Hey Larry
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The problem was the doctor put her on a powerful diuretic for a temporary problem with no followup. I would bet it was furosemide, or lasix as the trade name. It flushes sodium from your system through urination. A week on the diuretics should have been plenty to balance her out and there should have been re-testing. She needs a new doctor if he did not do this.
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You're right, Mik. I have already told here we will be fi ding a new doctor.
Understand by the way.. my mother loves Sarah like she was her own daughter. I didn't mean to give the impression she was jealous of Sarah, she's not. I worded it poorly... I was speculating that maybe she was in some way trying to compete for attention. That may be a better way of saying it. But now, the more I think about it, it may be just straight forward her sodium level and other things had dropped so low she just felt like she was going to drop.
I've never liked that doctor anyway.
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I'm very sensitive to how doctors 'treat' our mothers. My mom's doctor when she developed COPD just put her on a bunch of drugs including Lasix and prednisone full time. Forever. No followup. I looked at that as a young man and found it odd, so I learned about these drugs and then started fighting - there was no reason to have her on diuretics and steroids forever. Both my mom and dad just trusted the doctor like he was a god and dad said I could not possibly know more than the doc.
It got even worse much later in her illness when my dad complained that she got so 'hyper' - she was worried about the oxygen running out - so he put her on Ritalin - speed, for most people. She was not hyperactive, she was worried. She couldn't sleep for days or months because of that damn drug. My father and I almost came to blows over it.
I've only scratched the surface of the horrorshow her illness was. Suffice to say it was an education in medicine. So forgive me if I condemn physicians I do not think are diligent.
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Not all docs are empathetic. In fact, due to the demands of the job and the routines of the specialty, it's a serious problem many of them have to contend with.
