Embarrassing Mix-Up
Leads To Hospital Visit
s sa m pm m op e R r
ALL
MARSHALL FRANKLIN, M.D. SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
hysicians, because of what doctor to the patient's bedside.
they do for a living, expe- She pointed to a small thin
rience some strange patch of plastic hidden in the
things. The following sto- folds of the sheets.
"I just found it there," she
ry is an example.
A physician was called to see said. "I thought I should show it
a patient with low blood pres- to you before I threw it away."
The doctor picked it up and
sure and rapid pulse who had
been brought to a local emer- examined it. He sniffed it and
gency room by paramedics. She read something printed on it.
was nauseated and complained The more he handled it, the
of a severe headache. She denied more he smiled and then he
any exposure to drugs or indus- laughed.
"Can you believe this?" he
trial toxins and, at 38, had no
said, holding the patch aloft. He
prior serious health problems.
Further inquiry indicated she rushed to the patient's husband.
had felt fine up until that "Do you wear a nitroglycerin
evening. The family had patch?" he asked.
"Yes I do," the husband
watched a movie on television
together, and the children had replied.
"Where is it?" asked the doc-
gone to bed. The patient and her
husband then retired, feeling a tor.
"Why, right here on my
bit amorous. Then, as the pa-
tient described it, "We were re- chest," the husband said as he
ally having a good time when I opened his shirt. "It's not there
started to_ get a headache, and now. It must have fallen off in
this was one time this woman all the excitement."
"You bet it did, and guess who
did not want to complain of a
it stuck to?" the doctor said as
headache.
"The headache got worse and he pointed to the patient. They
worse. We had to stop, but it all had a good laugh.
Nitroglycerin is one of the -
kept getting worse," the patient
explained. "My heart was most common medicines we use
pounding, and I felt faint and to treat patients with coronary
nauseous. My husband said I heart disease. One form of ni-
looked terrible, and he called
911."
When the paramedics ar-
rived, they found her blood pres-
sure was below normal and her
pulse very rapid. They started
an IV and took an electrocar-
diogram that showed nothing to
suggest a heart attack. They
rushed her to the emergency troglycerin prescribed is an ad-
room, where a physician con- hesive patch that is worn daily
and changed each day. The ni-
firmed her symptoms.
The patient was anxious and troglycerin is absorbed from the
frightened, and her husband patch through the skin and de-
shared her anxiety. The wife livers its effect for several hours.
One of the more common side
said, "Don't let my husband get
excited. He has a heart condi- effects of nitroglycerin is
tion and has had coronary by- headache caused by the dilating
effect it has on blood vessels. The
pass surgery."
Physical examination, X-rays dilating effect can lower blood
and blood tests did not reveal pressure, and if the pressure
the cause of the patient's dis- gets too low the heart beats
tress, but by this time it seemed faster.
It seems that the husband's
she was starting to feel a little
better. Over the next hour every- patch came off and stuck to his
thing improved. She stopped wife during their activity that
perspiring, blood pressure and night. She absorbed the nitro-
pulse normalized, and the glycerin and experienced the
headache, rapid heartbeat and
headache nearly disappeared.
Nobody knew what had hap- low blood pressure.
Sometime after arrival in the
pened. She was observed for an-
other hour in the emergency emergency room the patch stuck
room and noted no distress. The t6 the sheets and provided the
doctors were deciding whether clue that solved this medical
she needed hospital admission mystery.
Dr. Marshall Franklin is a
when a housekeeper called a
San
Diego-based cardiologist. ❑
Marshall Franklin writes for
Copley News Service.
p
01-
The patient was
frightened,
and her husband
shared her anxiety.
01 -
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