From The Heart- How My HLHS Affects Dentist Appointments + Appointment With Vascular Surgeon On Monday!
Hi everyone! So I just want to write a quick update and informational post about what's going on in my life medically.
For those who don't know, I have HLHS, which is a rare complex congenital heart defect. You can read more about it here. Thankfully, God has given me good health in spite of this condition. However, my HLHS affects my life on a day-to-day basis. One of the ways in which it affects my life is when I have dentist appointments. If any of you have heart problems, you know that one's oral health is connected to their heart health. One way in which oral and heart health are connected is in how when an oral infection occurs, it can go to the heart. Now, if you go to a good dentist, you don't have to worry about it! Even though I receive high-quality dental care, 1 hour prior to dentist appointments, I have to take amoxicillin as a precaution. For those who don't know, amoxicillin is a prescription drug that is used to help prevent and treat infections. So since an oral infection can quickly spread to the heart, which would be very detrimental for my heart especially, I take amoxicillin before. Personally, I don't mind this as I typically only have to do it twice a year. However, the downside to amoxicillin is that it kills all bacteria in sight, not just the bad bacteria. This means that after taking amoxicillin, the body has lost a lot of good bacteria. I'm not a big fan of this side affect, but one way to help is by replenishing with probiotics. Essentially, probiotics are good bacteria that keep you healthy! By drinking a probiotic drink or eating yogurt or fermented foods, you introduce good bacteria back into your system. So that's what I'm doing today because I had a dentist appointment on Wednesday!
So remember that I had a vascular study done? So I heard back from my cardiologist and he said that I would have an appointment with the vascular surgeon sometime and that the office would call me to schedule one. Anyways, it turned out that my cardiologist had a family emergency, so that whole process got slowed. Well, the office called back and I found out that I will be meeting with the vascular surgeon on Monday to talk about what to do about some of my vein blockage. I'd appreciate your prayers for that!
I hope y'all are doing well!
For those who don't know, I have HLHS, which is a rare complex congenital heart defect. You can read more about it here. Thankfully, God has given me good health in spite of this condition. However, my HLHS affects my life on a day-to-day basis. One of the ways in which it affects my life is when I have dentist appointments. If any of you have heart problems, you know that one's oral health is connected to their heart health. One way in which oral and heart health are connected is in how when an oral infection occurs, it can go to the heart. Now, if you go to a good dentist, you don't have to worry about it! Even though I receive high-quality dental care, 1 hour prior to dentist appointments, I have to take amoxicillin as a precaution. For those who don't know, amoxicillin is a prescription drug that is used to help prevent and treat infections. So since an oral infection can quickly spread to the heart, which would be very detrimental for my heart especially, I take amoxicillin before. Personally, I don't mind this as I typically only have to do it twice a year. However, the downside to amoxicillin is that it kills all bacteria in sight, not just the bad bacteria. This means that after taking amoxicillin, the body has lost a lot of good bacteria. I'm not a big fan of this side affect, but one way to help is by replenishing with probiotics. Essentially, probiotics are good bacteria that keep you healthy! By drinking a probiotic drink or eating yogurt or fermented foods, you introduce good bacteria back into your system. So that's what I'm doing today because I had a dentist appointment on Wednesday!
So remember that I had a vascular study done? So I heard back from my cardiologist and he said that I would have an appointment with the vascular surgeon sometime and that the office would call me to schedule one. Anyways, it turned out that my cardiologist had a family emergency, so that whole process got slowed. Well, the office called back and I found out that I will be meeting with the vascular surgeon on Monday to talk about what to do about some of my vein blockage. I'd appreciate your prayers for that!
I hope y'all are doing well!
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