34F - High Aldo, High Renin - ER Visit Last Night

January 7, 2011

I've been following the posts but haven't posted in awhile on myself as there

hasn't been much to post. The Dr. at Loma is still running tests (slowly I

might add...like one test every 6-8 weeks grrrr!!!!). He believes its Secondary

Aldo, but still no idea whatsoever what is causing it. In the mean time my

primary Dr. is sending me to a Rheumatologist for testing for fibromyalgia.

But the last two weeks I've been feeling really off. The last week I've been

having chest palps and pain again, initially kinda of mild so figured my

potassium must be a bit low. I'm still on the 40MEQ of potassium. Well yesterday

I went to work after taking a couple days off due to feeling so poorly and

scared the hell out of my coworkers yesterday afternoon when my chest pain went

from mild to SEVERE and radiating up to my shoulder. I got extremely dizzy, and

nearly passed out. They rushed me to the ER where I got the worst treatment I

have ever experienced at my local hospital (yes I have been there before and

have never been much impressed with them).

Corona Regional Hospital (never go to them!)did immediately take an EKG which

according to them " didn't show any abnormalities " even though I could feel my

heart skipping a beat! My blood pressure, the first time they took it was

201/120!! They then put me in the waiting room! Finally an HOUR later, a PA

talked to me for all of 3 minutes, said they were " extremely busy " and would

call me for blood work soon. Half an hour later they called me in for a chest

xray. Half an hour after that, blood work. All the while still sitting in the

waiting room with a bunch of people with the flu. Then almost 2 hours later they

finally put me in a bed. The ER Dr. came in, asked all of maybe 3 questions,

told me that the EKG and blood work did not show a heart attack, that my

Potassium was " only slightly low at 3.3 " and they would give me potassium and

send me home immediately. I asked about my blood pressure, he said to see my

regular Dr. since it had come down (to ONLY 172/103!) I asked about the skipped

heart beats that I could clearly make out on the heart monitor I was on, and he

told me " it might be caused by the slightly low potassium, but really the

potassium wasn't that low and that I wasn't having a heart attack, so go home! "

They never game me anything to bring down my blood pressure and didn't even

address it!

I thought blood pressure that high is considered an hypertensive emergency. I am

still feeling very bad this morning, despite the extra potassium, still having

chest pains/palps and skipped beats, shortness of breath, severe headache and

dizziness. I have called my primary Dr's office (my primary isn't in on Fridays)

and they are having me come in this afternoon. I am sick of these dr's taking

their sweet time to determine what is wrong with me!

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