no comic this week
Sep. 8th, 2013 10:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
not_funno comic this week, though i'll be putting some sort of thing on the front page in a few i guess.
alf had a major anxiety attack on his way home from work thursday, and because he has never had one before and had no prior history of it, neither of us were able to identify what was happening. so the attack persisted, and early friday morning he was taken to the ER. when the paramedics checked his heart rate at home (resting, sitting on the bed) it was 150. a normal adult human heart rate is between 60-100bpm.
anyway, we spent the day in the ER. they did a barrage of tests. blood tests, carbon monoxide screening, tests for blood clots, a chest x-ray, two ekgs, a urine tox screen i mean just...anything you can think of to rule out any possibility of other issues. all of his tests came back "better than good, they were perfect" in the words of the doctor. it was definately an anxiety attack, she said.
this was supported by the fact that a dose of ativan in an IV drip was the only thing which got his heart rate down the first time (around 7am). a second dose was needed around 2pm, after the first wore off and his heart began to go over 130 again lying still in the bed.
he was given a prescription for ativan and instructions to follow up monday with a physician and discharged around 3. a neighbor picked us up at the ER and brought us home. he had another attack at home around 7pm, and took another ativan to control it.
yesterday was better. fewer attacks, and smaller ones, and he was able to control all but one without the medication. but really arbitrary things seemed to set them off. listening to the pumaman mst3k was one. phones ringing was another.
in general he's been saying he feels weak and uneasy, just kind of fragile. he's been napping a lot. this morning he said he still feels kind of weird, and that his stomach is hurting. he was able to eat pretty normally yesterday but friday and thursday said the nausea was too bad.
i dunno. it's all pretty nerve wracking. i haven't slept much.
we've identified what we think the big trigger was - the car, which has numerous problems and we're trying to replace. we're looking into a rental car for the time being, hopefully we'll have that handled on monday. alf also needs to follow up with a doctor then, but because he never found a primary care provider that means we'll have to find a walk in clinic.
things have been very touch-and-go the last few days. i'm hoping they improve soon.
everyone has been really kind and helpful through all of this, from people with anxiety offering tips on managing attacks to neighbors offering to drive us to doctors or wherever. for that i just want to say again what i said on twitter - thank you, thank you, thank you. this is very scary for us and others reaffirming that this is nothing outside of the realm of a normal anxiety attack is very reassuring. it's still scary, but knowing these are all common symptoms really does help.
hopefully i'll have good news soon.
alf had a major anxiety attack on his way home from work thursday, and because he has never had one before and had no prior history of it, neither of us were able to identify what was happening. so the attack persisted, and early friday morning he was taken to the ER. when the paramedics checked his heart rate at home (resting, sitting on the bed) it was 150. a normal adult human heart rate is between 60-100bpm.
anyway, we spent the day in the ER. they did a barrage of tests. blood tests, carbon monoxide screening, tests for blood clots, a chest x-ray, two ekgs, a urine tox screen i mean just...anything you can think of to rule out any possibility of other issues. all of his tests came back "better than good, they were perfect" in the words of the doctor. it was definately an anxiety attack, she said.
this was supported by the fact that a dose of ativan in an IV drip was the only thing which got his heart rate down the first time (around 7am). a second dose was needed around 2pm, after the first wore off and his heart began to go over 130 again lying still in the bed.
he was given a prescription for ativan and instructions to follow up monday with a physician and discharged around 3. a neighbor picked us up at the ER and brought us home. he had another attack at home around 7pm, and took another ativan to control it.
yesterday was better. fewer attacks, and smaller ones, and he was able to control all but one without the medication. but really arbitrary things seemed to set them off. listening to the pumaman mst3k was one. phones ringing was another.
in general he's been saying he feels weak and uneasy, just kind of fragile. he's been napping a lot. this morning he said he still feels kind of weird, and that his stomach is hurting. he was able to eat pretty normally yesterday but friday and thursday said the nausea was too bad.
i dunno. it's all pretty nerve wracking. i haven't slept much.
we've identified what we think the big trigger was - the car, which has numerous problems and we're trying to replace. we're looking into a rental car for the time being, hopefully we'll have that handled on monday. alf also needs to follow up with a doctor then, but because he never found a primary care provider that means we'll have to find a walk in clinic.
things have been very touch-and-go the last few days. i'm hoping they improve soon.
everyone has been really kind and helpful through all of this, from people with anxiety offering tips on managing attacks to neighbors offering to drive us to doctors or wherever. for that i just want to say again what i said on twitter - thank you, thank you, thank you. this is very scary for us and others reaffirming that this is nothing outside of the realm of a normal anxiety attack is very reassuring. it's still scary, but knowing these are all common symptoms really does help.
hopefully i'll have good news soon.
