The Thermometer Has Been Fired

I'm pretty sure this post is full of clunkers. Enough to make a writing junkyard. Sorry. You'll understand when you read it.

So I don't feel better. Yesterday was not great. I tried not to stress does and ended up driving so erratically, I hit a curb on a straight road. Had a hard time responding to changes in lanes. Just really out of it with fatigue.

And oh, lookey at who else showed up? Asthma. Big time. Felt like an elephant sitting on my chest. It's possible I wasn't fully oxygenated on top of everything else.

I took 10mg while the toddler was at OT and my breathing eased almost immediately. The energy bit lagged, but at least I didn't feel like I was armed and dangerous behind the wheel.

At preschool drop-off, my daughter's teacher greeted me with "You don't look great. Are you okay?" And she was not the only one who asked me if I was okay, apparently, I had the death-warmed-over look down (which I thought was strange because I dressed up in pretty fancy clothes--people would ooo and aah over my skirt and then tell me I looked awful. It was weird.)

From there, it dawned on me that this is/was a lot like walking pneumonia. Ah, a clue! I got one!

I began making phone calls trying to get into a doctor. Set up an appointment for today and then realized I could not wait that long, my breathing had deteriorated to the point of no return--the asthma had become acute.

(Pauses to glare at magazine containing 'you will die of antibiotics' article that convinced me to hold off seeing my doctor.)

But I had another alternative medicine appointment, an anti-oxidant infusion.

And I so did not want to go to the ER. Please, not that.

By sheer force of will, I hauled my gasping lungs out to the far East side of my town for the alternative medicine infusion. I was breathing so badly, I didn't have enough air to talk even if I wanted to, which was unfortunate as I managed to alarm everyone at the clinic. I could only take panting, shallow breaths. Faking normal was not possible. Bad ju-ju. Very bad.

Basically, what I'm saying is, I really should not have been out in public yesterday in any capacity other than seeking immediate medical care to ensure I continued to breathe. Duh. Live and learn.

I began to think I'd made a terrible mistake and toyed with leaving to go straight to the ER. Especially since it took them almost an hour to get a vein.

But I stayed. Mostly because the idea of more people trying to find a vein was just too much.

And, to my surprise, the infusion helped. Immensely. It saved me from an ER trip. It wasn't a cure, for that I needed antibiotics, but it was a huge huge OMG huge help and game changer yesterday. For the better. It was way better than a nebulizer treatment too.

So, take that, mainstream medicine.

However, one of the things I don't like about my alternative care is there's not much proactive disclosure. If I don't ask what's in the IV bag, I won't be told. That bothers me. I don't think that's a 'best practice'.

However, of course, I asked and it was Alpha Lipoic Acid and something-something-choline. I never made it to the L-glutathiamine (I think that's spelled right) because I 'over-oxidized' or, in other words, my system was full up on anti-oxidants and didn't need any more. You know when this happens because you turn red somewhere on your body. I got a hive-y rash on my arm near the infusion site. Other people get red faces, ears or necks.

I also had a B12 shot.

For the record, I have taken oral Alpha Lipoic Acid for years without coming even close to the positive effects of receiving it by IV. It even helps my blood sugar--if I eat bad, I don't get woozy sugar highs.

From the infusion, I went straight to urgent care, because I knew this bug wasn't dead without antibiotics and once the anti-oxidants wore off it would be ER time.

Turns out my thermometer at home isn't working properly because I did have a fever. And maybe walking pneumonia. For now my label is bronchitis, but I have to go back if I don't get better, to one of their sites that has an x-ray machine.

Just to make it more miserable, the antibiotic is Augmentin, which has been known to chain me to the toilet in the past. The doc said I might avoid that with a probiotic and some yogurt. I hope they're right. I'm due for a little less misery. I've been fighting this bug for 15 days now (I realized the day I had immense sinus and ear pain was the warning shot, so this started a little earlier than I began complaining about it).