I called the doctor back and the nurse told me that the chest x-rays didn't show any anomalies so that's good. She told me that atypical pneumonias (which is what the doc thinks I have) often do not show up on chest x-rays.
Atypical pneumonia seems likely (the link is probably way more than I needed to know). It would explain why I've been sick for so long. It doesn't have the characteristic symptoms that you would associate with pneumonia like coughing up green goo/blood or very high fevers and the incubation is 1-4wks. It starts off with flu-like symptoms which lasts 5-7 days then gradually becomes a persistent cough, with shortness of breath, chest pains just below the breatbone as the infection progresses. All of which I have or have had. Plus you're more susceptible to it when you have a weakened immune system.
The good news is that it can be treated effectively with antibiotics. I was a bit surprised at first when the doc had told me she was prescribing doxycyline and not some form of penicillin (which is the antibitotic I normally get) but she said that tetracyclines are better for atypical pnemonias. I didn't get to this link until today. The instructions on the doxycycline did not say to take it with food. I took it Mon night before dinner and was fine. Then I took it tues morn at 6am, went back to bed and set my alarm for 7. Woke up at 650am and felt like I was going to be really sick. The nausea was so bad I felt dizzy. That's when I thought that I should have eaten first. I staggered to the kitchen trying to think of what I could eat to settle my stomach and finally decided to have a slice of bread. Took one bite and barely made it to the bathroom in time. Let me just say that even with an empty stomach, it was not pretty. I also had a bit of cleaning to do. It was awful. I called the doc (as you probably guessed) and asked about that and they said I should eat, wait an hr, then take it. I guess, that's sort of what happened when I took the first dose Mon night.
I have to see the doc once I finish taking the antibiotics (8 days to go). My skin is kind of itchy. I don't know if it's due to the antibiotics. I haven't taken doxycycline before so who knows. It could be. Not hives in one concentrated place which is how my body usu reacts to allergens, just a general itching all over every once in a while. Even my face and ears. Weird.
Hopefully, I'll be able to think/talk about something else soon.
Today at 2:45pm, I was coughing quite a bit but as I was in the middle of setting up a reaction I wanted to get to a certain point with it. My inhaler was due at 3pm and I could tell it was almost time for it. So at 3 I was leaving the lab to go take my inhaler. Our lab tech was vacuuming the lab and chose that moment to try to act like he was going to vacuum my feet.
I asked him - don't do that please - he kept on so I said - don't mess with me now, please. He just kept on and I couldn't get by. I almost tripped. I really needed my inhaler and really couldn't explain/talk much at this point. Finally he stopped his crap and let me by. Then another guy in the lab starts doing this kung-fu stuff at me (matrix-like, jokingly, not serious - stuff like this happens in lab a lot, chemists can be very odd, I mean, interesting). Normally, stuff like this amuses me. But not then.
I swear, the 1 min walk to my desk was the longest ever with 'everybody an' dey brother jumbeeing my ass' (yeah I had to go trini on that one ;) [for the non-West Indians, that's 'every Tom, Dick, and Harry harrassed me' or something like that].
Half the time, they barely say hi when I go past them in the hallway. I don't know what was up with them today. Can't an asthmatic get to take her bloody inhaler without having to stop and explain to people while she's gasping, coughing and panicking? Then the kung-fu guy (yes he followed me out of the lab towards my desk) starts going on about how my cough kind of sounds like this old dog, blah, blah, blah...I escaped and missed the rest.
Completely off-topic:
The Quiznos baby Bob cracks me up, I love those ads. I also like the latest verizon ad featuring Shakira’s song “la Tortura” with all the people doing the "weird chest dance" that she does in the video for the song, so funny.
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