Just thought you may want to know of the latest chaos in my life.
I stayed home from school on Monday because i had a horrible cough and my lungs were hurting really badly. Last year I had walking pneumonia so my doctor became worried and made an appointment. He ended up saying that it was only asthma and put me on two inhalers and some cough syrup. In the meantime, I had also been on topomax for migraines. Then, Tuesday morning, I was still feeling bad so i stayed home with my eighteen year-old sister. When I hadn't woken up at eleven, she tested my blood sugar and I was 94. A few minutes later, I got up, went to the bathroom, was heading back to the bedroom to get my dog, and then the next thing I knew I was waking up at the bottom of the stairs. Apparently I had lost consciousness and fallen down the stairs. Fortunately my sister, who had been across our house in our built-on family room, heard me fall, tried to get a response from me, and called 911. It only took abuot five minutes for me to become alert, and when we tested my blood sugar it was 104. An ambulance can and took me to the emergency room, and I spent five hours having tons of x-rays and blood work done. Luckily, the only injury i got from the fall was a few bruises and scrapes on my face, probably from hitting the wall. While in the hospital, I spiked a fever, which is (thank goodness) down now. The doctors still have not determined the reason for my fainting, but i am supposed to have an EEG to rule out a seizure as the next step.
So that is my long and detailed story. Any thoughts??
I am really sorry you aren't feeling well Jenna. I am glad you didn't get hurt too badly falling down the stairs. Feel better soon!
Christmas before last I stood up in the middle of the night, walked into the kitchen and passed out, putting my head thru some cabinetry. It cost me 2 days in the hospital and it was from dehydration and low blood pressure (when I stood up from sleeping, my bp droped to zero which caused me to pass out). anyway I hope you are in good hands now and i am wishing you a speedy recovery.
It does indeed sound like low blood pressure. In the hospital we frequently test patients for what is called "Orthostatic Low Blood Pressure". Basically, what happens is that a body is lying down flat, gets up fast and all the blood runs out of the brain and the person passes out. To test for it, a Blood Pressure is done while lying down, then a repeat after the person sits up, and then finally one when standing. If the systolic drops greatly, then it is possible. What we really look for is the MAP (mean arterial pressure) to drop below 65. MAP = (Systolic + 2 times Diastolic)/3. Joe is right, you may have been dehydrated. Being sick, you may not have been taking in the standard amount of water. My brother has a theory that most people are chronically dehydrated.