A Series of Unfortunate (Medical) Events

Last Tuesday, was probably the worst day of my life. It almost was the end of my life if I hadn't done what my doctor ordered.

Truth is, I hadn't been feeling well for quite some but had no idea as to the cause for it. I'd gotten so used to this state of being that it wasn't until things got progressively worse that I scheduled a doctor's appointment for last Tuesday. (August 13, 2019.)

My doctor asked me what was going on so I told her that there were several things going on: having extreme auras without the migraine; my balance was way off; so exhausted all the time; muscle weakness to the point simple tasks literally wore me out; shakey legs so that it was all I could do to remain standing; nausea without vomiting; brief headaches without the auras were the worst of my complaints. 

Starting off, she didn't know what to say so started with getting my vitals. She tried to get my blood pressure but could not find it. So she asked her nurse to try...again, no results. Another nurse came in and she had no luck finding my heart beat and finally another doctor came in and she did find it but it wasn't as good as it normally is. I have never had this problem before with my blood pressure. Yes, it's normally low, but not that low. (I don't recall the bottom number.)

She ordered blood tests and a CT scan of my heart, sending me to the hospital to have them done. Finally, exhausted, I went home, thinking I could lay down because I was really feeling awful, was having the auras again and extremely tired out. My phone rang and my doctor's nurse was on the other end telling me I had to get to the emergency room immediately! My potassium was at a critical level and I had to go, the sound of her voice told me something bad was happening.

My son was sleeping as he had worked the graveyard shift the night before, and it was his car I was using so all I could do is to drive myself back to the hospital, taking a risk that I was totally unaware of by doing so. (My daughter lives about 15-20 minutes away and there was no way I could wait to have her take me.)

I made it to the hospital's emergency entrance, parking the car and then, barely able to walk because of feeling so dizzy and the auras blocking out most of my vision, yet I made it inside the door. Barely. A young man asked if I needed a wheelchair and I said yes, collapsing into it.

Registration only took minutes then I was wheeled to an ER room and a flurry of doctors and nurses flooded the room. I was shocked! Adding to my shock was the fact my blood pressure was 49/32...and one doctor stood there watching the monitor above my head as the nurses hooked me up to IVs, pumping medications into me as fast as they could. I was then told I was in kidney failure. 

What???

I was in such sad shape at the moment that I just didn't understand what that meant. It took me almost another day before I understood what had happened. I spent hours in that room in the ER, getting fluids and antibiotics and other medications to flush the potassium out of my system, until my blood pressure started to rebound. (They also treated me for Sepsis, as a precaution but that was not saying I had it.)

My son and daughter arrived and asked me what in the world was going on so I told them what I did understand: that because of the overload of potassium in my system, it caused my kidneys to fail and in turn caused my blood pressure to drop critically. They asked me what did it mean that I had kidney failure and I couldn't answer that until another day or two later when the attending doctor took the time to explain exactly what happened after talking to my doctor and myself about my medical history over the past year or more. 

For about 11 or 12 years, I have dealt with IBS-D (Irritable Bowel Syndrome with Diaherria) as a probable side effect of having Fibromyalgia most of my life. However it had gotten to be progresssively worse over time until I was feeling so sick and wiped out after making 6-8-10 trips each day to the bathroom. Blood tests revealed I was passing potassium and magnesium out of my system so fast that my body was not able to use it. My doctor put me on prescription potassium and OTC magnesium. That was several months ago.

Since then, I went to see a gastrologist about the IBS-D and he went through my medications and saw I was on Metformin for Diabetes. He told me Metformin is well known to cause aggressive diaherria and as such, told me to go without it for 10 days and see how my body acted. 

And almost immediately, my bowels returned to normal! Such wonderful relief! After the 10 days passed, I did not return to taking the Metformin. I couldn't. I had my life back and wasn't chained to the bathroom anymore.

Since I had normal bowel movements again, I decided just days before my trip to the ER, to stop taking the potassium and magnesium. I wasn't quick enough. 

The potassium built up and up, my body could not rid of it, so it just started creating all the issues I told my doctor about the day I was admitted to the hospital. It was literally a downward spiral over a period of a months. 

I am still amazed that it happened as it did and just as thankful that I am alive to tell this story.

Because of this, I had 2 medications removed from me. I was taking Spironolactone for swelling of my ankles, which combined with the potassium to make the potassium level even worse. That prescription is gone. And so was Ramipril which was used to protect my kidneys from diabetes and because I have normally low blood presure.

The take-away here is: be your own advocate for your health (as my daughter tells me all the time!). Question everything, especially all medications. The interaction between the Spironolactone and potassium should have been caught either between the doctor or the pharmacist, at least in my opinion. I do not blame anyone for this...accepting that some things just happen.

**Note: What I had was 'acute' kidney failure which means it could be corrected with hydration and mediation. 

Happy to still be here...

Thanks for reading!

Deb