My Scary Trip to the ER - Could it be Phen-D related?

[albobaby]

Hi all -

As many of you know I have been on phen-d since July with a few minor breaks inbetween. Yesterday was pretty scary. Here is my ER story --

Okay, so I have been using weights in my workouts because that's what the Jillian Michaels workouts DVDs call for. I was using 3 pounds weights but those became pretty easy so I switched to 5 pound hand weights. I try and do the weight training alternate nights but Saturday night my boys and hubby were asleep early so I decided to do a quick workout with the 30-Day Shred which combines cardio and weights. I also decided to do Level 2 for the first time. Long story short I got thru Level 2 but barely and had a very bad night's sleep. Yesterday morning woke up feeling crappy b/c of the lack of sleep and felt kind of winded all day. So I clean the house for two hours, moving furniture to get dust, etc., went food shopping with the boys and than went to my mom's. Left the kids with my mom and I ran home to take the groceries out of the car. I am carry 3, 4, 5 gallons of water into the house at once. I start feeling kind of naseous and think I am hungry since I hadn't really eaten all day so I grab a fiber one pop-tart since we are having dinner at my mom's. By the time I get back to my mom's I am full blown ill to my stomach and start having a sharp pain in the middle of my chest right b/t my boobies. Gets so bad I can barely breath at this point and am so naueaus I make myself throw up. I guess the strain from making myself throw up makes the chest pains worse and my breathing more labored. I can't get off the floor and can barely get any air in. I feel like I am having a heart attack. Of course, the family flips they are all screaming and freaking. I have them call my husband and by the time he gets there I can't get up and barely know where I am. The main hospital is two blocks from my mom's house but I can't get off the floor to go so they call an ambulance. At this point my sisters, my BIL, my parents' next door neighbors -- pretty much the whole block is in my parents' family room. The medics come, get me in an upright position and once I am seated the pain starts to subside but its still there. I go to the hospital anyway and after 4 hours of x-rays, ekgs and bloodwork I am fine and very embarrassed. They wanted me to do another blood test because apparently the heart enzymes that indicate damage to the heart (if it were a heart attack) would show up after 6 hours and not 3 hours. I refuse and go home. End of story. LOL Diagnosis - Muscle strain!! LOL I am still feeling pretty sore. Between the back to back workouts Friday and Saturday and than all the crap I moved and carried yesterday my body couldn't take it anymore. lol I thought hubby was going to need a doctor when we got to the ER. He was doubled over in pain. He gets very bad IBS from stress. lol Poor guy. So that's my story for the week. Now my mom is yelling at me for embarrassing her, lol. Typical.

The doctor didn't think it was the phen-d but wants me to follow up with my doc. I don't think it was the phen-d just a combination of too much strain on my body and not enough sleep and downtime. I still feel the pain today but it is more of a dull pain and now my shoulders, arms, etc., ache too which makes me think even more that it was the Level 2 shred that did me in! LOL For those that have done Level 2 there is that one circuit where you are pushing the hand weights over your head while doing the high knees. Basically while jumping in place. Could that have done it?

Obviously, I don't want to do serious harm to my body or possibly die because of the phen-d but it just doesn't feel like this was caused by the phen-d. I hate to have a knee jerk reaction.

What do you all think? Am I crazy to want to continue?? I'm not going to stop exercising or weight training but obviously I need to bring it down a notch. LOL

[160lbsorbust]

Wht a horrible experience. Glad you are fine!!!!!

[Jasp]

Hi,

I bet you were pretty freaked out yourself. I know just what you were going through because I too had 3 of these episodes. I hate to be the barer of bad news but I believe it did have something to do with the phenntermine. When ever you change the HR you stand the chance of throwing off abnormal T waves. Where you put on a HR monitor? What was your HR? Also standard protocol is to drawl bloods (CPK and Troponins) 3 sets 6 hrs apart. This is the only way a HA can be ruled out.

What I believe happen was that you changed routines. You increased your HR by doing a heavy duty exercise routine then you didn't eat which could produce dehydration which increases HR. It was like a perfect storm. Several things came together to produce a very scary situation. Which could also happen again.

I when though this when a doctor put me in thyroid storm. My HR was 190 when I got to the hospital and I did have a change in my EKG which reverted back to normal when the drugs were diminished. When I came out of ICU it was with a diagnosis of heart spasms.

This has not happen again to me since my thyroid meds have been taken care of but before I went back on thyroid meds I had to see a Cardio to rule out any unseen problems.

I just went on Phentermine on Tuesday and so far so good but I didn't tell my new doc yet about the problem. Although I was fully cleared by a Cardio with a Nuclear stress test and had 6 rounds of CPK's and troponins and a clean EKG I don't think he would have proscribed the drug to me. I will have my chart moved over to him in a couple of months. I'm taking a chance but a calculated chance.