Handhold please, Husband been admitted to A&E

[Buffy81]

Hi all you lovely ladies

Never thought I would do one on these post.

The past couple of months my DH has been getting headaches and a couple of weeks ago he had a bit of a funny turn at work where his vision went. He went to the GP and they advised that he booked an Optitions appointment.

He went on Sunday and saw that he had some burst caperillies so they said that it could be down to stress from his new role as he is a team lead in IT, high blood pressure or diabetes as both run in his family. They said that they will refer him for a blood test at our local hospital.

He had a phone call from them this morning asking him to come into the eye clinic this afternoon and I had to take him as they might have to dilatate his eyes

He got seen after waiting ages were they did blood pressure, blood tests, put the dye in his eyes and then did a scan. They said that his blood pressure was high so repeated the blood pressure and then sent him to A&E where they gave him some medication. They have now admitted him, hopefully just over night, so that they can do a CT scan and X-ray and possibly put him on a drip.

He said his blood pressure was over 200! Apart from the recent headaches he has had no other signs that it was high. I have just had to take some stuff up for him like phone charger clean pants and socks for the morning and take our two DS one age 9 and 4as well as had no one to look after them for the 30mins. Our eldest suffers with anxiety so this has not helped him as i know that he is going to be worrying about it.

Am sat downstairs trying to worry about it myself as I know that if I show signs of worry our DS's will also pick up on it. I have put them both to bed as it was past their bedtime by time we got back

Bp gone back up to 200 so back on the drip. I dont think he will be coming home tomorrow. Obs should be done hourly, over 3 1/2 since last ones were done until now. he says he can feel that its high

@Naillig222 I just remembered that I did double check with DH today and we have one

Along with the high BP, does he have a rapid heart rate, sweating and headache?

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@Weenurse he only had headaches nothing else. they are just doing ward rounds now so will see what his bp is in a bit. at his last one it was 135 which is the lowest its been all week. last night it was 200, 183 which he managed to bring down himself, then put back on the drip. then 168. Just after 7 this morning it was 147.

We both think they took him of the drip to soon yesterday afternoon as 150 was borderline.

@loudbatperson This has given us a wake up that we both need to do something as I had some bloods taken the other day and there are some issues with my liver and a couple of other things. I have an appointment with the dr to talk about them on the 15th.

We both work full time so we don't eat until 6:00 when I get home as he picks both boys up from afterschool club so at he mo, dinner is quick easy stuff that doesn't take long to do.

Not seen any outdoor things like that in area. Might be a case of doing you tube vids to start off with and see how things go along with seeing what changes we can make

Did his bp come down OP? Hope he’s okay

The took him off the drip yesterday but within 6hrs it had gone back up so they had to put him back on. We think they took him off it too soon. It went down overnight and and then back a bit more is now on Ramipril, but they have had to double to dose of it as 5mg was not working so now on 10.

The dr is more concerned about trying to get it under control as if it drops to quick that could be worse so cant come home until he is more stable

He has also got a slight infection now so they have done more bloods and urine so that they can determine what sort of infection so they can give the correct antibiotics

He had another chest x-ray last night which came back clear and they are deciding on if they want to do the abdo ct and echo as either outpatient or inpatient as I asked him about it this afternoon and he is not sure. Said he will need to chase it with the dr tomorrow

Christ. Poor guy. He’s not really much further on. I presume they’ve at least ruled out sinister causes, which is good. Before this hypertensive crisis, was he healthy, fit and well?

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Poor thing, really hope he starts to feel better soon

Hope its better news this morning OP

HI

BP still high at 161 but heading in the right direction. He is having an abdo MRI done as he called me this morning as wanted to ask some questions about the safety questionnaire ( I work in Radiology booking MRI scans so know what can and can not go in one) and is coming home last afternoon/early evening time

Meds are all done. He is going to see if they will be doing obs again before coming home once he has had his scan at some point this afternoon. I have been out and got a bp machine so we can be keeping an eye on that at home

@Snowdogsmitten there was no indication that he had any issues apart from the headaches that he was getting. Neither of us at the most fittest, but this has given us the wake up call that we need as I has some bloods done on Tuesday and some of the Liver ones came back abnormal so I have a gp appt on the 15th to discuss the results

@Paw2024 will bare that in mind as will need to see what the drs say about exercise and things like that

I hope you get some results and answers soon.
Glad he is having imaging done

@Weenurse we should get a phone call at some point this afternoon to discuss the results of the MRI scan that he had late afternoon yesterday.

According to his discharge letter he needs to have a Head MRI after the CT so will need to wait for a date on that. I said that I will go with him for that as he has realised that he is claustrophobic as his BP went up but then went back down again.

He has another appt with the eye clinic and now has to wait for an outpatient clinic appointment with Cardiology and the Diabetes clinic. Also needs to make an appt with GP in 2 weeks for blood tests for U&Es to be done t check on his renal function since starting the medication

He needs to call his GP on Monday to get signed off work for a couple of weeks and then see how he goes. He has already said then when he dose back to work it will be strictly working from home for a while

I know that will help him and what other ideas and suggestions on what to do to keep calm as I work in radiology and book appts for MRI scans.

I advise patients everyday so I will know what to do on the day

How's he doing OP?

@Zippedydoodahday he is doing ok. We are checking his BP twice a day at home. Its still high, but not as high as it was. From looking at his test results on his NHS App, we saw that his BP was high back in Feb last year which no one had picked up on so we have no idea how long he has been suffering with a high BP for. Its going to take some time for it to come back down to a safer level and is got to be done carefully as its something that over time his body had been getting used to.

We have a date for his MRI scan which is tomorrow morning as he got the phone call yesterday morning. He is not looking forward to having it done, so I am trying to get him to do some deep breathing exercises to help keep him calm.

He has done a sick note for work for 2 weeks and he will see how he feels after that. I am due back to work next week but will take more time if it is needed and will take time off for any appointments that he has as I know I wont get all the information from him that we need.

Best of luck for the MRI. I hope you can get to the bottom of this soon

He had the MRI scan, Its now just a case of waiting for the results. I am hoping that we will get the, all in the clinic appointment with the Cardiologist when that appointment comes as we also need the results of the Abdo MRI that he had.

He was absolutely terrified when it came to having the MRI scan. At first I was holding one of his hands and rubbing his leg, but within less that a minute I was holding both his hands which helped him me more. I have never known him t squeeze my hands so tightly, I though he was going to try and drag me in there with him. He did panic at one stage but he said that was more to his neck hurting due to the head coil and was not a fan of the cage going over the top of head. I managed to get his breathing under control while in there and they had to repeat some images due to him moving around.

It all sounds so stressful and worrying but at least the NHS seem to be determined to get to the bottom of what is going on, which is good to hear. He sounds monumentally stressed also, which won’t help his blood pressure. Carry on with the relaxation techniques you mentioned, it will help you both.

I hope you both receive some good news soon and your health issues are resolved as soon as possible. You sound like a loving family x

Hopefully now the MRI scan is done they can pin point what’s happening and start the appropriate medication to help.

Did they give you any indication on how long it will be before the appointment?

@Weenurse nope, no indication on when the follow up appointment will be with the Cardiologist. Its something that I can chase up when I go back to work as I have regular contact with the secretaries in the department as the hospital that I work for dose scans for them

@2chocolateoranges fingers crossed

@MuchuseasaChocolateTeapot It is worrying and stressful, but I know that they are all doing their best in the tough working conditions that they are in. He has said that before he was discharged, he didn't know how unwell he actually was as each time his bp was going up slightly, his body was adjusting to it.

He as been told that when he goes back to work, that it is to be WFH for the foreseeable as he needs to get new glasses as his prescription as also changed