Is vomiting and hypoxia symptoms of cardiac problems?

I had a week from heck. Two different ERs and an urgent care. Last night at home my oximeter was at 74 so I thought it was wrong and today the EMT clocked me at 70. The ER without o2 and 98-100 with. Originally it was 86 but I was bedridden but then I was given latix so walking to the bathroom and huffing back dropped it was 76.

Inflammation somewhere. All tests high even tropinin at 250 or 252. Can’t remember. I was asked what drugs I take for my heart failure? What heart failure?

So my question if waiting out a 29.5 hour flutter is ok maybe not.

So far I’m in nsr but nauseous as heck. I’m not drinking (dr said I’m retaining fluid and he saw fluid by heart) and I don’t have any appetite for two days.

Last night was my worst— gasping for air all night. In retrospect I should had taken the urgent care dr advice of getting an ambulance to a hospital but my o2 was only 89 and then 91 without o2 and 100 with o2 when I forced myself to breath deeper. I waited an hour after they removed the o2 and my o2 levels were great. I cough a lot but breathing now. I wonder if it’s COVID related.

So I’m sitting here in the ER waiting for a cardiologist. I don’t really know what is going on. They just took a blood poisoning (septic?) test plus others. Very busy hospital. No call button but the care is good.

I wonder if my massive doses of both cardizem and Sotalol is related?

How can my o2 drop suddenly? Cardiac related?

If your rate and rhythm are acceptable, within or close to normal limits (50-90), you shouldn't worry about your heart so much as lungs and some kind of infection or serious inflammation elsewhere as well. I'm no doctor, but it the heart is signaling NSR, I would focus elsewhere.

I know how anxious you feel, waiting, dreading, and feeling helpless. The ER is a great place to be, but the ICU is even better....if you know whaddamean? You'll get the best care possible at an ER, but if you end up in the ICU it means you're continuing to get first class monitoring and interventions far faster than you would at home.

They'll find out what is going on. It could be only one thing, or maybe two or three working in concert, conspiring against you. I suspect an infection, but can't really say. Electrolytic imbalance, possibly, but that is very easily corrected. An undiagnosed disorder that brought on the electrolyte problem is possible, but you'll have to let them figure it out.

I wish you great success.

At home unfortunately I go straight to icu. I just got a room assignment and am waiting in the ER to be transferred. It’s a ward. :-( so I hope I can sleep…opposite of Robles where each room is private.

So far nsr and hr 55-60s. I just got two strong antibiotics. Killing my guts. They can’t pinpoint the origin of the infection so I’m on z-pak and Ceftriaxone on an empty stomach. I hope they don’t interact with Sotalol and cardizem.

Vomiting can be a symptom of many things, including hypoxia. Hypoxia is usually caused by lung and/or cardiac issues, but it can also be secondary to infections such as pneumonia, sepsis and COVID.

An SpO2 in the 70s demands an immediate ambulance response. Don't ever let yourself get that low again. Anything below 92 is cause for concern, and anything below 88 is cause for an ambulance. An SpO2 below 88 causes cloudy thinking and faulty judgement, and if your levels continue dropping slowly it can become fatal without you being lucid enough to even be aware there's a problem. Hypoxia can be a very stealthy, treacherous thing. Planes have crashed because the pilots didn't recognize that they were becoming hypoxic until they (and everyone else on board) lost consciousness.

Carey- you are right. I have atypical pneumonia (I have to google that) and liquid around my heart plus the two liters of fast drip saline earlier this week didn’t help the water retention everywhere Lasix is trying to get rid of. Unfortunately the first ER (they X-ray and echo me) and the urgent care (never took labs or an X-ray) never caught it. I’ve been coughing for two weeks and thought it was from the dusty construction from across the street where they are grading and removing a mountain.

If home I wouldn’t had left it get this low. Good learning lesson. And I’m getting use to ambulances and doubt now I would risk a Lyft to the ER when in high tachycardia as you suggested. It’s safer.

And my lowest dropped to 67 while here after Lasix so it was worsening. I’m lucky I was assigned a great dr who caught it.

Quote
gloaming
The ER is a great place to be, but the ICU is even better....if you know whaddamean? You'll get the best care possible at an ER, but if you end up in the ICU it means you're continuing to get first class monitoring and interventions far faster than you would at home.
.

Yuck. I’m in icu. Care is perfect. 2 RNs and an aid to two patients. My bed is 6 feet away. But that means I’m not going home anytime soon and they have my credit card on file. I had a few ekgs, daily echoes, tonight they are dosing me with steroids and Benadryl (I’m allergic to ct contrast) for tomorrow’s CT. They are giving daily IV Lasix so my K dropped to 3.2. I was given 1200mg K. The chief came in today on his day off to see me and did an interrogation and made some adjustments and raised my already high cardizem dose and raised my PM minimum from 55 to 70. Two eps already told me 55 was too low and lacked a safety barrier. I had 468 episodes recently per pacemaker download. He is talking about nuking my av. I want my HIS saved so I have a safety net getting 20hr escape rhythm. He said he can’t promise. I don’t think anyone can make that promise. I have to buy a few more months because this is going too quickly. Some say it’s from COVID. The other ER and urgent care this week didn’t catch it even with high inflammation markers. I asked what my tropinin was and he said 250 and high. Does that mean 2.50? Or they have different ranges from the US?

I think the upper limit for 'normal' is 40ng/liter. I can't comment on what your 250 is, means, or if it is necessarily indicative of heart muscle damage. Ask the next passing nurse or physician...?

Good luck to you. We're pulling for you!!

You are right. Normal range is 40. Mine is 250 from my lung fluid taxing my heart. All I know is a microbiologist? (My brain is foggy) leader dr was consulted and my antibodies were stopped after one dose. Doesn’t make sense. I’m only on Lasix and k

More “pulling” from this end also. Stay strong.

Still fluid in lungs but not as much. But it’s still there and if I breathe deep I cough. Shallow breathing is ok. Lasix is helping. Talk of discharge today so I asked why don’t you observe me for a few hours without o2 first? While on o2 I can breathe. IMHO the logic thing to do is to mimic real life outside a hospital without dragging an o2 tank and see what my o2 saturation is first before discharging me while on o2 in the hospital only not knowing if my saturation has naturally returned to prevent returning here.

Dr said ok. Patients are allowed to roam the hospital so I want to take a walk to medical records and the food court and see if walking can maintain my o2 saturation without an o2 tank. Up to now I’m been only in bed with o2 and haven’t walked. That’s not real outside of a hospital life.

You are a smart cookie. Never pass a fault, and never miss an opportunity. Why go home and find you can't manage, and then have to return again tomorrow?!?!?!? But what's bothering me is that they didn't suggest it.

Susan knows more than many MDs.