My wife went to JMC with extreme abdominal pain and spent most of the day in the Emergency Unit and was sent home with some antibiotics and told she had an urinary infection. 3 days later her appendix burst.
Yikes! So sorry that happened! I had extreme pain and they were quick to diagnose me and set up the surgery for the next day.
My Appoligies to JMC, up until this last Friday I still had stuff in Clayton area and lived in Johnston County and Sampson County and I got mixed up! The incident at the hospital was at the Hospital in Clinton, NC. She is still recovering from it.
You would have been taken off your Metformin in case you were having a cardiac cath. The cath dye together with the med can affect kidney function so most users are put on sliding scale insulin instead.
I don't see where a cardiac cath was mentioned. I am a type 2 diabetic and I had to get two bags a saline due to being dehydrated. My cost $3,000. I reported that cost to the attorney generals office and had it reduced to $1500. That cost was even with a PA who saw me and not a doctor. Also. Where in any of these articles did they mention a cardiac cath? Metformin is the first line of defense with a diabetic. They will not take you off it if to go to a sliding scale of novolog or levimir. Insulin is THE LAST line of defense for a diabetic. I was on a sliding scale from a family doctor then decided to go see a endocrinologist. He questioned why they did that. I am using glipizide and metformin exclussively and I keep my blood suger at 120 to 150. On the sliding scale averaged 300 to 550. I am a little unique becuase I get shots in both hips of steroids every three months that shoots my blood sugar through the roof. Glipizide is a miracle drug to me. No more needles.
The poster said he had symptoms of a heart attack so a cardiac cath is a very distinct possibility. I'm a cardiac nurse at WakeMed so just passing on how we do things. If it really was a heart attack he would have been transferred from JMH anyway as they don't do interventions.
No cardiac cath, unless that is the dye injected when they took me for a stress test. Plain and simple, the admitting nurse made a mistake when copying my dosage from my rx bottle of metformin ( I take four 500mg a day; they gave me only one. My release form had all my rx listed, and they had one/day written). My request for tylenol to treat the headache caused by the nitroglycerin patch went unheeded for 6 hours, so the headache became a migraine, causing nausea. My thyroid med was not given to me the morning of the stress test because I was not allowed food or drink after 11 pm the night before, When I asked about it, the day nurse said I WAS given it...wasn't I? um...no. They tried to give me insulin at 10 pm that night, but I refused because I am not a fan of my sugar dropping without being able to eat anything to fix it. Three times they tried to give me insulin, twice I refused it. The third time I felt the need for it, although I was pretty nervous. I used to take glucovance (metformin/glyburide), but finally convinced my dr. to cut out the glyburide as it was making my sugar drop and I was eating to keep up with the meds (after having lost 35 pounds). If my meds were adjusted to accommodate some sort of testing, then this needs to be explained to me. I know how my body responds and what my sugars run, so work with me, as I am not a clueless patient. I suspect if I was more ill than I actually was (test results reveal no heart problems or damage - knock on wood), I would have been an "easier patient". But this was not the case. We are now pursuing the possibility of gastric issues; at least now we know it was not a heart attack. I feel kind of embarrassed, but the doctor said she was relieved that I did not take chances and did the right thing by seeking medical help
Sounds like you had a pretty ugly experience. I just mentioned the Metformin as most of our diabetics are taken off it until they rule out for a heart attack and don't need a cath. CT scan dye also has the same effect but not the stress test radioisotope. It's better to switch to insulin temporarily than risk kidney damage. BTW just because you were npo for stress testing, you should still get all your am meds except anything that slows your heart rate. I think next time you have med issues you should head west.
