When the Stress Escalates
Rebuilding trust in my body after a recent medical emergency
Almost a week after writing about finding ease with Adult Congenital Heart Disease, I somewhat ironically ended up in the ER due to dizziness and an irregular heart beat. I’m doing ok now, but it was really scary and it made me realize how quickly health issues can escalate.
The day before it happened, I was anxiously waiting to hear some big news. The news ended up being good, but I never really calmed down afterwards. Later that evening, I did a workout that was a bit more intense than I expected. Then I stayed up late to attend an online meditation class that was on West Coast time. When I got to bed, I had trouble falling asleep and ended up tossing and turning for most of the night. The next day, I had back-to-back commitments without any time to take a breath or a pause.
Then I got dizzy — like the-room-is-spinning kind of dizzy. I laid down on the floor of my office for about 10 minutes hoping it would stop, but it didn’t. My heart started having palpitations and I began feeing nauseous. I called out for help to a colleague. She called an ambulance and the paramedics took me to the ER.
The dizziness that led to my medical emergency was likely caused by an ear infection that I didn’t know I had at the time, as well as a stressful couple of days and dehydration. I’m pretty sure the collective fear and frustration regarding the current political situation in the US was also major contributing factor.
The dizziness caused my heart to freak out and go into an abnormal heart rhythm called bigeminy. (Bigeminy rhymes with hegemony, which I find amusing for some reason … but I digress). The dizziness on top of the bigeminy caused the nausea. It was a domino effect that I couldn’t stop before if was too late.
I’m incredibly grateful for the excellent medical care I received and my amazing friends and family who helped me during this intense ordeal. Having a loving community around you is priceless!
Rebuilding trust in my body
As a yoga teacher, I like to pride myself on being aware of my body and my limits and so this whole experience has shaken my sense of trust in myself and is, admittedly, a bit embarrassing. But I wanted to share this because even if we’re exercising, eating well, and trying to do all the things to keep ourselves safe and healthy, sometimes things escalate and our body breaks down. My body couldn’t handle the speed I was going and I’m now having to give it space and time to recover and heal.
To begin rebuilding trust in my body, I’m learning more about the nervous system and how to intentionally support it. I noticed I have a tendency to go from one event to another without giving my nervous system time to switch gears. For example, I teach a weekly private yoga session on Tuesdays and I often go straight from work to the studio without giving myself a moment between to take a few breaths. Now, as I schedule things throughout my week, I’m building in more of a buffer time and making note of when I have back-to-back commitments.
Yoga and meditation have been proven to support our nervous system in positive ways and I want to continue investigating this deeper as we all continue to navigate an aging body and a world that is constantly putting an enormous amount of stress on us. That’s why the focus of the next Intuitive Yoga class on March 2nd is the vagus nerve. I hope you’ll consider joining! More info below.
Online Intuitive Yoga
Sunday, March 2nd: 10am - 11:15am PT/1pm - 2:15pm ET
Theme: The Vagus Nerve
The next Online Intuitive Yoga is Sunday, March 2nd from 10am - 11:15am PT/1pm - 2:15pm ET via Zoom.
As a part of the parasympathetic nervous system, the vagus nerve plays a central role in stress and rest. Through yoga poses, breathing exercises, and intuitive tools, we will focus on connecting and rebalancing the vagus nerve so that we can release tension and feel more calm and relaxed. All levels are welcome! Sign up through Intuitive Way.
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About me
I’m Veronica and I created Finding Ease as a way to share thoughts, tools, and resources for connecting authentically to your mind, body, and spirit. I’m a librarian, yoga teacher, and healer. I approach the world of yoga and spirituality with joy, along with an interest in examining the ways in which systems of power affect our access and ability to find ease.
Hi Veronica--what an ordeal--so many things happening at one time. I am so glad you were able to get help and get to the root of the problem. Your point regarding how quickly things can escalate really resonates with me. Learning to plan my life so that I have space to transition from one thing to the next is a skill I am still working on. I often need mental space as well as a physical break--some time to recalibrate my thoughts. I used to compare myself to other people who prided themselves on extreme busy-ness and feel less-than when I could not keep up. Often, I ended up burnt out and useless--so I would swing back and forth between maximum intensity and being totally out of it. I am getting better at this, but it is still a challenge.
Congrats on your good news and here's to continuing to take care of ourselves.
As usual, your wisdom and honesty come to me just as I need guidance. Sitting here with Covid, at the worst possible time for my work (important annual meeting today), I’m reminded to ground myself a little more and accept that I’m operating with some limitations right now.