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Background: Scleroderma with lung involvement. lung function about 50%
About 2 weeks ago I woke up feeling crappy; tired, achy, breathing worse than usual. Wound up staying home from work for Thursday and Friday. Saturday I felt better, still not breathing my normal but achiness and tired were gone. Sunday I was exhausted and breathing back to bad. Bad = walking 10 feet and being out of breath. This stayed through Monday and 1/2 Tuesday (stayed home). Tuesday I woke up mid morning in a feverish sweat. After it broke, my breathing was closer to normal. Tuesday through Thursday ok. Friday worse again, went to my ND.
I originally thought it was a herx, by the time I saw the ND I thought infection. She gave me a natural antibiotic (chinese herbal mix) that's also supposed to help the breathing. Took that through the weekend, felt a little better but then worse again by Monday. Tuesday; started Augmentin antibiotic, continued herbs. Had to go to a conference (in Vegas of all places; smokey:sick:) in order to keep a professional certification. Was still not up to my normal but able to function; rented a scooter to get me around. By Thursday I was worse again. Got home Thursday and since then it has still been difficult breathing, mucus and coughing. Occasionally I'll get so warm, I feel like I have a fever, but my temp stays low.
I'm looking for some brainstorming on what else might be the cause. I had an infection in my lungs about a month ago and got rid of it with augmentin. I have a moderate amount of mucus from my lungs as well as my sinus. I cough a lot; so hard sometimes I actually popped a blood vessel in my eye.
This has got me scared. All suggestions will be appreciated.
Blessings, Deb
Hey Deb,
I'm so sorry things are this rough for you, and even more sorry I have little to offer. The only thing that comes to mind would be to try pulsing the Mino Mon/Wed/Fri and see if that makes a difference. I did not do well on daily dosing, but did fine on pulsing and continued to improve.
Hope you can get things calmed down soon.
Take care…..kim
Hi Deb-Az. Have you looked into NAC?( n-acetyl-cysteine) It is a mucolytic agent. Here is a link for some info: http://www.formyhealth.com/nac_article.htm I quit smoking almost a year ago and I think it has done my lungs some good. Of course this is just my experience and you should take this up with your doctor first. All the best Jims:)
[user=105]Deb-AZ[/user] wrote:
I'm looking for some brainstorming on what else might be the cause. I had an infection in my lungs about a month ago and got rid of it with augmentin. I have a moderate amount of mucus from my lungs as well as my sinus. I cough a lot; so hard sometimes I actually popped a blood vessel in my eye.
Debs, so sorry to hear you're so scared and do hope you get to the bottom of this soon. My brainstorming suggestions include candida (augmenten is a pretty broad spectrum antibiotic – quite strong and could precipitate yeast in the esophagus, nasal passages and lungs).
My daughter is really going through a very bad flu bug right now…schools are back in session and the bugs are flying. She's had heavy nasal congestions and a very liquidy-sounding bronchitis. It started with her feeling as if her airways were constricted a week or so ago and lingered, not really evolving into anything we could put a finger on. Doc thought it was a sinus infection, but she really didn't have signs of sinus problems, more upper chest discomfort. Of course, now, this has turned into an all-out flu with heavy bronchitis (and some diarrhea, which now makes me question if it might be a variation of swine flu). So, could it be a bug you've got?
Were you ever tested for Lyme disease? Babesia, a coinfection of Lyme can wreak havoc with the lungs. It's a protozoan infection and needs anti-protozoals. Can cause anemia, being a red blood cell parasite, and can also cause fevers, costochondritis, air hunger, inflam of spleen…just to name a few things and can set one up for repeat chest infections, too.
In very rare cases, minocycline can cause cell-mediated minocycline-induced hypersensitivity pulmonitis or drug-induced pneumonitis. It is very rare, but I have heard of one case here on the support forum (suzmb66) in the past couple of years. I'll also include a past discussion thread started by her on this topic:
http://rbfbb.org/view_topic.php?id=1859&forum_id=1&highlight=pneumonitis
Dunno, Deb, but if you're seeing an AP doc, would report what is going on to them on Monday. If you can't see them for a check-up, would get to GP or rheumy and see if they can figure out what might be causing this. You shouldn't have to suffer unnecessarily through this and would get some tests run to figure out what is at the root of it all.
Meanwhile, do what you can to stay well hydrated and well-rested and, if you get really scared, then don't sit this out alone and please be sure to get medical help. Let us know how you get on!
Peace, Maz
It sounds like your lung infection is still in play. I think a followup visit with the doctor who prescribed the Augmentin is in order.
Get well
ToddI would bet my right arm that you have a lingering infection, the coughing makes me think walking pneumonia. As a child asthmatic, I know how frustrating it is to have respiratory problems. One of the tricks my mother used was hot drinks; I hated tea and coffee, so she used Jello, but it dilates the bronchioles and opens up the airway a bit. Tea would be good for your throat if it hurts from the coughing, the tanins in tea toughen up the tissue just like leather. But I feel it's important that you get to a doctor, you can't mess around with resp infections, and it doesn't sound like what you're doing right now is helping. Whatever is going on, it's obviously not going away on it's own.
Just a quick question, you mentioned you take something for blood pressure, have you checked your BP? High BP can cause congestive heart pressure, which causes resp symptoms, can't it? Just checking, tho I'm probably way off base here.
Hi Everyone
Well, it turned out to be a bad case of pneumonia. Entered the hospital last Sunday (Sept 27) with 50% O2 saturation and was in until Oct 1. Ruled out staff, strep, viral, MRSA, fungal and Valley Fever. They said that most of the other tests would be inconclusive. Heavy duty antibiotics while I was in there; Azithromycin for 10 days follow up. Still weak and very low blood pressure (97/60) right now but breathing is significantly better.
Thanks to everyone for the suggestions and well wishes. I will post more when the energy is back up.
Blessings, Deb
So glad to hear you're better. 50% O2 sat is pretty scary! No wonder they hospitalized you. Hope you're back to your normal fighting self son, but I know that pneumonia can take a long time to recover from. Don't rush it.
Oh, Deb, you poor baby, that sounds awful. :crying:
Linda is right about not rushing it. I had a bad case of bacterial pneumonia some years ago before I had all the auto-immune stuff and was very healthy at the time, but the pneumonia took a long time for me to rebound ~ like 6 weeks or so.
Take care and thanks for posting.
kim
Hi Deb
glad you've got it sorted, this happened to me about 3/4 weeks ago, coughing just the same for about 3 weeks eventually got pain in my lungs at the back and new to get to doctor. he confirmed pneumonia gave my ampicillin and my cough cleared. I still have breathlessness when moving around and this concerns me.
Keep well
Rosemary
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