I’ll keep this post short and sweet. I was advised to not run for 3 months!

I can’t remember my last run, it was either at the end of June or beginning of July. Since July 4, I’ve been experiencing chest pain.  I saw a few doctors. GI was ruled out (doctors initially thought it was an esophageal issue). Cardiac was ruled out because it didn’t sound like it could be related to my heart (at the time, I had a normal EKG). The pain got so bad that I quit running, then it was too much to just go for a walk. Some days, it was hard to do yoga due to either pain or fatigue. Luckily my PCP is awesome and ordered labs that I asked for. That is what led to being hospitalized.

Hospital chic

Turns out I had/have pericarditis. This is inflammation of the lining around the heart. I was hospitalized so I could undergo tests to make sure I didn’t have ischemia (decreased blood flow to the heart) due to abnormal EKGs.

Now that I have a diagnosis, it will be a long road back to running. I will have to start from scratch again like I did when I was postpartum last year! I can use these 3 months to get back into pilates and barre and dive deeper into yoga; these modalities will only make me a stronger runner.

Pic from the last race I ran (beginning of March)

As a RN, I will tell you that pain like this is not normal. Make sure you always get checked out for chest pain. 2020 definitely is affecting my heart. First a-fib, now this. 😉

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