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        New Message Board Archives >> 2005 General Board Posts >> ER visit -- scary!!
        
(Message started by: Lizzie2 on Jan 27^th, 2005, 6:47pm)

Title: ER visit -- scary!!
Post by Lizzie2 on Jan 27^th, 2005, 6:47pm

Here's a copy and paste of an email I sent to my fellow hosts on the about.com headache/migraine forums. This is how I spent my night last night and straight through until 11:15 this morning... Ahh terrors....:

Quote:

Well yesterday I took my meds as prescribed again, and once again had symptoms of dizziness, palpitations, confusion, etc with the mexiletine. I had gotten an EKG done yesterday afternoon, but it was borderline…nothing really serious to worry about…we think the abnormalities may have been in part due to lead placements. At any rate, I went to the ER at around 7pm or so. My EKG then showed tachycardia…I was having major confusion and lack of memory. (Memory is always the first to go for me!) I was rated a level 3 of severity status (out of 5), and just about everyone in the ER was rated a 3, so I proceeded to wait about 3.5 hours. I kept toying with the idea of leaving because my symptoms started to feel better, and I felt stupid taking up time. My old boss and my friend Beth refused to let me leave because they said better safe than sorry. And how right they were….

I was finally placed in a cardiac room and placed on cardiac monitoring. The shortness of breath caused by the palpitations was putting my respiration rate at around 32-36 (normal is about 16-20), and my heart rate was tachy, but nothing too serious. We were doing some blood pressure testing and just monitoring. About an hour or so after I got back there however, I started having some MAJOR confusion. The ER attending blew it off as no big deal, but my ex boyfriend recognized it as something was definitely wrong, so he got the nurse involved who then actively pursued getting necessary blood work, etc. The ER resident added a lidocaine level to my blood work because of the mexiletine and because I was symptomatic of lidocaine toxicity.

Well wouldn’t ya know… Neuro came down and I completely failed my neuro exam. I could not orient to time, place, or person. I could not answer any questions at all. I was basically unresponsive and occasionally muttering something here and there. So the neuro resident ordered a CT scan..which in all this, I thought was part of a dream. When I was brought back to the ER, apparently I was very out of it…I won’t get into the description because it is kind of embarrassing. James (the ex) had called my parents at around 1:15am to come down to the hospital because I was getting a lot worse…they arrived while I was at the CT scan. Around 4:00am, I finally started asking the time, and I was trying to orient myself. I thought I was dreaming up the whole thing, and I didn’t know why I couldn’t wake up from the dream. It was an AWFUL feeling. Around 5am, I finally had it all straight and was in complete hysterics over the situation….again completely lost touch with reality. Couldn’t even identify the members of my family, etc. Awful…and scary. :(

So, Dr. Young was contacted at around 8am or so. Although I had called at least twice this week about related bad symptoms from mexiletine, he apparently never thought it would become so serious. Another neuro resident and a med student came down to speak with me prior to discharge and to make sure I did not want to receive any headache treatment before leaving. I did not as I had to get home for an online course chat at 11am. They took me off the mexiletine and said I had yet another anticholinergic toxicity crisis. This is getting to be quite scary!

I didn’t sleep last night, so I’m pretty tired, but I’m doing better now. I left the hospital at 11:15, so I made the majority of the online course discussion. Then I just went to class from 1-3:30 or so. My dad is on his way here to pick me up, and then tonight I have to bring my car back down to prepare for clinical on the weekend…I go to David’s tomorrow after 5. It is also David’s 33rd birthday…yippeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Hehe

So there’s my scary story!

Carrie :)

Title: Re: ER visit -- scary!!
Post by broomhilda on Jan 27^th, 2005, 6:57pm

Geezzzzzzz Carrie and ER is on tonight ;)

I sure hope getting off that med helps, that is scary, enough already... :( Biggest hugs and good wishes on over to you, I hope you feel better soon, you are getting me all worried here....

Get some rest and feel better hugs on the way, from me to you....

Hugs

Andrea

Title: Re: ER visit -- scary!!
Post by E-Double on Jan 27^th, 2005, 7:06pm

MANY HUGS L2!!!!

Tough cookie indeed.
All my love !

E2

Title: Re: ER visit -- scary!!
Post by Gator on Jan 27^th, 2005, 7:12pm

***Rant deleted***

I hope things get better for you. All these things going wrong just when you can least afford them is getting worrysome.

Keep us posted.

Title: Re: ER visit -- scary!!
Post by PrettyH8Machine on Jan 27^th, 2005, 7:15pm

Damn girl! Haven't you seen enough of the sterile palace this year?
Seriously, sorry you're still having it rough. Hope you get some PF time real real soon.

Hugs,
CD

Title: Re: ER visit -- scary!!
Post by nani on Jan 27^th, 2005, 7:50pm

:'( [smiley=hug.gif]

Title: Re: ER visit -- scary!!
Post by lionsound on Jan 27^th, 2005, 7:57pm

Carrie, that's terrifying!

I hope you are on your way to feeling better. Incredible and admirable the way you were able to go to class and everything!

PF and Peaceful hugs and vibes going south to you!

-lionsound

Title: Re: ER visit -- scary!!
Post by Jeepgun on Jan 27^th, 2005, 8:48pm

Wow!! Terrifying! Glad to hear that you're off of that stuff!! [smiley=hug.gif]

Title: Re: ER visit -- scary!!
Post by cootie on Jan 27^th, 2005, 10:55pm

Good grief what an ordeal !! Boy when you do become a nurse you will be alot more knowledgeable then most in alot of this EXPIRIENCE !!! Hopein you are feelin better now !!! No more ER visit vibes Pam

Title: Re: ER visit -- scary!!
Post by Lizzie2 on Jan 28^th, 2005, 8:33am

on 01/27/05 at 18:57:18, broomhilda wrote:

Thanks and thanks to all :) Man...apparently I was hilarious. My family and James have taken great pleasure to telling me how funny I was. James said the thing he remembers most is that he's never really been afraid when I was in the hospital all the times for headaches because he knew I was doing okay, but in the ER he was afraid because of how out of it I was. He said also he wanted to cry when my parents showed up, and I looked at them like I had absolutely no idea who they were. Man...what a fight to get back to reality.

I was watching "A Beautiful Mind" the other day so that I can write a paper on it for my psychiatric clinical. There is a part in that movie where the psychiatrist is talking to Alicia Nash and saying something about imagining that everything you thought was real, you found out was not. And how terrifying that would be.

In my case it was just the opposite. Everything I thought was not real turned out to be real. That was an absolutely horrifying experience. I was trying to figure out why I couldn't wake up from the dream and what appointment I must be missing because I couldn't wake myself up. Not being able to wake me up was so frustrating. My parents were telling me how much I was swearing...haha!!..and it was all because I was going in and out of reality orientation. Every time I would realize that I was screwing up the names of my family (I called my brother a green dog...yeah....), I would swear because I was so angry that I couldn't orient. Man..it sucked. I never want to do that again.

So Broomie....what happened on ER? I fell asleep during it because I was dead exhausted...and I basically missed the entire thing! I fell asleep around 8:30 during the "OC" and I just wound up crashing on my parents' couch for the night until 6:30 this morning when I drove back to school. I was too groggy to drive down last night. Now I have a crapload more to do before class from 9-4. The fun never stops!

Thanks for all the support.... I really think that was the scariest thing I've ever been through in my entire life. My dad said he wanted to have a heart attack...I basically really managed to freak out my parents and James, as well as myself. Ugh...

Hugz,
Carrie :)

Title: Re: ER visit -- scary!!
Post by Charlie on Jan 29^th, 2005, 4:04am

Rats. Sorry for all that and I'm happy of the outcome I guess.

Damn. You kids are too young for all this scary shit. >:(

Here's to being healthy and PF for the next 600 years.

Charlie