Migraine

I'm putting this here because I have so had it with getting sick with this same thing every 5 to 6 weeks. Last Wednesday night I thought I was getting a cold. I felt not so good Thursday morning, and had to drive 30 miles north to Temple to see my orthopedist for my last visit after my rotator cuff surgery. Before it was time to leave I was starting to feel pretty dizzy, do DH drove me up for my appt. By the time we got home at 11:30, I was coughing my toenails up and had a temperature of 102. I could not walk without support I was so dizzy.

Tom was back and forth on the phone with the doctor, and I ended up going to a radiology clinic for a stat chest xray. Luckily, no pneumonia, so they called in Tussionex, had me take that, Tessalon, and Mucinex DM as well as Tylenol every 4 hours for the fever. If I was not much better on Friday they planned to see me.

Not better on Friday. So they saw me at 1:30, the earliest they could work me in. I didn't get to see Dr. Wonderful, but his new PA. She gave me an inhaler that's used for chronic asthma and would certainly work but not for several days (I was too sick to realize she wasn't giving me any immediate help-which I needed desperately, since it was a Friday) and a medrol dose pak. She then sent me to the lab for a CBC.

In retrospect I should have had DH take me to the emergency room Saturday morning, because my son was a severe asthmatic, and I now realize I was in status asthmaticus with no abortive medications and of course no way of doing nebulizations.

I do have oxygen available which I used, and I did have enough sense to use a pillow when I coughed (non of the cough meds did ANY thing) so I could bear the rib pain from the coughing. That's how I made the weekend.

DH called the drs office first thing in the morning. We went back and forth with them. At one point he even had to be "somewhat insistent" that something had to be done!! Actually the medications were starting to work and I was coughing a lot less deeply though still wheezing a bunch. (By the way--I was an asthmatic as a child but have not had an attack since I was about 12).

Finally, I got on the phone and had a polite meltdown (Iwas very proud of myself). So at 5:30 p.m. Dr. Wonderful called me himself. They had been trying to get me to get a sinus series of xrays and put me on Biaxin, because I told them I wouldn't take Levaquin for this, since it was the 3rd time in 3 months I had started with the same symptoms and the 2nd time had ended up being atypical pneumonia. They didn't have the CBC that was drawn on Friday however. I had had routine labs drawn on Wednesday before I got sick and they were looking at those! I told them there was no sense ordering anything without the Friday labs!!!!!!!!!

When I talked to DrW. we discussed the repetition of symptoms issue with about 4 to 5 week intervals in between. He looked at the Friday CBC which indicated a viral shift, so no need to throw a major antibiotic at it at this time. Of course, I still have no real diagnosis, but Dr.W. has decided that we will treat now as a very severe, virus-induced asthma attack. He was upset that I went all weekend in such bad shape, made me promise if it happens again to go to the ER, plans to explain to his PA that if they see me in the office with an acute onset of anything it is SERIOUS, cause I never come in unless I can't figure out a way to treat it myself (including antibiotics he lets me keep on hand), and that I have not been diagnosed with asthma as an adult, so needed to be treated accordingly.

But there's also some scary news. He said that the possibility is rearing it's ugly head that I actually am suffering from interstitial pneumonia. Apparently the symptoms fit. If I have another episode, he'll hospitalize to a pulmonologist's service because the ONLY way to make the diagnosis is a lung biopsy!

Not a happy thought. I'd rather have asthma, especially if, like when I was a kid, (after we moved to New Mexico away from Oklahoma wheat,cedar,etc) I only got it as a complication of a viral/bacterial respiratory infection.

Tracie

Oh Tracie, hun, what a nightmare! So sorry you've had to go through all this. I'm so glad Dr. W is on the case & really listening now. That PA makes me so mad. How often that happens, that when we're too sick to think clearly and speak up we are given something inadequate and then are stuck over a weekend. Makes me want to spit nails.

I so hope you get some answers and solutions, without nasty lung biopsies! Take care of yourself!

Many to you!

- megs

Tracie,

I'm so sorry this is happening to you all over again, you poor thing! I'm so glad your doctor is being proactive. Please take it easy and, as always, take care of yourself. Big hugs to DH for taking such great care of you too.

just a note to see if I got the ticker to start--you know I'm quite computer illiterate.

trying again

Hi Tracie

I so sorry to hear you aren't feeling well. Doesn't sound fun at all.
Hang in there sweetie.

Feel better, Tracie!

Big Hugs!

Hope you feel better soon.

Tracie, you poor thing! I'm sorry to hear you are going through all of this, but glad your doctor is finally taking you seriously.

We are all here for you whenever you need us!

I hope you feel better soon!

Gretchen in Mississippi

Great!!!!

Not much better after 3 days. So they sent me for another chest xray which, of course, is still clear. Dr.W. is out of the office today, aren't I lucky so I get to deal with the p.a. (note the capitalization of the letters). She was going to change my cough medicine to phenergan with codeine but since I can't take phenergan (makes me hyper) she doesn't know what to do! (Guess most of the other cough medicines I dispense every day have been recalled)

So--they decided to refer me to a pulmonologist! I just called for an appointment--got to leave a voicemail and was told on the voicemail that they would get back to me in about 24 hours!

That's a BIG help!!!!!

WHAT DO I DO NOW????

Geez, all I can say is hang in there Tracie. I stole this saying from someone on the forum but can't remember who anymore:

"It's hard to have patience when you're the patient."

Very true indeed.

When Paulie had bronchitis after his surgery they also prescribed phenergan with codeine and I thought it was a mistake. I called the doctor and the pharmacist and was told the other cough medicines they normally would have given him were taken off the shelf.

Hang in there and take care of yourself

Hey, that's my quote, Laura! Feel free to use it, of course!

Tracie, I hope you find something that works and makes you feel better soon!

Well, you know who your own best advocate is........

DH came up from the barn and let me vent and cry all my frustrations out. Then he said, "Ok, now take off your patient pajamas and put on your pharmacist hat. What medication do you recommend as an alternative for phenergan with codiene and what dose?"

"Uh, Robitussin AC, not sure of the dose."

"Can you maybe call work and get somebody to look up the dose for you?"

"Yeah"

"Anything you'd recommend to somebody else to treat this sort of situation?"

"Switching from an albuterol inhaler to nebulized medications."

"Ok. That's your plan. After lunch, call the p.a. and see if she'll consider your suggestions".

So, I did, she bought the plan, and called in the rxes. I have a rented neb machine, and have given myself my first treatment. I actually feel a little better already. And I may have an idea why the other treatment wasn't working. Dr.W. had to call my rxes in to CVS (I use an independent pharmacy owned by a good friend which closes early), and CVS didn't have my whole medication profile. When Maureen filled the albuterol, there is a major drug interaction with the nadolol (beta blocker) I take to keep my heart rate down secondary to taking Wellbutrin XL. Turns out nadolol inactivates albuterol approximately 75%, so a wee puffer didn't have a chance of having any activity. I've been practicing 35 years and didn't know that! So no Nadolol for a few days and I'll get activity from the much bigger dose of inhaled nebulized med so should start to improve.

Good example of why you want to get all your meds at one pharmacy!!!

Oh, and Laura--

The reason they said they weren't any alternatives to phenergan with codeine for Paulie is bacause of new recommendations that have come out regarding the safety and advisability of using combination cough and cold medications in children.