Rifampicin side effects

As you would know from reading my previous posts, I have been on Rifampicin and Sodium Fusidate antibiotics. However, I stopped them on Sunday night due to a rash that appeared on my tongue. All has been fine since then and the rash is slowly going down, so I have been waiting for a phonecall back from the hospital as Judith didn't answer when we last rung.

Right.. Sorry to any male reading this haha...

Yesterday morning I woke up with the worst stomach cramps and 'period pains' I have ever had. So I took some painkillers and got on with my day all fine. However, I didn't really feel hungry at all throughout the day so didn't eat a great amount. At about 10:30 in the evening the cramps were back so I took some more Paracetamol and went upstairs to bed. I was in so much pain I couldn't even think about going to sleep. Boys, until you experience the pain, I am not exaggerating! I sat up I'm my bed for about an hour hoping the pain would go, but it didn't and felt like I was constantly getting punched in my stomach! By 12am, the sharp pains had gone to my back and I was starting to feel sick. I just sat there still hoping the pain would go. Then I had to run to the bathroom because I started being sick :( not fun. After that I got back into bed and just started crying because I was in so much pain and had no idea why. I texted George to see if she was still awake which luckily she was, so she brought me in some Ibuprofen and said to take them because they work better. The cramps kept coming and going and were really sharp so I sat in George's bed with her to try and forget about the pain as much. Luckily, that worked and the cramps only came back about every 20 minutes. But we were really confused as to why I got such bad cramps and sickness when this has never happened before.

So using the good old Internet, George looked it up on Google. She read out a page  that said something along the lines of 'loss of appetite, irregular period pains, pain in the left side can be from stopping antibiotics'. So I thought, 'that's what it is, I've just stopped my antibiotics'. So I looked up Rifampicin as that is the stronger antibiotic of the two I was on. It said 'Do not miss doses of Rifampicin. Missing doses increases the risk that you will experience serious side effects' my bad! I didn't think this would happen though because when Dr. Ho told me to stop taking them last time I got a rash on my tongue after taking them and I was fine afterwards. So I checked the side effects of Rifampicin to check if my pains were because of this. It said lots of side effects, some being...

-Stomach cramps
-Painful or irregular menstraul periods
-Vomiting
-Loss of appetite 

Looks like they all matched to me so I knew the reason I was feeling rubbish! After finding all that out and the time it took for the cramps to go away, me and George didn't end up going to sleep until 3am. She's a good sister staying up to look after me!

I've woken up today with no pain *touch wood* so hopefully I've had all the side effects now. But I will get mum to ring Judith again this afternoon to let her know about the side effects and see if there is a different antibiotic I can take to try and make my poor lungs better!

My Amazing Last Week= Happy Nons

Less than a week into the Rifampicin and Sodium Fusidate and Nons was up and fighting again. I can't deal with feeling ill I'm to busy to be ill ;)! I have had such a busy past week I haven't got round to blogging what's been going on.

So on Thursday, it was Valentine's Day and I got to spend it with my lovely boyfriend Max. Thursday was the last day at college before half term so after college I spent the evening with Max. He came over about 6pm with some amazing presents for me. I was well and truly spoilt and was really surprised at the lovely things he got me. He got me a Links of London heart charm for my sweetie bracelet, roses, chocolates and a teddy bear. He told me he got the charm because I wear my bracelet everyday so I can look at it and remember those three little words. So so sweet!

After we had given each other our presents we headed off out to town as Max had booked us a table at Coal and then to the cinema afterwards to see 'Give it a year'. The meal at Coal was lovely and it was our first proper meal out together! I just thought Max was so sweet putting all this effort in to make me smile. The film was also really good and it made us laugh watching all the couples walking in together to watch the film. I'll stop going on now because I sound really soppy but just had to let people know about my amazing evening and how lucky I am. Love my max <3

Friday... LET THE PARTIES BEGIN.

On Friday I went to Jenny's party! I started getting ready at about 1pm as I had to curl my hair which takes over an hour! Then Max came over at 3pm and we had a little pre party and finished getting ready before Abbi drove us to Jenny's in Andover.

We got there about 6:30pm where we kicked it off with Max's big speakers and my amazing party playlist of course ;)! We then ordered a Dominoes and Chinese Takeaway before partying.

After that we basically partied non stop all night long. It was such an amazing night with my favourite people; Jenny, Libby, Lisa, Alice, Max, Greg, Tom and then some of Jenny's other friends.  

 

Saturday.. PARTY TWO.

After Jenny's most people went home early morning around 9am. But me, Max and Lisa stayed at Jenny's until about 11:30am when dad came and picked us up. Max then went back home as he had work at 3. But Lisa came back to mine so we could have a catch up as I don't see her much after she moved colleges. Dad went out and got us a Mcdonalds (best hangover cure haha). Then me and Lisa had a nap before the next party that evening. We were so tired we didn't end up waking up until mum came in and jumped on the bed telling us to get up and get ready because it was 5pm! Woops, we slept longer than we planned to have haha! We then showered and started getting ready for Charlie's party. I decided to curl my hair again, the most boring thing to do ever because it takes so long. But I like it at the end so was worth the hour it took! Lisa was ready in about 20 minutes though so was sat on my bed waiting for me to hurry up! Mum cooked us Shephard's pie for dinner and then Libby came over after she had finished work so we could all go to the party. Dad then drove us to Tadley but wished he could come to the party too ;).

It was another really good party, but I was so tired at work on Sunday!! 

     

On Sunday evening after work, when I was eating I noticed my tongue had like a stingy feeling. So I went and looked in the mirror and I have reacted to the Rifampicin and Sodium Fusidate again... ANNOYING!! The one medication the hospital prescribe me with for a long course so I can get better I always react with, not good! When this happened last time Dr.Ho told me to stop taking them so I stopped taking them and got mum to ring Judith yesterday to see what I could take instead. But there was no answer so hopefully we will hear back tomorrow as we didnt today.

Monday I chilled all day to catch back up on my sleep I had missed from partying all weekend and Max came over in the evening for dinner. Then yesterday I spent the day at his and we ordered a Dominoes. Two Dominoes in one week, woops ;)!

Today I woke up coughing my insides up and feeling rubbish again though. So I stayed at home in my pj's and caught up on my ICT college work. I have sat and watched the BRIT awards on my ipad while ive been doing this blog post so haven't missed to much of it luckily.

I am now off to go and do my puffer and relax my hands after typing this massively long post and if you've read this post to the very end sorry if i bored you out of your brains!

Night :) x

Hospital Appointment

If you read the previous blog post 'London Trip And Going Downhill' you will know I had an emergency hospital appointment today. This is because on Wednesday I woke up feeling really ill, once again :(. Dad drove me up for my appointment this morning at 10:40am where I saw Sam who did my Lung Function tests. It's back down again to FVC 86%. So annoying after it improved while I was on Ivs!

Dr.Higton came and saw me afterwards and she listened to my chest and said it was quite crackily and that I need to get on with doing my physio every day! She decided to put me on some Rifampicin and Sodium Fusidate antibiotics to try and clear this cold and cough! They usually prescribe these tablets for 3 months but she said to just try a month and see how I go because last time Dr.Ho prescribed me with Rifampicin, I only lasted a week because I had an allergic reaction and came up with a rash on my hands and feet. 

                                                                                   

Me and dad then had to go down to the pharmacy to give in my prescription for my new tablets but that takes about half an hour to process so we then went back to clinic.

I brought along my Isleep machine to clinic as The Knight Foundation have funded me my very own machine so I can give the Brompton hospital theres back. So I took along my current one so they could set up my new machine with the same settings. The new machine is a bit different to the Isleep but it all works the same as it is a BiPAP. It is made by the same company as my puffer which is useful and it's much smaller and handy too :).

London Trip And Going Downhill

To begin with, yesterday I went to London! I went to the National Theatre with my college drama group to go and watch Port, by Simon Stephens. The play began at 2:15pm, so when we arrived in London we had just over an hour to go off and grab some lunch by ourselves. I went to McDonald's just by the London Eye (I'm a regular at this Maccy's from when I go to London for concerts) with my friend Sian, then Molly and a few of her friends. We got back to the theatre for 1:45 where we got our tickets and got into our seats ready for the showing. The play lasted about 2 hours, including an interval, where I had to make lots of observations as I have to write at live evaluation piece for my unit one AS Drama. However, the play was not as good as I had hoped. All of my drama group said the same. That there was not really a storyline to follow and nothing major happend. That was disappointing but it was still a good day out in London. 

                                          

Now for the rest. On Tuesday night I started to feel a cold coming along and have been coughing loads all week! Yesterday morning I woke up with the sorest throat, blocked nose and what felt like I was coughing my lungs up, not good :(! I went along to the trip but felt so rubbish. Us CFers struggle to breath properly anyway, but it didn't help at all having a blocked nose as well! I saw a photo a while ago when it was CF week which showed a way for you non CFers to see how we breathe. You should try it and then you'll see where I'm coming from when I moan about being breathless!

Anyway, as I was feeling so rubbish, I got home and went to bed at 8pm last night. I didn't go to college today either and mum rung Judith who said to come to the hospital tomorrow. The risk of saying no to Rifampicin maybe wasn't such a smart idea of mine. Off of ivs for a week and I'm already back up to hospital! Silly me!

I haven't done much at all today, Max came over to see me earlier with a McDonald's, he knows me too well! Love him! Then Alice and Charlie popped in when they came to pick Max up as his car is at the mechanics at the moment. So that was nice to see them all. Then this afternoon, I have literally been asleep in bed for about 3 and a half hours! Which is what I'm going to go back to doing now. I'll blog sometime tomorrow about how my appointment goes!