Suffered Cardiac Arrest

Hello everyone, well I am finally feeling up to sitting here at the computer for a while. So I will tell you all what happened to me and hope that hearing this may help someone. A week ago Sunday I started having black out spells. My husband called my surgeon who is in Pensacola Florida and asked him what we needed to do. He said to come over there to the emergency room of the hospital where he works and tell them that I need treatment, EKG....blood work, right away. I will tell you the truth, beginning early Sunday I don't remember anything. So, what I tell you from here on out is what I have been told by my family. We got to the emergency room and they would not take us right in. We had to sit there for two hours and then I went into cardiac arrest in the waiting room. Well, then they finally took me back since I wasn't breathing. From what I understand it took them a while but got my heart beating back again. They put me on life support. What happened was my potassium and magnesium fell totally out....(yes, I take my vitamins). And I guess this happening can cause a cardiac arrest. They put me in ICU and kept me on life support for 5 days until they got my potassium and magnesium levels way up. Then they took me off of life support and the next day moved me to a regular room where I stayed for 2 days then went home. Ok, first of all please no one tell me that I did not research this surgery exstensively because I did for quite some time. But, I had no earthly idea that something like this could possibly happen. Now, I am on special supplements for those two things. Please, everyone be careful. Ask your doctor to start doing blood work up for vitamins and such sooner than he normally does. I believe that is what my doctor is going to do now. Take care, Wanda

Wanda, WOW! Sounds like you had quite a ride this past week, how scary! Thank goodness you were already at the hospital when you went into cardiac arrest. I agree with you about getting bloodwork done~soon and often. I am so glad you know what the culprit is now and can care for it appropriately. Hang in there! Amy

Thanks Amy, yes it was deffinitely quite a week. I just want everyone to start bugging their doctors about blood work now. Wanda

I agree. My PCP and I discussed the blood work prior to surgery and we diecided to do it quarterly. (I am my blood work done a couple of weeks ago and everything came out "excellent" ) I am glad you are so much better and so sorry you had the scare. Usually the Potassium drops when you are on a diaretic with blood pressure medications. I had a problem with that right after my surgery but my PCP caught it with the blood work.

Hi Martha, I am glad you are getting yours checked and all is well. I was 3 months post op and fixing to have my blood work done when this happened, so I am beginning to think it needs to be done sooner than 3 months. I am not currently on diaretics or blood pressure medicine so I'm not sure what caused my problems. My doc said I was drinking too much water, but it was a struggle for me to drink 2 20oz bottles a day. Anyway, hopefully I am on the right track now and everything will stay good. I don't want or need anymore scares like that one. Wanda

Glad you are doing okay. Sounds like a rough week. I just got back my blood work and I was low on Vitamins A & D and High on B12 and Folate. Guess the doctor will let me know what I am to do. Take care and keep us informed. Carol

Hi carol, yes it was a very rough week. I'm glad that you are getting your blood work done and now they can fix the problems. Wanda

I HOPE YOU ARE FEELING BETTER.... JENNIFER =)

Thanks Jennifer. I am feeling a little better each day, so hopefully soon I will be back to normal. Don't forget your blood work! Wanda

Wanda, I don't think there is enough public information out there about the importance of potassium and magnesium. I was admitted into the hospital in January for a DVT but also had low potassium and magnesium levels. I don't think that you weren't informed, I just don't think there is enough education presented anywhere about the importance of these particular enzymes. Everyone may or may not know that what happened to Terry Schiavo was a severe drop in potassium/magnesium levels brought on by an eating disorder she suffered from. I take five 20MeQ potassium pills per day just to keep my levels up to the bare minimum of 3.5. Sometimes I get a high reading like 3.7, but not very often. My PCP closely monitors my potassium levels weekly when he checks my PT/INR levels because I'm on coumadin. You have offered very good advice and pre-ops or post-ops would be remiss to not take your story to heart. I am so sorry you had to go through what you did. I hope you are feeling better really soon!!! I don't know how far out in surgery you are or what your tolerances are, but I've found a good way to supplement my potassium with Tropicana Light & Healthy orange juice. It does have some sugar, so I sip it slowly all day. It takes me the entire day to drink an 8 ounce carton. I also have incorporated sweet potatoes (baked or mashed) into my diet. I can't tolerate bananas so I can't eat those. Also, many of your fruits are going to have higher potassium. I try to have one carton of orange juice and one whole (peeled) apple per day to help boost my potassium.