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How to feel better fast

I need advice. I haven't been feeling well the past few months. I have a dr's appt in a couple days.

Here are the symptoms:

I wake up almost every single day with either chest pain or nausea or both. I also sometimes awake to somewhat difficult breathing, overall discomfort and a pounding heartbeat.

I have mitral valve prolapse but it is is minor so I have never taken medication for it.

The big thing is that I have gained a lot of weight, over 100 pounds.

After I get up and get going for the day, I feel fine. I think maybe it was bad digestion and I forget about it. Then it happens again. Some nights I actually fear going to sleep b/c I know i will wake up feeling sick again.

I am not pregnant, so don't say morning sickness.

I do not have a healthy diet currently. Alot of fatty cooked foods and candy and soda.

So I am wondering, should I do a fruit juice cleanse or fast or something till I feel better?

I suppose the answer is to wait and see what happens when I go to the dr. But I just wondered if anyone had any suggestions or advice b/c now I am starting to worry.

Thanks.

Comments

  • Raw Spice,

    Chest pain or nausea, difficult breathing, overall discomfort and a pounding heartbeat. Minor mitral valve prolapse. Did you mention this to the receptionist when you made the appointment? If so, they should be ashamed of themselves for taking your symptoms so lightly! Please consider doing one of the following:

    Call your doctor and tell them your symptoms. They should get you in today. If you have a local walk in clinic visit them (and tell them what your symptoms are first off), visit your ER (I think that's the one I would pick).

    Eitherway, don't wait a week to get this checked out! If you where my family member, I think I would take you off to visit the ER. Your syptoms could be a sign of something very serious. I would go today. Just in case.

    Don't let them tell you that it is JUST your diet, your weight, or indigestion. They need to prove that by testing you and ruling out stuff like heart, lung, or other organ problems. If you smoke (we all know you shouldn't, but that's another story) DON'T let them tell you it's just your smoking. They need to test you FIRST.

    Once the docs have ruled out heart, lungs and other stuff (by testing) THEN start focusing taking care of yourself. You deserve to be fed good food, drink fresh water, and light exercise. Your worth it.

    Get checked out today, then decide how you want to transition to a healthier life style.

    Don't wait and see.

  • DeborahBeeDeborahBee Raw Newbie

    Hi rawspice, do you currently take any hormonal contraceptives or have a hormonal coil fitted?

  • Thanks for responding.

    I have my appt today, so I will let you know what they say.

    I do not take any contraceptives or have a hormonal coil.

    I too was surprised that the receptionist did not offer to get me into the office they day I called. Normally, if you have stomach ache or cold, they will try to fit you in. So, I thought for sure that, with this being more serious, that they would definitely see me right away.

    When I said I couldn't wait for an appt (I called to make the appt over a week ago), the receptionist didn't seem concerned at all, just matter of factly, said that the earliest opening was this Monday.

    Anyway, I appreciate your responses and will let you know how it goes.

  • Good luck with your doctor visit. Hope to hear it was just something like diet. Those symptoms are not always a sign of something serious. But, I agree with you on the surprise about the receptionist's response. Usually, if it is breathing or heart type related (possibly) issues they will suggest you go to the ER. The only "comforting" part of your symptoms is that they just seem to be in the morning (not all day). Still...

    Once you get the initial symptoms checked out (you know your not having a heart attack or something) my suggestion would be to slowly start adding healthy foods to your diet (other words, don't go from fried junk food to all raw). You can if you want (some people do) but it can be shocking to your digestive system. Plus, gradual changes seem to stick more.

    Cutting out the soda, even if you were to do nothing else, would go a long way towards a healthier you. That may be a good place to start.

  • Well, shockingly the dr said she thinks it is... Heartburn! (?????)

    With the amount and intensity of the chest pain, etc that I was experiencing, I thought it must be related to the weight gain and the mvp. They did do an ekg and said it came back normal and that I definitely have not had a heart attack. They also referred me to a cardiologist just in case, so I will see what happens with that.

    She gave me a perscription as well, which I haven't filled yet and the only other thing she said is to cut back on caffeine, which I didn't really think I consumed much of, as a non--coffee drinker, I thought chocolate and coke had minimal amounts of caffeine in comparison.

    Anyway, she also did say to exercise and I told her that I gained alot of weight, and am naturally very thin, yet she didn't really say anything about that being a cause of heartburn.

    I looked it up of course, and see that it is a definite cause.

    She didn't suggest avoiding any other foods, although I asked if I could skip the prescription and just eat better and she seemed to think that the prescription would rule out anything else as a cause of the problem and that I should take it for 3 months and then could stop.

    So that is it. I haven't had any soda for a couple days and am trying not to stuff myself, esp at night, I am going to try to stop eating earlier so I get a digestive "break" before going to sleep.

    In the next few days, I will try to start replacing all the junk and restaurant take out with fruits and salads.

    Wish me luck!

    And thanks for all your help and concern!

  • Good that you are taking a break from the junk food! Sounds to me that your body is screaming for good food and nutrition! I wouldn't go on a juice fast right away. I would focus on adding in good stuff into your diet and crowding out all the bad stuff. Do green smoothies-- I don't know any successful raw foodists who don't do at least one a day! Even if you don't go raw, go vegan for now. Make sure you cut of dairy and soda at the very least. Eat plenty of leafy greens, vegetables, soaked and/or sprouted nuts and seeds (especially almonds) and soaked and sprouted or cooked grains like quinoa, millet, and amaranth. I would highly recommend cutting out ANYTHING processed from your diet like the coke and chocolate. Depending on where you live you might want to see a Traditional Chinese doctor too. I'm studying acupuncture and one of the things that I've learned at my school from my teachers and fellow students is that a lot of the time Western doctors can misread symptoms and just treat things with pills. More often than not, pills have side-effects that will lead you to have to take more pills to counter the first pill's side-effects! Take these symptoms you are experiencing as a huge warning sign that bad shit is going down in your body and you need to take care of yourself!

    I wish you the best of luck and I pray to the Spirit (however one defines it) to send you strength, courage, and health.

    Peace and love,

    raw swede

  • So I just got my referral for the cardiologist and it says its for a stress test. Does anyone know what this entails? I looked it up online and it listed some of the different things they do, like having you exercise with the heart monitors on and an echo cardiogram, etc. But I knew a guy once who mentioned having a stress test and that they give you something that makes it feel like there is an elephant sitting on your chest and that it is incredibly painful.

    Does anyone know about this? Is it really that painful?

  • I hope you are feeling better soon! I would get a cardio workup and get checked for sleep apnea. You'll have to go to a sleep lab for that. After you mentioned gaining 100 lbs, that's the first thing that popped into my head.

  • PS...you can start by running a tape recorder in your bedroom overnight. If you do a lot of gasping for air, coughing and choking in your sleep, could be sleep apnea. That would have you waking up feeling pretty lousy. Do you feel sleepy during the day?

  • cupcakes revengecupcakes revenge Raw Newbie

    poor diet and weightgain etc can cause heart burn/acid reflux. I went through a period where i was constantly nauseous and my dr said it was acid reflux and prescribed nexium and an antacid. As I was like 23 at the time i refused to be ok with being on those drugs full time and instead cut refined sugars from my diet and dealt with some serious stress i had in my life. it went away. I find stress seriously aggravates it. Lately I have had full out acid reflux symptoms - burning burning in the stomach and throat and when not burning, sore throat. I made an appt - it's on friday. but in the meantime i went mostly raw and so far it's been good. and i have been drinking ginger tea and lemon water - two things which help a lot.

    although to be honest, in my experience and in the experience of a lot of people i know with chronic stomach issues, doctors don't really know that much about the matter - it's not really the stuff they're trained for. Also, you have to consider that they are NOT trained to take a holistic approach to health, it's just not how that type of medicine works. So, if your diet is poor or you have an anxiety disorder or are stressed, all things which will greatly affect gastro health, these things will not be considered.

    get healthy, including exercise esp yoga if you like it as it's good for stress, try to evaluate what stressors you may have in your life and also keep an eye on it as it could be something more serious too.

    good luck!

  • "So I just got my referral for the cardiologist and it says its for a stress test. Does anyone know what this entails?"

    Having several relatives who have had stress tests, I can help you on that question. Most stress tests involve you running or walking fast on a treadmill, and then they check your heart after it's been "stressed." The person on the internet who was given something that made them feel so bad probably had a "chemical stress test." My father had one due to the fact that he is disabled and they didn't want to chance him falling while trying to use the treadmill. The doctors give you a shot that makes your heart go through the motions of being stressed out without the physical activity. Don't know what medicine it is. My father did not like THAT experience. Unless you are physically unable to walk fast on the treadmill, you'll have the traditional stress test.

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