Our ambulance dispatch guidelines may vary from your local guidelines. That said…
Top priority for dispatch is any one of:
[ul][li]Lower abdominal pain w/fainting or near fainting, patient > 50 years old[/li][li]Ab pain with difficulty breathing[/li][li]Upper abdominal pain, patient > 35 years old[/li][li]Lower ab pain, female patient 12-50 years old if also dizzy/heavy vag bleed, or fainting[/li][li]Ab pain with fainting/near fainting when sitting[/li][li]Ab pain with decreased level of consciousness[/li][li]Upper ab pain w/ hx of heart problems[/li][li]Ab pain (non-traumatic), patient > 50years old[/ul][/li]The sweating (diaphoresis) sounds like it is a triggering of your sympathetic nervous system. As you describe it, I would consider a sign of near fainting and dispatch an ambulance at a top priority level.
no absolutely, but going to the doctor without any current symptoms makes it more of a fishing expedition than if you were having them at the time of the visit. Which will be early tomorrow.
Don’t forget, doctors can also run blood and urine tests (even in the office while you wait) that can tell you quite a bit. A few months ago I was in some of the worst pain of my entire life. So bad I really shouldn’t have been driving. I thought I slipped a disk. Turned out it was a kidney stone (which they could tell based on blood in my urine).
I had gallbladder disease for about 5 years before it (the gallbladder) went belly-up (heh!). This sounds a lot like the early stages. But like a lot of others have said, SEE a DOCTOR!
A couple of years ago, I had abdominal pain to the left side of my belly button. I was so sure it was something I ate. I popped some Advil and laid down using a heating pad.
My hubby kept asking if I should call the Dr. I assured him I was fine. I just needed to lay down.
No increase heart rate, no heavy breathing, no fever.
Several hours later, I started vomiting what looked like coffee grounds.
I was about to tell my hubby that I’ll still be fine when he said “Shut up, we are going to the ER” LOL
Turns out my intestine ruptured. If I had waited any longe, I would have died.
Meanwhile also … how fast is the onset and its stopping? How often has it been happening? Check your actual heart rate while it is happening. (Count for 6 seconds and multiply by 10.) A gradually rupturing aortic aneurysm is the biggest catastrophic worry, i.e. can kill you. Less worrisome is something like episodes of supraventircular tachycardia (SVT). Either way get in to your doc with some urgency.
Editted to add - it is not your job to call your doc with a diagnosis man. (S)he’s the detective. You tell the story, answer the questions, let him/her do the exam and order some tests. That’s what you pay for. Get your money’s worth!
Have you been feeling bloated? Could be a sign that your kidneys haven’t been getting enough blood due to your heart trying to shut down. SO’s brother reported feeling very bloated then was dead within a couple hours, he and his wife probably thought the bloating was from the all-you-can-eat buffet the night before.
Went to the doc. He wasn’t too worried. Will do some blood work and a lower GI look-see or an X-ray. Not too enthused about the procedure as I had one 5 years ago. His opinion is a sympathetic nerve event which I already gathered.
This is so typical. I go to see the doctor and I’m the model of health. Blood pressure never looked so good. No obvious lumps or bumps.
I’m going to start keeping a diary of what I do. Might just be running myself into the ground and it’s catching up with me the next day in a post-dehydration event. I did change my BP meds about the time it started because the last one was slamming me awake with serious rise in heart rate (much worse than what I’m talking about here). That was an obvious link that occurred a couple of hours after taking it. Stopped immediately after I stopped taking it.
The blood work and other tests will determine direction to take.
Thanks all for the input and concern. I’m following up on all possibilities.