Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't know how old you are, but at a certain point, the input of a general practice doctor becomes very valuable. Remember, the doctor doesn't even do the little tests you mentioned, like taking measurements and blood tests - they just order them, and nurses or technicians do the work. The doctor's job is to make decisions and give advice . About a dozen years ago, my doctor caught my blood pressure shooting up in…
So your doc abrogated her responsibility to warn you about the side-effects of the prescribed drug. You went to the ER, because you were not aware that cramps, constipation, spiking BP, and muscle weakness are symptoms of hypokalemia, which could be resolved quickly by dissolving KCl from the grocery store in water and drinking it. That's patient education that needs to happen before you go to the ER. Just like with…
And when the symptoms started, I wasn't going to go to the chemist to start concocting home remedies for what I feared could be a mild heart attack. I went to the ER. Again, I don't know how old you are, but I'm old enough to have had friends my own age start dropping dead of heart attacks and strokes. Hence I decided to take the safest route.