The saga:
1. extensive dental work with 5 courses of Clindamycin, which can just trash your defense against aggressive bugs.
2. by Christmas—ear complaints. Ignored, as, well, it’s winter.
3. late February–worse ear complaints. Ignored, as, well, I’m real busy.
4. March—I nearly fall over when getting up in the morning. I go to the Urgent Care. They say probably it’s age, crystals in my ears, or a virus. Be patient. Wait a month.
5. April. I’m waiting a month. It’s better but not that much better.
6. May—all right, I’m going to the doc. I start looking up my thyroid med as the only ‘what’s unusual’ in my intake. Hmmn, generic began around Christmas. So did the ears, leading to the dizziness. I want my Brand Name back.
May part 2: yes, I have an ear infection, outer ear. Double med: Cipro and something else for fungal infection, faithfully given. Dizziness gets worse. Now I’m hypertensive on both numbers, feeling rotten. More research for drug actions down in the fine print. Brand name thyroid med can cause dizziness. Maybe taking it before the morning blood pressure surge which nature gives us might be better, since blood pressure surge is part of this. Reading further—tra la! Cipro can give you dizziness. Is there ANYTHING that doesn’t give you dizziness? But also—blood pressure out of whack can give you dizziness, and my pulse rate is through the roof. Ciproflocasin is NOT to be taken with coffee. Well, la! I am a 2 pot a day coffee drinker, and nobody mentioned this? It takes 22 hours for the last dose of Cipro to leave your system (I looked that up, too.)
So I was friggin’ worthless yesterday, and my pulse rate and blood pressure were dancing above the roof, and yes, I was dizzy, too.
I drank a shipload of water. I stayed inactive and didn’t push it. I waited. I had five pounds of water weight (overnight acquisition) to shed, which would help the blood pressure situation.
I stopped the ear med. The good news is, the ears seem to be improved. I’ll have to tell the doc on Monday.
This morning—splitting headache. Yep, no caffeine all day will do that to me. I have, oh, joy! caffeinated, and the headache is going, my balance is ever so much better, and the world has stopped gyrating wildly.
I’ll have to have the doc give a final check on the ears to be sure, but if my pulse rate will just continue calming down, we may have beaten this.
Glad to hear you may have sorted the dizziness and other issues problem. Too bad your doctor(s) didn’t catch the bit about drug interactions and precautions! Also, side effects, which sometimes appear to be worse than the ailment.
I had a doctor prescribe Nifedipine ER for my then-just-discovered high blood pressure. The side-effects from the first dose were enough that I didn’t take more than the one (pounding, racing pulse, to the point where I wasn’t sure but that I’d end up in an ER).
I went in to my regular doctor on Monday morning, without an appointment. Getting chewed out for dropping the drug that fast was less bad than going through those side effects for a couple of hours.
I was on nifedipine for years and tolerated it well, but Blue Cross recommended [with strong arm-twisting] an alternative: amlodipine beslyate. This is okay too but its a chalky horrible-tasting tablet whereas nifedipine was one those Bayer timed-release things that don’t have much taste at all. There are several strengths of nifedipine available, perhaps your doc just has to experiment. Isn’t being a guinea pig fun?
Amlodipine is one of the ones my doctor is using. As it’s once a day, I’m downing it with most of the rest (a thiazide, a statin, and one other). I don’t notice the taste. No problems with these.
I think I tried nifedipine first for my newly discovered high blood pressure, but a few hours after my first dose got terrible stomach cramps. The doc, disbelieving, had me cut it in half and try again; same result. I’ve been on amlodipine since (I don’t chew it, just down it whole with the rest). Side effects are fun!
I don’t think I could ever give up coffee. I’m pretty sure it I could give up anything else before I give that up. I suppose i could give up caffeine itself, since it’s really the taste of coffee that I love. No telling how dependent on caffeine I’ve become, though. Here’s hoping your health continues to improve.
I take 2 cups of tea every morning, and it’s water the rest of the day. One cup keeps the caffeine withdrawal away; the other is for the flavor (I like it unsweetened and strong enough to float a ship).
I could (often do) go without coffee. But tea? Nope. Confirmed tea drinker. I fell into drinking it sweetened for a while, but stopped that about three months ago. And I drink a Coke or Dr. Pepper once a day.
CJ, I’m glad you’re feeling some better and I hope it continues to improve.
Heh, if you knew which direction you felt you were spinning, you’d just need to orient yourself the right way in a ship’s rotation cylinder and…. 😀 Yeah, if only it were that easy. I suppose since it’s your body itself (inner ear) that’s off-kilter, ship folk would get dizzy too sometimes. No idea if newbies to starship travel would get dizzy; I wouldn’t think so, but I don’t have a rotation cylinder handy either. (Rot the luck.) 😀
Sort of tangent to that, YouTube gave me a recommendation the other day to a video on “Can you build a warp drive in your garage / back yard” sort of thing. (I don’t recall the title quote.) But of course it reminded me of Heinlein’s juveniles and the very brief Salvage One TV series with Andy Griffith of all people, back in the day. (My parents and I all liked the show, brief as it was. I don’t know if it’s on video anywhere. Now I’m curious.)
I like tea as much as I like coffee. Black and green tea; not so much herbal tea, except red tea from South Africa. I’m still trying to figure out white tea, which to me is in the same realm as white chocolate. Sort of the homeopathic versions of tea and chocolate? Perhaps drinking water would satisfy me more than those white tea/chocolate thingies.
“White” tea is similar to, and less fermented than, green tea. (My sister does white/green/decaf tea for various reasons.)
I can’t taste white tea. It tastes to me like scented hot water. But then, my food tastes oren’t exactly subtle.
Yeah, that sipro is bad stuff….14 years ago (14!!!)when my son, James, was in the hospital getting chemo for leukemia they gave him cipro for an infection. He was not getting better until they figured out he was allergic to the cipro. They changed the antibiotic, finished the chemo and went on to a bone marrow transplant. Everything went well (more or less) after they got the antibiotic straightened out. I was visiting him, his wife and kids today. He is doing great but the mention of sipro still scares me.
Having been a medical transcriptionist for 27 years and spending 8-10 hours a day with headphones/ear buds in, I had a tendency to get an external ear infection, too. What they call “swimmer’s ear” because the excessive moisture and or lack of air circulation in the ear canal promotes fungal growth. Even though I’m retired now, I still spend a lot of time with ear buds in, listening to internet radio while I do other stuff (write, knit, read, etc.).
After my first go-round with an external ear infection MLYA, after I wash my hair, I put a dropper of Sea Breeze in each ear. It’s an astringent and contains, among other things, clove oil and salicylic acid. I haven’t had a problem since. It also contains eucalyptus, though, which I think you said you were allergic to, CJ.
I understand the PNW has had an exceptionally wet spring, which may be part of the problem.
I hope you can get everything sorted out and get back on an even keel healthwise very soon, CJ.
It is time for Ariane to start work on CJ Cherryh 2.
Slow down and get well.
Jonathan
I recall reading a while ago that people genetically have “wet ears” or “dry ears”, controlling the consistency of their ear wax. Plus, a lot of people have allergies or similar conditions.
The answer is over-the-ear headphones (usually headsets–with mic–these days). While these are less comfortable, and still less in hot weather, they don’t interfere with one’s natural ear secretions and problems. Some light on-the-ear headphones will work as well. Earbuds, I think, are asking for impacted earwax, which can be expensive and painful to unpack.
I do recommend Bluetooth. It’s rather perturbing to be isolated listening to (whatever) and be brought up short, literally, by a cable when you go to refill your glass or snack. Bluetooth has a 30′ or so range, I find. It can get a little confusing to use one headset for, say, a computer and your cell phone, but quite do-able.
Well, looks as if I’m headed to an ear specialist, and I’m now on a very low dose of a high blood pressure med, Lisinopril, at least for now. They want the blood pressure down and the ear doc doesn’t have an opening until mid-June. Inner ear, they say now. So, well, we take the pills, but are off Cipro. At least I can have my coffee. Sigh. THIS med can make you dizzy. Ear pressure can make you dizzy. Cipro can make you dizzy. So can thyroid med, although my woes may have started with the dental work, too much antibiotic, and a low-grade ear infection back in December.
I’m feeling better this afternoon. Quel pain! But I’m not reacting negatively to the med and the numbers are slowly ticking down, as desired. The doc got me right in when I said ‘blood pressure.’ And we’re doing something about it. I’ve had a LOT of inner ear problems in my life, so this is not a novelty, just a real nuisance. One thing about this general clinic—they take Medicare (finding a doc who does is a real challenge) and they have all sorts of gadgets, and their own labs, and they’re not afraid to use them. Before I got out of there I was wired for sound, but reporting was all good, so there.
I hear you on the Medicare thing. The Hematologist/Oncologist I went to for a second opinion takes Medicare, and he is super willing to work with the VA. It turns out they had a CAT scan of the abdomen on me from 2010 and all this lymphoma stuff is new since then. We’re talking lymph nodes enlarged to 2 and 3 cm in diameter. On my blood test this time, there was a little uptick in some types of white blood cells, and a noticeable increase in lymphocytes. Concerning. He wants a blood test every month — fortunately, Medicare will cover it. He wants another CAT scan from head to nevermind in August — and Medicare will cover that also. Otherwise we’re just in monitor mode. The lymphoma and the chronic lymphocytic leukemia are two sides of the same coin. He says that they don’t do anything for the lymphomas unless one is fixing to choke something off like a blood vessel, or bile duct or something, or is crowding something important like heart or lungs. What is of most concern is the spread of disease into the blood. This is why he wants the blood tests, and what we’re watching like a hawk. We already know from the bone marrow biopsy that I have 25% marrow involvement.
The icing on this cake is that I’ve lost a crown on one of my lower jaw teeth — I only have three left lower molars. It’s the one in the middle, and it’s the second time I’ve lost the crown off it. The dentist recommended last time that the tooth be pulled and replaced by an implant, which I couldn’t afford at the time. He was willing to squirt some goo in it and stick it back on with no guarantees as to how long it would last — it lasted for 3 years. There wasn’t much tooth left above the gumline three years ago. I go to see him tomorrow morning bright and early.
I need to call the oncologist and see what he says about a dental implant, which I will do after I get the verdict on the tooth. I think it may be time to get it while the getting’s good.
The Bette Davis quote (“Old Age ain’t for sissies”) and the Mick Jagger quote (“What a drag it is getting old.”) both apply.
With the Lisinopril, be careful when you stand up. Especially if you’ve just had a cup of hot chocolate (this is what my dad claims caused his fall – getting a cup of hot chocolate). He’s been on and off the Lisinopril for the past few years as it sometimes lowers his blood pressure too much. The doctors took him off it this past occurrence of falling, and his BP has been a little high, but not dangerously high. He doesn’t use salt in his cooking, or on his food, either, since Mom couldn’t take a lot of sodium due to her kidney problems.
In other health-issues, my YMCA water class instructor told us yesterday that she has non-Hodgkins lymphoma and will be undergoing chemotherapy beginning next month.
And I get another dreaded root canal in two weeks…….then we start working toward the bridge/crowns for the tooth extracted last year.
Hugs to you both.
well what a mix up, so sorry you have been feeling so awful CJ.
I had a tough winter, recurring flu of various sorts and though I feel back to normal strength (it knocked me sideways for weeks and weeks) I have lost most of the ability to smell. I can’t smell organic disgusting smells, nor the pans burning! and I have a taste in my mouth that is bitter and metallic. I really can’t enjoy coffee any more! Que disastre! hoping that eventually some might come back, with a steroid squirter up the nose, but only slight improvement on the smelling, nothing on the taste, since mid Jan! just tried antibiotics but really no difference – we really didn’t think it would work, but worth a try. going to try acupuncture/chinese medicine. anyone else ever been cupped? quite extraordinary …
Oh, PS, I just read Cyteen and Regenesis, and I MISS those people!
Me too! Especially since so many threads at the end of Regenesis are tantalizingly unresolved…
Jane is also suffering from elevated blood pressure. Two of us in one household? What’s unusual here?
Diet. The number of recipes that call for sausage or other high sodium source is many. We went out to dinner twice and had the same dish, which was also very high sodium.
I am going to rework all the recipes I have gotten from this low-carb diet…to remove sausage and cured meats and substitute porkchops sliced and diced and seasoned from my own spice cabinet, sub in ground beef in others (basil, oregano, and chili flake can transform it, likewise into spicy beef.) And in general go to ‘scratch’ cooking at all levels, keeping the spice but omitting the generous dose of salt. A little liquid smoke or the like (a very little) can work a certain magic. Grilled fish. WE can deal with this. Pork will require some creative spicing, but I’ll work with the full cabinet and figure this out. I’ve got the oriental and middle eastern array as well to work with.
The good news is the numbers are trending in a good direction on most recent tests.
I use so little salt that I’ve gone through most of 4 pounds in 20 years. There’s enough in most foods to satisfy my needs; the big side effect is that it takes much less when I do use salt. (Or, why I’ve used so little salt.) I also tend to use processed meats in less-than-full servings, although I may get more cheese than I should have. (They had Wisconsin Gouda with chili and lime, on sale last weekend. The chili isn’t particularly noticeable, and the lime goes with the cheese in an interesting way.)
I think I’m going to look into the “Chinese” barbequed pork (tenderloin?) as a protein accompanyment.
p.s. We hit 95 Monday! Sizzling in Spokane? (Three weeks early, while everything has been three weeks late, so far.)
I cook without salting. Surprising how much less I use when I salt at the table
Chinese Five Spice can help transform pork. I don’t particularly like sausage, so I will sautee fennel seeds, marjoram, thyme, oregano, garlic and fresh ground black pepper with ground pork or beef for a tasty substitute.
Brand name thyroid medication may be better in the long run. Generic anything can have +/- 15% of the dose in it whereas Brand name is more tightly regulated. Fun Pharma fact.
Hoping you and Jane and WOL and joekc6nlx all feel better, or at least find a new tolerable equilibrium. Not for sissies indeed!
I’m sure the stress both of you have been under what with illness and injury, and deadlines, and losing the fish, and the recent remos, etc., is a contributing factor to both of your BP problems. I just wish “life” would back way off on the stress for a bit and let you both get your breath and give you time to chill out, recuperate and relax. You both deserve a long stretch of smooth sailing.
My mom was on two meds for years for her elevated BP, then in the weeks and months after my dad died, she started having problems with low BP — without realizing that’s what the problem was. She hadn’t realized how much the stress of caring for my dad and all it entailed had slowly and relentlessly jacked up her stress level and her BP as well until that stress was removed from her life. She’s now off one med and at half dose of the other one.
Went to the dentist this morning. The tooth is coming out tomorrow and he will do a bone graft at that time, with the goal of an implant in four months. Fingers crossed the bone graft “takes”. The oncologist says, “Go for it.” I’ve had liverwurst for lunch and same again for supper to give my hemoglobin and platelets a boost. Not looking forward to it, but my Kindle is well stocked and I’ve got high protein Boost in the fridge, and cream soup and oatmeal in the pantry.
(For those who were having problems with tooth #18, the tooth in question is #19 — close but no cigar!)
Mine says a graft and implant for #18 isn’t called for. ;(
I thought my #18 was the bad tooth, as well, but we discovered it’s #19. The dreaded “root canal” phrase surfaced. So, I see the endodontist on June 6. Unfortunately, that’s also the same day my father’s podiatrist appointment is scheduled, five minutes after (and 40 miles away from) my endodontist appointment. Dad said to reschedule his appointment, as it’s easier to get in to the podiatrist than the endodontist.
The root canal will then be the preparation for getting the crowns and bridge for the tooth that was removed last August (finally replacing it!).
If it’s a qood endodontist, it will be more the discomfort of holding your mouth open than any pain.
I’m dreading the immediate aftermath. I chew somewhat preferentially on my left side, and that’s going to be a problem for several weeks, until it heals.
Good luck to all on the teeth, and, Wol, extra good luck to you to keep those white blood cells down and the leukemia from wandering. Glad VA/Medicare is covering much of the treatment.
CJ, hope the drop in salt drops the blood pressure and steadies the ears.
Thinking of you all.
You have my sympathies! I’m three days away from finishing my own course of antibiotics and desperately looking forward to getting back to coffee, yogurt, and other foods I’ve had to cut. Wishing you a full healing.