Hospitalized AGAIN!

[Adam_W]

Well, I got up this morning feeling pretty good, even though I got a little too dry on dialysis the evening before. I had breakfast and went to church like I do every Sunday. I felt fine all through the service, but as we stood for the closing song, I started feeling lightheaded, then there was kind of a blur of activity, and suddenly I was being put on a gurney and rolled out of the church. I had basically keeled over. I don't think I lost consciousness completely, but for a while I was kind of semi-conscious. It turned out that I was suffering both dehydration and low blood sugar at the same time. My sugar was low but tolerable when the paramedics checked it in the ambulance, but when it was checked again a few hours later, it had plunged to 53, which for me is really bad (I normally start having bad symptoms when it drops below 100). They gave me 500cc of saline, and had me drink some apple juice to get my sugar back up, and by the time they released me, I felt tired, but OK. This is the third time I've gotten really sick in front of a lot of people, and I hate it. All my friends at church are wonderful, though, and they did whatever they could to make me comfortable until the ambulance got there (at least from what I can remember of that time). Ugh! I hate ERs.

Adam

[kidney4traci]

I am really sorry man, that stinks!  But actually good in a way, that you were in good hands and maybe they were praying for ya while the ambulance arrived??!  Will be saying prayers tonight that you get back on the right track.

[paris]

Adam, I am sorry but also glad you were in church when it happened.  At least you weren't alone.  All those people surrounding you and praying for you---well, that is a good place to be when something like this happens.   Hope you are doing better.

[oleboy]

Glad to here you had a quick recovery, did you do a finger stick this morning? and always remember the candy in our pockets. 

[Mimi]

Oh Adam, that is the pits.  But I have to agree with Traci, you were in the best place you could be if it had
to happen.  Take care of yourself and check that sugar often.  I'm praying for you.

Love, Mimi

[Sluff]

  dang it Adam, you need to take better care of yourself. I hate that you had to experience this again. Does your sugar jump around like this all the time. I know you posted something about that before. Just wondering if you should be on the pump, which automatically controls your sugar and insulin levels. I don't know if that only works for people who run consistently high or if it works for all diabetics. Good luck in finding resolution to this complex problem. 

[KT0930]

Sorry you had to go through this Adam. Glad you're home and feeling better, and that you were in a place where people care about you and got you the help you needed as soon as they could!

[Joe Paul]

I feel for you man. Diabetes, no matter how controlled, rears its head at the ugliest times. Its good you were with a bunch of people, and though it was embarrassing, got you the help you needed. I hope you are feeling better tonight, and you get a good nights rest 

[rose1999]

Sorry to hear this Adam.  I agree with Paris, you may feel embarrassed that there are a lot of people round but that's for the best.  Take care of yourself, hope you'll feel better soon. 

[KICKSTART]

I know its not nice for you to get ill in front of people but never be embarrassed , they all know its not your fault. I guess its better to be among a crowd of people and get help straight away , than it to happen if you were on your own. Sounds like you need to fill your pockets with sweeties! I hope you are feeling better now.

[willieandwinnie]

Adam, I'm so sorry you are going through this again. Maybe you should take KS advice and get some candy to carry with you. I hope your feeling better and take care of yourself. 

[ODAT]

oops double post

[ODAT]

Glad you were with people who knew what to do. That's a concern for me, knowing what to do. My mom is diabetic type 2 and her sugar has been so low a few times the past week it didn't even register. The machine said LO. But, it has also registered at 27, 29. She eats and it goes up to 180, 213. She has called her doctor and is going to see him this week. Not sure if in this case you increase or decrease insulin. So hard to keep control over. She does not ever feel light-headed so I'm wondering if it is the machine and not her sugar. How much can you trust these machines? Major concern is when she starts dialysis and gets numbers this low. She'll probably feel it then.

take care Adam  

[petey]

Hey, Adam!  How are you doing today?

[Psim]

Scary stuff! Hope today is feeling a lot better.

[jbeany]

Geez, Adam - are you on a first name basis with the ER staff yet?   

Hope you feel better now - watch that sugar!

[Adam_W]

I'm feeling better, even though the fluid situation hasn't been resolved yet. Yesterday I only tried to remove one kilo and I still got too dry and had to turn my UF off, and this was still when I was about a kilo over my NEW dry weight. I know I haven't gained over three kilos of real weight in just a few weeks time. My nurse and I are both stumped on this. As for my sugar, usually it doesn't present major problems because I keep it under control, but sometimes it just unexpectedly knocks me on my arse (figuratively and literally). We'll get this fluid situation resolved eventually, but I'm just sick of feeling bad every time I dialyze, and often when I'm not doing dialysis. NxStage is all about feeling good, but right now I usually just feel bad. Still not as bad as I felt in-centre, though. 

Geez, Adam - are you on a first name basis with the ER staff yet?   

Jbeany, you're not that far off. It feels like they are just going to have to name the whole building after me, or make me start paying room and board. Oh wait, they already are. But fortunately Medicare takes care of it for me. 

[Sluff]

I remember how you struggled with in-center but I don't recall if you had the same problems with the blood sugars? The independence is great but you have to get those sugars in check.

[skyedogrocks]

Adam - What rate are you taking the fluid off?  If you have 1 kilo, are you taking it off all at once or stretching it out?  If Rob has a lot of fluid on, say 3 or 3.5 kilos (which is rare), he will set it for 2 kilos/hour.  Then take the last kilo off slowly.  If he only has 1 or 2, he will stretch it out.  Maybe you can play with that and see what works better for you.  Also, your dry weight can go up very quickly if you are eating better or working out more (gaining muscle). 

Hope you find a solution soon, feel better.

[Adam_W]

I had more problems on the machine yesterday. I tried taking only .6 off, with the rate at .4 L/hr, and I could only get .3 off before I couldn't handle it anymore. That was just when trying to go down to 64, and my "new" dry weight is 63, and just a week ago before we upped it, it was just 61. The strange thing with yesterday's event was my blood pressure didn't drop at all, and the bad symptoms (dizziness, light headed, sweating, etc) didn't go away when I turned the UF off, or when I infused saline, so I had to get off the machine about an hour early. The symptoms were all gone withing 10 min. after I got off. I didn't even feel dry anymore. My nurse is having a live meeting with my doctor about this, and she's going to call me as soon as it's over. We're speculating that I might be having some kind of allergic reaction to something related to the dialysis (dialysate, heparin, dialyzer processing chemicals, etc.). I just stopped using the Baxter heparin, so it's not anything related to the recent problems with that. I did just start taking Sensipar, but the main side affect with that is diarrhea. This is just not good, because I'm starting to reach the point where I'm afraid to dialyze because I know it's going to make me feel bad, and that's not a good thing because if I go too far, I'll start skipping treatments, then I'll be in real trouble with my health. Fortunately I haven't had any more problems with my sugar.

Adam

[rose1999]

Hope you get some answers soon Adam, thinking of you