On Monday afternoon I had attended my local outpatients centre for a routine blood test. I had been feeling exhausted (tired to the extent that my eyes had been stinging) as a result of anxiety and not sleeping properly, and also knew I was hungry. As the outpatients centre is literally a 5-minute walk from my home, and I knew the blood test wouldn't take long, my intention had been to eat when I returned home. At this point, I should probably mention that eating was something I hadn't previously been doing enough of, as a result of how my anxiety had been affecting me.
The blood test was done, but as I was in the process of leaving, someone in the waiting area commented that I was bleeding. I've had numerous blood tests over the years, and as it was the first time anything like that had ever happened, it unnerved me.
Having caught the attention of a nurse, I was quickly ushered back into the cubicle I had departed moments earlier and instructed to sit down. At that point, I felt decidedly light-headed and passed out... twice! I must have remained in the chair for a good 15 minutes, during which time my blood pressure had been taken several times. The next thing I know, I'm being invited to lie down on a trolley, whilst a cannula is inserted into my right hand and I'm hooked up to a drip of Hartmann's.
As the cubicle was small and I was surrounded by a sea of nurses, it was impossible not to overhear the conversations taking place between the nurses. The issue was that my blood pressure kept dropping, and because of that, an ambulance had been called to take me to A&E. Hearing that only served to make me more anxious, as the A&E hospital was the absolute last place I wanted to go. I burst into tears upon hearing that, and also because I was scared as to what the heck was wrong with me, and desperately wanted my son (who was back at home) with me. Also, because of the way my Autism affects me, I felt acutely embarrassed at being the centre of attention.
Once the bag of Hartmann's had been emptied, I was then given copious amounts of water to drink. By the time the paramedics had arrived, my blood pressure had thankfully picked up and stabilised... just that it had taken a long time to reach that point. To err on the side of caution, the paramedics ran a 12-lead ECG, which was fine. Their opinion was that what had happened had been caused by the fact that I had been running on empty and my body had been under too much stress. As long as I kept up my fluid intake and made sure to eat, I was OK to go home.
It is safe to say that my experience served as a wake-up call to start taking better care of myself and to try to avoid running on empty in the future.