Pulmonary Embolism and Arrhythmia

It has been awhile. This is because I was stricken with a pulmonary embolism (PE) and spent three days in the fabulous location of Lakeland Medical Center ICU ward.  This cost more than a Sandal’s Inclusive Resort and furthermore nothing about a keto diet created this or helped it. Well maybe it did and we will see that….

I thought this began in April but looking back at my data it now seems rather obvious it began in March with my first Moderna shot.  NOW before you say “oh no here we go” or the opposite “SEE? I was right” I believe in the science of vaccines and I also accept that some vaccines pose inherent risks. In my case I have heterozygous Factor V Leiden or a 50% more chance of developing a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) with or without a PE. To make this even more risky I have Factor VIII at elevated levels which also puts me into a high risk category for DVT or PE or both.  However, I knew this. I also knew I had higher levels of fibrinogen which is basically the lattice your blood will lay down in order to create a clot. With all this in mind I took turmeric, baby aspirin and donated blood to the Red Cross every 60 days. I tested for certain coagulants in my blood and went about life. Honestly? I was quite happy about this as I had been in multiple accidents where I should have bled out. Instead I didn’t.

As I said this likely started after the first shot. Looking at the picture you can see my heartrate do an increase after the first shot but I just thought that was working out harder and much yardwork.  I missed this press release on April 5th, likely because news of vaccines has been suppressed if not outright censored. The AAPS, Association of American Physician and Surgeons warns all three vaccines possible of creating thrombosis.  SO I never gave it a thought that I was a high risk candidate.

On April 14^th I took my second Moderna shot. On April 15^th while at work I lapsed into a blackout of sorts. I had conversations but felt ill. At some point I walked off the job with no notification to anyone- including myself. I do not recall this. I was still off on the 16^th.  My blood pressure began to drop rather radically. On the 17^th my resting heart rate began to speed up and it never slowed down.  My mental clarity returned but I was somewhat shaken. I now knew I had some sort of inflammatory response but I just assumed it was worse than other people’s and I would get back soon. Instead my heart developed an arrhythmia. I know this because I use an ALIVECOR 6 which uses a 6 lead technology to safely monitor my EKG from home.  The next 7 days were pretty harrowing. By April 22 I was pondering my choices. I still lifted. I still went to work but my RHR was 110 BPM. OUCH.  I was running a marathon for 5 days straight at this point.The next day I ran a CRP, BNP and a NT BNP test. Sunday my results said PANIC!!  My C-reactive protein went up 1000%. In march it had been 0.3 now it towered at 33.3! My BNP jumped 10 fold from 17 to 111.1. To be fair there isn’t a true baseline but below 50 is considered normal. NT BNP? Oh just a 1017!!! WTF?!

I messaged cardiologist Nadir Ali who pleaded that I go to the ER. He also called my local cardiologist and together they persuaded me to go to the ER.  I was given diltiazem as my heartrate was about 160 and my blood pressure was…. Well look at the picture. This was after some injections.  But troponin a marker for heart attack was 0.2 my lowest ever!  Mind you March 15^th I had an EKG stress test and had improved my heart health raising my ejection fraction from 45% to 55%. Something was really amiss. To make matter worse almost all my other labs were coming back showing I was in excellent health- optimal really. SO WHY was I going apeshit nuts with my heart?

D-Dimer measures a protein broken off from blood clotting. Normal is 0.50. I was 4.5.  Ouch. I had some pretty serious clotting issues going on. A CT scan of my chest revealed a pulmonary embolism is 4 of my lobes of my lungs.

This was a bilateral clot. For my efforts I was awarded 3 days in the luxurious accommodations on the second floor ICU ward.  As soon as the nurses had me hooked up to three IVs, monitors and I was “comfy” I began my internet  searching on pulmonary embolism.  Holy shit! This is some deadly stuff.

First lets dispel it is diet related. Nope. All diets, all activity levels and all ages can possibly develop a PE.  The most common causes are provoked incidents of surgery, injury (deep bruises) or long inactivity where one’s legs are in a seated position- think of 18 hour flight to Australia. Some are related to hormones. Pregnancy is a common inducer as are estrogen or testosterone supplementation.  Furthermore 1 in 6 people die right off the bat. BOOM. Like a stroke your PE blocks the oxygen to the heart and hence the rest of the body- worse is if the clots breaks off and lodges in the heart. Adios MFer!!  If one is fortunate to survive the next 30 days are a test. Nearly 25% suffer mortality here. NOT A GAME. But fuck it, I treated it as such. However we do know that a heart in failure does rely on ketones for fuel and here.

Released I was prescribed Eliquis as a blood thinner and diltazem a calcium channel blocker and technically prescribed for high blood pressure it also has benefits to lower heart rate.  The next 3 weeks were a precarious adventure. I was okayed to do resistance training at 20% my max lifting weight but for unlimited repetitions.  Also, I could ride my bike if I wore compression socks and didn’t push it. I was not allowed back to work. So I did my best to recover. The recovery game in a PE is time and patience.  THIS IS AWFUL for me as I am a let see what we can do type person. My whole persona is about learning and applying. Making changes to create changes and adapt again. Here instead I had to …wait.  The funny thing is I have trained the majority of my life for this. In my 12 step program in the beginning I was pleading “But when will it get better?” and the answer always was “time and patience” and I swear if one more motherfucker said that to be I was going to cap their fucking ass!! DAMN. However, along the way I did learn some measure of time and a bit of patience.  Now it was game time. I was still woefully under prepared.

My heart rate would normalize during sleep and I would awake and say “ahhh” I would look at my Garmin and it would no longer read 90 BPM but 68. I could feel a normal rhythm. I would get up, hook up and check. Yep normal. Two nights later back into AFIB. 36 hours and normal. Another 36 and back into AFIB.  My last event was May 18^th. I came out at 1:05 PM. I checked. Yep my normal sinus rhythm ( which is not normal having a WIDE QRS).

Now I climb back into health. My ketones are puttering at .2 mmol. Blood Glucose higher than normal. I get tired easily. I am not allowed to lift my max weights having a governor of 60% of maximum and told to keep hard cycling down. I finally returned to work May 24 after a month off, so that too will get in the way of things I want to accomplish as testing costs money. Both the ones I need to stay alive and the tests I like to do to manage my health.  Time will tell.