Ammonia

**WARNING: This post is very long. I can't tell short stories**

In February my mind was being weird. One night while I was getting ready for bed I noticed I would be thinking of something or a story in my mind and then it'd leave and I'd totally forget what I was just thinking about. Once I realized this I got a little scared. I didn't know what was happening. So I went and woke up my roommate.  Even when I was talking to her about it, it kept happening. She thought I was just tired and needed some sleep. A few weeks later I was thinking I didn't tell my other roommate, who is a PA, what had happened so I started telling her and she stopped me and said I had already told her. (at the time I was feeling like it was happening again so that's why I started telling her) That really freaked me out! I happened to have a lung doctor appointment the following week in March so I brought it up to him. He thought maybe my carbon dioxide may be too high. He wasn't sure what it was so he ordered some blood work.

So on March 4th I went to do the blood work. Usually I only have to get poked once and then however many vials they need they'll take. Well, this time around it was a little different. I knew it would be so I was dreading it. There were two or three tests that could come from that one needle poke, but the other type of blood test he wanted was a special kind called an arterial blood gas (ABG). This type is done by itself in a main artery coming from your heart. You can only get the results from the wrist or on the side of the arm by the elbow. I had already had this kind of test done a few years ago when I was in the hospital. That time around I had it done in my wrist and it hurt like heck! The lady had to do it twice because she messed up the first time. Ouch!!!

Anyways, so back to recently... I was really nervous this time around because I knew what it entailed. They don't do it at a normal lab so I had to have it done at the hospital in the ER.  I was expecting to have it done in the wrist again because that's where it was last time, but this time the tech let me choose either the arm or wrist. Since I already knew how bad the wrist hurt I went for the arm.

So first he did the regular blood draw on my left arm. It went perfectly fine. Barely hurt. I'm use to the normal blood draws. Then I had to gear myself up for the next one, ABG, on my right arm. Let's talk about the needle. This isn't your typical straight, thin, easy peesy needle. It's curved at the end of it because he has to go in at an ANGLE for some odd reason. He told me why, but let's be honest, I wasn't really thinking straight at the time so I don't remember. I just wanted it out! He didn't get it exactly in place right away because the artery moved so he had to move the needle around. He finally got it to where it needed to be and started drawing blood. At this point I had hyped myself up/arm hurting that I started sweating and getting light headed. My friend proceeds to tell me I look pale. That didn't help because one of my fears is passing out. Never have though. Hopefully never will. I ask for my oxygen thinking that will make everything better, but I honestly think it's a comfort thing to me sometimes. I didn't NEED it, but my thinking was that if I had it on it would help the situation. So I put it on and started calming down. The needle wasn't in too long after the tech got it in the right place and blood coming out. Oh and I never look at the needle or the blood draw itself so I wasn't sure how much more longer he had to go. I try talking about something totally different or ask the tech questions just to get my mind off of what's actually happening. So anyways, he's done, takes the needle out, bandages me up, and I lay there until he comes back with the results and also because I felt really weak, hot, and tired still from the ordeal. After a few more minutes we left. My friend pulled up the car to the door so I wouldn't have to walk all the way out there. Lucky for me my oxygen ran out just as I was leaving the hospital.  (Can you say prepared?)

RESULTS
The results were that my ammonia level was a 51 and it's suppose to be I believe no more than 35. This means my liver is keeping the bad toxins instead of releasing them and that's not good because it can damage my liver. So now I'm on a medication that's suppose to be bringing this number down. After a month or so of taking it I noticed I was nauseous and getting dizzy sometimes so I just stopped taking it. Yeah, that's probably not smart. But just recently I noticed I'm forgetting things more or I feel like it takes me more time to think of a word so I started taking it again, but this time I lowered how many times I take it. I didn't even know your liver had an ammonia level, let alone it could affect your brain. Who knew?! Well, definitely not me!


Here I am a few hours after I've been home. My friend drove thru In & Out on the way home so I could get a hamburger for dinner. Yum!

If your to the end of this then your a trooper and should give yourself a pat on the back!!