"Did you see that?" I exclaimed to my brain trainer after I'd finished my HRV screen.
"Yes!"
"It went up to 5.5!"
"I know, and it was smoother."
"Yeah, and I couldn't tell, but was it bigger?"
"Yes, it was definitely bigger."
"We should have video'd it."
"I know. I was thinking where's the camera but didn't want to interfere. And did you see where it started?"
"Yes! In the 70s! And it didn't go up to 100!"
We both stared at the screen, boggled.
The ADD Centre had set the HRV goal to be 10 for the LF part of the heart rate variability screen. Over the years, it had crept up to 2.5. I'd seen it go up to 3, maybe 4 then drop right away. But this one went up and up, hit 4, hit 5 and KEPT GOING. At 5.5, it stalled then slowly fell back to just over 3.
If it was only that, remarkable enough, but for me to see my heart rate start at 79 or so then go SMOOTHLY up and SMOOTHLY down, not erratically, in sync with my breathing climbing into the 90s but staying in the 80s way longer than a few seconds and never hitting the triple digits (that I saw) is just…
Words fail.
My heart is healing!!!
I'm convinced people with brain injury die from heart issues because they're not treated appropriately or even acknowledged as being really serious. My neurodoc and ADD Centre are only ones to acknowledge cardiac sequelae from brain injury is serious shit. And the ADD Centre to do something about it in a way that TREATS it, not masks a couple of the symptoms while throwing me on the couch from drug-inducing fatigue like physicians do. (What is wrong with the state of medicine that even top notch docs don't want to think outside the box, learn, and find answers for their patients when it means reading the literature and working with others?)
And may I say being able to exclaim in delight and celebrate a health uptick with my treating person is wonderful, something physicians don't seem to have the time or inclination to do. Too bad, eh?
