Coffee, Wine, and Me

When I returned from the hospital on Friday night, I did not partake of the usual glass of wine. Way to late in the evening. And, I had the urgent need to post to the "blog." I observed that I was actually able to sleep better. My heart rate seemed to be below 80 beats per minute. And, there were no skipped heart beats or momentary palpitations (which were becoming more common over the past month). What's more important is that I could not feel my heart pounding forcefully in my chest. When consuming the daily glass of wine, I could almost hear my heartbeats.

Wine is a vasodilator. And, in many people, it actually causes an increase in heart rate. The stimulant action of the wine resulted in poor sleep quality. Hence, I was more fatigued the following morning. After months of poor sleep, the body begins to break down and is susceptible to all kinds of ailments.

On Friday, I suspect that my body was at a low point. The coffee that I consumed in the morning only exacerbated the situation. The caffeine, a stimulant, raised my heart rate and most likely increased the incidents of arrhythmia and atrial fibrillation. Add in the workout at the gym (while fatigued and artificially stimulated) and the intense heat of the afternoon ... a perfect scenario for a cardiac event.

I am not a medical physician. I could be "full of crap." Yet, last night, I skipped the glass of wine again. No forceful heartbeats, no arrhythmia, no atrial fibrillation. I slept well. Of course, I am working off of a small dosage of the beta blocker medication. Frankly, I am more inclined to believe that abruptly ceasing the wine consumption produced better results. As of this post, I have donated the box wine to Tom, the drunkard, of Slob Manor (read: rental housing) fame. Ironic, no?

That now leaves me with one last culprit ... coffee. The cardiac event on Friday occurred in the afternoon. The only possible stimulant coursing through my blood vessels at that time would have been caffeine. In all likelihood, the caffeine was the catalyst for the prolonged bout of heart palpitations that led to my excursion to the emergency room at the hospital.

To test my thesis, I ordered a cup of senior citizen coffee at the fast food joint in town this morning. I requested that the coffee be half-diluted with hot water. I consumed about half of the diluted coffee before observing a marked increase in heart rate and a few missed heartbeats. Effectively, I consumed only about four ounces of coffee. I threw the remainder out.

If that little coffee can cause problems, then there's no point in continuing the habit. Thus, tomorrow will be the last day for coffee. I will drink a cup of watery coffee. No more coffee after that. Yes, rapid tapering. Unbelievable, eh?

Surveillance Mini-Update®
The damned surveillance robot is still at it. Millions of "blogs," but this is the only one under scrutiny. And, what, with all three readers. Sheesh! Bomb. Terrorist. Jihad. Allahu akbar. Bin laden. Fuck it.