Feeling Lousy

[ladysprite]

So about two weeks ago now I came down with what I thought was a kind of brutal cold.  Sore throat, stuffy nose, fever, just feeling kind of crummy.  But I figured it was just a cold, and that I could ride it out with cold meds.  A couple of days in I started coughing, but that was no big surprise.  I used to have asthma and allergic bronchitis when I was a kid, so any upper respiratory bug tends to wind up irritating my airways and giving me a pretty impressive cough.

Except... this didn't get better.  It got worse.  And then I found out that I can't take Sudafed anymore; apparently it now makes me queasy, groggy, dizzy, and generally sicker than the disease.  But it was no big deal, I figured; I was just having med side effects.  If I stopped the meds I'd probably be fine.

Except the cough was getting worse, to the point where I was doubling over, blacking out, and generally feeling like I was drowning.  I couldn't stop coughing long enough to eat.  And I *still* had a fever.  So after work Friday (at least I was savvy enough to only work half a day) <lj user="umbran"> took me to my doctor, who diagnosed me with 'probably bronchitis and allergies' and put me on antibiotics, and prednisone, and an inhaler, and codeine, and told me to take it easy and go to the ER if it didn't get better.

Guess what?  (It didn't get better.)  Well, it sort of did.  The fever got better.  And if I sat very still and very straight and took all of my meds and didn't miss a single dose, I could avoid bad coughing spells.  But when I tried to lie down at all, I'd start coughing uncontrollably.  And this is how we wound up at the ER Saturday night/Sunday morning.

They took chest x-rays, told me it "probably" wasn't pneumonia, and to just double my codeine and add another cough suppressant, and rest.

And now... now I'm coughing up blood in the mornings.  I feel like I'm living 10 degrees shifted from reality, and I'm groggy all the time from codeine and jittery from albuterol.  The prednisone is making me drink my own body weight in tea, and telling me that I'm starving, but the antibiotics and opiates mean that every time I try to eat my body screams NO!

And I'm still coughing.  I can lie down, a little; that's better.  And I can have quiet conversations, if I've maxed out my meds.  I've had to cancel two days of work and turn down two house calls, and <lj user="umbran"> is still out of work, and my latest prescription (a steroid inhaler, prescribed when I called my doc today and told him just how much better I wasn't) cost almost $300.  I need to go on a house call tomorrow, and I can't afford to cancel Thursday's work, and I hurt all over, and now my doctor is saying that, well, it's not ACUTE pneumonia, but.......

And most of all I feel pathetic.  For almost two weeks now I've been sitting.  Not working, not being active, not even reading much because I'm so blitzed from the meds I can't follow a page.  I hate feeling like a waste of space.  I want to be better.  I want to eat something.  I want to be productive.  I want to think clearly.  I want to take a deep breath.  I want to go for a walk.

I don't have time for this....

Comments

[witchwestphalia.livejournal.com]

Kennel cough? Just kidding. Seriously, I hope you feel better soon.

[arachne8x.livejournal.com]

I hope you recover completely soon.

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

Holy crap. Have you told the doctor you're coughing up blood? That would rate more than a steroid inhaler in my book!

And it is absolutely not fair that when you ARE looking for help before something turns into a crash emergency, your doctors seem to be blowing you off.

[redfishie.livejournal.com]

Gah. I hope you feel better soon

[gmkieran.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

[bess.livejournal.com]

Hugs. I wish there was something I could do to help.

[fenicedautun.livejournal.com]

If you find you're coughing because breathing irritates the scratchy skin at the back of your throat (as opposed to coughing because you have stuff in your lungs), ask for a prescription of Tessalon Pearls if you can have it. It's been a miracle for me when I've had pneumonia.

[citabria]

Damn. This is the first year in a few that I haven't dealt with bronchitis -- also coughing until blacking out level bronchitis. That's been a relief, as I'm sure you can imagine.

If your new inhaler is Advair, I'm very, very, very glad for you -- that stuff is amazing. Just be sure to use it for 2 full weeks to help your lungs heal. I know it's too late now, but should you have this level of coughing again, ask your doctor if he has any samples of Advair. The samples are only good for 1 week each, but if your doc is like mine giving 2 won't be a problem.

[mamatiger.livejournal.com]

Ack, poor sweetie! Have someone get you probiotics to help mitigate the damage the antibiotics will do to your intestinal flora!

[tafkad.livejournal.com]

Oh, my God. It's been three days since you posted this. I hope you found a doctor to take you seriously.

[hermitgeecko.livejournal.com]

I'm so, so sorry you're going through this! Coughing up blood is very scary and the hunger/nausea combination sounds awful.

Sending many hugs and caring, and looking forward to seeing you when you're doing better. Thank you again for thinking of my dog in the middle of your crisis.

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

Really hope you're feeling better by now!