Adventures in ER-Land!!!!!!

Well, the past couple of days have just been such an adventure.  It all culminated in a little trip to the ER, where I had a spa-day for 24 hours.

Seriously, doing well after my potassium tanked, which took my sodium level with it and shot my blood pressure right up . . . not to mention the physical wonderfulness that I was feeling.

Can't promise long story short, but I'll try . . .

Well as you all know, I have been treating a fissure for just over a week now.  Fissure's doing well, no terrible pain, it's healing and as of Saturday morning, the constipation issue broke.  I had been pushing at least 140-150oz of water daily realizing that I was taking stool softners and (starting on Thursday) miralax.  Saturday, I began including Gatorade with my water to replenish any other nutrients I may have been losing in the process.

Saturday, was feeling more myself and quite a bit stir crazy.  So, I took a little trip to the store to get some gatorade and a couple other things.  The whole trip took about an hour and I sweated profusely the whole time and was light-headed and little weak feeling.  Recovered well within about 15-20 minutes of returning home.

Sunday, felt better, gearing myself up to return to work on Monday.  I had been experiencing a weird feeling in my left arm since Saturday where it just felt overworked and a little weak and buzzy.  Not really numb, but buzzing . . . you know like the somewhat *****ly feeling you get when feeling is coming back into an area?  Tried not to panic cuz I'd been using that arm a lot in dealing with the fissure (leveraging myself in/out of tub with it, leaning on elbow while lying on left side for repeated cleanings and ointment applications, witch-hazel to soothe burning when it flared up, ice application a few times as necessary.

Well, when I sat to eat my dinner of baked fish and green beans and felt that tingle in my jaw that's a precursor to nauseous feeling after my third bite of fish . . . that was the last straw (better late than never??)  I rarely get nauseous and have vomitted only 3 times in the last 25 years - each time I went to ER and it was very serious.

I called my neighbor and she took me to the ER just before 7pm on Sunday.  I could barely fill out the short intake form and kept having to stop every couple of steps.  The numbness/tingling had spread to my right arm and left leg.  My right thigh was already a little numb, but that happens every single month with my period.  My doctor advises that it somehow messes with the nerve in that area.  It's an annoyance, but rarely debilitating . . . didn't help Sunday, though.

You ready for this . . . My potassium was 2.3 . . . I'm sayin' ! ! !  I was only mildly dehydrated, but the low potassium was wreaking holy havoc.  They gave me a nasty liquid dose of potassium mixed in orange juice and moved me to CDU (an ER observation area when longer treatment, but not admittance is necessary) and did a 4-hour potassium drip overnight.  The next morning, it was still critical, but improved, so they did another oral dose (2 horse pills this time) and another 4 hour drip.  During the first drip, my top BP number continued rising, but the bottom dropped to normal levels.  Final somewhere in the second drip, the bottom number started coming down and by the time the drip was finished, it was 118/75.  I finally was sent home yesterday after 7pm with a prescription for two more oral liquid doses of potassium to take today and instructions to follow up with my doc by week's end.

After going over my recent history with the ER doc, it was determined that since my potassium was already low, the heat combined with the treatments for the fissure/constipation made it tank.  In this instance, the copious amounts of water I was drinking actually sped up the loss of potassium, which all resulted in my wonderful trip to ER-Land!!!!

I have upped my potassium and will discuss possible Rx with my doc when I see him.  The two treatments got me up to 3.5 which is normal, but still low.  I need to be in the top range of normal to at least leave me some dropping room in certain situations with a chance to recover without another facial at SpaER.

The good news, I got to indulge in a few hours of vintage Bugs Bunny and the gang during my spa-day.  I don't have cable at home so that was a real treat . . . wish I didn't feel like crap, trying to avoid irritating a healing fissure in a hospital bed while my period is on with major cramping, while I was watching it though.

Jojo, please do not forget the effect your BP medicine is having on you.  You are not on a potassium sparing diuretic and this is further complicating your issue.  Please discuss this with your doctor ASAP.  I know I've brought this up to you before.  I hope you now see how important this is :(

I also don't think 2 more doses of potassium is enough.  I think daily supplementation with high amts of potassium for at least 2 weeks is in order, with the potential for taking this long term.  This is very important.

Now that the mini-lecture is over...I am so sincerely thankful your neighbor was able to take you to the ER and you got care for this in time.  I hope you are on the mend.

But please call your doctor.  Like...now.  :(

Actually, I did look into that when you told me before and I was told that it was a potassium-sparing diuretic.  The ER doctor also advised that it was.  I'm not sure what to do beyond that.  I've already sent the lab and all info from the hospital to my surgeon's office for fyi and am meeting with my doc by Friday.

They sent you home with prescription potassium, right?

Hope that was your last trip to the ER for a long long time!!!

~Becky

They sent me home with a prescription for two 15 mEq doses to take today and instructions to continue my current supplementation and discuss upping it or Rx level doses for maintenance.

You need more potassium BEFORE FRIDAY. If I were in your shoes I'd be on the phone to my doc's office for a prescription right now.

Just wanted to add that the hospital I went to is Emory Midtown (Crawford Long) which has a bariatric center, so the docs were a little more knowledgeable about WLS patients than other hospitals I think.

I'm glad you got the immediate treatment you needed. This is potentially serious stuff. I agree with EN, you'll need more than 2 doses. Did you call your doctor's office today?

 I'm glad you're home, but I do hope you get this potassium issue sorted out, hun.   I don't know much about potassium stuff, so I'll leave that up to others for advice.
p.s.   I miss your pretty face on your avatar.

My, what a terrible few weeks you have had! I hope this is the last of it and you start feeling better soon:)

(((HUGS)))