Last year, I went through a lot of cardiac related stuff.
In March, the nodes that regulate my heart rhythm seemed to simultaneously start acting up -- I had three competing arrhythmias that could have killed me. My heart couldn't move my blood efficiently because the chambers were all working against each other.
This couldn't be managed using medications - I wound up having an ablation on the right side of my heart. Because I have a mechanical valve, I couldn't get the node near the aortic valve ablated.
A pacemaker helped regulate the heartbeat and has, mostly, eliminated the other arrhythmia.
Now -- I'm wondering why all the nodes simultaneously went bad.
In late February or early March, my wife saw a physical therapist who wasn't feeling well and told her about relatives who had the virus (I don't think it was described as a pandemic yet). My wife developed congestion in her chest and throat and it was probably healed by antibiotics (which suggest a bacterial, rather than viral, infection). I'm not sure if I developed any symptoms.
It's possible that I may have had COVID-19 (if my wife actually had it), but a mild infection - and tested negative a few weeks after my wife and I had it (if we did) - the tests in the hospital would have shown negative. They didn't run antibody tests.
I'm wondering if it's possible - or even likely - that my heart rhythm problems were a result of getting COVID-19. My doctors didn't rule out the possibility.
I'll probably have an antibody test to help validate or invalidate this possibility.
In March, the nodes that regulate my heart rhythm seemed to simultaneously start acting up -- I had three competing arrhythmias that could have killed me. My heart couldn't move my blood efficiently because the chambers were all working against each other.
This couldn't be managed using medications - I wound up having an ablation on the right side of my heart. Because I have a mechanical valve, I couldn't get the node near the aortic valve ablated.
A pacemaker helped regulate the heartbeat and has, mostly, eliminated the other arrhythmia.
Now -- I'm wondering why all the nodes simultaneously went bad.
In late February or early March, my wife saw a physical therapist who wasn't feeling well and told her about relatives who had the virus (I don't think it was described as a pandemic yet). My wife developed congestion in her chest and throat and it was probably healed by antibiotics (which suggest a bacterial, rather than viral, infection). I'm not sure if I developed any symptoms.
It's possible that I may have had COVID-19 (if my wife actually had it), but a mild infection - and tested negative a few weeks after my wife and I had it (if we did) - the tests in the hospital would have shown negative. They didn't run antibody tests.
I'm wondering if it's possible - or even likely - that my heart rhythm problems were a result of getting COVID-19. My doctors didn't rule out the possibility.
I'll probably have an antibody test to help validate or invalidate this possibility.
