I haven't got time to write a better comment, but stopping past to say that I've found Vertical Development the most helpful conceptual framework for my own growth and for making sense of others.
As a mental model, it has applications from very basic to extremely rich and complex.
I've worked as an eng/manager/executive coach and keep discovering new insights.
I always enjoy discussing it more if you're interested
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Last time I had my cholesterol checked about 6-7 years ago, it appeared normal, though my HDL was low. I'm 31 now and have been having a weird heart feeling. Not a pain though, but like beating issues. Depending on what I eat and which supplements I take, my heart starts beating weird and my blood pressure goes up.
The weird beating seems like my heart is either beating normally or weakly and then there's a "hiccup" every minute or so. When I lay down with my ear against the pillow when this happens, I can hear my blood flow, which seems weird, like my blood containing tubes/pump is wider than the amount of liquid in the chambers; like an echo-y water flow sound.
Part of me thinks this is the L-arginine I take (to get "swoll" as they say) combined with the amount of caffeine I take in? Another part of me thinks this is a valve issue from bacterial endocarditis, since I still have my wisdom teeth, though I brush 3+x/day, but I've had 2 splinter hemorrhages without trauma on my fingernails recently, though I like any signs of Osler nodes.
I'm 6'1", 184-ish, muscular build, so maybe it's all in my head and the above paragraphs are the result of hypochondria exacerbated by a lack of health insurance or the money to even pay for a routine doctor's visit. I mean, I eat all healthy homemade food; currently cooking black beans + garbonzo beans to make a hummus of sorts.
Hoping my anxiety stays tempered long enough for me to get back on my feet while finishing my current project.
EDIT: I forgot to mention a frequent shortness of breath, though like in Jason Scott's case, this doesn't seem to prevent me from physical activity, but it bothers me that I can't take deep breathes all the time.
I used to get these skipped heart beats all the time (I even went to the emergency room thinking I had a heart attack over it several years ago), along with tightness in the chest.
I also went to a cardiologist about it, and he pretty much just said "your EKG is normal and you're fat, work out 7 days a week, have a low fat diet, and lose weight".
It stopped being anywhere near as frequent, along with a drop in resting heart rate, lower blood pressure, less back pain (probably due to less inflammation) once I went on a low carb diet (notice the low fat diet the cardiologist suggested didn't help much) last year. I also lost 45 lbs in four months, mostly just the diet. I certainly didn't work out 7 days a week.
I have periodically cheated since, and each time I get a reminder I shouldn't because I get skipped heart beats, tightness in the chest, and an elevated heart rate and blood pressure.
I'm not sure the mechanism behind this (anyone? local doctors have been completely unhelpful), and I almost wish there was another cause, because every once in awhile I really, really want to have those carbs, but I feel a lot better overall when I don't.
I am not a doctor. Here are some thoughts (addressed to both you and the GP):
I have a hietal hernia[0] that causes reflux and dyspepsia (trouble swallowing) and mimics these heart symptoms: shortness of breath, arrhythmia, chest pain, and tachycardia. A ketogenic diet helps, as does an OTC PPI[1] (e.g. Prilosec, Nexium). You might consider getting scoped to see if you have one as well (or just take a PPI for two weeks and see if it helps).
I've had arrhythmia since I was a teenager. Some of it is sinus (i.e. pressure on my vascular system caused by breathing) and some of it is not[2]. I've found that taking a daily multivitamin helps considerably, as does a diet rich in magnesium and potassium (occasionally supplemented), so I must have some deficiencies. I can't take too much pseudoephedrine (and try to avoid it completely after a particularly scary episode). Regular exercise helps as well. If I start to freak out about a particularly bad spell of arrhythmia and/or palpitations, I tell myself to eat an apple or a banana and go for a walk.
Alcohol and caffeine wreak havoc on all of the above, so I can't drink like I did in my 20s, and I try to limit myself to one pot of coffee per day. ;-)
> "your EKG is normal and you're fat"
If I had a nickel for every time I've heard that...
If you have bacterial endocarditis[3], that could explain why a low-carb diet is helpful: lower blood sugar -> less fuel for bacteria -> reduced heart valve inflammation. Maybe.
I have something else going on right now that I don't understand: waking up at night with back pain under my right shoulder blade, anxiety, and arrhythmia. I went to the hospital after the third incident and the EKG, blood work, chest X-ray, CT scan, etc. didn't reveal anything. I suspect it's stress-related and either an ulcer or bacterial endocarditis, so I need to get those looked at by specialists. I also had a clot in my leg last year for which I needed six months of blood thinners, so I wonder if that's related...
Thanks for that, I'll look into it. I wouldn't be surprised if I had something similar to that hernia. I thought I had pancreatitis for awhile, but that looks like it fits better.
I also just got an MRI and an ultrasound for a hard lump on my leg to make sure it wasn't a clot (they thought it was cellulitis but antibiotics didn't make it go away, now they think it was cellulitis and the remnants just might just stick around for awhile).
Honestly I'm just tired of getting all this checked out all the time. I max out my rather high deductible pretty quick these past couple of years, mostly to get tests taken that (so far) have been negative, so I don't really know what's actually wrong (although apparently the doctors don't ever think it's too serious, but I'm worried they make some assumptions because of my weight and something more serious might be hiding).
I agree, getting old sucks. And I'm still considered too 'young' for half the things they're testing on me, from what they keep telling me.
It's likely https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premature_ventricular_contract..., a lot of people have them but some people feel them more than others and unfortunately once you start noticing them it becomes really annoying (needless to say the more caffeine you take/the more anxious you are, the more you will feel them). Still you should do a heart check with a cardiologist to be sure there is no underlying condition (unlikely) which can help living with it by being less anxious.
Consider asking your doctor for a coronary artery calcification (CAC) scan. It only takes a few minutes and in the US typically costs only $100. For some reason it doesn't seem to be very well known, but high scores seem to be a reliable indication of heart disease.
It's probably worth going to a doctor to get an EKG and get checked out. If your heart beat is irregular (either the time between beats seems random, or you have pauses or early beats), it could be a sign of an electrical disturbance in your heart.
A highly irregular rhythm, e.g. where your heart goes beat..beat..beatbeatbeat.beat...beat..beatbeat may be a sign you have Atrial Fibrillation, and you should definitely jump on that if you do.
Similar thing happened with my grandfather. He was a great athlete, was the varsity quarterback for a division 1 school, and was on the varsity basketball and baseball teams. He had his first heart attack at 27. He was lucky, though. Managed to live another 50 years with serious heart disease.
* Sitting a lot (Standing desk didn't help, regular breaks and walks did.)
* Diet (Carbohydrate heavy)
* Alcohol consumption
* Lack of intense exercise.
Of all of those, diet and alcohol consumption were the most important. No one really understands how these metabolic processes actually work, it seems.
During the recent radio coverage of the current Ashes tour, between England and Australia, I heard a great quote about Sir Donald Bradman, the famous Australian cricket player. It went as follows: In the 1980s, England's fast bowler Bob Willis had the fortune to meet Sir Donald Bradman, legend of cricket. Bradman had been the dominant player from the 1930s and 1940s and the Australian had amassed stats that are unlikely ever to be bettered. Willis was keen to get The Don's view on what he might have averaged if he had played in the modern game. Bradman looked at Willis and replied that he reckoned that he would have averaged about fifty runs per game. Willis expressed surprise, having thought that the great man might have expected to have averaged more. Bradman looked Willis in the eye and then responded along the lines of "Well, I am in my seventies now!".
I have watched on TV Ian Chappell narrate this same story, as an incident between him and Bradman when they met at a party celebrating Bradman turning 90. Very likely apocryphal.
Bradman survived the 'Bodyline' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodyline) series where the bowlers (pitchers in American parlance) literally targeted the body to injure the players and to hamper Brandman's prowess. It had the desired effect (Brandman only averaged 56 for the series as opposed to his career average of 99.94) and resulted in multiple injuries.
As long as he gets the advantages of modern nutrition, fitness conditioning, and analysis, then I'm pretty sure Bradman would tower over modern day players.
Don't forget, in Bradman's time, there were no covered pitches, leg side theory was legal, batmen didn't wear helmets or much in the way of protection (and bowlers weren't that much slower than they are now).
As a mental model, it has applications from very basic to extremely rich and complex.
I've worked as an eng/manager/executive coach and keep discovering new insights.
I always enjoy discussing it more if you're interested