Heart Failure to Transplant: Why Did My Condition Get Worse?

The following was published on my CaringBridge Journal on Oct. 6, 2014

So in my last entry I shared that I started feeling much worse at the beginning of September.  I think there are a lot of reasons for that.

1) In the lazy days of summer, I didn't have to go anywhere or be anywhere specific.  I enjoyed spending time with my kids and puttering around my house and could keep up with things because I set the pace.  I did start to walk a few mornings per week, realized it wore me out too much, and so just didn't go.  Then school started again, and I took Charlotte to school and picked her up from school and helped her with homework after school.  One by one, other fall activities started up too, until my schedule was full: Bible study on Tuesdays, Awanas and a postpartum support group on Wednesdays, MOPS on Thursdays (and work behind the scenes in my <former> role as a MOPS leader), LLL meetings every other Friday, volunteer work with the local birth network.  Nothing in and of itself was so tiring, but it meant I couldn't pace my housework as well.  It was too much for me.  I grew more and more fatigued and finally came down with a bad cold.

2) Since tracking my sodium intake, I've discovered that for the most part, my average diet isn't particularly high in sodium.  But for whatever reason (maybe because I was trying to cut corners and eat more convenient/processed food because of the busy schedule detailed above) at the end of August and beginning of September, I had several exceptions in quick succession, the worst being 10 slices of gluten free Hawaiian pizza that totaled 2600+ mg of sodium.

3) To treat the bad cold I took Benadryl, which is a vasoconstrictor and likely worsened my symptoms of pulmonary hypertension, putting further strain on my heart.  To deal with the general feelings of fatigue, I consumed more caffeine than usual, which also placed extra strain on my heart. 

Those are my thoughts on why I seemed to reach a crisis point in September.  In my next post I'll share some of the changes I'm making to my lifestyle to deal with the reality of my condition and physical limitations.