Hell of a shock last night. MrsT has had severe diarrhoea for over a week and has been treating it with the usual rice, pasta and eggs, to no avail. On Monday I finally persuaded her to let me call the doc, who dropped in on Tuesday and gave her an antibiotic. Analysis showed campylobacter, so he came round again yesterday with a prescription for azithromycin*, which would clobber the infection in just one large dose instead of a one-week course of the other antibiotic. Last night she took the azithromycin just before dinner.
About 15 minutes later she suddenly said "I feel strange" and then "my head's spinning". Then her head went forward, her face went blotchy yellow and her jaw dropped. She didn't react when I spoke to her. Her hands went cold, she broke into a cold sweat and lost bladder control.
Last time I had seen anything like that was when the Inlaw Paw had a massive internal haemorrhage and we nearly lost him, so I called the emergency services, but while I was talking to them she began to move again, and very gradually returned. Meanwhile the emergency doc had got all the data, and told me that vertigo was a not unusual reaction, although he didn't comment on the other symptoms. End of panic.
I got her upstairs in the Inlaw Paw's electric chair for a clean-up. Thereafter she was very weak for a while, but after tea and a couple of hours in a comfy chair she was a lot better. This morning she's fine - had a good breakfast and told me to go cycling.
It looked to me like a shock reaction with a severe drop in blood pressure, although I didn't have time to get the BP meter.
Not something we're going to forget in a hurry - I hope I never see it again.
* yes, that.
