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Diagnosis Of High Heart Rate, Low Potassium Level, And Fever?
A friend of mine is in the hospital. His niece (my girlfriend) and her mom live with him. Sunday, he fell suddenly ill. I'm not a family member, so I don't have a lot of specifics, but the docs at the VA here are stumped and I'm trying to get a feel for what the problems could be for the niece and her mom. Today's measures include insertion of a PIC line, a tooth extraction, and removing his gall bladder. The night of onset, his BP was 200/150, heart 150bpm, and dangerously low potassium level, and a fever of 103. At first, they thought he was having a heart attack, but none of the measures for that (or anything they've tried) have changed any of his symptoms. With the PIC line, it sounds to me like this is getting VERY serious. The tooth extraction leads me to assume some kind of infection especially when combined with the high fever. Can you give me a quick list of the possibilities so I can talk to the ladies with some level of informed opinion?
Mon, 24 Feb 2014
Hi there,
Thanks for your query.
Acute onset of an illness with high fever, followed by gall bladder removal and tooth extraction, suggests that he had developed serious infection of the gall bladder- perhaps, cholangitis or cholecystitis with gall-stones.
A high blood pressure may have been an accidental finding in an undiagnosed / underlying high blood pressure.
A high pulse rate is seen in severe infection, most likely spread into the blood (called septicemia).
Insertion of PIC line is a routine procedure in cases of severe infections. It is used to measure the blood parameters and pressures.
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Take care
Dr. Rakesh Karanwal
Thanks for your query.
Acute onset of an illness with high fever, followed by gall bladder removal and tooth extraction, suggests that he had developed serious infection of the gall bladder- perhaps, cholangitis or cholecystitis with gall-stones.
A high blood pressure may have been an accidental finding in an undiagnosed / underlying high blood pressure.
A high pulse rate is seen in severe infection, most likely spread into the blood (called septicemia).
Insertion of PIC line is a routine procedure in cases of severe infections. It is used to measure the blood parameters and pressures.
If you find my response helpful and informative, do not forget an “excellent” (5-star rating) to my answer, to ENCOURAGE ALL doctors- engaged in social service- to render sound advice to the FREE queries.
Take care
Dr. Rakesh Karanwal
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