emergency room nightmare

[moca]

What is the name of your state? massachusetts, i was at the emergency room 2 days ago for chest discomfort. i had my ekg come back normal, blood was also fine. the doctor told me she would give me a nitro if it helped it was probably heart related, so i was given one nitro by the nurse, it did not help. she gave me another, still nothing, the nurse gave me another nitro. still no help, she wanted to give me another. i told her i didn't think they were helping. she suggested a gi coctail. ok (mean while no sign of the doctor for about 2 hours) after the gi coctail i was feeling better, the nurse told me i would be going home. the doctor checks in tells me my chest x-ray looked great... i never had a chest x-ray , oh i assumed i looked at it and it was fine lets get one done.. o.k. the nurse returned to inform me i would be going home with an antacid but then she takes a nitro patch and puts it on my chest just in case ( i also was given 4 asprin to chew) as soon as she left i suddenly had a severe shortness of breath, i could not catch my breath,my heart rate went from 64 to 210 in a matter of seconds, my husband called for the nurse, who was insisting that it was my fault for breathing too hard. when she finally got the doctor after i lost feeling in my arms and legs and my body went into severe muscle cramping( i truelly thought i was either having a stroke of was going to die). the doctor and nurse were arguing back and forth about why the nurse had given me a nitro patch. they left the room, the doctor returned and appologized for the mistake. she then returned and decided it was me having a panic attack which caused all of these symptoms, but she doen't blame me, she would have done the same thing! i think i was overdosed with nitro. do i have a case?What is the name of your state?

 

[rmet4nzkx]

What is the name of your state? massachusetts, i was at the emergency room 2 days ago for chest discomfort. i had my ekg come back normal, blood was also fine. the doctor told me she would give me a nitro if it helped it was probably heart related, so i was given one nitro by the nurse, it did not help. she gave me another, still nothing, the nurse gave me another nitro. still no help, she wanted to give me another. i told her i didn't think they were helping. she suggested a gi coctail. ok (mean while no sign of the doctor for about 2 hours) after the gi coctail i was feeling better, the nurse told me i would be going home. the doctor checks in tells me my chest x-ray looked great... i never had a chest x-ray , oh i assumed i looked at it and it was fine lets get one done.. o.k. the nurse returned to inform me i would be going home with an antacid but then she takes a nitro patch and puts it on my chest just in case ( i also was given 4 asprin to chew) as soon as she left i suddenly had a severe shortness of breath, i could not catch my breath,my heart rate went from 64 to 210 in a matter of seconds, my husband called for the nurse, who was insisting that it was my fault for breathing too hard. when she finally got the doctor after i lost feeling in my arms and legs and my body went into severe muscle cramping( i truelly thought i was either having a stroke of was going to die). the doctor and nurse were arguing back and forth about why the nurse had given me a nitro patch. they left the room, the doctor returned and appologized for the mistake. she then returned and decided it was me having a panic attack which caused all of these symptoms, but she doen't blame me, she would have done the same thing! i think i was overdosed with nitro. do i have a case?What is the name of your state?

I'm sorry but your post failed to include dada required to determine whether or not you received an overdose.
You presented to the ED with a complaint of chest discomfort, which could be a sign of many medical contidions including impending heart attack but more commonly angina pectoris for which you received a series of Nitro tabs of unknown dosage. It could also be a sign of a panic attack. You failed to provide any medical history with your post. You failed to mention what your blood pressure was at any time during this event. Nitro has a very short half life approx 1.5 hours, so it is conceivable that even 3 tabs of low dosage administered over the course of several hours might not produce any clinical effect. Nitro is given to induce syncope when certain EP tests are administered. ASA is indicated and given prophylactically as a precaution. The fact that you responded to treatment for GI distress indicates that possibly that was the cause of your distess but does not rule out all possibilities and GI problems are often confused with angiana or warning of heart attach, thus the Transdermal nitroglycerin is indicated for the prevention of angina pectoris due to coronary artery disease. The onset of action of transdermal nitroglycerin is not sufficiently rapid for this product to be useful in aborting an acute attack so it may have been prescribed again as a precaution especially if it was only one patch. The symptoms of tachycardia is a sign that your body responded to the drug because it rapidly lowers blood pressure and at the same time your body's normal reaction is to increase heart rate in order to restore it to its normal function, if you had not responded this way, that would be an indicator of a different problem, but since you lacked other significant clinical signs of overdose and given the short half life there does not appear to be an overdose and there should be no lingering problems. Shortness of breath is also a sign of a panic attack. Certain types of breathing can change blood pressure and cardiac rhythem. One can have perfect ECG, BP and Labs and still have cardiac or autonomic disorders so sometimes a physician tries to rule out certain conditions and your response to medication is one way this is done. If you continue to experience chest pain please contact your PCP and ask for referals for further evaluation or treatment.

 

[ecmst12]

You didn't mention that you have suffered any permanent damages so I'm going to assume that your symptoms resolved completely before you were discharged from the ER. No damages, no case.

 

[ellencee]

What is the name of your state? massachusetts, i was at the emergency room 2 days ago for chest discomfort. i had my ekg come back normal, blood was also fine. the doctor told me she would give me a nitro if it helped it was probably heart related, so i was given one nitro by the nurse, it did not help. she gave me another, still nothing, the nurse gave me another nitro. still no help, she wanted to give me another. i told her i didn't think they were helping. she suggested a gi coctail. ok (mean while no sign of the doctor for about 2 hours) after the gi coctail i was feeling better, the nurse told me i would be going home. the doctor checks in tells me my chest x-ray looked great... i never had a chest x-ray , oh i assumed i looked at it and it was fine lets get one done.. o.k. the nurse returned to inform me i would be going home with an antacid but then she takes a nitro patch and puts it on my chest just in case ( i also was given 4 asprin to chew) as soon as she left i suddenly had a severe shortness of breath, i could not catch my breath,my heart rate went from 64 to 210 in a matter of seconds, my husband called for the nurse, who was insisting that it was my fault for breathing too hard. when she finally got the doctor after i lost feeling in my arms and legs and my body went into severe muscle cramping( i truelly thought i was either having a stroke of was going to die). the doctor and nurse were arguing back and forth about why the nurse had given me a nitro patch. they left the room, the doctor returned and appologized for the mistake. she then returned and decided it was me having a panic attack which caused all of these symptoms, but she doen't blame me, she would have done the same thing! i think i was overdosed with nitro. do i have a case?What is the name of your state?

I do not think you have a medmal claim as far as a lawsuit is concerned and I'm not sure that you were negligently treated as far as standards of care is concerned. I do think you should see your primary physician immediately and ask for a referral to a cardiologist STAT. Physicians have finally admitted that testing for heart attacks or sudden cardiac syndrom is ineffective in diagnosing women as women typically occlude smaller vessels than are able to be examined during a heart cath, which you probably need along with a major cardiac work-up.

You should file a formal complaint with the hospital and demand that a sentinel event notification be sent to JACHO. Please access the JACHO site and file a formal complaint with them. This hospital needs mandatory, 100% staff education on nitroglycerin adverse effects and overdose/poisoning.

From what you described as your reaction, I believe you had reflex tachycardia and should always alert healthcare providers so as to avoid this medication.

EC