- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
January 2012 Moms
I need advice.......STAT!
Hi ladies,
I've been having headaches since Sunday. They are pretty constant and i'm seeing the black floaties. I took a trip to L&D per dr request to get checked out because of some potential water breaking symptoms. Needless to say my water hadn't broken, but my BP was 149/89, which is super high for me. The triage nurse said "oh it's borderline". ummmmmmmmm correct me if i'm wrong but it's only one point away from being in the danger zone! Headaches continued and yesterday I was feeling lousy. Took my BP at work and it was 159/94, YIKES! accompanying my headache was nausea, the black eye floaties, swollen feet and I just did not feel good at all. I called the dr. twice (nobody ever called me back after the first time), and they finally said I needed to go into L&D because her office doesn't take walk ins. I go to L&D, my BP readings started to go down, but were kinda all over the place. One reading was 137/74, another was 129/81. It just seemed to jump to me and wasn't constant, but the nurse was insisting oh well it's in range. After running labs, they concluded that they didn't seem to think anything was wrong and gave me medicine for a headache and sent me home to rest. Now I must also note, i was there for almost 5 hours and a doctor, not even mine, ever came in to see me. Last friday I had been dilated so I just thought standard someone should check me, they didn't and said "it's not protocol" since i was there with a headache and high BP and not water breaking??? And I was having contractions on the monitor, but they weren't regular enough.
My cousin (a L&D nurse), my mom ( sonographer for OBGYN) and her PA (also w/ OBGYN) have called me all morning very concerned that my symptoms are being ignored and taken lightly. They say it's not good to have BP that's all over the place and not good that after I wake up today, my headache is still lingering, and more black floaties. They are wanting me to go to my hometown to be admitted under their care to really determine what is going on. They are afraid with the erratic BP, i could have a seizure. They are concerned that even though my BP may not be in that super crazy out of range doesn't mean it's not out of range for what my body is used to, hence why i'm still getting those crazy symptoms.
So if you were, what would you do? Am i being erratic if I go? or is everyone else just freaking out too much? I called my dr's. office again today to try and move my friday appt up and was told she's not in the office and my appt cannot be moved................ugh. I tried something different this morning and took allergy meds and tylenol. Still having headaches and just don't quite feel right.
Advice?
This discussion has been closed.
Re: I need advice.......STAT!
It sounds like you and your family are totally freaked out and don't trust the care you are getting. If being admitted under their practice is the only way for you guys to reassure yourselves that everything is safe, then that is what you have to do (assuming it's not ridiculously far away, not covered by your insurance, or something else). Just make sure you're not admitted under the direct care of a family member-- too much emotion and conflict of interest!
The other option is to have your cousin the PA talk with one of the nurses in your dr's office to see if she can understand what's going on and then explain it to you and your mom. I think medical family members usually do best when they can talk directly to providers rather than get second hand info, but I don't know if you're comfortable with that. Good luck!
Go back to L&D. and insist a Dr sees you, not some nurse. (nothing aginst nurses but....) Any time you are at L&D and you have concerns, the nurse can and will get a DR for you before they release you. Sometimes you have to stick up for yourself a bit though.
Tell them how many times this has happened, tell them about headaches and spots, tell them everything, over and over if needed until the Dr pays attention and checks you better.
I don't know how far your hometown is but if it isn't very far, I would go there and get checked out.
They should have sent you home to do a 24-hr urine test, at the least. It sounds like your doctor's office has a case of "the holidays" and I wouldn't trust them brushing you off like that.
Hm this is a tricky one.
Let me start off by saying that I'm certainly not down playing your symptoms or what you are going through and I'm very sorry that you are dealing with this stress.
A few things are to be considered. Your family members certainly want the best for you but sometimes they cause more harm than good b/c they will naturally be extra worried and will want to take control of things where it may not be necessary.
The high BP certainly is scary but it just a regular headache or any kind of pain will increase your BP. Add the stress of being pregnant and the worry what it could be and your BP will go up even higher. I get the black dots too sometimes and will get a headache or dizzy spells. So I think that since you've been to LD and they have checked you out a few times, looked at your BP and are not seeing any other serious signs of problems, you are probably OK.
But at the same time, you need to trust your instincts so if you feel like you need to be seen again, go in again. But don't freak out b/c of what your family tells you and try not to paint the worst possible picture. I hope you know what I mean.
All I can say is that at the end of the day you should always listen to YOUR instincts.
Good luck, hope you feel better soon and that indeed everything is OK with you and your LO
Keep us posted!
This is my opinion. I'm not a medical person at all, but this is the advice I offer.
Take a day to relax. I have personally had bad headaches and seen the black dots (they looked so much like flies buzzing around that I actually swiped at them once), but I've had these symptoms on days when I was worrying about things and not drinking enough water. I suggest taking a sick-day from work if you're still working and spend a day vegging on the couch with your feet up and plenty of water within reach. Take some tylenol if you have to for the headache or whatever it was L&D gave you. The symptoms may not go away because a headache and seeing spots are normal pregnancy symptoms. But sitting there worrying about it can affect blood pressure, so I'd suggest not even taking it.
I'm not saying there might not be a bigger problem, but from the little bit I read it does sound like you and your family worrying about it is making it worse. I would say to take tomorrow off to rest up and not stressing about your symptoms. Call your doc if it gets worse of course, but see if you can hold out until Friday when you can discuss your concerns face to face.
I hope you feel better soon!
I managed to calm my mom down and explained to her my concern about traveling home at this point in the pregnancy. Hometown is nearly 4 hours away. That drive would be horrendous at this point. She ended up coming into town and has been monitoring my BP and we will take all this to the Dr with us on Friday. It's been up and down since yesterday. I've stayed in bed watching t.v. and napping. I'm still getting headaches but not nearly as bad as I had on tuesday. I had one episode of spots accompanying the headache and my high BP reading correlated with it. It went down eventually.
I see the Dr. tomorrow morning and I think my bedrest with more than likely continue, but I sure am bored. This LO better hurry up and evacuate! I've been having on and off contractions, but again nothing consistent yet.
Until then, I guess i'll just sit and wait and of course rest!