update and question about hospital

[acesew]

Hey everyone.  I haven't been on in a while bc I've been feeling pretty bad.  I had a good day Saturday and went out with friends, but that didn't last long.  On into the night my Hr got well over 100 beats with me sitting for a couple of hours.  I did okay Sunday, but felt really bad Monday.  Mon evening my BP and HR were going up.  I decided to lay down early and I started getting sick.  I was sick and vomiting all night.  I got up this morning to go to work and could barely walk from the dizziness.  I don't know what is going on, but I don't like it.

My question is how do some of you know when it is time to go the hospital?  I have wondered this for a while.  I haven't gone for any of my problems except pain.  Last week I got to hurting so bad that I had to go get something for the pain.

Hope everyone else is doing better.

[acesew]

I still have the dizziness, but not the vomiting as long as I only eat small amounts at a time.  If I ever eat enough to have that full feeling, I will start vomiting again.  The crazy thing is, right now when I go to a dr here that say they have done all they can, so I have been trying to hold out until next week.  My budget is getting tight since I can't work alot and I can't afford to go to these guys that keep saying the same thing.  I know that sounds crazy, but it is what I am having to do for now.  Hopefully that will change next week.
Steph

[tonyad]

  Oh my! I hate to hear that you are still not well  :(
Are you still having the dizziness also? And what about the vomiting?
Please get to a doctor soon. Even if you have to go to the ER.

  That is what they are there for. You know your body better than
anyone and what is normal for you and what is not!
Please keep in touch.
Be well,
~Tonya

[acesew]

Hey.  I try to drink lots of fluids everyday.  Right now I am not doing very well.  For some reason I just can't seem to function for very long.  I haven't been to a dr yet that can completely help me.  I am seeing a cardio who started me on Florinef.  It has helped some but not a lot.  I am going to Vandy next week to see if they can help.  I sure hope they do.  I am getting so tired of feeling bad.
I am sorry to here you were down.  Glad you are feeling better. Thanks for the response.
Steph

[tonyad]

So sorry for such a late response but since my dx of MS, I have been
a bit down. But....doing a bit better now :)

Anyhow, back to you!  Are you feeling better?  I agree w/ heiferly in that
you need to be very careful w/ getting dehydrated (which will make your heart
go a bit wacky!)

Hope you have been to the doctors and gotten some answers by now.
Again, I am apologize for being so late in a response.
Take Care,
~Tonya

[Heiferly]

The hospital question is a tricky one.  The first rule of thumb is start considering the hospital if you're having symptoms that are unusual FOR YOU.  I often find it handy, when in doubt, to call either the answering service for my general practitioner's office (if it's after hours) and have the on-call physician paged or call the cardiology line at the hospital and have the on-call cardiologist paged (again, if it's when my cardiologist can't be reached at his office).  By either of these methods, I can get a call back from a doctor and I can tell them briefly my history and my presenting symptoms and ask their recommendation regarding whether to go to the hospital or not.  This often puts my mind at ease, one way or the other.

Some general rules of thumb (but your docs may have slightly different recommendations for you, so it's a good idea to go over these things with your own personal doctors):

-vomiting, diarrhea, etc. is a concern in dysautonomia in particular due to dehydration so monitor your weight whenever you have these symptoms and consider heading to the hospital if you are losing lbs. rapidly and not retaining fluids

-tachycardia above a certain HR that is not relieved by lying down may be something your doctor wants to see you in the hospital for--good thing to ask about (some dysauto folks go into bad tachy spells in the 180s, or 200s+, for example)

-abnormal (for you) chest pain

-abnormal (for you) neurological symptoms, particularly those that may be indicative of a stroke (can't be too careful about possible strokes; everyone should education themselves about the warning signs)

There may be other circumstances as well.  I usually get sent if my resting systolic is staying under 90 for an extended period of time and I'm unable to ambulate at all (i.e. stand upright, walk) without fainting.  There's also some ambiguity about what our plan of action is for when my pulse pressure gets "stuck" so low (say, in the 18-22 range), often with low BPs, that again I'm bedridden to avoid fainting but I don't think anyone would balk at hospitalization for those episodes either.  (Except me, which I guess is why I didn't go, LOL.)

I'm sorry you're not feeling well.  I hope you can get in contact with your doctor and decide together whether to head to the hospital for this one or make an office visit or play it by ear and see how things go at home a bit longer.  Keep us updated whenever you're able.  I'll be thinking of you!  And once you're feeling better, hopefully you can have a discussion at your next doc appointment about what the game plan should be for deciding when to go to the hospital in various situations for future reference.

Take good care of yourself!!