No one can tell me what's wrong - please help.

[dmboo]

30 YO Female 112 lbs consistent heart palps with shaking & sweating, waking up feeling faint with heart racing, shakiness in my legs, cannot satisfy hunger, very dizzy and vision poor. Shortness of breath. I cannot do much without having to sit down quickly. Dry mouth, thirsty even when I drink almost a gallon of water in the day.

Went to ER 2 months ago, EKG, CT scan blood work & urine came back fine, with the exception of potassium being a little low & bacteria in my urine sample. Was given antibiotic and sent home and now all of my symptoms are back and worse.

Tested my urine tonight for ketones with home test strips came back 5MG/DL

I need help understanding what is causing this. I was perfectly fine 6 months ago and every day it's getting worse. Our insurance was cancelled & now I can't afford to see a doctor.

[dmboo]

Thank you for the replies.

I went back to the hospital last week & they held me for 4 days as they ran test and monitored me.

They did stress echo, EKG, sonogram : all fine, my heart according to them works 100% fine.

Labs show my potassium was a little low 3.2 at check in & they gave me 3 pills to boost ( i dont know mg) and it only increased by 1 point. They gave me 3 more and I got up to 4.0 that evening by morning it was back down to 3.5

we played this game throughout the 4 days I was there. Magnesium was also low and they gave me an IV drip 1 time during my stay, but I am not certain they ever checked it again because every person I asked could not answer me yes or no. When I was discharged my potassium was 3.8.

I was very dizzy and had nausea the whole time, but no one could tell me why except my blood pressure seemed low-- at one reading it was 88/60, another 96/57, 93/60.. etc

They CT my abdomen and found a cyst on my ovary but didn't think it was a big deal.

On the heart monitor they hooked me up to 24/7 it showed at night when I sleep I am dropping to 50 beats (Bradycardia). But it was shrugged off.

They did CT scan of my brain and only showed Minimal Ethmoid Sinus Deases, Mild Bilateral Ethmoid Sinus Mucoperiosteal Thickening. Which makes sense because I am always stuffed up and sound like I am sick. I could couch up endless amounts of phlegm. (Sorry TMI.)

On my third day my hemoglobin dropped several points under "normal"
range and the doctor kept me to run a stool test to make sure there was no stomach bleeding, that test was negative, but nothing else was addressed about my levels dropping.

They discharged me and said nothing was wrong, I was actually consulted by a doctor I didn't meet until that day (I had one doctor for the fist three days) and he actually tried to suggest because I am thin I might be anorexic which I find completely disrespectful & unfounded. I have been thin my whole life and I am not THAT thin. I have skinny arms but that doesn't mean I have an eating disorder. (sheesh!)

I asked him if I should/need to take potassium supplement at home and he shrugged said no drink OJ. I told him I already do that and eat bananas etc and asked him why my potassium drops off so quickly and he could not answer.

I got the nurse to print off my lab results for me and when I got home I noticed my Hct, Hgb,Neutrophils, Neutro Absolute, and protein are all below "normal range".

So there is an anemia taking place here & no one said anything about it??? Even though I am telling them I am short of breath, fatigued, dizzy/lightheaded.

I am so frustrated!

I was able to make an appointment with a GP for the 27th and I hope he can offer me better help than this hospital. For Pete's sake the nurse didn't know where the pituitary gland is or that you can buy potassium without a prescription.

I have had two more mini episodes of feeling like my heart races and like I will pass out since I have been home. I am taking some B12 & Potassium which help with the fatigue, but I am still not "me" at all.


  

[Artaud]

My wife also suggested that recreational drugs, energy drinks and supplements, caffeine, cold and diet medications also be considered and avoided. Regardless of why you don't have insurance, your symptoms warrant investigation.

Please be advised that neither myself, or others, including doctors, could properly diagnose you without personally examining you and the results of relevant testing. I saw an EKG online once that had what appeared to be one type of arrhythmia, and anyone seeing the EKG online would probably have agreed. But the doctor had his suspicions and did a carotid artery massage, the heart rate slowed, the complexes became separated due to the slowing and the real reason for the arrhythmia became apparent. Medhelp can be a wonderful site to learn more and to ease fears about known illnesses, but never, ever, should be trusted to diagnose ailments, despite the best intentions of any of us.

[MichelleP_3811]

It sounds like there may be some sort of illness outside the body that is stressing the heart.  Do you have low bp?  If so try and get more sodium in your diet and see if that helps.  As well make sure you get your sugar checked as well have your hormones tested.  The ER very well may not have tested for thyroid issues so go to a GP and get a workup done.  ERs just check for life threatening issues but you need to see a general doctor for a full workup.  Until then try and eat more bananas and keep drinking the water.  It will help you feel a bit better.  But do try and see the doctor.  If you are in the states you should be able to get Obama care.  You should be signed up for it anyways.  I do hope you can get to the bottom of this and feel better soon.  Take care and keep us posted on how you are doing.

[Artaud]

Sorry to hear about your health and insurance. You said you can't afford to see a doctor, at some point you can't afford not to see one. Contact your local hospital/s, explain the situation to them that you have a physical condition that needs tended to, and ask if they know where you can get financial assistance or a program that would permit you to pay off any debt over an extended period of time.

One of my sons, in his 30's, gets bouts of atrial fibrillation. He has been in the hospital twice, 5 days each time, innumerable tests, drugs to convert his rhythm, food, the works, he's been given a payment plan. The resident cardiologist wanted to shock him back into a normal rhythm, no doubt to save money, but respected the family physician's desire to wait several days to see if he'd convert on the medication. Just as they were getting ready to take him down for the Trans Esophageal Echocardiogram prior to using the paddles, he converted. I had to fight with the nurse not to take him, thankfully another nurse from the EKG monitoring station came to reaffirm that he had converted. He had the process done, out of state, a third time, except he opted for the paddles earlier in his episode. Still no insurance.

In addition, he has meds to take, when he had no insurance, a local pharmacy arranged torching to get the medication at a small fraction of the usual price. If you ferl your health is peril, I suggest you try to find a program that will work with what you can afford.