Been Very Ill...

[Dee]

I came down with a UTI 2 weeks ago today.
Prescribed Bactrim DS and it didn't work, so then was prescribed Cipro.
Cipro didn't touch it either.
Next med prescribed was Macrobid. That was Tuesday afternoon. Took the first pill at dinnertime. Dosing was 1-2x a day.
Now the horror story begins.
Woke up Wednesday morning with a Migraine type headache, I have never had a migraine in my life. It was one that no over the counter med would kick. Layed on the couch most of the day.
Woke up Wednesday morning with a headache, whole body aching, flu-like symptoms, chills, and a very odd delayed left upper eyelid twitch.
Went back to bed and slept until 3pm.
Thursday woke up with the same symptoms but more severe.
My doctor called with the results of my urine culture and I expressed the symptom issues, and she stated she has not had a patient have adverse effects from the macrobid, and was told to take the full dose as there is not another med to treat the UTI. Slept again most of the day.
Friday woke up to my pj top being wringing wet, and the other same symptoms. Was back in bed most of the day.
Stopped the med on my own yesterday morning, and called the doctor.
She had me take my temperature because of thinking the infection could have been moving up into my kidneys. If it was high I would have had to go to the ER. Temp-98.5.. Of course, then told to stop the medication because of having an allergic reaction.
The drug was still in my system yesterday, and I slept until 4pm. The side effects seemed to diminish some during the day. At 10:30 last night, out of nowhere, the headache, neckache & the weird delayed eyelid twitch surfaced.
I have never in my life had an adverse reaction to any prescribed meds.
The Macrobid was like putting poison into my body.
All of the symptoms described are not on the print out sheet that you get from the pharmacy.
I did do a search on side effects and found a website with patient reveiws and the people that reported their experiences were just like mine.
I have no idea how long this med will stay in my system, but I'm hoping not much longer.
The weight that I had gained is now gone. DARNNIT!!! I fight so hard to put it on.......
Trying to eat even if I'm not feeling hungry just to regain my strength.
The past 4 days have really taken the wind out of my sails..

Now on to saying to all the new members!
Happy Birthday to anyone I may have missed.
Looks like I have alot of catching up to do when I really feel up to it.
Also, please keep Nicole and all Iowans in your prayers. Nicole works for a very large insurance company in Iowa City and by Friday after she got off of work, she had total meltdown from the thousands of calls she received at work from people, and her feeling of being just helpless to the ones that have no flood insurance. She & Ben were getting up early Saturday morning to go volunteer.

Love
Dee~~~~~

[Mars]

(it's a tiny one so it won't hurt) but ment to be a HUGE hug!

I sure hope you feel better NOW! What a bummer.

Many hugs to Nicole and Ben while they work with the people in Iowa. My heart goes out to them. It's another repeat of New Orleans when you look at the pictures in the news. So awful.

Love to you my friend,
Mars

[barbaranoela]

Hi Dee----well needless to say---U have been thru the wringer---so very sorry to hear of what *didnt* work for U and melting away those Xtra pounds (when U what them to stay PUT) is another thing to be really about---
Lets hope that U PICK yourself up and start to feel much better!!

luve and
Barbara (mouse-KET-tier )

keeping Ben and Nicole in my prayers too---

[tex]

Whoa,

Sorry to hear that you had to go through all that, and I certainly hope the infection is gone, now.

That's very discouraging news that a reaction so severe isn't even mentioned on the patient information leaflet. I suppose it's possible that no one in the pre-release trial cohort had a reaction of that type, but it makes one wonder if maybe the testing agency just classified reactions of that sort as a fluke, and deleted that data from the final report.

You might want to consider adding cranberry juice to your diet, in order to try to reduce the chances of that happening again. The only other class of antibiotics that is effective on UTIs, that your doctor didn't try, is amoxicillin, and that's the one, (along with clindamycin), that has such a bad reputation for causing pseudomembranous colitis, (C. diff), so I would consider that one to not be an option.

I hope Ben and Nicole kind of pace themselves, so that they don't end up overworked and totally exhausted. It's going to take a massive effort, for a long time, to get everything back in order, again, in a lot of areas.

I noticed that you were absent from the board, but I just assumed that you might be on a camping trip, (anyway, I was hoping that was why you were missing). I hope you're well on your way back in good health, now.



Love,
Tex

[JJ]

Oh Dee....what a nightmare! I'm glad that episode is behind you kiddo!

My thoughts and prayers go out to all involved with the flood...the victims and the volunteers.

Take it easy and I hope your strength is back soon.

Hugs to you,

JJ

[Becky]

Yikes! That would scare..something out of me. I'm glad you're feeling better. Take care and don't rush your recovery.

[crranch]

OMG!!! I was worried that I hadn't seen you on recently. Keep up the rest, those UTI's are good at sapping it out of you, not to mention when the cure is worse than the critter in you. So sorry to hear that you ad such a bad reaction to the med's. Start with cranberry juice if you can have it, I have had UTI probems for years, till I started drinking it on a regular basis and at least it beats the daylights out of the other options.

Sending good thoughts your way, and for Nicole and Ben.

Hugs Kitchen Hero,
C

[annie oakley]

Wow Dee What a reaction to meds, bless your heart. I hope you get to feeling better soon. Love Oma

[sunny]

Dee....I too am so sorry that you have had this drastic reaction to a medicine that is supposed to help you!! I am frustrated that your doc doubted your symptoms were related to the antibiotic and kept you on it! Amazing that there are others with the same reaction and the company doesn't add it to their warnings! I am hoping that the effects will soon wear off and you will be back to normal shortly. Please take care of yourself in the interim and rest...rest...rest.
Hugs from Oregon

[Polly]

Oh no, Dee. How awful. I know what you mean about the symptoms not being listed on the pharm sheet. One of the antibiotics I took for my sinus infection gave me horrible symptoms - feelings of impending doom, that I was about to die. This was listed nowhere on the info sheets, but like you, I found some websites where others reported had the same problems.

So glad the worst is over. Keep us posted.

Lots of live and hugs,

Polly

[MaggieRedwings]

Morning Dee,

So sorry to hear what you have been through and a UTI is bad enough but to have such reactions to the meds makes it horrendous. Hope you are getting better and do take it easy.

My prayers are with Ben and Nicole and all Iowans.

Love, Maggie

[hazel]

Dee,
Hope you're feeling better today. Sounds like it's been an awful situation all the way around.