First Time

Just when I thought that I was going to start getting my Bipolar under control. Last night was one of the worst experiences I have ever had in my life. It scared me to death.... literally.

A few hours after taking some meds I got a sense of fatigue like no other. I wanted to play some video games, so I tried, and had to turn it off. Mentally, I was barely hanging in there, even though I wanted to play I couldnt. Physically, it took all I could to get to the bed, where all I did was toss and turn anyways.

I started having slightly labored breathing.... but thought maybe I got up to quick. No history of Asthma, no shortness of breathe like this before. A little while later, while pacing around the house, wife says my lips look pale. Start thinking, Oh Crap.... Not Good. She eventually breaks down after I continue complaining that I cant afford an ER visit. At this time, we didnt know if it was an allergic reaction or panic attack. I'm of course thinking allergic reaction because thats all I know. Call father in law, get a ride to ER because I couldnt have driven. Get there, nobody at the check in. Sit and try to wait, finally someone comes and tells me to go into the triage.

Sit in the triage for a few minutes before finally getting a Nurse. Chief Complaint was Shortness of Breathe, Anxiety Attack? and his first priority was write down my meds. Was it to much to ask to put the O2 sensor on my finger and THEN write down the meds? That way I know how good I am breathing. 98% room air. Perfectly fine. I knew I was doing good, I knew I was getting enough oxygen, but I didnt feel like it. Kept gasping for breathe like I just got done running. Shirt felt like it was choking me, even though it is an extremely loose collar. We finally get to my exam area. And as usual, told to wait. So for the next.... I'm guessing, Hour, I pace back and forth trying to get my breathe. So scared at a few times that I did whatever I could to make this better. Since I thought this problem was caused by the medicine, I actually did something I have never done, and shoved a finger down my throat. Unfortunatly, nothing came up, and it never helped more than just a few seconds afterwards. I knew I couldnt spend the night trying to throw-up the medicine. So back to pacing. Back to flipping and flopping on the gurney. Back to my wife doing everything possible to try and calm me down.... make me realize its in my head.

Finally in comes the doc. After a quick run down of questions, he mentioned that normally what they would do in this case is maybe 2mg ativan or something like that. He continues on saying that sometimes just being seen by a doctor is enough to break the attack. Told me I need to go home, relax, try and get some rest, etc...etc.. And then asked whether or not I think I needed an Ativan. WTF Doc. You think I waited for over an hour, feeling numerous times like I was about to choke to death, just for you to tell me , "Just go home and get some rest"..

Needless to say, I was given the Ativan. I asked the nurse that brought it, how long it takes to start kicking in. She tells me 30 minutes. Then says, Okay, your all set, head on home.

Still feeling like I cant breathe, I am told to leave, though in the back of your head you wonder, what if the ativan doesnt work. What if this is an allergic reaction and not an anxiety issue.

All of that was last night. I wake up today and still have a slight shortness of breathe. I dont feel like I am breathing normal, but definatly better than I was lsat night. Have spoken with Mental Health today, and awaiting on a final answer on what to do.

Yesterday I took, Lamictal, exForge (blood pressure), Geodon, Tylenol&Ibuprofen, and demerol. Ended up taking 2 demerols, about 7-8 hours apart. Nurse today from Mental Health says Demerol can cause repiratory problems. Thats a first for me, I have taken them before.. Now I sit here waiting, afraid to take the Lamictal I was supposed to take when I wake up, because I am afraid of getting back to that moment last night.

I dont know if I am just needing to rant....or looking for hints or tips on this. I'm just... frustrated and scared $h!tL355.

Thank you for listening...

Shortness of breath can be a sign of anxiety disorders/panic disorders, but can also signal a reaction to a medication. It sounds like the Ativan helped, since you slept some of the night. The shortness of breath you experienced this morning may indicate that you are having an allergic, rather than panic, reaction to the medication you were given.

I hope that you didn't take the Tylenol and Ibuprofen and Demerol together all at the same time. That can cause problems of their own. I see that you took two Demerol 8 hours apart. That is ok. It's just when you combine them with Tylenol and Ibuprofen at the same time you can get sick...kind of like an anxiety/panic attack.

I would call the doctor who prescribed the meds you were to take and see what they say about it. You definitely don't want a repeat of what happened last evening. I hope that you find out what caused the attack and find a solution for it.

Jewels

Thanks for the reply Jewels. I have never been really good with any medications I take. If I hurt and I have something that can help, I'll take it. When I was in the Army, St. Johns Wart helped with depression, so I ate a whole bottle of it. Medication compliance is something I have always struggled with.. Not because I dont want to take it. I just need to be reminded and controlled.

Unfortunatly, I was taking Tylenol, Ibuprofen, and Demerol last night. Tylenol and Ibuprofen helped ease the pain. Demerol helped ease it more. So when Tylenol didnt kick in like I was needing, why not pop another Demerol, it had been 8 hours. Will do more research on this. Its just hard sometimes when your in pain, you know that something has the potential of helping you,.... you sometimes fail to see that it could do more harm than good.

I know exactly how you feel about pain and trying to relieve it. I found out quite by accident that Tylenol and Ibuprofen are not good taken together. I have major pain now, and am on major pain relief for it, but I try to conserve the medication in case I need it later. The bad thing about that is that once you get behind the eight ball with pain, it is nearly impossible to catch up, let alone overtake, it. So I take my meds as they are prescribed, which helps me not to be in pain. I wish it weren't so. I would so love to not be in pain. So, just remember to take your medications as needed. And ask your dr about taking Tylenol and Ibuprofen with the meds you are currently on. It may be that they are interfering with some of them. Hope that you find some relief for your pain soon.

Jewels

RRU96, I've gone to the ER for both med issues and mental health issues. In both cases, I wasn't treated very well. The conclusion I've come to is that you have to be very clear about what's normal for you, what's new, and most importantly, what you want them to do for you. For example, if they didn't examine your throat and listen to your breathing (I'm sure they did but this is just an example), you can ask them to do that and in most cases I think they'll accomodate you. You can also ask them what allergic reactions might occur for the meds you've taken and again, they can give you that info (but might not if you don't ask). And for me, feeling like a doctor has looked into the issues I'm worried about will make me relax a bit.

Though they've gotten better ERs are not famous for being good at handling mental health issues. I think it frustrates them that there's not an obvious physical thing they can treat or sew up.

I hope you're feeling better!

Cyran0

Thanks guys. The hospital in the small town I live in has been notorious for poor healthcare. Father-in-law was turned away 3 times with "heartburn" before they finally figured he was having heart attacks.

But during the attack, I didnt have the luxery to drive 40 minutes to what might have been a better option. I felt like I couldnt breathe, and in case it was an anaphylaxis reaction, I had to be somewhere instead of on the road.

The nurse in Triage, he was just... not happy I was there, or so it seemed. Especially after he finally checked my O2 sats and saw they were at 98%. Yeah, at that moment I knew it was an anxiety attack, even though I had never had one prior. But dont just keep telling me its "all in my head". How is that going to help me out any?

The reason he was probably upset is not his fault. Because of the reputation the hospital has made for itself, they struggle to get any kind of help. He are the only hospital in the North half of the county I lived in, so they stay fairly busy and fairly understaffed. While I know its frustrating, he should have done a better job at calming me down, instead of pissing me off, that accomplished nothing, and in fact more than likely made it worse.

The intake clerk who does paperwork.... She was AMAZING. I was in, signed my paperwork, had a bracelet on, all within about 90 seconds.... IF THAT! That is what I would have expected the rest of my time to be like. Yeah my sats were good at triage. But for the next 40 minutes while waiting in my exam room, I never once had anyone check in on me, or even hook me up to an O2 sensor to ensure that it wasnt anaphylaxis getting worse.

Needless to say, now that I have a cool head, no more anxiety issues, and after I have talked with my Physical Doc and my Mental Health Nurse... I will more than likely be writing an email into someone at the hospital.

Thanks again guys for at least letting me rant. I knew I loved this community

Hope you get this figured out, RRU96.

RRU, I had the same thing happen to me. I went in to the er because I couldn't breathe. My vitals were all good (100% O2 sats) so they had me sit in the waiting room for 5hours! When I told them that I was starting to get really dizzy and that my hands were going numb, they offered me a wheelchair. I had a hard time breathing for several days before I finally went in. Had bloodwork, chest x-ray, etc all came back normal. The entire time I was in the ER, I had my vitals checked once, and that was in triage. When I followed up with my GP, she had me call my pdoc who prescribed .5mg Ativan for me. I don't take it every day, but it does help when I need it. I really didn't know what was my problem. I had had anxiety attacks before, but never to the point of not being able to breathe. Very scary.

I don't think the size of the hospital matters as to the treatment you recieve. If the staff doesn't know how to deal with the symptoms, the patient doesn't get the correct treatment.

I do have asthma and have been to the ER for it. I didn't like how I was treated although my doctor's office said it was standard, correct treatment. What I learned is to go to the ER if I have to but, mostly, if I'm able, call my doctor's office before an ER visit becomes necessary and get an appointment there, they're much more likely to see "whole" pictures, know you a bit better, and spend more time on working with you figuring out just what's going on.

I'm sorry you had such an uncomfortable night. I hope you and your doctor figure out what's going on. Sometimes it can be not just a single med side effect but a combination or a "build up" of one, etc. It's hard to keep on top of and I guess ER's have an even harder time since they don't know us or our history at all. I know about the long wait too; my appendix burst at 10:00 one night and I did literally wait over an hour in an ER waiting room for triage and then it took another 4 hours before they figured out what was wrong and I wasn't operated on until over 8 hours had passed since my appendix burst. I ended up with an after-op infection that took an additional 6 months to figure out and cure (including week-long stays in hospital, etc.) and instead of costing maybe $6,000 for my burst appendix, it cost over $30,000 when all was said and done. The doctors, hospitals and insurance companies are often their own worst enemies.