause the heart to beat too fast, others to slow and some erratic.  When the heart isn't beating correctly, it isn't pumping blood correctly and other organs may be damaged because they aren't receiving blood.

 

The cardiologist told me at my appointment that the recording of the night when the alarm went off showed ventricular tachycardia.  This is a very fast, dangerous heartbeat caused by a malfunction in one of the heart’s ventricles. It is a pulse of more than 100 beats per minute with at least three irregular heartbeats in a row.  The symptoms are palpitations, an uncomfortable awareness of the heart beating rapidly or irregularly, dizziness or lightheadedness, shortness of breath, chest pain or angina, near-fainting or fainting, and weak pulse or no pulse.  Ventricular tachycardia may also cause sudden cardiac arrest or even death.

Since I was asleep, I did not notice any symptoms.  My cardiologist said that as of now this had been a one-time thing and he thinks it would be a good idea to wait for my echo before deciding whether I need to have an ICD or similar device implanted.  These are usually implanted when an EF of less than 35% persists longer than 3 months.  I've come to terms with needing an implant.  It would be great if my EF is over 35% at my next appointment but I am also fine with a slow and steady recovery. 

It has been over a week since my alarm when off and I have to admit it makes me nervous to think that I might experience sudden cardiac arrest.  I just pray that this vest works if I ever need it.  I must say that after this last alarm, at least I know the life vest is paying attention.

My New Sodium Restricted Life - Part 2

My New Sodium Life – Part 2

Before I was pregnant and during the beginning of my pregnancy, we cooked most meals at home and would eat out a couple times a week and then maybe once on the weekend.  We started to cook at home more often around my second trimester because I had gestational diabetes and I needed to watch my diet.  However, from time to time, we still enjoyed a few meals at restaurants.  For a couple of months after I had Lovebug, until my diagnosis, I could eat out unrestricted but I didn’t go out very often because we had a new baby at home. 

Sodium at Restaurants

I think that my first time eating out after my diagnosis was around January 13^th.  My little sister came in town for an interview and we decided to grab lunch.  I went online and I pulled up the nutrition facts from many restaurants including the Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Chili’s, and Applebee’s.   I know some people don’t necessarily like to eat at chain restaurants but there aren’t many restaurants, other than chains, that post their nutrition facts online.  There are a few websites like sparkpeople, nutrition-charts, caloriecount, fat secret, calorieking, and healthydiningfinder that have nutrition facts for a wider variety of restaurants.  The problem that I have with third-party sites is I am not sure how accurate the information is and often nutritional details aside from calories, fat, carbs and protein may be missing.  As a personal preference, I would rather be sure that I am staying within my daily limits so I try to stick with restaurants where the nutrition details are listed on that restaurants website. 

Additionally, many restaurants will accommodate special requests for a low sodium diet.  Ask if there are items that can be prepared without salt or seasonings containing salt.  For example, if I eat out and order an egg, I ask them to cook the egg without any seasoning.  I was even told at one restaurant when I made this request that they never put any seasonings in their omelets.  Also, you should request that items, such as cheese, sauce and salad dressing, that are high in sodium are put on the side.  This way you can choose not to eat those items or to eat less than the full serving.

There are two approaches that I have to eating out.  If I’ve decided to have a “cheat meal”, I may or may not look up the nutrition facts and I limit my daily sodium from other meals to 1000mg.  If I am eating out but sticking to my 1500mg limit, I find meals that are under 1000mg and my other meals during the day will make up the difference.   

I decided to go to Red Lobster so that I could stay under my daily 1500mg limit.  I ordered the fried farm raised catfish lunch.  This was 440mg of sodium which includes the tartar sauce (from what I understand).  I added a plain baked potato without salt which dramatically lowers the amount of sodium in the baked potato listed on the website.  Most of their items under Today’s Fresh Fish are low in sodium but it looks like that only includes the fish so be careful when adding sides which are listed separately.  Also, the Create Your Own (“CYO Combo”) meals have some items that are low in sodium.  I am not sure how many you select to create your combo but even two will start to add up.  There are a few items that exceed 2300mg (the daily maximum for adults without heart complications).  The Admiral’s Feast for example is 4,050mg and the Crab Linguini Alfredo is 4520mg. 

I didn’t find as many options when I looked up the nutrition facts for Olive Garden.  The Chicken Margarita, Herb-Grilled Salmon and Ravioli di Portobello are all under 800mg. The Herb-Grilled Salmon is the only dinner item under 1000mg.  It looks like it’s possible to build a dinner with less than 1000 mg.  For example, the pastas all have 10mg of sodium, traditional marinara sauce has 720mg and the chicken topping is 230mg.  Another option is to order the pasta with half the marinara sauce and top with meatballs or shrimp which have 580mg of sodium.  Remember not to add parmesan cheese and it’s probably best to avoid the breadsticks and salad.  If you’re anything like me, no breadsticks and salad at the Olive Garden might make you sad BUT the good news is………. you can order almost any wine, signature wine cocktails, traditional favorites (margaritas) or beer that you’d like.