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| - DO NOT GO HERE!
A month ago I had to go to the hospital because my leg muscles stopped working, which turned out to be a potassium deficiency. I have not ever, before this incident, had a potassium deficiency, symptoms of a potassium deficiency, or any medical problem that would cause a potassium deficiency. Six days before I landed in the ER I started a new, take as needed medication (hydrochlorothiazide, a diuretic) for swollen ankles. I've had my ankles swell a few times in my thirties, usually when I haven't gotten enough sleep (a known side effect), been on my feet a lot more than usual, or when my hormones are out of whack. Typical, normal stuff. I had painfully swollen ankles twice the month prior, and my pain doctor that I see for my knee problems prescribed this medication, which I'd never taken before (edited to add: I was not prescribed or told to take potassium supplements with this medication). I started taking it six days before I landed in the ER.
Admittedly, prior to this, my diet hadn't been the greatest for a few weeks. So I take this new medication and my legs, primarily my thigh muscles, start getting weak the next day. I don't connect the new medicine and the weakness, I was unaware a potassium deficiency caused muscle weakness, and my diet was still pretty shitty at the time. I blame my knee problems, which often cause all sorts of issues with my legs, for the new weakness and figure it will go away in a few days, especially since I'd been pretty busy before the weakness started and on my feet a lot, which I assumed also caused my swollen ankles. I take the medication again three days later and that night I end up in the ER. It is determined that I have a severe potassium deficiency that could kill me. Of course they couldn't have been too concerned because they left us in the ER waiting room for over 8 hours after taking my supposedly critical vitals.
Over my visit I give my medical history 37 times (I counted), list my medications and dosages 28 times, explain what happened over and over and over (no, I didn't hit my head, repeat ad nauseam), often to the SAME doctors and nurses I've repeatedly told, a minimum of 41 fucking times, and each time they PUT IT IN A COMPUTER AND NEVER REFER BACK TO IT. Not to mention I had to explain to a doctor I DIDN'T EVEN NEED TO SEE [Physical Therapist] that no, I'm NOT a cancer patient that just had chemo (I wish I was kidding) and that she was here because the hospital would not fucking accept a fall on my ass (more just a plop into a sitting position) was NOT cause for a Physical Therapist and an Occupational Therapist (I had to tell him why he was in my room, too because why would a doctor know why he was in my room, right?) to come make sure someone WHO JUST DESCENDED AND CLIMBED FOUR FLIGHTS OF STAIRS MULTIPLE TIMES WAS ABLE TO WALK. And this was after I told the nurses more than three times that I did NOT want nor need these two therapists and that I was exercising my medical rights and right to deny treatment and THEY SENT THEM ANYWAY. Can you tell I'm pissed off? And we're not even done yet.
After the potassium IV and pills in the ER (before my admission and the therapist circus) my potassium is back to normal (12 hours in this is confirmed by blood tests). I'm not told the results of the first blood test post-IV from the ER until after they admit me, although the results were available before my admission. Nine hours later they test again and my level is exactly the same as the post-IV test (the second test the blood was taken and the results given in under an hour). "My" doctor during this kept forgetting what he'd told me already, what I'd told him repeatedly, and basically everything that should've been in a fucking computer file about my visit. They finally discharge me (over 22 hours after arriving) after arguing my medical rights with me again and again, but I digress. Not once do they say my new medication could have been the cause. In fact, they tell me this new medication shouldn't cause the potassium deficiency. They tell me I probably have an extremely rare, newly formed, kidney disorder. When I went to my pain doctor this past Friday she says that this medicine is potassium sparing (so it shouldn't have caused the problem). A nurse I spoke to outside the hospital a couple weeks later said the same.
I've confirmed through a multitude of outside sources that yes, HCTZ is potassium killer. DON'T GO HERE. THEY MAY KILL YOU OUT OF STUPIDITY AND IGNORE YOUR RIGHTS.
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