Hospitalised in high drama - another 2 day migraine

For the second time in only a few days I've gone through a two day migraine. This one however was one of the the worst one's I've ever had, and through circumstances ended me up in hospital for a couple of days. As I said darlings, it has been high drama.

I was off to the pharmacy to pick up HIV meds. Had to go as silly me had missed a day not realising I was so low on them. Was fine leaving and getting on the bus. It had been raining and the weather cold in Sydney so I didn't bother with sunglasses.

However halfway through the bus trip the sun came out, reflecting brightly off the wet roads and cars and into my eyes. I thought little of it until my vision started going like before a migraine and I began feeling really dizzy, weak, and short of breath. In hindsight the bright reflection of the sun off wet everything had set off a massive migraine. I thought I'd just need to get off at the right stop and go from there.

But it didn't go according to plan. I don't even remember getting off at the stop, other than holding on to a fence across the footpath trying not to fall down. I have a vague memory of seeing my bus Opal card dropped on the footpath. Turned out I never picked it up and it got stolen with about $65 on it (fixed now I've canceled it for another). I tried making my way to the pharmacy, where I thought I might ring David to come and get me. No phone credit on my mobile as usual.

I only got a few metres and needed to sit on a step to stop falling. Sat there a bit and all up only made it around the corner and down the street from the bus stop I was let off at and collapsed sitting on a small ledge. Things were getting really bad by now. I could barely stand let alone walk, and intense pain in the back of my head, neck and top shoulders. Weak as anything. Sat there with my hands on the side of my head thinking "this is a really bad one" and wondering WTF to do from here. No bus ticket, no phone credit. I doubt I'd have been able to get it together to operate a phone anyway.

A man was walking past with his dog. I said in slurred speech, that I needed an ambulance. It was so bad I was even having trouble talking. The man was surprised but eventually agreed and called one, staying on the phone to 000 as the ambulance was dispatched and my condition worsened. I could here him say "He's in a really bad way" and counting my breaths to the person on the phone. They told him to get me to lie down, which I did, thinking that this was going to look great in Surry Hills..... His voice became distant and I felt like I was losing consciousness.

Soon the ambulance pulled up and they got me inside. Even though he was holding me they could see I couldn't stand or sit properly and put me in the stretcher. My blood pressure was so low they couldn't even take it, but got a drip in and carted me off to St Vincents emergency.

Emergency was able to register my blood pressure, albeit with the machine sending out loud warning alarms and flashing as it was so low. About only 70 over 40 or so. They said if it went much lower I'd be having kidney failure, which certainly sounded like a bit of a worry to me.

Shortly I was wheeled in to a room with nurses and doctors all over the place, attaching tubes and heart wire things from head to foot, taking blood out of the other arm and the oxygen thing in my nose. The oxygen monitor thing on my finger and the blood pressure wrap around my arm taking my blood pressure every few minutes. I began to feel something like the Flying Spaghetti Monster with all these noodly appendages coming out of me :s  I got a nurse to ring David at home who rang my phone and said he was coming in. It was then I burst into tears at the trauma of it all.

I ended up admitted and on a ward at about midnight. David had come and left and was upset at home. It took probably until the morning for my blood pressure to come back to it's slightly higher than normal self. That was yesterday morning. I spent the whole day after that sleeping. Just could stay awake. Came home today after being discharged.

So they want me to see a neurologist and heart specialist and to go the the HIV study place about what may be causing the migraines to come back so badly. At the moment just happy to be back home. Has been very upsetting for David as this is the first time with us together that I've actually been admitted to hospital rather than just attending emergency for something.

In a way it was very bad luck. If I'd been at home I'd have been able to just go to bed without all the drama. On the other hand it's interesting that this is the first time I've had a whole team of emergency people seeing what happened to me in such a severe migraine attack.