• HEALTH & RECOVERY
    Welcome Guest
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules Thread Directory 1 Thread Directory 2
    Mindfulness Links Addiction & Mind
    Sober Living Partner Program (SLiPP)
  • H&R Moderators: streaM Freak

Tips on getting healthy? Worried about heart...

J

Juniebun

Greenlighter
Joined
May 1, 2014
Messages
38
Hi, everybody,

I had viral pneumonia this winter with pleurisy. I found out because I had pain under my breasts. I thought that I was having a heart attack, but it was viral pneumonia with some fluid build-up and swollen tissue near my heart and lungs. Luckily, not a lot of it, but enough to give me pain. I had an echocardiogram and other heart-related tests this winter and they came back normal. Over the past month or so, I have been experiencing similar pains under my left breast, but not as strong - it comes and goes. I don't have any pain in my left arm or anything like that. I should mention that even though I have been slender most of my life, I have been overweight for a few years now and pretty sedentary. However, my cholesterol is 165 and my blood pressure is about 120 over 80. My diet has been crap, although I have been trying to eat better over the past two weeks. My anxiety plays a role in this situation, I know, and I am trying to get off of caffeine. What are peoples' comments? Advice, etc.? I would really appreciate some input about what people think is going on...

Thanks,

Junie
 
Welcome to BL :)
Is the pain you're feeling constant? Does it only hurt while breathing in?
Do you take any drug/supplement other than caffeine?
 
Thanks, flyhighk. No, the pain is not constant. It's kind of ocassional, random pain. It reminds me a little bit of when I had viral pneumonia and pleurisy. It doesn't hurt when I breath, I think. I used to drink four caffeinated sodas a day and I am very sensitive to caffeine. That is a lot for me, but I have been addicted to caffeine. I am down to about one caffeinated soda per day now. Maybe, two. I have been told that caffeine interferes with the medications that I take and causes side effects from the medications and the caffeine, so that could be one possible situation. I don't know. I take liquid Sertraline, liquid Abilify (small amount as a booster to my anti-depressant) and Klonopin.
 
Oh I remember your thread in Other Drugs. All stimulants including caffeine can cause your heart to work harder... so that might be the cause. Keep tapering, you should be able to stop drinking caffeinated soda within a month.
Are you sure it's not pleurisy again?
Is your medication prescribed ? I've never heard of liquid sertraline before...
 
Thanks for the input, everybody. Liquid Sertraline is a generic antidepressant. Yes, it is prescribed by a medication nurse that I see every month. It could be the pleurisy coming back, I don't know. I am out of shape, though, so it could be related to that, too. Well, I'm going to start walking starting tomorrow.
 
Like what everybody already said, proper diet and exercise is really important for a healthy heart and healthy body overall. I really think that with time you will get better but you just have to commit to being healthy.
 
ComfortablyNumb95 said:
get off of the caffeine, eat healthy and start with a low intensity cardio exercise everyday (as everyone else said, walking) and once you're fitter start running. that'll help with your depression too! :)
Click to expand...
Thanks, ComfortablyNumb95. I appreciate your comments.
 
Often with pleurisy and anything pulmonary related, once the acute illness has passed there can be a low grade chronic inflammation that lingers. The inflammation can be aggravated by different things, like too much movement or not enough movement, lying in certain positions, eating certain foods, etc. Each person varies so you're going to have get attuned to your body and take note of what tends to make it act up.

Sometimes the inflammation happens because of garbage left behind from the illness that needs to be circulated out. There are different lung herbs you can take, but some kind of exercise that gets the heart rate elevated can get the lymph circulation and that's all it'll take.

Chances are, your heart has nothing to do with what's going on. The left lung has two lobes and it's configured that way for the heart placement. There are some tissues that the musculature and cartilage which hold the heart in place share with the pleural cavity on that side. It's not hard to imagine that any aggravation in the pleural cavity can make it seem like something is happening to the heart, but normally heart pain is extremely sharp and has other deleterious effects that you would for sure notice. If you were having a heart attack for real you wouldn't have to sit around wondering.

If you eat a clean diet (google "anti-inflammatory diet") and undertake moderate movement it will likely get better on its own.
 
I'm doing okay, CN - if I can call you that. I'm working on my diet. I'm drinking more water. The better I eat, the more I'm helping my anxiety situation, so that's good. I hope that you're doing well, too.
 
I need to walk more consistently. I went for three or four days in a row and then stopped. If it isn't raining today, I'll walk my dogs after work.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top