Just left the ER

RNMegan0711 · October 2015

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 · October 2015

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

emucoleman · October 2015

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 · October 2015

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 · October 2015

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 · October 2015

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

ella26 · October 2015

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

chesterdoodle · October 2015

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 · October 2015

@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 · October 2015

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 · October 2015

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 · October 2015

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

sorarose · October 2015

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

CourtJack · October 2015

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

FutureMrsCAF · October 2015

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

june2016baby · October 2015

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 · October 2015

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 · October 2015

@RNMegan0711 hope you feel better today!

RNMegan0711 · October 2015

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.

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