How awful, and scary too!

But, I think this was more of a combination of things, not just dehydration. This sounds like one of those "perfect storms" of factors that would lead to a preciptitous drop in your blood pressure:

Your cold, along with the medications you were taking to fight it (the alcohol in particular).

Increased activity/stress from entertaining, reducing your reserves.

Then the final blow of several hours of acute diarrhea.

Each thing separately would weaken you, but not necessarily make you pass out, but together formed the recipe to push you off that cliff.

I've passed out probably 3-4 times in my life. About half of them involved dehydration as a component. I've been similarly dehydrated many times since, but did not pass out, probably because I did not have the other factors in place. Hopefully, the same will be true for you too.

Take care and take it easy ringing in the New Year!

Jan

Tips?

Sip on water or tea or lemonade, whatever you can stomach. Do not gulp, that will just nauseate you.

Avoid alcohol, for two reasons. It tends to irritate the stomach, and it worsens dehydration.

Rest and focus more on fluids than food. We can all live without food for a very long time, but not fluids.

If you are vomiting and have diarrhea so muchthat you have not urinated in 12 hours and cannot keep water down, you need to go to the ER.

Jan

quote:

This sounds like one of those "perfect storms" of factors that would lead to a preciptitous drop in your blood pressure:

Your cold, along with the medications you were taking to fight it (the alcohol in particular).

Increased activity/stress from entertaining, reducing your reserves.

Then the final blow of several hours of acute diarrhea.

Jan,

I think you are right, I should have also mentioned I was taking "daytime" cold/flu gelcaps all weekend that tend to dry up your sinuses and they likely also contributed to the perfect storm of factors.

I feel totally wiped out today and had to pass on an invitation to a New Year's Eve party tonight.
I am doing my best to take a lot of fluids now, but Marianne makes a very good point that as you lapse into dehydration you begin to feel crappy and nauseous and do not feel like taking anything by mouth. I was basically sipping Gatorade last night as best as I could, but what was coming out was about 50 times more than what was going in. And that math does not add up in one's favor if it continues.

Scary! Glad you are feeling a bit better. It's amazing how fast dehydration can come on. Jan is right about the perfect storm, too. Dehydration can cause low blood volume, coupled with a drop in blood pressure which can be associated with antihistamines in cold medication--not a good combo.

That being said, it seems many of us are having a rather eventful holiday season. In top of being in the ER on Boxing Day, I have now also caught the cold that has ravaged through my entire family - pretty nasty one, too. I'm trying to avoid cold medication because I'm already on cipro/flagyl. I'm taking it easy today (also skipping a night out) and trying to drink a lot since I'm quite congested and forced to breathe through my mouth. Flagyl also tends to leave me with a dry mouth, which isn't really helping matters.

Let's hope 2013 is better, for all of us!

wow that is scary! Feel better for sure!

CT,

I know there are a lot of stomach bugs going on at the moment right now. I have been nauseous for several days myself with some diarrhea and funny stomach and highly doubt it is pouchitis as I never have these symptoms with it. I am sorry about the fat lip and scary experience.

I agree with your staying in and resting and drinking as much as possible to help with the dehydration. Hope you feel better soon.

I get nauseous once a month (who knows why)but I do ice chips, then ginger ale and then I go to gatorade or lately vitamin water! Hope this helps!
Feel better everyone!

Roberta

Sometimes when I have an intense BM I get very lightheaded to the point of almost passing out. I take a deep breath and it passes. I thought it was blood rushing away from my head and/or lack of breathing during the explosive BM.

quote:

Sometimes when I have an intense BM I get very lightheaded to the point of almost passing out. I take a deep breath and it passes. I thought it was blood rushing away from my head and/or lack of breathing during the explosive BM.

I assume you are talking about straining during a bowel movement. When you have explosive diarrhea like I had last night, no straining is needed. You sit down on the commode and it comes like water out of a fire hydrant with seemingly no flexing of the rectal muscles. These are absolutely effort free, but totally unhealthy bowel movements. I think victims of dysentery have the same kind of BMs as what I had last night.

Wow. I'm so sorry and I hope you are feeling better soon.

Earlier this month I passed out in the bathroom. I had not slept at all the night before and I had high output in the ileostomy bag that night. I got up and had just taken off the pouch and I started to sweat and feel lightheaded. The ONLY thing I could think about was that the stoma was not covered and whoever found me would have to deal with an uncovered stoma. I then woke up on the hard tile floor thinking I had layed down. When I came to I got my bag on in 2 minutes flat. Then looked in the mirror and I had a big knot/bruise on the side of my head. I have no idea how hard or when I hit the floor. Ended up going to clinic and I had a mild concussion. If I had been in the shower I believe it would have been much worse. I want to think I would have handled it much better if I had had the stoma covered.

Glad to hear you're OK. I just hope you can enjoy the new year!!!

Is there any reason we can't take Emetrol? It is an over the counter nausea med that helped my BF GREATLY when he had food poisoning. It works better than most other things I've tried for upset stomach (even better than some of the prescription drugs I've tried).

I haven't used it since I lost my colon earlier this year but was wondering if there are any issues. It is not any kind of delayed/time release med.

Emetrol, I've never heard of that before but am going to pick some up and ask my pharmacist if it's ok to take with all of my medications.

I had major dehydration problems after surgery #1 and didn't get out of the hospital for 16 days because of it. I drink NUUN, the tablets that dissolve in water, usually 32 ozs a day.

I usually get a faint headache and hot and clammy when I think dehydration is on the way. If I let it go too far, don't realize it, my legs start to ache.

When I have a few drinks I drink plenty of water, tea, coke, 7 up, or V-8 juice with the alcohol. In my mind a bloody mary cancels out the vodka by using V-8, celery salt, etc., lol. I also just drink 2 drinks. That stuff hits me a lot faster since the surgeries and weight loss.

It's scary you guys passed out. I get lightheaded but thought that was because of low blood pressure.

Thanks

quote:

Earlier this month I passed out in the bathroom. I had not slept at all the night before and I had high output in the ileostomy bag that night. I got up and had just taken off the pouch and I started to sweat and feel lightheaded.

Gmarie, it sounds like what happened to you is eerily similar to my story. One thing J Pouchers have in common with ileostomates is that none of us have colons, and we are all equally susceptible to dehydration when severe diarrhea occurs whether it is into the bag or into the toilet.

I think we both got lucky to have minor injuries, in my case a fat cut lip and a scrape on my knee the size of a quarter.

I am not sure what can be done to avoid these situations except that if this happens again and I get hit with that sudden wave of dizziness/feverishness/nausea I am going to lay down on the floor. It's the only way to avoid serious injury. When I had the food poisoning episode 10 years ago in the kitchen and I passed out and fell on the kitchen floor, the dishwasher door was opened and if I fell in that direction I might have been impaled on knives sticking up from the dishwasher tray.

Anyway I am feeling better today and ready for the New Year. I still have the cold but it feels like its getting better. Thanks for all of your posts.

That how I was originally diagnosed with IBD...I passed out on a jobsite...dehydration and amemia...

I'm glad you're feeling better, CT, and suffered no major consequences from the fall. As you pointed out, protecting yourself from an uncontrolled fall is critical. Hillary Clinton is in the news now for just such an event. I had amebic dysentery many years ago, and although I didn't pass out I was not at my best. As others have noted, keep up with fluids as best you can. Although it's probably not well studied in J-pouchers, some sort of oral rehydration solution (ORS) with a little salt and sugar (don't overdo it) is probably a good idea as soon as you start losing fluid. I'd probably choose something like Pedialyte over Gatorade, if buying rather than making it. I suspect most of us are much better off avoiding alcohol altogether if we're already sick - it simply can't help, but it sure can make things worse. And as Jan mentioned, once you stop peeing the clock is ticking on your kidneys.

CT Barrister

Sorry to hear about your dehydration bout but glad to hear you are feeling better.

In reading all the posts I was surprised that no one seemed to have severe (and I mean severe) cramping either in the legs, wrists or arms. (TE Marie did mention leg pains which may refer to cramps).

When I feel dehydration coming on the first signs are cramping often after diareha. When I feel the cramps starting I take lomotil and whatever else I can for hydration. I've experienced some cramping a number of times but so far since takedown it has been controllable enough but I still find it scary.

Frankly, if I can't get the cramping under control in less than an hour I'll be heading for emerge for several bags of fluid! (When I had the loop I got up to 4 bags).

It's sure not a fun thing!

Lew

Lew,

Thanks for that insight. However, in my case there was no cramping at all. I believe this dehydration episode I suffered was very rapid and due to explosive and severe diarrhea I had coupled with dehydrating cold medications I had taken that day (including alcohol), being run down by the cold/flu, and having a very frenetic weekend. When I was hit with the symptoms before passing out I was sitting on the commode. They hit me like a sudden wave, 1st nausea, then feverishness, and then lightheadedness. Next thing I knew I was lying face down on the floor with pain in mouth and knee.

I had the exact same feeling before passing out 10 years ago after a bout with food poisoning and resulting vomiting and diarrhea. I am suspecting, and fearing, that when I have bouts with vomiting and diarrhea I dehydrate more rapidly than the average Poucher, or else my body does not adapt well to the situation.

Cramping would actually be a preferable warning sign to losing consciousness. If this type of episode occurs again in the future I might not be so lucky.

Lew I'm not always what is causing what pain as I have fibromyalgia and have been in a constant flare state since before my surgeries. When I get hit with a bad headache I take imodium and immediately drink dehydration water, I use NUUN brand. When I had it the worst in the hospital after the first surgery my entire body felt like a giant Charlie Horse. So I generally hurt all over from the fibro but can kind of tell it in my legs.

I thought I was going to die several times in the hospital from it. It is nothing to take for granted. That's why the held me 16 days plus told me if I did any more projectile vomiting to get back to the ER immediately.

CT Barrister

Believe me the cramping would not be preferable.

TE Marie

I'm very familiar with Fibromyelga as it drove my wife to retire early. (The first two years of it she basically almost slept through adjusting to meds - but she's doing much better now. I sure feel for anyone with it!


When I had my loop ileostomy (for a year - my choice)I suffered from dehydration a number of times. The leg cramping was the warning dehydration was starting to occur. I passed out several times from the excruciating pain of the cramps. I would just tell my wife to call the ambulance when they started because if I didn't pass out from the pain I would have jumped out of the car from it on the way to the hospital. That year I had 13 ambulance rides due to dehydration. (I did make it to the hospital a few times on my own and got so I would just say I need four bags of fluid and I'll get out of your hair)!

Since takedown (Aug-2009) I have had some cramping but I've been able to get it under control before it became unbearable. Strangely enough, it now seems to occur in my wrists or arms more than my legs, but I take it seriously as a warning sign of dehydration and do everything I can to stave it off. Frankly it scares the hell out of me!

I can appreciate if one has the flu or pneumonia dehydration is likely to accompany it. (I've been getting a flu shot annually the last few years and got an injection to prevent pneumonia - so far so good.

Fortunately when I've had a few "pops" dehydration hasn't followed - probably more good luck than good management although I have cut back the last few years too!

Best of luck,

Lew

Lew and everyone else,

If you have not had the shingles vaccination please look into it. If you ever had chicken pox you can get shingles. They are very painful and are unlike chicken pox in that you can have them for a long time and years later you can still feel pain every now and again. Both of my parent had shingles in their 60's. My insurance company wouldn't pay for the shot until I am 60. They had no exceptions so I paid for the shot myself. It cost $225, my Internist wrote the prescription, I took it to Walgreens and they gave me the injection.

I get the flu shot too and have had pneumonia and hepatitis as well. The hepatitis I had is not for the worst form. I think those are only given to hospital and similar employees.

Lew - I have not been able to work for almost 3 years and I was only working part-time 10 years before then because of my fibromyalgia and UC.

Now I'm on disability due to all of my problems. I would rather be working.

Not to make this thread all about me but I fell tonight and it was caused by my fibro. I was stepping down 1 step from the house into the garage and my leg muscles turned into jello. The left hand side of my body slammed on the concrete. I have a sprained ankle, sprained wrist, painful rear from the outside and a knot in the left hand side of the bottom of my head. I don't think I hit my head but my spine is all out of wack. OUCH!

I bought a cane last week and will have to use it tomorrow in the airport. Fibro is like UC and Crohns in that there are flare ups too. This stinks, I'm ok just turning black and blue. "Help I've fallen and I can't get back up." I'm too young for that!

TE Marie

Sorry to hear about your fall, hope you are feeling a little better today but I usually find the first couple of days after something like that you ache all over.

You certainly have a double whammy with both UC and Fibro. My wife has had the Fibro for about 6 years. Like you she kept working with it for over a year until I told her no more. She went on disability for 2 years but up here (at least at that time)they didn't recognize it as a longer term disability. (Apparently it is a little better now). Fortunately we were not dependent on her income (the kids were nearly all done college and university) so I told her to retire because there was no way she was going back there to work. It has all turned out rather strangely. The company she worked for was bought out recently and by her not resigning but just staying on the books (on disability with no pay) she is entitled to a "goodly chunk of change" in Severance Pay and a refund of her Pension contributions as well as the company's portion. (It should be enough to put an addition on to the cottage for the large kitchen she has always wanted). Life sure takes a lot of strange twists as we didn't see most of this coming! Unfortunately she still has the Fibro and would gladly trade all of this to be rid of it. She has always been a worker so she has fought to be able to keep busy. She has good days and bad days, a number of strange rashes, aches and pains, carries a bag of meds and fights on. Fortunately for her she doesn't have UC as well - guess that's my cross to bear! She has enough so I'll gladly do that.

Best of luck and I really hope things do improve for you over time although I recognize that as we get older things usually get worse not better.

Lew

TE - if you haven't left yet, make sure to ask for a wheelchair. They fast track you through security (you go right to the front of the line), and you get priority boarding. Those bulkhead seats that you never get? You get them! It's the best thing ever.

kathy

I hope you are feeling better!

I keep a bottle of G2 on my bedside table or on the bathroom counter. I open one and drink half whenever I wake up during the night to use the washroom and my mouth feels dry. It has helped to have it sitting there when I wake up in the morning and feel light headed.

Do you have somewhere in your room or bathroom that you could keep some Gatorade rather than trying to make your way to the kitchen after passing out?

quote:

Do you have somewhere in your room or bathroom that you could keep some Gatorade rather than trying to make your way to the kitchen after passing out?

I keep the G2 in the refrigerator, of course not expecting this episode of passing out to occur. After I passed out, I did keep a bottle of G2 on the nightstand near the bed and sipped it before I went back to sleep.

In the future, if I have another episode of explosive diarrhea that could dehydrate me, I will certainly keep some liquid whether G2 or whatever near my bed.

By the ways I am feeling much better and slowly shaking off the cold that has plagued me for a week now. I went to the gym and worked out today for the 1st time since the incident.

I'm glad you are feeling so much better you made it to the gym!

Thanks Lew and Kathy,

Limping with a cane sure does change things. The TSA agent told me next time I didn't need to wait in the que line and showed me how to fast track, Kathy. I still had to bet X-rayed. One of the ladies waiting at the gate gave me the evil eye, like she thought I was a faker, when I sat in a handicapped seat so I could put my feet up on the one next to me. There was plenty of room at the gate. A stewardess asked me if I needed help with my huge purse and I told her I was ok as had the seats to hold on to and another one help me adjust the cane size to it's smallest so it fit in the overhead. I was in an isle seat in the back by the loo but took enough immodium and didn't have to ever 'go there'.

I love it here!

You are right Lew, we just have to learn how to cope. I had no problem qualifying for LTD with my insurance company and then with SSDI as I have both plus some other problems. If I ever get cancer I will go nuts for sure. I'm glad your wife got her kitchen and the money! When I got my year back pay from social security I bought granite counter-tops and told my family they are the European vacation I never got to take, it would me a cheap one, lol. We also got a small therapeutic hot tub and I helped pay for that with my back pay from my insurance company. It really helps with my fibro. Tell your wife she might want to check it out.

I'm still sore all over and black and blue but better than yesterday.

Thanks!

TE
Just saw this post. Hope you are recovering from your fall.

My daughter just had surgery and will be flying in another 10 days. I was thinking about the escort thing at the airport since she will be traveling by herself. Did you set up the wheelchair escort before hand?

Feel better.

You can try setting it up beforehand but she can also just request a wheelchair once she's at the airport. We had to travel to Idaho and I had had major surgery just two weeks prior. I thought I would be fine but I started getting out of breath. DAMN BRIAN checked us in and then we requested a wheelchair. I'm telling you, that is one awesome service for those who need it! We flew Southwest which is the 'free-for-all-no-assigned-seating' airline. Getting on before everyone else is wonderful. Love those bulkhead seats.

And then there's a wheelchair waiting at the other end to take her down to baggage claim if she needs or to take her to a waiting car or shuttle. Those wheelchair porters accept tips. And it is worth the tip not to have to stand in line shuffling ahead two inches every ten minutes.

I know that some people think that they shouldn't use the service because they can ambulate. But right after having surgery, it's a bit tough. Tell Becky to use it!

kathy

I recently flew from Hartford to Tampa on Southwest Airlines which was my first experience with the no assigned seating policy of that airline. You have to log on to their website 24 hours prior to departure time to get your boarding pass, you do not get one at the airport. When you log on with your booking information you get assigned a letter, A, B or C, accompanied by a number 1-60. When you get to the airport you then arrange where you stand in line depending on your boarding pass number.

I did observe 1 or 2 passengers in wheelchairs boarding ahead of me.

Both times I logged on almost exactly 24 hours prior and got a number in the B category. I think for $10 extra you can get early boarding which possibly insures you are in the A category. I don't know if you need to do that or not if you have a wheelchair situation.

Southwest Airlines also flies to Key West via Tampa which I did not know previously.

Thank you Kathy and CT.
She wants to get back to grad school (semester just started) as soon as possible. We are trying to think of ways to make the traveling alone easier, shipping all holiday gifts and luggage she had brought home since she is limited with weight since surgery. Plus Newark and Ohare are lengthy airports to walk around in.

O'Hare is a massive airport. I once had to connect there to a flight to Kansas City and felt like I walked 2 miles to get to the connecting flight departure gate. It's the biggest airport terminal I have ever been in.

Using the wheelchair service is especially helpful when going through those horrid huge terminals. My 90-year old mother always uses the service because it's just too difficult to get from gate to gate.

And if everything is shipped and Becky only has a small carry-on her flight should be perfect.

kathy

If I knew what Becky's surgery was I have forgotten, please forgive me. Did the surgery fix all? How is she doing?

I agree with shipping ahead but it is expensive. I sent a couple of boxes to my step-sister from Iowa to Seattle and it cost $150. I insured it for $100, included in there. You might be better packing another bag and getting a baggage handler.

I just used a cane as the International airport in Des Moines is tiny compared to an O'Hare or Minneapolis airport. I'd suggest a chair and cane, in case she needs to use the restroom.

I'm still dealing with pain on my left side and entire abdomen. Can you bruise a bone? I think I've heard of it before? If it's possible my femur, hip or whatever is bruised. It affects the way I sit on the loo too, TMI. I'm setting in the Florida town house, with a heating bag, while my husband in at the beach. It's a windy day so he's got his fancy kites up in the air, and soaking up rays while reading a book. So if I can't even make it to the beach with him there is something wrong. Another beach problem is we have to drive to this one so I can't go back to the house to use the loo! I hate port-0-potties, gross.

Florida, sounds nice, hope you are able to enjoy it soon.

My daughter had emergency surgery on Thursday for a SBO, which was 40cm above her j pouch. Diagnosis leaning towards crohns now. Sucks.

Hope you feel better soon.

I'm sorry about Becky's recent surgery and pray it isn't crohns

Even though I have not been able to do anything but it's still better being here than at home where there are projects and all sorts things that need completed or done. Nothing here and it's a beautiful pretty new townhouse condo. No 13" snow storms either!

A couple of days ago I fell asleep, didn't pass out, while sitting on the pot in the middle of the night. When I woke up my feet and legs were asleep up to my knees, I couldn't move! I eventually got them to "wake up", it doesn't sound bad now but was scary at the time. I think passing out would be much worse! Stay hydrated everyone!

It's funny but when I passed out in the early a.m. of 12/31/12 as described in my initial post in this thread, I don't know if I was sitting on the toilet or whether I had stood up from sitting on the toilet. The last thing I recall before passing out was sitting on the toilet seat. My injuries (specifically a big scab on my right knee that I still have!) suggest I may have slumped forward from the sitting position on the commode, the knee fortunately cushioning some of the fall and then my right side of my head hitting the floor based on the pain on right side of my head and injury to my right upper lip which was apparently bitten.

I would definitely reiterate to all to stay hydrated and if you get a diarrhea episode make sure you imbibe as you discharge, and keep a bottled electrolyte beverage near the toilet or bed if need be as suggested by another poster.