How a routine clinic visit turns into a day in the ER, by my crazy body
This was not how I'd planned to spend my Wednesday.
I went to the employee health clinic for a strep test. A blood pressure reading of 200/138 later, they were insisting I go straight to the ER. Eight hours, two bags of fluids, and a dose of topranalol later, it was back in the 160s/90s, and they let me go home. Now I have a diuretic--because I don't pee enough already on my zillions of trips to the bathroom--and an appointment to make with a primary care provider to hopefully get something different.
I did not have diagnosed high blood pressure before this, so it was all rather a shock to me. I've had a few elevated readings at my many specialist appointments in the last few years, but I've had just as many fantastic readings (like, 110/70 fantastic).
The best the ER folks could come up with was a combination of strong family history and ankylosing spondylitis leading to pre-existing hypertension (AS patients have a risk of developing any cardiac disease eight times higher than the general population), coupled with the strep/being sick spiking it to ridiculous levels, not helped by recent house-buying stress and the fact that the NP at the clinic attempted to stick long poky things down my throat to test for strep, but I gagged so much he couldn't do it. Flashbacks to the hideous summer of 2015, which I spent way too much of in that hospital, also probably didn't help.
...All that and I still have goddamned strep throat.
But in brighter news, I got the house in Donelson! There was a cash offer that would've made the seller a couple thousand more, but he chose mine because he felt like I belonged in the house and it should be mine. Glad I included a personal letter!
This entry was originally posted at https://icepixie.dreamwidth.org/1032605.html. It has
comments over there.
I went to the employee health clinic for a strep test. A blood pressure reading of 200/138 later, they were insisting I go straight to the ER. Eight hours, two bags of fluids, and a dose of topranalol later, it was back in the 160s/90s, and they let me go home. Now I have a diuretic--because I don't pee enough already on my zillions of trips to the bathroom--and an appointment to make with a primary care provider to hopefully get something different.
I did not have diagnosed high blood pressure before this, so it was all rather a shock to me. I've had a few elevated readings at my many specialist appointments in the last few years, but I've had just as many fantastic readings (like, 110/70 fantastic).
The best the ER folks could come up with was a combination of strong family history and ankylosing spondylitis leading to pre-existing hypertension (AS patients have a risk of developing any cardiac disease eight times higher than the general population), coupled with the strep/being sick spiking it to ridiculous levels, not helped by recent house-buying stress and the fact that the NP at the clinic attempted to stick long poky things down my throat to test for strep, but I gagged so much he couldn't do it. Flashbacks to the hideous summer of 2015, which I spent way too much of in that hospital, also probably didn't help.
...All that and I still have goddamned strep throat.
But in brighter news, I got the house in Donelson! There was a cash offer that would've made the seller a couple thousand more, but he chose mine because he felt like I belonged in the house and it should be mine. Glad I included a personal letter!
This entry was originally posted at https://icepixie.dreamwidth.org/1032605.html. It has
comments over there.