Heart Rhythm and A Car Accident

[cindy707]

I just wanted to post to talk quickly about something that happened to me Friday nite.  When i left work i was hit from behind by a drunk driver while i was at a red light and the lady slammed into my car at 45 MPH.  What was weird to me and surprising is that altho i had my seat belt on my chest slammed into the steering wheel and set off a totally crazy irregular rhythm and dropped my pulse down into the low low 50's.  I always thought that the heart would increase in rate because of adrenaline after an accident but i was wrong ...i was told by the heart doc that there is a specific type of shock that the body goes thru when our chests are compressed that sets off a helter skelter type of rhythm and the pulse drops quickly..to make a long story short they had to convert me once again...it worked and the doc in the E,R, said that when we take an impact to the chest wall its like a pericardial thump manuever which messes up the rhythm...live and learn...i got an education and she went to jail....

[cindy707]

Thanks to you all again so much.....alot of points i didn't even think about that you all made..its like common sense flies out the window when anything traumatic happens..i think i learn more on this site then i ever did in school....i am so happy to be a part of this community it really puts things into perspective when you get so man peoples viewpoints again i can never thank you all enough for being there for me so many times....

[Bromley]

I am sorry that you were in an accident and glad that you are ok. I know there have been a few times when a jolt something like this really got me reeling --- heart beat out of sight and hardly able to deal.

Now, I think there is a take away from your experience for me too, and a welcome reminder to us all. Hope you get feeling back to normal again soon.

[rilesnic]

Sorry to hear about your accident. I'm glad you are feeling better and I'm glad the other driver went to jail!

[tom_h]

Wow.  Sorry to hear about that.  There are occasional news reports of sudden deaths from kids getting hit in the chest by a baseball, or taking a hit in football.  I know many times my SVT has been triggered by a flatfooted landing off a step or even off a curb.  Hope you're feeling better soon!

[LindaTX]

Bless your heart (literally), Cindy.... you are such a trooper.  Whatever knocks you down, you always bounce back, must be the "cheerleader" in you.  I think Itdood is on to something with that harness, too. It sure would have helped me with the bruising and also I had a badly backward dislocated shoulder that might not have been in such bad shape. Is your heart rate still slow? Fifty years ago people probably turned to herbs of some sort, maybe belladonna.

I just spent 2 days in the hospital dealing with my a-fib.  They doubled my atenolol and are letting me go home today.  I don't normally go to the hospital with a-fib but I was just at my wit's end  dealing with it.

[r9c]

Hope u feel better soon :)

[cindy707]

Thanks for your well wishes....i found out the hard way and was told that the airbags on the steering wheel only go off when you take a hit on the front bumper and my didn't deploy because i was hit from the rear(it bent my frame of the car) and thank you guys i am feeling alot better today like a MAC truck no longer hit me....Itdood....i think i really agree with you about that five point harness because it would have made a world of difference in how much i was tossed around in the car and Lisa...i was so surprised that i had such a slow heart rate which is not the norm for me...i never in a million years would have expected my rate to drop like that.....thanks to all of you for your wishes...its Monday and life will go on and thank God for conversions...i wonder what was done to help people 50 years ago when their hearts would go out of whack?  Today is a better day.....

[itdood]

That's bad news, I hope all the issues are temporary.

I've seen some slow motion vid of what happens to us in a car accident.  Even with a seat belt on the test dummies were all over the place.  You'd need a race car style 5 point harness to keep you totally restrained.  

Hope you feel better soon.

[LindaTX]

OMG, Cindy.....I am so sorry that happened.  It just goes to show....anything can happen at any time.  I'm thankful you weren't hurt any worse.  Did yiur airbag not deploy?  I had a head-on collision almost 3 years ago, broke my tibia, dislocated my shoulder, pretty bruised up but during the whole ordeal, including a week in the hospital, not one time did I have a high heart rate or any irregular rhythm, but i did get smacked pretty hard by that airbag.  I know you'll be sore for awhile.  Take it easy and recuperate.

[Mom2four85]

Cindy sorry to hear about your accident; what the dr said makes sense if hit the right way or hard enough.  We were in an accident in Sept and I was just the opposite but it was a small side swipe - my hr/bp went high but I think because what you said with adrenaline pumping because I was ticked :P

Glad to hear you're ok and got back in rhythm.