Just left the ER

RNMegan0711

So today has been an interesting one....I'm an RN on a Surgical Intensive Care Unit and today I had some odd symptoms prior to my colleagues convincing me that I should walk on down to ER. A little backstory- I'm 6 weeks and 4 days pregnant with my first. I've had a relatively symptom free to mild symptom pregnancy so far. Today, I had a student nurse with me who started noticing how clumsy I had become and had been dropping everything all morning. Then I became increasingly dizzy and started seeing star bursts of light out of my right eye which made seeing medication labels challenging etc. I was nauseous and ran to the bathroom a couple of times but only gagged and barely threw up anything but water. I had a colleague take my BP and it was 140/75- EXTREMELY high for me. My systolic (top number) is never over 100. With the vision changes and dropping of things they eventually convinced me to go to ER. Fast forward- The Dr. thought the benefits outweighed the risks (and I was covered in lead) and sent me for a CT of the head. CT ended up being negative apart from a little sinusitis, Flu swab was negative, UA was negative and Quantitative HCG was 28,000. He sent me home a little over an hour ago with no real diagnosis. He said that if the vision changes/dropping item symptoms returned to come back and/or let him know (since I work at the hospital) but for right now he was chalking it up to normal early pregnancy symptoms since there really wasn't any other cause/reasoning without digging farther into testing and farther into my pocket money wise lol. Anyone ever heard of these symptoms in early pregnancy? The vision changes/ dropping things and my BP being so elevated was alarming to me. I'm a nurse but I'm not an OB nurse....maybe someone can shed some light or past experiences?

maxandcatherine

No medical background here but just wanted to say glad you're ok....scary! I hope you continue to do well!

emucoleman

Wow, that sounds scary. I've never heard of such things as being pregnancy symptoms, but I have zero medical experience so what do I know. I hope everything goes fine and that you feel better! 

FutureMrsCAF

I also have no suggestions for what could be happening, but I'm glad you're ok now! That had to have been scary!

RNMegan0711

Thank you guys. Yeah it was definitely scary. The intensive care docs that I work with didn't really have any answers for me either. I was worried about the CT scan....especially when the tech goes "you know 7 weeks pregnant is not a good time to be having a CT".....well, the doc still recommended it and I was heavily leaded up/covered. *shrugs*. I appreciate the words of concern and thoughts/prayers. I'm home now resting.....still nauseous and with a headache otherwise normal.

totsabounding

Oh man, that was quite a day you had. Rest up and keep us updated!

ella26

That sounds really scary, hope all is ok!!!

chesterdoodle

Could it have been a complicated migraine? I get those every once in awhile and more often when pregnant. I get vision loss, dizziness, nausea, clumsy, sometimes numbness or tingling in fingers or hands. They are quite scary but usually go away in a couple of hours. Best to try to sleep them off. You may want to see a neurologist to see if this is a possibility.

RNMegan0711

@chesterdoodle my sister and I were JUST talking about this! I'm thinking I may have had an aura prior to the migraine which caused the vision changes, dizziness and clumsiness. Doesn't explain the high BP but I think you're right about an ocular/complicated migraine.

HighFive16

Was your BP good? I know at the end of my last pregnancy I got dizzy and it turned out I had high BP. I am sure they checked that though. Sending you well wishes because that sounds stressful. Glad you are home and resting now though. 

SchruteBucks

I get auras, vision changes and dizziness right before a migraine hits.  Then it's headache and nausea.  Sounds like might be what you had.  I didn't start having them until I was pregnant with my second child. 

Lilwatz

How scary!  Glad you are feeling a bit better.  Sorry you don't have answers.  

sorarose

Glad you're okay. Did you contact your OB? I hope they would want to see you ASAP.

CourtJack

Yikes. That's so scary!!! I hope you feel better.

FutureMrsCAF

I was kind of thinking migraine too. One of my friends gets bad migraines when she's pregnant.

june2016baby

Did you hurt your neck recently? I experienced very very scary vision flashes when my neck was out of line. (Popped back in by itself and I've been ok for 2 years.)

redheadbride15

Glad the CT looked okay! I also thought migraine immediately on hearing your story. Also, were you super-anxious? I know when my anxiety reaches panic level my BP skyrockets. (I'm normally 110/70... but in the dentist's office I can be as high as 160/90!). It's probably smart to get a BP re-check though (even if informally done at work).

HighFive16

@RNMegan0711  hope you feel better today! 

RNMegan0711

Thank you all for your love and concern! I'm feeling much better this morning. Hoping that this was just a fluke and all continues to go well. I was happy to get to find out my quantitative hcg levels yesterday in the ER. Even without a follow up, it's nice to hear that 28,000 is a normal number for 6-7 weeks pregnant.