Health and Meds
Its been a while since last I was sick and I have to love how as lectures are winding down and the stress levels are dropping considerably, I wind up coming down sick.
For the past 3 or 4 weeks I have been having bad luck sleeping, what this means for me is that I only get a full nights sleep (5 hours) once or twice a week and the rest of the week I wake up at odd times and have to try getting back to sleep. It tends not to work and I am left tired and this week has been no different.
However come Wednesday morning, I woke up with a bit of a sore throat and a mild headache, not unusual considering its getting to summer and the weather is starting to warm up. I decided fine, took a throat lozenge. Went to varsity, by 10:00 the headache had gotten worse and I wasn't feeling great so I asked a friend to bring some panado in the hopes it might help. It didn't but then what else is new. Anyway Wednesday is a long day for me, so after lectures, I then spent a good few hours in a comp lab and then went to my weekly D&D game. Had a lot of fun, but was still feeling shitty and was pretty sure I had a fever and my sinuses were killing me. So I got home, had supper, asked my mom for advice and promptly took, 1 Sinumed, 2 Aspirins, 1 Vitamin C tablet and 2 Viral Choice capsules. Did some work and at about 11:30 went to bed.
Woke up Thursday feeling just as bad, got told by everyone to stay at home, I didn't listen, I took a decent sized dose of the various meds to combat the symptons I could feel, dressed warmly in case I still had a fever and headed to varsity. I lasted all of 2 lectures and had to come home.
Friday woke up and explained to parents that I had a test and various other compulsory things to do today and my mom put her foot down and told me I was going to the doctor and that I wasn't allowed to leave the house. I said fine, took some sinumed, vitamin c and viral choice and tried to get some sleep, didn't work so wound up sitting in front my Laptop. Eventually I get a call from my mom and am told when my doctor's appointment is.
Get to the doctor's, now this is the first time in 5 years I have been in to see the Doctor and the last visit I wasn't sick, I just had a sprained ankle. So Doctor asks whats wrong and checks me out. I am diagnosed with Sinusitis and Otitis Media (Middle Ear infection), which I had been treating pretty well on my own apparently. Doctor then explains the meds he has prescribed, I have an anti-biotic and pro-biotic to be taken twice a day with meals, advil CS for the sinusitis and then for the sleeping he does his best to explain to me the seriousness of the pain meds he is giving me, Synap Forte is what they are called, and they are apprently very powerful anti-pain meds and muscle relaxants and that after taking them I might feel somewhat weak. Get the various meds and go home.
At this point the mornings meds had worn off, so I decided lunch followed with my meds would be a good idea. Now seeing as I am now very weary of what might happen after taking the painkiller I head to my room and decide that spending thirty minutes on the internet would be ok as drugs take a little while to kick in, ninety minutes later and the only change is that my sinuses aren't feeling to bad. At which point I decide to sleep.... Wound up reading and then passed out for about 40 minutes.
A few hours later mom came home and wanted a full explanation of what was going on. I took her downstairs and showed her everything. Couple of months back she had something similar and it was her left over meds that I had been dosing myself on. So being a concerned mom/nurse, she took a closer examination of what I had, the anti-biotic she had is a third of the strength of mine and she had to look up what my painkiller was. Having found it she asked if I had actually taken one. I had, I then explained that I had been chatting to a friend who told me that one of these Synap Forte pills were strong enough to knock her out for a good 6 hours at which my mom responded, "I am not surprised, however you my boy have the constitution of an ox."
Rest of my day was uneventful and I had to miss a friend's birthday party being sick and all. After having supper I took a 2nd dose of all my meds in the hopes of getting to sleep and getting better. Haha! Supper was late so took meds at about 9:30 went to bed at 10:00 and only got to sleep after 11, woke up this morning at 4, clearly something is not working....
On the other hand I am not all that surprised that the painkiller is a failure, my body seems to have a rather high tolerance, both for painkillers and for adapting to new meds. Usually when I have a headache or a migraine and I can't actually concentrate through the pain, I tend to have to take 4 aspirin to get 2 hours of relief, relief being a mild dulling of the pain. In another case I actually got prescription migraine painkillers and at R10 a pill at the time, I was mildly annoyed that only the first one out of all 10 actually worked. Or in the case when I sick a good few years back, my parents had to get me Benilyn Four Flue(sp?), it was an all purpose anti-flue syrup. First dose (20ml doses), knocked me out for 12 hours, 2nd dose 4 hours, 3rd dose left me mildly drowsy and by the 4th dose I was immune.
Sudden realisation hit me yesterday and right now, my only hope is that I never end up needing to sedated for long periods at a time.
For the past 3 or 4 weeks I have been having bad luck sleeping, what this means for me is that I only get a full nights sleep (5 hours) once or twice a week and the rest of the week I wake up at odd times and have to try getting back to sleep. It tends not to work and I am left tired and this week has been no different.
However come Wednesday morning, I woke up with a bit of a sore throat and a mild headache, not unusual considering its getting to summer and the weather is starting to warm up. I decided fine, took a throat lozenge. Went to varsity, by 10:00 the headache had gotten worse and I wasn't feeling great so I asked a friend to bring some panado in the hopes it might help. It didn't but then what else is new. Anyway Wednesday is a long day for me, so after lectures, I then spent a good few hours in a comp lab and then went to my weekly D&D game. Had a lot of fun, but was still feeling shitty and was pretty sure I had a fever and my sinuses were killing me. So I got home, had supper, asked my mom for advice and promptly took, 1 Sinumed, 2 Aspirins, 1 Vitamin C tablet and 2 Viral Choice capsules. Did some work and at about 11:30 went to bed.
Woke up Thursday feeling just as bad, got told by everyone to stay at home, I didn't listen, I took a decent sized dose of the various meds to combat the symptons I could feel, dressed warmly in case I still had a fever and headed to varsity. I lasted all of 2 lectures and had to come home.
Friday woke up and explained to parents that I had a test and various other compulsory things to do today and my mom put her foot down and told me I was going to the doctor and that I wasn't allowed to leave the house. I said fine, took some sinumed, vitamin c and viral choice and tried to get some sleep, didn't work so wound up sitting in front my Laptop. Eventually I get a call from my mom and am told when my doctor's appointment is.
Get to the doctor's, now this is the first time in 5 years I have been in to see the Doctor and the last visit I wasn't sick, I just had a sprained ankle. So Doctor asks whats wrong and checks me out. I am diagnosed with Sinusitis and Otitis Media (Middle Ear infection), which I had been treating pretty well on my own apparently. Doctor then explains the meds he has prescribed, I have an anti-biotic and pro-biotic to be taken twice a day with meals, advil CS for the sinusitis and then for the sleeping he does his best to explain to me the seriousness of the pain meds he is giving me, Synap Forte is what they are called, and they are apprently very powerful anti-pain meds and muscle relaxants and that after taking them I might feel somewhat weak. Get the various meds and go home.
At this point the mornings meds had worn off, so I decided lunch followed with my meds would be a good idea. Now seeing as I am now very weary of what might happen after taking the painkiller I head to my room and decide that spending thirty minutes on the internet would be ok as drugs take a little while to kick in, ninety minutes later and the only change is that my sinuses aren't feeling to bad. At which point I decide to sleep.... Wound up reading and then passed out for about 40 minutes.
A few hours later mom came home and wanted a full explanation of what was going on. I took her downstairs and showed her everything. Couple of months back she had something similar and it was her left over meds that I had been dosing myself on. So being a concerned mom/nurse, she took a closer examination of what I had, the anti-biotic she had is a third of the strength of mine and she had to look up what my painkiller was. Having found it she asked if I had actually taken one. I had, I then explained that I had been chatting to a friend who told me that one of these Synap Forte pills were strong enough to knock her out for a good 6 hours at which my mom responded, "I am not surprised, however you my boy have the constitution of an ox."
Rest of my day was uneventful and I had to miss a friend's birthday party being sick and all. After having supper I took a 2nd dose of all my meds in the hopes of getting to sleep and getting better. Haha! Supper was late so took meds at about 9:30 went to bed at 10:00 and only got to sleep after 11, woke up this morning at 4, clearly something is not working....
On the other hand I am not all that surprised that the painkiller is a failure, my body seems to have a rather high tolerance, both for painkillers and for adapting to new meds. Usually when I have a headache or a migraine and I can't actually concentrate through the pain, I tend to have to take 4 aspirin to get 2 hours of relief, relief being a mild dulling of the pain. In another case I actually got prescription migraine painkillers and at R10 a pill at the time, I was mildly annoyed that only the first one out of all 10 actually worked. Or in the case when I sick a good few years back, my parents had to get me Benilyn Four Flue(sp?), it was an all purpose anti-flue syrup. First dose (20ml doses), knocked me out for 12 hours, 2nd dose 4 hours, 3rd dose left me mildly drowsy and by the 4th dose I was immune.
Sudden realisation hit me yesterday and right now, my only hope is that I never end up needing to sedated for long periods at a time.