Tag: hypokalemia
by Becca on November 29, 2020
Living at Hell-Crest Commons was a nightmare. After a three-month-long hospital stay at my local hospital for a flare up of my autoimmune-mediated small fiber autonomic poly neuropathy (that was getting worse and worse every few months) I had gotten really deconditioned.
“You need a whole lot of PT and OT to get you back to a point where you can function at home and in the community,” the doctor and case manger both had explained to me months ago. My impression of the situation was that I was going to Hillcrest Commons for a few months for therapy and then going back home.
After three months at the nursing home, we had a big meeting and they dropped a bombshell on me. My parents weren’t going to let me come home. They didn’t want to take care of me anymore because they wanted their ffreedom. I was a burden … Find Out What Happens Next
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Tagged as: being underweight, central line, Chronic illness, complex care team, dehydration, diabetes insipidus, dysautonomia, foley catheter, gastroparesis, GJ tube, hypoglycemia, hypokalemia, hypotension, IV fluids, J tube versus G tube, lethal heart rhythms, low blood sugar, low potassium, Mass General Hospital, nasal airway, nausea, neuropathy, nursing home abuse, nursing home neglect, ombudsmen, pain meds, Port-a-cath, Sick, Small Fiber Autonomic Polyneuropathy, spoonie, trauma room, tube feeding, tubie, ventricular fibrillation, ventricular tachycardia, vomiting
by Becca on September 27, 2020
Feeding through a J port is supposed to help people with gastroparesis get much-needed nutrition that they can’t get by eating orally or by getting fed through a G tube. A person with gastroparesis has a paralyzed stomach so a J tube which goes straight into the Jejunum skips over that paralyzed stomach and goes right into the middle of the small intestine is a way to give the person.
Now that I had the tube feeds and the IV fluids, I was feeling a lot better physically most of the time as I wasn’t actively starving to death, but I would still have breakthrough periods where the pain would get intense, or I’d get nauseous and start vomiting huge volumes of bile and/or tube feed. The tube feed was going into my intestines through my J tube, which was supposed to prevent me from vomiting it up. Still, it … Find Out What Happens Next
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Tagged as: ambulance rides, atelectasis, autoimmune, autonomic neuropathy, dehydration, dextrose, diaphragmtic weakness, dysautonomia, family issues, fluid and electrolyte issues, gastroparesis, GJ tube, hospital, hypokalemia, immodium, IV fluids, IVIG, low potassium, nursing home, oxygen dependent, pepto bismol, POtS, small fiber neuropathy, therapy, tube feeding, tubie
by Becca on September 30, 2019
About four or five years after my heart problems had climaxed, my blood pressure took a surprising turn.
My whole life my blood pressure had run so low we worried about me tripping over it. This had always been concerning to Dr. Oster and my other doctors because with such a high heart rate and such low blood pressure it was too easy for me to go into hypovolemic shock. In fact, one of the reasons I was admitted to the hospital so frequently was due to hypovolemic shock. We referred to it as bottoming out.
When I bottomed out, I would turn bluish-gray, get really clammy, and if I caught it myself before it got too severe, I would call for my own ambulance from wherever I was. It was the worst when I wasn’t home and was in an embarrassing place. An embarrassing place was pretty much anywhere … Find Out What Happens Next
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Tagged as: a fib, atrial fibrillation, cardiology, caregiver abuse, child life, dehydration, eating disorder, EKG, electrolyte imbalances, headaches, hospital, hypertension, hypokalemia, hypotension, hypovolemic shock, ICU, kidney disease, low blood pressure, low potassium, nephrology, pediatric ICU, PICU, psychosomatic, ptsd, rhythm strip, shock, Sick, sinus tachycardia, spoonie, SVT, tachycardia
by Becca on September 2, 2019
From the time I was nine my entire life had consisted of medical appointments after medical appointments. By the time I was nine and a half I had been misdiagnosed with an eating disorder, and at age ten I passed out in an elevator and was sent to the hospital for my first hospitalization and first feeding tube.
My first feeding tube was an NG tube. It stayed in the whole month that I was being stabilized on the medical unit. On the medical unit, I was put on specialized IV fluids, hooked up to a heart monitor, a blood pressure monitor, and an oxygen monitor. The hospital discovered that I had been in acute kidney failure and had to nurse my kidneys back to health.
After a month in the medical unit, I was finally pronounced medically cleared and was transferred to the pediatric psychiatric unit with the NG … Find Out What Happens Next
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Tagged as: 24 hour urine collection, cortisol, diabetes, EJ lines, EKG, glipizide, High blood pressure, high blood sugar, high glucose, hypertension, hypokalemia, hypothyroid, ICU, intravenous lines, IV access, levothyroxine, low potassium, Port-a-cath, stepdown unit, telemetry, V-tach
by Becca on July 23, 2019
My pediatric cardiologist was extremely concerned about me by the time I was thirteen. He stayed in close contact with Dr. Kaye, my adolescent medicine doctor. When I was lying down on that crinkly white paper on the exam table, my heart rate was usually about 120. Sitting up it was usually about 135, and when I stood up, it was in the 150s. Neither Dr. Kaye or Dr. Oster, the cardiologist, ever said anything about those numbers being abnormal, but I read it right off their faces.
After they left the room I looked it up on my phone. A normal heart rate for a teenager is 60 to 100 beats per minute, and it shouldn’t fluctuate like that with changes of position.
Dr. Oster said they wanted to run a bunch of tests on my heart shortly before my fourteenth birthday. I was not surprised.
The EKGs and … Find Out What Happens Next
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Tagged as: a fib, adenosine, atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter, cardiology, cardioversion, Chronic illness, dysautonomia, EKG, emergency room, heart monitor, hospital, hypokalemia, hypotension, kidney issues, low blood pressure, low potassium, passing out, pediatric cardiology, pediatrics, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, POtS, sinus tachycardia, spoonies, SVT, syncopal episode, syncope
