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icepixieThis was not how I'd planned to spend my Wednesday.
I went to the employee health clinic for a strep test. A blood pressure reading of 200/138 later, they were insisting I go straight to the ER. Eight hours, two bags of fluids, and a dose of topranalol later, it was back in the 160s/90s, and they let me go home. Now I have a diuretic--because I don't pee enough already on my zillions of trips to the bathroom--and an appointment to make with a primary care provider to hopefully get something different.
I did not have diagnosed high blood pressure before this, so it was all rather a shock to me. I've had a few elevated readings at my many specialist appointments in the last few years, but I've had just as many fantastic readings (like, 110/70 fantastic).
The best the ER folks could come up with was a combination of strong family history and ankylosing spondylitis leading to pre-existing hypertension (AS patients have a risk of developing any cardiac disease eight times higher than the general population), coupled with the strep/being sick spiking it to ridiculous levels, not helped by recent house-buying stress and the fact that the NP at the clinic attempted to stick long poky things down my throat to test for strep, but I gagged so much he couldn't do it. Flashbacks to the hideous summer of 2015, which I spent way too much of in that hospital, also probably didn't help.
...All that and I still have goddamned strep throat.
But in brighter news, I got the house in Donelson! There was a cash offer that would've made the seller a couple thousand more, but he chose mine because he felt like I belonged in the house and it should be mine. Glad I included a personal letter!
I went to the employee health clinic for a strep test. A blood pressure reading of 200/138 later, they were insisting I go straight to the ER. Eight hours, two bags of fluids, and a dose of topranalol later, it was back in the 160s/90s, and they let me go home. Now I have a diuretic--because I don't pee enough already on my zillions of trips to the bathroom--and an appointment to make with a primary care provider to hopefully get something different.
I did not have diagnosed high blood pressure before this, so it was all rather a shock to me. I've had a few elevated readings at my many specialist appointments in the last few years, but I've had just as many fantastic readings (like, 110/70 fantastic).
The best the ER folks could come up with was a combination of strong family history and ankylosing spondylitis leading to pre-existing hypertension (AS patients have a risk of developing any cardiac disease eight times higher than the general population), coupled with the strep/being sick spiking it to ridiculous levels, not helped by recent house-buying stress and the fact that the NP at the clinic attempted to stick long poky things down my throat to test for strep, but I gagged so much he couldn't do it. Flashbacks to the hideous summer of 2015, which I spent way too much of in that hospital, also probably didn't help.
...All that and I still have goddamned strep throat.
But in brighter news, I got the house in Donelson! There was a cash offer that would've made the seller a couple thousand more, but he chose mine because he felt like I belonged in the house and it should be mine. Glad I included a personal letter!
no subject
Date: 2017-11-24 06:08 pm (UTC)May I be blunt? That's a beyond terrible BP reading and you need to be seen As Soon As Possible by your primary. Today would be good. Do you have a portable BP machine so you can check it at home every day? You need to get one.
no subject
Date: 2017-11-24 06:25 pm (UTC)Primary care office isn't open today. I managed to speak to the central scheduler, who offered me December 4; I told him that wasn't good enough and he said he wrote a message to the nurse to work me in next week. This appears to be the best they can do. (Leave it to me to get sick at the start of a four-day weekend.)
I have a BP machine. Values have been bouncing around over the last two days, but averaging in the 150s/low 100s.
no subject
Date: 2017-11-24 07:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-11-25 08:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-11-26 04:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-11-28 02:30 am (UTC)But yay on the house! I was reading your earlier post about it and thinking, "DO IT. DO IT NOW." So I'm glad it worked out.