but no one believed me for quite a while...
but after a few months of fun that included but not limited to:
dehydration
hives
ER
shock
bacteria
toxins
spores
more antibiotics
no belly dancing :-(
pro-biotics
bananas
and zinc
it turned out I was correct. The rash was connected to my dental visits as were all the rest. It took a while for it all to get connected, and I kept thinking ok this is it, like the hives, its over but it wasn't.
What I learned:
- Clindamycin is not a good dental pre-med, and is notorious for this particular bacteria.
- There is a high relapse rate.
- Too many dental appointments close together are not wise esp. if you take pre-meds.
- Bananas are your friend. Fresh, powdered, or dehydrated are best. Chips don't work as well.
- ER's in the middle of the day are not as good as going on a holiday, weekend or wee hours.
- Sometimes its worth leaving an ER even if your hives are continuing to spread down your nerve pathways.
- Bathroom mirrors make nice dry erase boards.
- Zofran is amazing and wonderful (and I still have some!)
- Benadryl keeps the hives from swelling as much.
- I no longer need pre-meds.
I saw the usual suspects, had tea, watched belly dancing, partied with some defenders of an allied nation and got to try on the coolest headgear ever! I will post more about this later.
Tuesday, I woke up with a sore throat. Lucky me, 2 days of health and I get the flu. Due to the above, my medication options were limited. I had been reading about Elderberry extract and its use in the prospective pandemic, so I tried that.
For the first few days, I took Elderberry & Zinc lozenges (10 per day) and rode out the fever. Then I switched to Elderberry capsules (3/day) for a day, and then a combo of both. They actually seemed to work, the really bad flu stuff lasted about 3 days, I was still getting pretty wiped out for another few days but no fever. 3 days ago I walked over 12000 steps and survived fine. Its now been 9 days, I still am getting a bit more tired earlier in the evening but otherwise feeling quite healthy.
Today I discovered that Ikea has cute little stuff guinea pigs! They are even machine washable and only $3.99. Is that cool or what?
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4 comments:
Wow, I'm sorry you've been so ill! Glad you're on the upswing, though.
BTW, since we moved to England, we've been drinking elderflower tea. It's yummy! I haven't given it much thought, but we haven't been very sick lately... Maybe it's the tea?
Thank you! I am glad too.
It could be very well be the tea, people do use it to prevent colds and flu. A standardized dose is probably better if you are actually ill.
Unfortunately, Elderberry may not be great for the avian flu because it increases cytokine production which might induce a fatal cytokine storm. It seems regular NSAIDs are known to do that.
What did you think of the cool head gear? Supposedly it costs about €120,000.
You should have seen the sergeant-major whose helmet it was, but we were asked not to show any of the troops...
Goodness, hope you are feeling better!
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