blondielady
24-12-14, 04:40
I posted on here about a month ago having all kinds of anxiety problems. I was having trouble sleeping, some dizziness, and just a general feeling of being unwell. I went to the doctor and she immediately just wanted to put me on antidepressants because all of my bloodwork came back normal. I HATE meds so I went to some counseling and did a lot of EFT tapping and meditation. I started trying to eat better and everything too. I started to feel better and really thought I was getting past all that.
Well yesterday I wound up in the ER because I have AVNRT (tachycardia) that pops up maybe once a year, other than some PVCs here and there which I'm totally used to since I've had them since my teen years. They did my bloodwork again and said that I was hypokalemic and needed IV potassium. This was after giving me adenosine to put my heart rhythm back to normal, along with a bit of lopressor to keep it there. I'm not on any medications normally and the stuff they gave me in the hospital made me feel drained and heavy at the hospital for a couple hours, but then I wasn't too bad. Anyway, after the first couple hours they started the IV potassium without warning me that the stuff HURTS your arm going in... so about 3 hours of getting that and having my whole arm hurrrrrt. Well I went home exhausted, physically and emotionally because I was at the hospital all night. I've never had any bloodwork come back at abnormal levels, other than low iron while pregnant.
So my question is, have any of you had a potassium IV? Does that bring potassium back up to normal right away or does it take awhile? I think my level was something like 2.6. I had an IV drip that lasted like 3 hours plus some oral liquid potassium. I had a hard time sleeping when I got home just from anxiety. Then when I did get up I felt nauseous, which apparently is a side effect of potassium, but not sure if the IV drip and the oral kind would have done that since I'd taken those things like 6 hours earlier. Today I've had on and off crying spells, which is typical for me after having to go to the ER because it is a setback and emotionally hard to deal with. I'm now taking 20mg potassium twice a day for 7 days to keep bringing my levels back up into the normal range. I'm of course sitting here panicking about getting nausea again because hey, that's what a hypochondriac does. I'm also sitting here freaking out wondering what could have possibly caused my levels to go low when I've been eating a lot of bananas and oranges all month (and had been feeling a bit better!). So of course I googled.... and found things about kidney problems and endocrine diseases... because I haven't had vomiting, diarrhea, or any diuretics. I have had loose stools pretty much every morning when I wake up, but thats the only BM of the day. I also just got over having influenza and wasn't eating very well for about a week, on top of not eating the greatest a couple weeks prior when I was at the height of my anxiety. Anyway I asked the doctor what might have caused it and he just said "it could be anything... not eating right, getting sick, anything." So I'm of course just sitting here nervous and wondering.
Well yesterday I wound up in the ER because I have AVNRT (tachycardia) that pops up maybe once a year, other than some PVCs here and there which I'm totally used to since I've had them since my teen years. They did my bloodwork again and said that I was hypokalemic and needed IV potassium. This was after giving me adenosine to put my heart rhythm back to normal, along with a bit of lopressor to keep it there. I'm not on any medications normally and the stuff they gave me in the hospital made me feel drained and heavy at the hospital for a couple hours, but then I wasn't too bad. Anyway, after the first couple hours they started the IV potassium without warning me that the stuff HURTS your arm going in... so about 3 hours of getting that and having my whole arm hurrrrrt. Well I went home exhausted, physically and emotionally because I was at the hospital all night. I've never had any bloodwork come back at abnormal levels, other than low iron while pregnant.
So my question is, have any of you had a potassium IV? Does that bring potassium back up to normal right away or does it take awhile? I think my level was something like 2.6. I had an IV drip that lasted like 3 hours plus some oral liquid potassium. I had a hard time sleeping when I got home just from anxiety. Then when I did get up I felt nauseous, which apparently is a side effect of potassium, but not sure if the IV drip and the oral kind would have done that since I'd taken those things like 6 hours earlier. Today I've had on and off crying spells, which is typical for me after having to go to the ER because it is a setback and emotionally hard to deal with. I'm now taking 20mg potassium twice a day for 7 days to keep bringing my levels back up into the normal range. I'm of course sitting here panicking about getting nausea again because hey, that's what a hypochondriac does. I'm also sitting here freaking out wondering what could have possibly caused my levels to go low when I've been eating a lot of bananas and oranges all month (and had been feeling a bit better!). So of course I googled.... and found things about kidney problems and endocrine diseases... because I haven't had vomiting, diarrhea, or any diuretics. I have had loose stools pretty much every morning when I wake up, but thats the only BM of the day. I also just got over having influenza and wasn't eating very well for about a week, on top of not eating the greatest a couple weeks prior when I was at the height of my anxiety. Anyway I asked the doctor what might have caused it and he just said "it could be anything... not eating right, getting sick, anything." So I'm of course just sitting here nervous and wondering.