since hospital stay

Since I was in the hospital last week, I continue to have a cough. It's a small productive cough every 5-10 minutes. It's not terribly troublesome except that I sing in a men's coir that is recording a CD this Saturday. Coughing while we record would be a problem.

The strange spreading parasthesia problem from last week has subsided and all but disappeared.

I continue taking the course of Levaquin, the antibiotic I am on for the sinus infection. I have about a week left.

I saw Dr. Abraham on Wednesday about 3 symptoms: the ringing in my ears, my nausea which has been ongoing for a month or so, and the cough. He said the ringing in my ears might come and go on its own and call back in a month if I still have it. He also said the cough was from my sinus draining. He had no good ideas about what was causing the nausea, but prescribed 2 medications to combat it. One was Zantac, twice a day, the other had in interaction with Lyrica, which I started (in addition to Remeron) for treatment of depression instead of Wellbutrin and Trazadone. My nausea has decreased to a point where I can eat full meals now, though my weight is still decreasing. I am at 137.4 this morning, the lowest I have been in many years. I will continue to watch my weight closely, but eating full meals should help considerably.

If my nausea stays down, I will add NATTO-K back into my plan.

I still haven't seen the Winstrol (Stanozolol) I ordered. I will continue checking on it and start taking it when it comes in.

my hospital stay last week

I came down with a headache and low grade fever last Monday afternoon. I had my mom drive me to the Urgent Care to rule out flu and possible H1N1. After taking my history, the doctor at the Urgent Care was nervous about possible meningitis so they sent me to the ER where they tested for that and a myriad of other possibilities as well. Blood work, urinalysis, head CT scan, chest X-ray, and lumbar puncture (LP) were all performed in the ER, while mom and Kalyn stood by. They were nervous about doing a LP because I was taking Lovenox injections, which could potentially cause clotting problems which could lead to other complications with a puncture in my spinal cord. But since I felt sick and thus didn't do my injections that morning or the night before, I was out of the 24 hour window and they could safely proceed. We were very relieved to see the spinal fluid come out clear and colorless, indicating no meningitis.

Apparently there is a sinus cavity straight back from the bridge of your nose about 3-4 inches called the sphenoid sinus and mine was discovered infected from the head CT scan. Additionally, I was severely dehydrated due to lack of adequate drinking because of this nausea I have felt for about a month now. I was admitted and administered lots of IV fluids and several rounds of 2 different strong IV antibiotics over Tuesday and Wednesday. I was released Wednesday afternoon. I am still on strong oral antibiotics for 2 weeks to make sure it's completely gone. Thrush is now a strong possibility due to the lack of "good bacteria" so we are watching for that.

My weight is way down because it's been difficult to eat with this nausea which has been around way too long. I need to see a doctor and figure out why. I thought it was from decreasing my doses of Morphine, but I have been at this same dose for more than a week and was given a lot more in the hospital to help ease the headache pain and didn't get any nausea relief. I have lost about 10% of my body weight and was at 138.4 lbs this morning. My goal weight range is 150-155 where I have been since this last February. By the way, after discussion with my pain doctor while I was hospitalized, I plan on staying at this Morphine dose until after taking the full course of this antibiotic. I am at 60 mg daily now. My pain level is now back to 4-5 where it is normally.

I do have a strange symptom which started after I got home from the hospital: the parasthesia in my feet (tingling and numbness) will intensify and spread and affect everything from the knee down. Sometimes it affects both feet, sometimes just one. It's really painful and I can't walk because it affects the bottom of my feet as well. Thankfully it only lasts for 10-15 minutes, and then it just fades away as suddenly as it comes on. Perhaps a side effect of the antibiotic? Not sure. Friday and Saturday it happened 6 times a day or so, yesterday once or twice.

nausea

After both last Wednesday and Saturday, the morning of the second day after my dose decrease found me incredibly nauseated. Today is the second day after my Wednesday dose decrease and this morning I was very nauseated. I almost headed to the bathroom to sit by the toilet in case I had to vomit. I took some Tums before getting out of bed and by 10:00 am it started to feel better. I expected the nausea this morning so I was able to handle it better emotionally.

My pain level has increased at times. Last night I had times at a 6-7, mostly just before and at bedtime. I didn't treat it. I expect that it may get worse in the future as my Morphine doses continue to decrease. I am on 90 mg daily now, half of what I was a month or so ago. On Saturday I decrease to 75 mg. The process continues...

I have noticed a ringing in my ears lately, worse in my left ear but affects both. Today is worse than other days. I am not sure if it's related to anything I am doing but wanted to note it here.

11-2-09

On Saturday I decreased my Morphine dose another 15 mg at night to 105 mg daily. No or very little nausea Saturday or Sunday. This morning, I felt like I was on the verge of puking all morning. Around noon it started to improve and it's mostly better this afternoon. I could have tried taking Percocet to see if that would eliminate the nausea but didn't bring any to work. If the nausea is from withdrawal, that should bring relief within an hour. That would have been a good test to see if that's what is causing it. I will put some in my pill box tonight and carry it with me.

Maybe it's worst a couple days after a Morphine dose decrease? Since I was better this weekend, and way worse this morning, I tend to think it's not the NATTO-K.

I know I get nauseated when I am really short on sleep but I have been getting nearly as much as I usually need so I don't think that's the cause.

At this rate of Morphine decrease, I will be off it completely on Wednesday before Thanksgiving. That will be something for which to be very thankful.

I did notice on Sunday that my pain level came up in the 4-6 range. I will keep an eye on that. I did not take any Percocet.