Tag: low blood pressure


More Today Than Yesterday

28
October

Today was my semiannual appointment with the rheumatologist, aka the appointment that I don’t enjoy ever.  It proved to be as expected, though I think my parents think that I am partially to blame for that.  I was going to talk to him about a rash that I’ve had for over ten years, but that I thought he might know something about.  (The rash comes up on my cheeks and my forearms.  It gets worse when I’m stressed, angry, sick, tired, hot, or in a lot of pain.)  I didn’t ask him, though.  He didn’t seem all that interested and seemed to be taking the general “you’re not a doctor, so you don’t know about your own health” attitude that he’s had for a while now.

First, he determined that in the past six months I haven’t lost any weight.  While he may have a point, when it comes to the information he has, he doesn’t know that I’ve gained 30 pounds and then lost it at least once during that whole six months.  He drew a conclusion without having enough data, which I guess he thinks is okay since he thinks the only data is what is in his file.  (My whole life is apparently in that file, even though so much of it isn’t.)

Second, he asked how my sleep had been.  I told him that my sleep had sucked.  He started in on his “You can take 4 Zanaflex and Flexeril a night to sleep” rambling spree.  I told him that I couldn’t.  I’d told him this before, six months ago, but he didn’t believe me.  At the time I’d told him that I couldn’t take that much because I would get dizzy from the Zanaflex.  He told me, at the time, that that wasn’t possible because of the drug’s half-life.  This time I told him that it was because it dropped my blood pressure.  He said that I would have to choose between pain and lower blood pressure.  I tried to get across to him that this wasn’t just a little lower.  He didn’t understand until I told him the numbers that I had the night I fainted.  Suddenly, his advice changed. The advice became  ”take as much as you can” because I apparently had figured out my own limits.  Wow.  So, I’m not the idiot that I sometimes feel like I am?  I actually might notice that something is wrong.

So, this would be where I should have talked about my rash, but I was nervous and I was frustrated and I wanted to go home, so I didn’t tell him.

Speaking of my blood pressure, the other night it was around 130-something over 97.  I had slept in 36 hours before that blood pressure was taken.  I only checked it because I had a massively awful headache.  Today, at the appointment, my blood pressure was 127 over 74.  Apparently, the nap that I had this morning helped some.  Yay.

Comment » | Confessions, Sickness and Health

You Get 99 Dollars, But You Shouldn’t Get 1

24
May

You know how I didn’t want to go to the cardiologist today because I knew that he would say that he couldn’t do anything and that he would mention that he wouldn’t (if he could) because of my weight? I was right. He told me that he couldn’t treat the high blood pressure spells because my blood pressure is still on the low side of normal some of the time. He then said that he wouldn’t do anything and he didn’t want to test anything because he feels that the problem is my weight and only my weight. He said my blood pressure may be going up because I’m anxious, which I never said that I was anxious. I’m not really that much more anxious than normal, so I think that was just a way he could ignore dealing with the problem and shift the blame to me. He did eventually decide that he was going to do one test: an echocardiogram.

He spent a grand total of maybe four or five minutes with me. In that time, he didn’t look at the list of medicines I was on, but was able to say that none of my medicines could be affecting my blood pressure or heart. He didn’t look at my chart. He lectured, listened to my heart, listened to my lungs, lectured, left the room, and came back for a second to mention the ECHO. That was it. He left his nurse, Carol Ann (not joking about the name), to finish up my chart. I don’t know why she was even in there, except that she does his chart-work. (I guess he’s too good to do his damn work.)

I don’t understand how he can get paid (or ask to be paid) $99 for an appointment that he doesn’t even really do anything at. If you get paid $99 to tell someone they’re fat and to listen to their chest, then what does he expect to get when he actually does work? I mean, I know when he does surgeries that he gets tens of thousands of dollars, but what about the rest of the time?

The ECHO was interesting. I had to wait a while (almost 2 hours) to have it done. They only seemed to do 2 people at a time, which I think is weird since they had 6 people to do them. (If you have that many people, shouldn’t you have the same number of rooms?) I’d never had an ECHO, but it was a lot like having any other kind of ultrasound. It was a little different, since they used the Doppler and since you can actually listen to your heart rhythm.

I have no idea what was going on in my ECHO or what the results will be. (They’ll probably be normal or “within normal limits”.) All I know is that (at times) it looked like I had a rat dancing in my heart. It looked like there was a head with two arms (the valves) kind of going up, like it was jumping. There was some clicking sound at one point. It also looked like (on the Doppler screens) some of the red was going back into the blue’s area. Of course, I may have been noticing things that meant absolutely nothing, so there’s no point in worrying about it, right?

Though I was disappointed with the rude attitude of the cardiologist, I was glad that I didn’t run into the lady I had seen yesterday at the Mental Health Center. I wore (after washing it overnight) the same shirt that I had worn to the appointment yesterday. Unfortunately, the shirt sometimes lifts up when I move my arms to adjust my hair. The woman yesterday saw me lift my arms and probably saw about an inch or less of my stomach. As I got closer to the building, she started ranting about how she “didn’t want to see” my stomach. When I looked at her, she (of course) snapped at me for looking at her. I was not surprised that she was the one who went to the intake side of the office, since it seemed like she needed some serious help. I know that my stomach isn’t nice to look at, but it wasn’t like I was trying to show it off. I thought her behavior was a bit uncalled for, though it was slightly entertaining.

Wow, and before I can even finish the post, I get a call about the results from the test today.  It’s normal.  I am not surprised.

Comment » | Alabama Weirdness, Confessions, Mental Health, Rants, Sickness and Health

I Promise I Will Be There

24
May

In the past I have had doctors and therapists who don’t do the reminder calls, so I’ve learned not to really expect them.  Sure, I prefer when I get them, since I’ve usually scheduled the appointment weeks (sometimes months) in advance.  But, for the most part, I understand that doctors don’t have to call.

Well, on Friday, The Heart Center called to remind me of my appointment and to do pre-registration.  That’s not really weird, since a call prior to the weekend, is normal for appointments on Mondays and Tuesdays. (Pre-registration is also pretty normal, since the Center is part of the Huntsville Hospital System, so my appointment is sort of like being checked into the hospital for a few hours.)  Well, yesterday morning I got a second call from them.  This time it was their computer system, which required me to confirm the appointment via their automated system.  About four hours later, I got another call from them.  I think that it was a person.  (My dad answered and confirmed vocally, so I’m guessing that it was a person.)  I’ve never had an appointment that required 3 confirmations before.  My mother suggested that it might be that the Center has me scheduled for multiple people or multiple procedures or something.  Who knows?

Of course the idea that I’m going to see more than 1 specialist or that I’m going to be going through procedures is a bit unnerving.  I’m used to the EKG stuff and Holter monitors being a part of my appointment, but they don’t usually do anything other than that when I visit.  There is a chance that this appointment will be different, so I guess I shouldn’t expect it to be just like the others I’ve had there.

I’m no longer certain that it is Serotonin Syndrome, since I’ve continued to have problems with my heart rate going extremely high and my blood pressure getting higher than I’ve ever seen it go before.  The high numbers are especially unexpected when earlier in the day I will have had a fairly low reading or a reading that it close to normal.  A few hours after the high reading, the lower readings will come back.

I’ve also had some massive headaches with and without the increases (and decreases) in pulse and pressure.  Yesterday, I had one of the worst headaches that I’d ever had, which is saying something since I’ve had headaches pretty constantly for 20 years or so.  This headache felt like the front of my skull, mainly in the forehead area, was going to cave in.  It also felt like there was this explosive or maybe implosive feeling in that general area.  It didn’t feel like my standard migraines, tension, and sinus headaches.  It was different, and definitely not good-different.  I know that I probably should have gotten it checked out, but if I had called my family doctor and told them, I knew that they would have suggested that I tell the cardiologist today or that I go to the emergency room.  The ER isn’t really an option.  I know that I can’t rely on them to do anything anymore.  And if I were told to just tell the cardiologist, then I would have basically wasted a phone call.

Sometimes I wish I still had a headache doctor, but I didn’t really appreciate the way that I was treated there and I didn’t like that they kept putting me on medicines that I had already had issues with.  Since there is only one headache specialist in the entire state, I guess I am kind of screwed in terms of looking for others around here.  Insurance might keep me from going to doctors elsewhere, not to mention gas prices and the angst that comes with the idea of really long drives.

Anyway, I hope that the appointment goes well today and that we figure out what the hell is going on.  Otherwise, I worry that I will worry myself to death over it.

2 comments » | Confessions, Sickness and Health

Suite Gothique Pour Grande Orgue

17
May

If you’ve read my blog for, oh, at least a year [1], then you should know that I’ve had some issues with tachycardia [2]. My cardiologist had said that I had an arrhythmia [3], but didn’t want to treat it because my normal blood pressure was around 100/70 or lower and because I have asthma[4]. I didn’t really like his response, but I went with it because (in part) I felt that it was the right decision. I think the tables may have turned, though.

Over the weekend, I was feeling kind of weird when I walked into the living room from the bathroom (not a long distance)[5] and I wanted to know if maybe my pulse was up. It was. The pulse was at 156. My blood pressure was at 128 over 100. (I thought at first that the top number was in the 150′s.) I got worried and, yesterday morning, I called the family doctor to see if maybe they could see me. (I really didn’t want to go back to see the cardiologist if it wasn’t absolutely necessary.)[6] One of the nurses at the family doctor’s office said that I should really talk to the cardiologist about this. She asked me to check my blood pressure while we were on the phone, and I did. My blood pressure (then) was 130 over 100. My pulse, which is what she was more worried about, was 116, then. She said to call the cardiologist, since it sounded like it was more likely something they would end up treating. I hesitated, though, because I, like I said, I really didn’t want to see him.

This morning, I decided that I needed to check my blood pressure again. I sat down next to my mom and Willow for about 20 minutes, which was longer than I had waited the past 2 times before checking it. When I checked it, it came back as 182 over 98 with a pulse of 116. That was the highest I had ever seen the top number, not just for me, but for anyone. Mom definitely felt that I should make the call to the cardiologist ASAP, which I did.

Unfortunately, when dealing with a practice with so many physicians, the wait can be really long to talk to a scheduler. It took, literally, 7 minutes to talk to a real human being. I thought that she was the scheduler, but no, she was in charge of routing the calls once you get to the department. The person I needed to talk to wasn’t available, so I ended up leaving a voice-mail. (And I know that when she hears it, she’s going to think I’m 5 because my voice sounded that squeaky and young.)[7]

I’m worried, though, which I know doesn’t help at all. Between this, the ongoing congestion-sinus crap, my period starting back a couple of weeks ago (it’s been light, so the length isn’t worrying me at all), my increasing overheating issues, my dad’s disability review being tomorrow, my mom’s neurological issues, and the regular stress that I encounter, I’ve just been quite a nervous person lately. I would say that maybe the blood pressure is high because of that, but I guess it is better to be safe than sorry.

So, now I wait.

[1] Good for you, you deserve a cookie. Of course, if you’ve read it longer, then maybe you should get a cookie cake or something.

[2] The definition came from The Mayo Clinic‘s page on tachycardia.

[3] The definition came from the National Institutes of Health‘s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute‘s page on arrhythmia.

[4] The definition came from PubMed Health from their asthma page.

[5] Unless ten feet is a long distance.

[6] He’s one of those doctors that makes it clear that he doesn’t see the point in treating overweight clients.

[7] I know that having a little kid voice isn’t really noteworthy, but it sometimes makes it hard for me to do things over the phone. People seem to be in disbelief that a person can have a little kid voice when they’re in their twenties.

Comment » | 10 Years of Madness, Confessions, Family, Sickness and Health

It’s Not All in My Head

23
February

I’m sorry but I must disagree with your assessment of the visit. I took a full history, reviewed available records and did a complete rheumatologic physical exam (which I know is more detailed than most). I ordered appropriate labs and all they are returning normal and negative for rheumatic disease. I am aware that you have musculoskeletal pain and I acknowledged that but I have no treatment for chronic undifferentiated pain syndrome. I have been practicing for > 30yrs and this has allowed me to be more efficient in my evaluations that most. Again , I would recommend that your MD have you evaluated by a pain specialist.

The exam wasn’t complete. Going through the motions isn’t a complete exam. The appropriate labs probably wouldn’t be back by now, since it generally takes more than 36 hours to get lab results back on anything other than simple tests. Pain is not the same as inflammation and it isn’t the same as all of the dryness going on everywhere. The syndrome that he mentioned in the email, which wasn’t mentioned at the appointment, is (from what I can tell) a somatoform diagnosis–meaning that it’s all in my head. So basically, I hurt, feel like crap, etc. because I’m a nutter.

The last time that a doctor diagnosed me with a somatoform illness and stuck with that diagnosis was when I was 13 and I was having problems with my gallbladder. That doctor thought that I was just really anxious and causing the stomach pain. She continued that stance after the surgery to remove the gallbladder. So, I don’t really take stock in doctors who outright say that it is all in my head. And if it were a somatoform issue, then you know what the treatment is? Therapy and anti-depressants. What have I been going through on near-constant basis since I was 16 and off-and-on since I was 13. Yeah, those two things.

Now, it could be that I’m just crazy, but I really don’t think so. (I know that’s supposed to be part of the whole diagnosis with the problem.) I just don’t think it’s possible for me to fake this much stuff. I think it’s more likely that the doctor is just an arrogant ass who didn’t care to look into what might be going on.

4 comments » | Confessions, Rants, Sickness and Health, So Damn Special

Sometimes People Suck

21
February

Well, today was the much-hyped trip to Birmingham for my new rheumatologist. Unfortunately, it was a bit over-hyped. I got there early, and was taken back right away. That part was pretty cool. My mom went with me, which was a nice change of pace. There was no checking of vitals, which was a little concerning.

Mom and I waited…and waited…and waited. Eventually, the doctor came in. He asked a few questions, frowned at the incredibly thin records (explained below), had me change into a gown while he left the room, had me sit on a table that was about 18″ off the floor (too close for my legs), barked out orders about how to breathe for him (2 deep in and a few shallow–no breathing out, no real listening), looked at my eyes for a minute, did strength testings on my hands, checked a little of my range of motion, looked inside my mouth for a second, told me I didn’t have Sjögren’s (or Lupus or any type of inflammatory arthritis), said he was going to order some tests, said that I should see other doctors instead of rheumatologists, was uninterested that I’ve been having near-fainting spells lately because my heart is getting more out-of-whack (I know he’s a rheumy and not a cardiologist, but still…), told me that for those spells I should see a neurologist (which given that they’re related to pulse & bp is kinda nuts), and left. Five minutes. Those five minutes that I had traveled for 2 hours to Birmingham for. Those five minutes where he told me that anything I had previously been told was true was now considered invalid. Those five minutes that I’d actually kind of looked forward to since I figured I might actually find a rheumatologist that spent more than 5 minutes and actually listened. Those five minutes were basically ones that I wished I could have back for the next hour and a half, as I went from crying to stunned silence to horrifyingly bad migraine with a numb cheek (which happens with some of them).

I cried when I was handed the lab sheet from the nurse. I lied and said I was fine to her. I cried as I went down to the admitting office. I cried as I filled out the information. I lied and said I was fine to the receptionist, too. I cried when I was having blood drawn, which freaked out the phlebotomist. (She hit the vein on one stick and didn’t leave a mark, so kudos to her.) She tried to get me to calm down. My parents tried to calm me down, too. I sat in the backseat and cried until we got to the Rest Stop. I finally told my dad what had happened, though my mom might have told him earlier, since I hadn’t really been much for talking for a while. I was almost back to my normal semi-melancholy state by the time we had lunch in Cullman.

I tried to remain a bit more positive on the rest of the ride home, and when we got home, I promptly made a list of every doctor that I could remember seeing since I was a small child. I found the addresses and phone numbers, and I found the fax number for some of them. I then found the rheumatologist’s email address and sent him the list. I also wrote a letter to him.

This is Janet Morris. I saw you today at the UAB Highlands Clinic. You commented that you didn’t have any blood work or any medical records other than what UAB’s Family Medicine Clinic in Huntsville sent. I have attached a list of every doctor that I have seen since I was about 6 years old. I would have gathered the medical records, lab reports, x-rays, imaging studies, etc. that I had done over that time period, but I didn’t have the money to pay each doctor for a copy of those records. Your office, on the other hand, can request these and get them for no charge. I have also attached the blood results from a blood test that was run by ************, my neurologist, in June of 2010.
I don’t know if you were having a bad day, if you were upset at the lack of records, or if you are normally that short with patients, but it seemed like you felt like I wasn’t worth spending any time checking. I know that it makes your day harder when patients don’t have a complete history with them, but that doesn’t seem like a reason to spend 5 minutes and automatically dismiss their history. You didn’t bother asking if I had anything more than dry eyes or joint pain before telling me that I didn’t have Sjögren’s, Lupus, or any kind of inflammatory arthritis. I have dry mouth, anhidrosis, and a rash that comes and goes pretty regularly. I also have a normal temperature at 97 or lower, unless I’m upset, sick, or go without water or eyedrops for more than 1-2 hours, at which time my temperature goes to 99 or 100. The fainting thing that you recommended I see a neurologist about was actually due to my heart rate going to the upper end of its normal level (which is typically between 95 and 145 bpm) or my bpm going up to about 100/140, which is far from its normal level of about 100/60.

As my list shows, I have seen multiple doctors over the years. Some have found problems. Others have been dismissive towards me. I had been going to see ****** who thought I had Sjögren’s, Fibromyalgia, and Joint Hypermobility syndrome, but he recently started acting like I was a waste of time, so I thought I’d try UAB’s Rheumatology department.

If you could at least try to get the records and look them over, I would appreciate it. If this is just another waste of time, then I’m sorry, but please at least try to figure out what is going on before you completely dismiss me.

I doubt that the letter will do any good except maybe brand me as a total nutjob or a hypochondriac or something, but I am so sick of going to doctors and having them just ignore me or say, “Go somewhere else.” It would be one thing if this was a rare occurrence or if this had happened in town, but this happens at the majority of places now. It happens with specialists, some of the UAB family medicine doctors, and (worst of all) when I go to the ER. (The ER likes to put me with the drug-seekers or just give the minimum care.) I am pretty much at my wit’s end when it comes to this kind of stuff.

Oh, and when we got back to Huntsville, my mom had my dad go by Sonic to get the Red Velvet Cheesecake Blast that I had asked for for my birthday. (It had been forgotten before, so we figured today was as good a time as any.) When we got there, the Sonic person said that they were no longer making them, but they made a Red Velvet shake instead. (No cheesecake or whipped cream.) So, the one thing that I had asked for for my birthday was not available.

Today, for lack of a better word, sucked for me.

2 comments » | Alabama Weirdness, Confessions, Family, General, Rants, Sickness and Health

Bitch Didn’t Even Suffer

30
November

This afternoon, I saw the family doctor. I should’ve known how everything would be going by the fact that it was raining. (Raining when I’m outside is a bad sign and a major anxiety point for me.) Of course, I’m not always that bright.

When I got there, I didn’t have to wait long to get called to the back. This gave me a false sense of security and helped me to forget that only minutes earlier, I had seen the most incompetent bitchy nurse coming in. When I was called, it was the new Miss Incompetent RN. I weighed, and it appears that it hasn’t gone up…or down. My blood pressure was the real “fun part” The nurse, who has fucked up my blood pressure before (when they were checking for postural BP issues related to vertigo & tachycardia), used the regular adult cuff on the lower part of my arm. Since I think I’m smart and stuff, I told her, “that’s too small and it’s not going to be accurate.” She replied, “this cuff is the proper size for this part of your arm.” (My lower arms [like the rest of me] are larger than the average person’s.) I said, “it’ll be wrong. Small cuffs cause bad readings.” She scoffed and acted like she knew better because she got a nursing degree. (Nurses should know better, but that doesn’t mean they do.) When the machine read it, it was 150 over 100. I knew that was BS since I didn’t have a headache. So, when the doctor came in, after examining my knee (and asking if I had arthritis–probably due to the fun crackling thing they do), she asked if I typically have a problem with my blood pressure. I said, “Only that it tends to run low.” (Since this is something that has been stated by people who deal with heart, pregnant, and pre-op patients, I think it’s probably the more educated stance.) She checked it. She got the biggest cuff and put it on my upper arm. I thought she couldn’t find it the first two times. She ended up getting a different cuff and checked the other arm. When she finally accepted that it was 120 over 70, she said, “It is on the low side.” This was apparently surprising, as it typically is. (I guess fat people=high blood pressure, kind of like fat people=diabetes.) So, she was less concerned about the high reading. (Staff incompetence isn’t anything she has control over.)

My family doctor told me that I need to take 600 milligrams of Ibuprofen. I told her I would. I have learned not to argue with doctors about anti-inflammatories. They are even more anal about having their reasoning questioned than the incompetent nurse. I won’t take the Ibuprofen. I don’t particularly want to take something that messes with my stomach that badly. So, I won’t take it, but I won’t tell her that.

2 comments » | General, Rants, Sickness and Health, So Damn Special

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