Dehydrated: Anybody been there?

(Pete Cresswell) wrote:
I had a scary experience yesteday.

About 30 minutes into a morining ride, I started feeling sick to the stomach and
my heartbeat became noticibly irregular. Sat down for awhile, felt a little
better, decided to turn around and ride home...felt worse immediately,
experienced some dizziness.

Called my wife to come and drive me home.

Felt lousy most of the rest of the day - extremely quick to tire, heartbeat up
around 140 just sitting in a chair... Slowly got better over the course of the
day.

I don't think it was a heart attack because I'd had a 'clean' cardiac
catheterization only a couple of weeks before - having foolishly told my doc
about some chest discomfort that I'd experienced. That was good for a week's
lost pay while going here and there for various diagnostic procedures prior to
the cath.

I did, however, wind up chugging about three very large glasses of water with
dinner that nite and it tasted *really* good.... I'd also been under a lot of
stress - I'm a contractor and my contract with a place I'd been serving for
about 10 years finally expired and was not renewed. Working 10-hour days to
clean up loose ends and all that....

Somebody's gonna say "don't mess around, see a doctor immediately...". Been
there as described above...lost the pay, no disease found....

So, bottom line, was my little adventure consistant with dehydration?


Been there, done that, almost bought the farm.
Get your ass back to the doctor.

Extreme dehydration in 30 minutes? Don't kill yourself coming up with
theories.

-Marcus

How hot was it? You say you don't ride too hard. Early morning weather in
most places in this country (you don't say where you are)this time of year,
it would be pretty difficult if not impossible to become dehydrated from
normal.

What was your weight? You can get cumulatively dehydrated over several
days, but your weight would be on the order of 3-5% below normal as a
consequence.

What color was your pee? When dehydrated, your urine is very dark in color,
and you will produce little of it.


There are cardiac things other than "attacks". Arrhythmias have their own
symptoms, not usually including "pressure or pain" and can be
life-threatening. It is amazing what medical people know. The fact that
you don't understand it doesn't make any difference. Go to the doctor while
you still can.

--

__o
Keep on Ridin' `\
(*)/(*)
***********************************************
* Al Williams *
* San Jose CA Chief Cyclist, DNRC *
***********************************************

How hot was it? You say you don't ride too hard. Early morning weather in
most places in this country (you don't say where you are)this time of year,
it would be pretty difficult if not impossible to become dehydrated from
normal.

What was your weight? You can get cumulatively dehydrated over several
days, but your weight would be on the order of 3-5% below normal as a
consequence.

What color was your pee? When dehydrated, your urine is very dark in color,
and you will produce little of it.


There are cardiac things other than "attacks". Arrhythmias have their own
symptoms, not usually including "pressure or pain" and can be
life-threatening. It is amazing what medical people know. The fact that
you don't understand it doesn't make any difference. Go to the doctor while
you still can.

--

__o
Keep on Ridin' `\
(*)/(*)
***********************************************
* Al Williams *
* San Jose CA Chief Cyclist, DNRC *
***********************************************

RE/
Something is missing here. It would take more than one incidence of chest
pain casualy mentioned to your doctor to buy you a cardiac cath.

Correct - although the chest symptoms weren't pain, but a feeling of fullness
that spread to the jaw and arms. That precipated a series of tests prior to
the cath. One of the tests showed a 25% decrease in something called "ejection
factor" that the doc could not explain. That's what lead to the cath.

The other thing that's missing is that this particular doc was a close friend of
my late brother, who didn't quite make it to 45 before dying from a heart attack
shortly after finishing med school.

I, however, didn't get all of the genetic package that he had and my blood
lipids are, per the doc, well under control. I think his relationship with my
late brother is making him more cautious/conservative than he would be otherwise
- i.e. he doesn't want to lose another one.

My take is that after all the tests I've been through recently it's futile to go
back for more until the problem becomes replicable upon demand.
--
PeteCresswell

RE/
Something is missing here. It would take more than one incidence of chest
pain casualy mentioned to your doctor to buy you a cardiac cath.

Correct - although the chest symptoms weren't pain, but a feeling of fullness
that spread to the jaw and arms. That precipated a series of tests prior to
the cath. One of the tests showed a 25% decrease in something called "ejection
factor" that the doc could not explain. That's what lead to the cath.

The other thing that's missing is that this particular doc was a close friend of
my late brother, who didn't quite make it to 45 before dying from a heart attack
shortly after finishing med school.

I, however, didn't get all of the genetic package that he had and my blood
lipids are, per the doc, well under control. I think his relationship with my
late brother is making him more cautious/conservative than he would be otherwise
- i.e. he doesn't want to lose another one.

My take is that after all the tests I've been through recently it's futile to go
back for more until the problem becomes replicable upon demand.
--
PeteCresswell

RE/
Been there, done that, almost bought the farm.
Get your ass back to the doctor.

What was the diagnosis?
--
PeteCresswell

RE/
Been there, done that, almost bought the farm.
Get your ass back to the doctor.

What was the diagnosis?
--
PeteCresswell

"(Pete Cresswell)" writes:

My take is that after all the tests I've been through recently it's futile to go
back for more until the problem becomes replicable upon demand.

The best would have been to go in while you were having the
symptoms. It is too late for that, but at the very least you should
call your doctor and tell him/her about this.

Did they tell you if you had an MI in the past?

An element of caution IS warranted because of your brother. An
ejection fraction of 25% is abnormal. I would ask if they verified
this when they did the cath.

You need to talk to your doctor.

"(Pete Cresswell)" writes:

My take is that after all the tests I've been through recently it's futile to go
back for more until the problem becomes replicable upon demand.

The best would have been to go in while you were having the
symptoms. It is too late for that, but at the very least you should
call your doctor and tell him/her about this.

Did they tell you if you had an MI in the past?

An element of caution IS warranted because of your brother. An
ejection fraction of 25% is abnormal. I would ask if they verified
this when they did the cath.

You need to talk to your doctor.

(Pete Cresswell) wrote:
RE/

Been there, done that, almost bought the farm.
Get your ass back to the doctor.


What was the diagnosis?

Pete

I don't wish to discuss my personal medical history any further on usenet.
Please forward this to my email address with your valid e-mail address
and I will respond directly.

-Marcus