AZT
A number of years ago, when there were few medicines, I was taking AZT. By a "number of years ago", I mean when I first started taking AIDS meds. Say... 9 years ago, or so.
I started getting major headaches at the same time each day. And dizzyness. Daily. I would walk down the hall hugging the walls so I wouldn't walk into anyone or anything.
I had a hard time scheduling a meeting with my then-ID doctor, so I called my GP. He had me come in right away. I was there by noon that day.
The first thing the phlebotomist did was test my finger. The blood, after pricking three or four fingers, came out orange. He freaked and ran to get the doctor. The doctor came in and said I needed to go to the emergency room. Well, not technically... more what they called the Rapid In and Out, or "RIO" room. So, something in between Emergency Room and Full-Fledged Admittance.
I immediatly got dizzy. They pointed me to a phone. I called work and said I wouldn't be back that day (luckily, it was a Friday, about noon.) Then I called TheHusband. And started crying. He could barely understand what I was saying. "Come get me, the doctor says I need to go to the hospital, I can't drive there." Then I had to calm down enough to give him directions to the doc's office. He didn't even know where my doc's office was.
Finally he came and got me. I had such a headache. Drove me to the hospital and I was admitted to their RIO ward.
I was in a room by myself. They stuck needles in me. Lasiks, to keep me hydrated and blood. Lots of blood. Turns out (I found out later) that a normal person has about 10 pints of blood in their body. I had four.
I was there about 18 hours. Though I was tired, I went home and was fine. Doc decided it was the AZT and they changed my meds.
--
So for the last six months I've been on Trizivir. This is a combo drug of AZT (300mg), Lamivudine (150mg) and Abacavir (300mg).
I am once again having dizzy spells. They aren't at the same time each day, as they were before, but still... You know how you might be a bit dizzy when you've been sitting for a while (maybe updating your blog or something) and you get up really fast and have a bit of dizzyness? Well, I'm getting that a lot.
And it worry's me.
I started getting major headaches at the same time each day. And dizzyness. Daily. I would walk down the hall hugging the walls so I wouldn't walk into anyone or anything.
I had a hard time scheduling a meeting with my then-ID doctor, so I called my GP. He had me come in right away. I was there by noon that day.
The first thing the phlebotomist did was test my finger. The blood, after pricking three or four fingers, came out orange. He freaked and ran to get the doctor. The doctor came in and said I needed to go to the emergency room. Well, not technically... more what they called the Rapid In and Out, or "RIO" room. So, something in between Emergency Room and Full-Fledged Admittance.
I immediatly got dizzy. They pointed me to a phone. I called work and said I wouldn't be back that day (luckily, it was a Friday, about noon.) Then I called TheHusband. And started crying. He could barely understand what I was saying. "Come get me, the doctor says I need to go to the hospital, I can't drive there." Then I had to calm down enough to give him directions to the doc's office. He didn't even know where my doc's office was.
Finally he came and got me. I had such a headache. Drove me to the hospital and I was admitted to their RIO ward.
I was in a room by myself. They stuck needles in me. Lasiks, to keep me hydrated and blood. Lots of blood. Turns out (I found out later) that a normal person has about 10 pints of blood in their body. I had four.
I was there about 18 hours. Though I was tired, I went home and was fine. Doc decided it was the AZT and they changed my meds.
--
So for the last six months I've been on Trizivir. This is a combo drug of AZT (300mg), Lamivudine (150mg) and Abacavir (300mg).
I am once again having dizzy spells. They aren't at the same time each day, as they were before, but still... You know how you might be a bit dizzy when you've been sitting for a while (maybe updating your blog or something) and you get up really fast and have a bit of dizzyness? Well, I'm getting that a lot.
And it worry's me.
posted by Mike at 6/27/2005 09:57:00 PM
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