Thank's to you and the other people on this forum for taking the time to reply to my post. Yes, as a matter of fact my room mate does take vitamines. He takes a multi-vitamine every day (Centrum) and he is generally pretty healthy for 60+ years of age. I'm only 40 and I feel like 90 sometimes but I do eat a balanced diet and plenty of fruit, yogurt, bran, veggies, etc. Incidentally, I just talked to him about this and he tells me that vitamines are not just a bunch of "hocus pokus" but that they really DO keep you healthy and that his doctor swears by them. He also told me that after being very healthy for years he ran out of vitamines for a few months and got sick again so he's a firm believer in them.
You know, I got on a drug "merry-go-round" once before and ran into all kinds of problems (like I'm having now) after I came down with a bout of bronchitus about 10 years ago. Initially, I was treated with an antibiotic which I "thought" I was allergic to so I stopped it too soon and continued to be sick. Then, I tried another antibiotic and started freaking out because I thought I was having side affects from it and again, I stopped it too soon. Meanwhile, I still had bronchitus and because it was'nt going away as I'd hoped (I wonder why?) I started thinking I had AIDS and that's when I spent over a month going to the ER every other day and was eventually put on 1/2 dozen different anti-depressant drugs by different doctors. Because of all the different drugs, side effects, symptoms, anxiety, stress, etc, I soon became a total basket case and in my mind, I just KNEW I had some horrible disease and was going to die. My white blood cell count was very low too (stress?). I never slept well, had horrible nightmares almost every night, cried a lot and was severely depressed all the time. Eventually, I was able to break the cycle by painstakingly eliminating the meds that seemed to be causing my side effects and continuing to take the ones that seemed to be helping me. Let's hope I can do that again with God's help (I did a LOT of praying too!).
Now this morning (after starting on Prednisone and discontinuing the Doxycycline yesterday afternoon), I woke up feeling better, the sore throat was about 70% better but my mind seemed to be in a thick fog (spacey-type feeling). This scared me but it's not as bad now as it was earlier when I'd first gotten up. The other thing is that I have always suffered from GAD, OCD and Hypochondria so I'm freaking out about rabies, mad cow disease, cancer and thinking the worst. Just curious...has anyone else ever taken Prednisone or know anything about it?. This is my first time on it and my biggest concern is that it can give you a false sense of well-being when there's something wrong with you (I've also heard it was a pretty amazing miracle drug, etc).
Ok, as far as the UTI is concerned, all I know is that I had a slightly swollen prostate with a few white cells in my urine but no bacteria. Suprizingly, the white blood cells only showed up in my urine after I'd been on antibiotics for a long period of time (I've had a lot of urine tests over the past month or so). There was never any buring during urination, etc although I did have a case of epididymitis and my testicles ached for awhile but the antibiotic (Cipro) took care of that. There were actually more tests done to "confirm" the existance of a second UTI but unfortunately, the clinic rarely gives me results or ends up getting the results and losing them, testing me 2-3 times for the same thing, etc. It's a very busy clinic and not very well-organized. It's basically a "medicaid mill". Go in, wait all day and Dr. Feelgood gives you a happy pill. That's socialized medicine for you.
To answer your question about the receptionist, I had called her up and just sort of causally mentioned that I had a very sore throat and asked her if there was something going around. She said something like "yes there is. Everyone's got it. In fact my co-worker has had it for a few days and finally had to call in sick and now I have it". I actually asked her about the symptoms rather than asking her leading or suggestive questions which might bias her answer(s). Then I asked to speak with the nurse. In retrospect, perhaps I should have just asked her if something was "going around" as this might have made her answer less biased but then again, if she tells me that she (and others) have a sore throat, I'm inclined to believe that it is because she does indeed have a sore throat rather than because she was in any way influenced by the form of my question.
Well, now I am left with one naging question. The doctor has fiven me a prescription for Azithromycin ("Z-Pak") to take for the next 5 days. this was supposed to be for my sire throat but since I've already been taking w-a-y too may antibiotics, should I really start taking another one?. I mean, for all I know, it was my overuse of antibiotics that caused 90% of my symptoms in the first place - including perhaps lowering my resistance and leaving me suseptible to a sore throat. Or maybe the Doxycycline actually caused the sore throat. Or maybe it's viral in which case an antibiotic won't do me any good.
I guess the B-I-G question is should I start taking this other antibiotic to cure my sore throat and in the process of doing so, possibly lower my resistance even further (from using yet another antibiotic) -or- should I just hold off for awhile now?. I did cough up some greenish-brown phlem just a little ahwile ago.
Anyway, I'd like to keep this conversation going. I feel that I'm learning a great deal from all of you and from this experience and it also helps me to know that I'm amongst other people who kindly offer their support.
- Peace
[This message has been edited by jimbrown (edited 05-09-2003).]
What is going on with me here? (help!!!)
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