[That one time I fell over]

Friday, April 09, 2010

[That one time I fell over]


(Another imported note from Facebook)

Sheesh, Utah Valley takes FOREVER to get results to my doctor.... i had the test done in February...

Let me back WAY WAY up for those of you who don't know, or saw the monitor and didn't know why...

The Story
Back in January, i wasn't feeling well, and stayed home from work. I laid on the couch, and was watching T.V. my roommates were all gone.. I stood up after a while, and felt the onset of a headrush. (which was normal, i had been laying down for a while) I continued moving back to my bedroom.

As I entered my hallway, things changed. When i usually have a headrush, (if its a big one) My vision goes orange, i get light headed, and you feel funny for 10 seconds. In this case, my vision all went black, i couldn't see a thing, and i was losing my balance, and it was very difficult to think. It was like, zoning out when you weren't trying to.. i was lost in.. no thought. its kind of hard to describe.

I clutched the wall and then literally, in my head i hear a voice say, very very authoritive like: "Laura, sit down NOW! Get down on the ground!" As that was pretty much the only coherent thought in my head, i immediately sat down.... and started jerking.. my whole body went through a jerking motion, but mostly it was my head that kind of felt like it was being whipped back and forth. it lasted about 30 seconds, i think.. i only remember my head moving back and forth, and losing all thought again.

(this had kind of happened before. many years ago.. it resulted in me falling backwards into the porcelin edge of the shower behind me, and losing consciousness. Either i was unconsciously remembering that incident, and in an effort to avoid that, told myself to sit down, (which given my state of mind at the moment, i seriously doubt i could do that) or... someone else was helping me... and i think this all the time.. about how much my Heavenly Father loves me. )

I 'came back' before my vision returned, and was like.. "oh, i'm on the ground" I didn't lose consciousness, cause i was still upright.

I immediately called Socorro, ( i don't remember if she picked up at that time, called my mom, and my grandma (who was a nurse) and we decided not to call the emergency room and just see what happened..

I went to the doctors the next day, and after talking to me, and doing a bunch of blood pressure tests, we determined it was a strange form of Syncope ( a.k.a. in the regular world as fainting)

Basically when you faint, its because your body went into the fight of flight response because of a trigger, and in this case Heather ( my doctor) thought my brain wasn't getting enough blood, and so it caused a flight response causing me to go to the ground ( though, i know the real reason i went to the ground :D) and instead of fainting... produced a seizure-like reaction in me.. its not unheard of, but its not common either. She thought it must have been an irregular heartbeat at the time. If it happened again in the next 6 months, i was to come back in and we'd run a bunch of heart tests.

In February, i was at work, and i had been sitting for a while, and i stood up and walked into Ryan's cubicle to talk to him. I was leaning on the side of the cubicle... and then the next thing i know i'm on my back and looking up into Ryan's face. The only thing that i could think of to do.. was laugh, and i did. I cracked up, and then half-way started to cry because i was so confused, and didn't know where i was, or how i got there.

Ryan: " i was just sitting here, and i heard a thump and thought you had tripped, and i turned around and you were falling on your back.. (sidenote: We're assuming i hit the cubicle wall first and then the ground.. which probably caught my fall..) If i didn't hear your head hit the ground i probably would have thought you were faking it...."
Laura: "thanks for your vote of confidence in my integrity ryan :D "
Ryan: "So.. Laura's dying and i'm the only one over here..."
Stephanie: "OH! .. i thought she tripped.. i'm coming.."

So i went back in to the doctors and got a holt monitor put on for a day. It actually looked kind of cool.. I had wires everywhere.. etc. The picture is hidden somewhere in the profle picture album...

The Results

Ok. Here's what they said, in the simplest terms possible.. (mostly because i can't explain it any other way)


There are to parts of your heart that beat.. This is how it makes the BU-BUM sound. (Part1-Part2) (I vaguely remember seeing the word Ventricular on one of the names if that helps). One beats, and then the other beats. The monitor recorded a couple anomaly's. For the first part of the heart, something, other than the pacemaker, ( the think that controls the beating) was telling my heart to beat weird at 7 different times. And, Something, other than the pacemaker told the other part to beat irregularly 5 different times...

While that's kind of irregular, that's not enough to count as a irregular rhythm. So.. basically i wrote this long note to tell you.. we're still not sure what happened or what's wrong with me.

However.. nothing has happened since, so.. i may be out of the water for what ever it was.

3 thoughts :

Ashley Serena said...

That's incredible. :) Ten-billion gold stars to you for following that prompting. You just may have spared that mother from an incredible heartbreak.

Anonymous said...

so you'll not be dying anytime soon then



oh well

Liz said...

laura, im glad you aren't dying. you're only allowed to die from old age... i hope you stay safe!

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