Racing Heart Symptoms

Class of 2011: Avery perseveres despite living with Graves disease

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the second in a three - part series featuring graduating area high school senior athletes.



By AL PIKE

apike@fosters.com

ROCHESTER — Something had to be wrong.

A well-conditioned athlete, Megan Avery was always tired. A good student, she suddenly had trouble concentrating in class. Despite a healthy appetite, she was losing weight.

She also had a rapid pulse. At times, her heart would start racing for no reason. To the point, she found out later, where cardiac arrest was a possibility.

"It felt so weird to not be doing a lot of activity and have my heart just beating out of control," said Avery, who played two sports at Spaulding High School before graduating last weekend. "That was the scariest part."

She first noticed the symptoms during soccer season of her sophomore year. They persisted for several months and eventually produced a diagnosis of Graves disease, an autoimmune disorder that leads to overactivity of the thyroid gland.

"It's similar to some other things where the body kind of turns on itself," said Holly Avery, Megan's mom. "It was real frightening. (The doctors) were all afraid Megan might go into cardiac arrest."

Doctors immediately prescribed medication to get her heart beat under control.

"I had to make sure I didn't overdo it and push myself too hard," Megan said.

The Red Raiders were in the midst of the lacrosse season when she was diagnosed. She not only had to stop playing, but also missed a month of school.

"Walking to class took so much energy," Megan said, "that by the time I got there I was out of breath and felt like I was going to pass out."

She experienced even more distress playing sports.

"She looked like she was running through mud on the field," Holly said.

The disease caused her to miss two soccer seasons, including last fall after suffering a relapse the previous spring.

She was, however, able to play lacrosse this year, her first full season since the diagnosis almost two years earlier.

"If I continued to play lacrosse without doing anything about it," Megan said, "I probably would have had a heart attack or gone into cardiac arrest just because my heart couldn't control itself and being constantly active would have been too much for it to handle.

Anxiety Attack - Treatment Of Panic

Can you have an anxiety attack, when you don’t feel stressed, and actually feel elated? In my previous question some people mentioned that I could be experiencing an anxiety attack, since I just had a baby (4 months ago) and the stress that comes with that. I was walking with my daughter, I felt really good, healthy, happy, and really in the zone. I had stress all week, this was my relaxation time. So my question, can you experience an anxiety attack when you are really in a good mood? Any experiences??? If you have had one please describe in full detail. Thanks so much!

Anxiety Attack is a normal physiological reaction to stress. It helps one deal with tense situations such as yours (just had a baby). In general, it helps one cope. However, when anxiety becomes excessive, irrational dread of everyday situations, it will become a disabling disorder.

So if your not stress its unlikely for you to have anxiety attack..

Have you heard of of the following…

Post partum blues (baby blues) is a common occurrence. Mild and rapid mood swings including episodes of sadness, irritability, anxiety, insomnia, tearfulness and crying spells characterize post partum blues. Baby blues usually occurs right after delivery and for no longer than about two weeks. The symptoms generally do not cripple a new mother’s day to day activities.

Post partum blues are conservatively managed. Having someone else care for the baby at night to allow for adequate sleep, ensuring adequate family support, and giving encouragement and reassurance are often successful ways to manage post partum blues.

Watch out: If post partum blues is not managed it can lead to:

Post-partum depression presents itself much like regular clinical depression. The only difference is that post-partum depression seems to be brought on by the trigger of childbirth. Symptoms may not start right after delivery, but will last much longer than two weeks. The symptoms will also be much more severe and may render the mother incapable of having good quality of life as a new mother.

Symptoms: I felt almost apathetic, and I got light headed almost sedate when walking around the store, and when my husband asked me which item I wanted to buy I got shooting pains up my left side of my torso, up my neck, and my breathing became restricted. I sat down, and took deep breaths, but I felt almost zero emotion at that point for what was being said.

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