Lupus & Heartproblems

The most common heart problem linked to lupus is an inflammation of the sac around the heart. This may cause severe pain in the left side of the chest. People with lupus are also more likely to develop plaques that narrow or clog the arteries. This can lead to coronary artery disease. Other complications include heart valve disease and inflammation of the heart muscle. Call 911 immediately for chest pain, rather than trying figure out the cause yourself.

Urggghh...
Heart problems, and I'm not talking about the emotional type.
For a while I've noticed an increase in my heart rate during physiotherapy. It didn't cause any alarmbells to me. But after it reached 180 bpm for the third time in 2 weeks I figured I needed a checkup. My physicaltherapist was a bit concerned since it's not a normal heart rate for someone my age....aherm. I was perspiring an awfull lot, was out of breath and felt a bit of pain on the left side of my chest. All that....just after 10 minutes of cycling! I was sent home immediately by my therapist after she wrote down the heart rate on a post-it for me. Once at home my chestpain had gotten worse.... - I don't know what it feels like to have a heartattack - .... It felt like I was experiencing a heartattack. I could barely breathe and laying down was the only thing that kept my mind at ease and body in check.


The next day I went and got a checkup by my GP. She in return made an appointment at the hospital for me to get an ECG (Electrocardiogram) and an echocardiogram. That was 1 week or so ago. Today I've visited my GP again for the results.
She told me they thankfully couldn't find anything alarming. But I was told to contact her immediately when I experience any more chestpains or such.

I go about my normal ways and hardly think about stuff like that, even now that I know I have this illness. It can be frightning if you think about it for too long...... But then again what's the use of scaring oneself? Haha.
Still I need to get myself in check and face some facts! Rub it in, so that I am viligent of any weird symptoms popping up that might be the cause for this silly illness of mine to flare again.

To think this is my life now just seems weird to me. My friends have absolutely no idea what I go through when experiencing something like this. Mostly to my own doing. I usually tell them it's nothing out of the ordinary, just a check-up. That they have nothing to worry about. That I'll tell them only to start worrying when I end up in a hospital again. Haha. Why should I let them worry? They've got their own lives and relatives lives to worry about...why add mine to that list? Naaa......it's better this way. Besides I don't want any pity from others...because I wallow in self-pity myself every now and then - -"....AFTER wich I tend to pick myself up again pretty fast.

Anywho....moral of the story is: I'm fine, I'm doing ok, I'll be even better in the future, mark my words you silly illness you!