I had my weekly visit from my home nurse early this morning. Her visits normally last about 90 minutes to 2 hours depending upon how my picc line is cooperating. I'm still having trouble with one of my ports, so she administered cathflow to help. It's basically drano for a picc line. Although you can only use it twice per port. Not quite sure why. Anyhow, she did use the cathflow on the wrong port this morning. Oopsies. Well at least that one is fully working!
Okay, back to my visit......She was able to get my 4 tubes of blood, which they use to test all sorts of levels: vancomycin, red blood cell, white blood cell, etc. And then she took all my vitals and changed my dressing on my picc line. That part isn't fun because it's like having to pull off one BIG band-aid. I know, I know....after all I have been through I am complaining about THAT!
Migraine Update: They seem to come on about every other day now. I brought this up to my ID doctor at my Friday appointment. As expected it is one of the side effects of Vancomycin that I'm just going to have to deal with. I'm sure my liver isn't happy about the amount of advil I have take in order to get rid of it. I really have no choice though. I'll be so happy to get off this stuff. It's caused a lot more issues these last 14 days than ever! I've had to put on additional meds to help my body deal with the vanco. Crazy huh? Plus I know it's pretty hard on my veins too.
Once I am off this I am going to celebrate with a really good bottle of wine!! Hey now....I have to look forward to something! The only strong stuff I get now is 6 hours a day of IV antibiotics. Yippee.....
Showing posts with label vancomycin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vancomycin. Show all posts
Monday, November 18, 2013
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Vancomycin
My post today wasn't going to be on vancomycin, but considering it's caused me 3 migraines in the last week I felt it was a given!
If you've ever had a migraine you know it excruciating they can be. Not only does your head throb in pain, but you usually have sensitivity to light and sound. I've been locked in my bedroom many times trying to get rid of them as a early teenager. Back then I was only given tylenol which did absolutely nothing. I discovered ibuprofen in my late teens and that seemed to do the trick. A few caveats....I had to catch it within the first few minutes when I get the "visual cues"....meaning I start to see distortion in my vision. And second is that I have to take a prescription amount worth of it too, which is generally around 800 milligrams. So I guess I'm semi-lucky I don't need prescription medications for migraines.
Okay, back to the vanco....
I'm pretty much on one of the highest doses (intravenously) possible, which is 2gm twice a day. Like most IV antibiotics they didn't start me out on this dosage. It was increased every 5-6 days. I've been on the 2gm/2x day dose for about 2 weeks and that's when the majority of this issues have started. I recently search for "vancomycin and migraines" online and it seems like a few other people have had this problem. Although it doesn't seem to be one of the man side effects. I'm supposed to be on this for about another 3 weeks, so I'm not quite sure what they are going to do. Lower the dosage? Say deal with it? Who knows. Luckily I'm scheduled to see my doctor tomorrow and Friday so I should have an idea of how long to expect this.
I'll follow up after my appointments. #fingerscrossed
If you've ever had a migraine you know it excruciating they can be. Not only does your head throb in pain, but you usually have sensitivity to light and sound. I've been locked in my bedroom many times trying to get rid of them as a early teenager. Back then I was only given tylenol which did absolutely nothing. I discovered ibuprofen in my late teens and that seemed to do the trick. A few caveats....I had to catch it within the first few minutes when I get the "visual cues"....meaning I start to see distortion in my vision. And second is that I have to take a prescription amount worth of it too, which is generally around 800 milligrams. So I guess I'm semi-lucky I don't need prescription medications for migraines.
Okay, back to the vanco....
I'm pretty much on one of the highest doses (intravenously) possible, which is 2gm twice a day. Like most IV antibiotics they didn't start me out on this dosage. It was increased every 5-6 days. I've been on the 2gm/2x day dose for about 2 weeks and that's when the majority of this issues have started. I recently search for "vancomycin and migraines" online and it seems like a few other people have had this problem. Although it doesn't seem to be one of the man side effects. I'm supposed to be on this for about another 3 weeks, so I'm not quite sure what they are going to do. Lower the dosage? Say deal with it? Who knows. Luckily I'm scheduled to see my doctor tomorrow and Friday so I should have an idea of how long to expect this.
I'll follow up after my appointments. #fingerscrossed
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