A Writer's Life Interrupted #crohns #ibd

OK, maybe it was last week my excuse being I was busy having a rant over Islamic Extremists who kill Americans.

Did you know that low potassium is normal for a Crohn's patient? I didn't. I take the usual B, B12, D, but didn't think much about Potassium until my heart rate went to 113. I always have a fast heart rate but the only time it was higher than 100 was when I had sepsis. I don't have a fever this time and I don't feel sick so I started looking around the web for answers.

My doc was a tad concerned when I went to the office with a resting rate of 98 last Thursday so she upped my meds to hopefully lower it. When my blood pressure when to 96/61 I lowered the dosage only to wake up last night with tachycardia.  A resting pulse of 113.

It was a really weird feeling. Kind of like waking up in the middle of a panic attack but with your brain acting totally normal. It was like what the hell is going on kind of feeling along with damn, this is not normal. I got out of bed and took what I'd cut of my blood pressure pills and emailed my doc to let her know.

I did a little research on the web for what can cause a fast rate and low and behold potassium and magnesium came up as a culprit. So, I went and bought some to experiment with. I will let you know if things improve.

I still have my colon but it continues to sleep as my doc calls it. In other words, it just doesn't work anymore. I have these pills I am to take every day to help move things along, but they upset my Crohn's and my stomach a bit. So, I wait until things back up (you know because you are no longer hungry) and my small intestine begins to cramp. I take one of these pills that draws water into my digestive system which pushes everything out nice and easy. I wonder if that would deplete my magnesium and potassium so I went online again. Sure enough that can happen.

My next Remicade day is the 18th. I've moved them from Monday to Fridays because it gives me a couple days to recover. I am a little concerned because my blood pressure always goes wonky during an infusion. I asked what causes this and the nurses said it is just a reaction some people have. Whoopee.

That's it for my Crohn's update this week. I wish you all good health or at least as close as reasonably possible. More than anything I wish you peace and holiday free of fear and death.

God Bless San Bernardino.

(((hugs)))