Second Visit to the Emergency Room
Friday afternoon 2/4/22, since my windpipe was still sore and the prednisone hadn't helped...; I quit taking it because of a vision issue I thought it was causing. I was seeing double! (I'd googled "prednisone side effects".) I first noticed it when I tried to drive to the grocery store and I almost hit/got hit by a truck. The TV screen was blurry.
So I decided to take "a hit" off my Symbicort inhaler that day, which I'd done a few times before. It wasn't really helping, but decided to try again anyway. This time, however, when I held my breath after sucking the dose in, I fainted - catching myself on the towel rack. At least I thought I'd fainted. Maybe I had a stroke. I heard ringing in my ears and everything went black and I fumbled around against the wall, grabbing the towel bar. It only lasted a few seconds. I figured it happened because I was holding my breath.
This is where I ought to report that I have some lung issues - even before I had Covid.
No one can tell me what those issues are; they might be related to my having "Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency Disorder" (S genotype). But no one knows. AADD is a genetic disease that limits the amount of antitrypsin one's body makes to protect one's lungs. It's made in the liver and, in my case, not enough to help keep my lungs protected from things like aerosols, pollution, smoke, etc. My older sister has it too -that's how I found out I had it. I got tested for it. My pulmonary functions test and x-rays were all "great", and "normal" and "no evidence of lung disease" on any of those. So no one can tell me why my O2 goes down to 62 when I'm asleep, but they sure as hell ordered an O2 concentrator for me to use at night. So I have been for awhile.
My O2 during the day [before Covid] was going down into the 80's when I'd just sit in my recliner and watch tv or read during the day. I was going to set up an appointment with my doctor for him to do some kind of a test in his office (spirometry?) to see for himself what my O2 went down to...but I got Covid and that brings me to this story/blog. I never got to go for that test.
So here I was on February 4th, having fainted (or stroked?) and I'm taking my O2 levels right and left trying to figure out what the heck was going on - dizzy, fainted, coughing, fatigue, low O2, low BP, sore windpipe, daily headaches, and naturally, depression. Oh - and that HUNGER all the time!
February 7th we went back to the same Emergency Room. Dr. Christensen this time.
He at least listened to my chest. He ordered bloodwork and an EKG and a chest x-ray.
My chest x-ray was still clear, my EKG showed normal readings and my bloodwork showed, "the bloodwork of a very healthy individual."
Doctor said, "I think you're probably just one of those people who are going to take a longer time getting over Covid, unfortunately."
Dismissed.
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