Monday, I came in to treatment, way over my dry weight (8.5 Kilos), but I was trying something new to help get my blood pressure up. My Doc has added midodrine, a synthetic adrenaline to try an tighten up my blood vessels during treatment in order to get my blood pressure up.
When I arrived, I knew my BP would be up, just from the extra weight, but we tried the new meds anyway. Everything went according to plan, even when I got myself down near my dry weight. I went and had a great day at work, followed by a nice day off the following day. Danielle had signed me up for a wood working class, so I had fun planing a big block of cherry wood, then cutting it into legs for a table.
When I arrived for treatment on Wednesday, things seemed to be going well. I was going to take off 6 kilos to finish getting back down to normal, but thought I should also take an Ambien to help me sleep. The result, the blood pressure was back down to where it had been. I went on to have one of the lousiest days yet. The best way to describe it is being seasick and drunk and not being able to do anything about it. I tried taking a midodrine to see if that would help, nothing, I didn't feel it at all, which makes me feel that Monday had more to do with my weight than it had to do with my new meds.
I plan on talking to my doctor again to see if it might be my adrenal glands, they say that it is rare for there to be problems with the adrenal glands, but I feel that I am a rare case, not many ESRD patients have had their kidneys removed, so I thought it might be the problem. If this doesn't get sorted out soon, I may need to make a move to the corporate office at work. I love what I do at the shop and really don't want to take a pay cut, but I will have to do what I have to do to keep myself from passing out on the Sales floor at work.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Rob, Hi,... I just read this and want you to know, it is not rare, in fact, it is common for people who have thyroid imbalances to have adrenal gland problems. I have had them myself. Look it up, .. it is actually pretty common. Danielle had told me what your thyroid levels were the last time they were checked, and they were really not good, at all. Your TSH should be between a 1 and a 2, and yours was much higher. If those levels are not where they should be, (optimal), they will throw off everything...believe me, I KNOW this is true. Please makes sure your Dr's get those levels optimized! If they don't, then perhaps you need to ask for a referral to see an endocrinologist. There's no way you can be doing well with those thyroid levels off like that. Please believe me! I've been through hell and back with it. I pray you get this all worked out and start feeling better soon. Love you! God bless you, Rob.
ReplyDeleteHello Rob,
ReplyDeleteTwo things you need to know. First, midodrine dialyzes out so even if you have it onboard when you start dialysis, it will not keep your BP up for very long while you have treatment. It is more likely that your extra fluid volume was what helped last time. I know this because I take midodrine, too, and heard it from my doctor.
Second, Ambien (like most sleep meds) can cause hypotension. So using is as a sleep aid on dialysis might not be the best choice for you. I don't know an slternative that might be better. Some folks ue benadryl but if your BP is too low that can be problematic, ss well. If your dry weight is higher than you think, and you remove less fluid so your BP stabilizes,then maybe you can get away with using Ambien.
Wishing you thee best always,
Miriam