I had a trip to the ER Sunday evening after passing out and then not being able to talk, walk or respond. I was having chest pains and a terrible headache after the weird sensation of not being able to respond. The ER of course treated me as a patient coming in with a stroke or heart trouble once they stabalized me they sent me home with no explanation at all ecept to tell me I had an urinary tract infection gave me antibiotics in my iv and 7 days at home. I was diagnosed with chronic lyme several months ago and went through oral abx and ivabx I have RA and go through remicade treatments but it doesn't seem to be working for me. I have been in so much pain and weird things happening that I am wondering what it is that is flaring up. I am nausated and my head is killing me, I have no energy and I just space out all of a sudden. Any info for me will be appreciated. I am waiting for a call from my rheumy now.
-------------------- Laura Barrett Posts: 11 | From Millers Creek, North Carolina | Registered: Aug 2009
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gwb
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7273
posted
Sorry for the awful ordeal you went through recently, Laura. Did they take an x-ray of your brain to make sure it wasn't a stroke? I would think they would have done that.
I've had (in the past) TIA symptoms and the first two times it happened I went to ER and have x-rays and nothing was found. TIA (mini-stroke) symptoms are common among lymies. It was scary the first two times it happened to me, but after that I got used to them. Not hardly having them now that I'm on a natural treatment protocol.
You said they sent you home with no explanation except to say you had an UTI. They should have told you much more than that.
I always tell the doctors, before releasing me from the ER, to print out a full report of what they did to me, their diagnosis and medicines the Rx'd me. It's always good to leave the ER with your full report so you can read what they say about your treatments while you were there. It just takes a minute for them to print it out and they are more than willing to do it.
Praying things get better for you soon. Keep us posted!
posted
You need to get a copy of the bloodwork done in the ER for future use. Hubby always asks for this before they send him home and they ususally will do it. But if not, then medical records at the hospital will require a HIPPA release to be signed and they may charge you for the copies.
Depending on how bad your UTI is, your body could just have been in shock from a massive infection and the symptoms were simply the body's way of dealing with an infection. It may or may not have anything to do with your heart or brain.
Have you ever had a brain MRI or a brain SPECT scan? The SPECT especially would give you a better idea of whether you have encephalitis or vasculitis or hypoperfusion -- many Lyme patients have these symptoms. And yes, if bad enough they could lead to a TIA or stroke.
You might want to ask your LLMD about adding systemic enzymes such as Wobenzym or Vitalzym or something like lumbrokinase to your protocol. Many lymies also have hypercoagulation -- infections cause your blood to clot too quickly because of excess fibrinogen. This is also one way the bacteria can hide from the immune system and antibiotics.
So sorry you are feeling so bad. Hubby has had many episodes similar to what you describe. He takes both Vitalzym and Lumbrokinase -- just the Vitalzym did not help much, but adding in the lumbrokinase made a big difference in headaches and also helped with brain fog.
Bea Seibert
Posts: 7306 | From Martinsville,VA,USA | Registered: Oct 2004
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WildCondor
Unregistered
posted
Yeah, find out if the UTI went systemic, could have been sepsis. They should have told you what it was though!!!
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map1131
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 2022
posted
Laura, wow that was a pretty serious sx. It is so scarey sometimes the things that go wrong with our sick bodies.
Reading your post I got the impression that "they" treated you for lyme & company, so now you are dealing with something else like RA?
So did your rheumie treat you for the lyme and is now treating you for RA? Or did rheum just come about after the lyme treatment?
Seems to me there is more going on than just an UTI?
Pam
-------------------- "Never, never, never, never, never give up" Winston Churchill Posts: 6495 | From Louisville, Ky | Registered: Jan 2002
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posted
Thanks everyone I am just now getting around to reading the posts. I have been in bed ever since getting home except to go back to DR. cause I just didn't get better. The infection moved into my kidneys. I am starting to feel better. I see my Dr. on the 22nd. We will see then what he says.
-------------------- Laura Barrett Posts: 11 | From Millers Creek, North Carolina | Registered: Aug 2009
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