high fever, worn out

[Guest tearose]

I should have been more careful, I did too much. I was trying to settle in our home and create happy memories of the holidays for my son who will be off to college next year. I was still dealing with "moving issues". We had a houseful of company for thanksgiving and now I was preparing for a holiday party on saturday. (tomorrow) I was cooking and freezing, cleaning, sorting, and then I started to feel really bad. I was getting spacy and feeling lightheaded. I even had 3 profuse nose bleeds that needed cauterization...Why did I keep pushing? I just don't know when to stop. I want so much to live a "normal" life. My intentions were good, my delivery got me here...I ran the highest fever I ever had in my life. 104.3! I actually "heard" music and there was none playing. My heartrate laying down is 112-117. I got through last night on an antibiotic, Ceftin, tylenol and advil and electrolytes. I'm down in the 101.1 area now and feeling so weak. Please forgive me for not being able to respond to posts until I get better...please learn from me, with all that is going on for the holidays, you don't want to end up sick in bed!

Now WHEN will I learn to slow down? stubborn and sick, tearose

[Jersey Girl]

Dear Tearose,

That's some fever you have. Are you sure it's not influenza? You really do need to take it easy now.

I also empathize with you about wanting to lead a normal life. A lot of joy comes with the holidays and you don't want to be left out. And I know it is hard to pace onesself all the time because it seems like you get so little acomplished during a busy time. Anytime I have more than about 2 people over I am extra dizzy from the sensory overload extra time on my feet.

I assume you have seen your physician because you seem really ill and have had your nose cauterized. If you're not getting better, you may need a return visit. Stay in bed, put on the television and try to relax--I like echinacea tea when I have a cold. Let your family take over for a few days. Feel better . Martha

[MightyMouse]

OH my goodness that's one high fever!!! Please be careful with yourself. A high fever like that in an adult can be really dangerous. If you can't keep your fever down , you really need to see your doctor... I cut and pasted the info below from Medline Plus (NIH).

Call a doctor right away if:

* A baby less than 90 days old has a rectal temperature of 100.2?F (37.9?C) or higher.

* A baby 3 to 6 months old has a fever of 101?F (38.3?C) or higher.

* A baby 6 to 12 months old has a fever of 103?F (39.4?C) or higher.

* A child under age two years has a fever that lasts longer than 24 to 48 hours.

* A fever lasts longer than 48 to 72 hours in older children and adults.

* Anyone has a fever over 105?F (40.5?C), unless it comes down readily with treatment and the person is comfortable.

* There are other worrisome symptoms. For example, irritability, confusion, difficulty breathing, stiff neck, inability to move an arm or leg, or first-time seizure.

* There are other symptoms that suggest an illness may need to be treated, such as a sore throat, earache, or cough.

* You think you may have incorrectly dosed acetaminophen or ibuprofen.

Feel BETTER and REST. Nina

[calypso]

Hope you're on the mend and have learned your lesson! Go to bed.

Amy

[Nicole's Mom]

Dear tearose,

Please, don't be so hard on yourself for wanting to be normal. You are doing your best to work around the difficult circumstances that have been handed to you.

As Maya Angelou says- "I did what I knew how to do. And when I knew better I did better.

We learn by doing. By living. We learn from experience.

And besides . . . about that fever . . . you could very well have the flu like someone suggested already.

Take care. Let your family bring you tea. I hope you feel better soon.

Beverly

[DawnA]

It is hard not to burst into live and not enjoy every moment when you are feeling well. It is so easy to overdo. You just want to live life to the fullest. I hope your party for tommorow is canceled. I am sorry you are sick. What a dissapointment!! Rest well, drink lots and dream happy dreams. Have a speedy recovery.

Dawn

[michiganjan]

Tearose,

I hope you are feeling better. I had a high fever--over 104 a few years ago. I felt a bit hot and took my temperature and YIPES! it was 104. I brought it down quite quickly in a tub of tepid water and Tylenol.

I agree with Beverly when she said not to be hard on yourself. People who don't have dysautonomia get sick, too. You may have gotten sick even if you had been taking it easy.

I just had a session with a chronic illness counselor who gave me a lecture on being hard on myself. I am going to do better in this regard. It is not your fault that you got sick. Actually, we shouldn't worry about the concept of "fault." when we get sick. It is irrelevant.

I wish you a wonderful holiday. It can be that, even if you spend some of it in bed.

Michigan Jan

[yogini]

Tearose,

Please take care of yourself. I hear you when you say you want to live a normal life. It's hard to know when to say when, so it's not your fault. I hope you recover soon and have a wonderful and restful holiday season.

-Rita

[DancingLight]

um, tearose? you sound so much like me...please don't try to beat yourself up for overdoing...but, then, hey...i have not figured out how to not overdo. hence, the reason i was away from the site for days on end and blah de blah and keep crashing. i don't know why we don't learn. but i do know that it proves that our spirits are still so strong b/c we take that little itty bitty burst of extra energy and are ready and rarin to go. i have yet to learn not to be 'sick and stubborn' either...so all i can offer is the 'you are not alone' line...not the wisdom of a person has has figured out the balancing act of this illness! ggrrrrrrr.....

and, hey about that fever...please go to the doctor if it doesn't come down!

hugs down there in the potshole,

emily

[Merrill]

Sounds like a big fat ugly flu bug to me, T. I'm so sorry! Quel drag... You probably were more run down and susceptible, given that you've been burning those Chanukah candles from both ends...

I hope your fever has broken by now ... has it? If you're taking an antibiotic, is it safe to presume you did, in fact, call your doctor yesterday? I hope so ... Keep drinking, stay in bed and watch TV, and let everything else go. If you're still feeling poorly tomorrow, I hope you'll put a sign on your front door that says "The Open House is Now Closed."

Please stop beating yourself up for wanting a "normal" life. What's normal anyway? I don't know a soul (with or without a chronic condition) who doesn't overdo it this time of year and suffer the consequences as a result! (I know plenty of sick folks right now. Why can't the holidays be in June--far far away from cold and flu season (in our hemisphere, anyway)?

See if your son can go get you some matzoh ball soup. That'll perk you up from the inside out. OK?

Next year: Pot luck.

Take care.

m

[opus88]

Hey, Tearose,

I hear ya. Feel good, do more than you normally can do, pay for it later. It happens, because we want to be normal. And those little glimpses of normal are such seductive sirens.

Don't beat yourself up! Experience teaches us what we need to know, and unlike us, it never gets impatient. It will just keep repeating and repeating the lesson until we get it.

Until then, wishing you quick improvement and a great holiday season in spite of it all.

[DancingLight]

seductive...that's a good word for it opus! that is definitely what happens...

also, tearose...i try to say 'there are no shoulds'...'should' is a hard word. i should do this, i should do that, i should have known better...

off to nap...i can't see straight any longer either! i'm at my dad's and the stairs are killing me!

emily

[corina]

Hi Tearose,

I hope your feeling better now and that your fever isn't that high anymore (or even that it's gone). And when do we learn? Well, what do you think? NEVER ofcourse. I think we soo desperately want to live a normal life (or even something close to that) that we keep on pushing ourselves. Not that that is very wise to do, but , like you, I almost always do so. And you know: every day I think it might be possible that I'm doing better. You never know, do you? I hope you're doing better now and that you will get some rest before the holidays. And DON"T try to push yourslef (please ).. Take care,

Corina

[geneva]

I think when it comes to our kids we try even harder to be "normal" and at this time of year there is a lot of pressure (mostly self imposed) to make the house etc be just what we think it should be. I might also venture to suggest that you might still be harbouring some guilt of having to move to a different home to help you.....and therefore you have tried extra hard to make the holidays in the new house, exactly the way they felt in the previous family home when your sons grew up. Well, what is done is done...so rest, let others wait on you and come back to us when you are feeling a lot better.

[Guest tearose]

boy, when I get it bad I get it really bad. Sound familiar fellow dysautonomics? Went to internist, chest xray is normal. My heart pains are new and unsual but we agreed that with a temp that high and infection going on...I'm gonna give the new antibiotic a chance. He took me off ceftin and put me on levaquin. I also have afrin, some kind of new mucos breaker upper, and the best...I took a 1/2 of a tylenol with codeine for pain. I think thats why I'm here. The drugs are starting to work. My temp keeps going between 100.6 -101.6, I'm gonna keep hydrated and rest!

The cardiologist did not want an ekg cause we know it would be funky. I'm waiting to let the levaquin work and then decide if it's back to the doctor. I think I spend more time in the "body shop" than my old car!

Thank you all for helping me to snap out of the guilties. I will work on this. It is hard but I will work on this. It was such a tearful joy to get here tonight and see your well wishes.

You are very dear to me, tearose

[Ernie]

Hi Tearose,

I hope you are feeling better today. I can only tell you what to do but don't do what I do because I am exactly like you. Everybody keeps telling be to slow down and it is just instinctive that I have to do. I don't know if it is my personality or the adrenaline problem but I am often above my limit and have to pay for it. I wonder what we could do to learn!

Ernie

[Melach]

Tearose,

I second what everyone has already told you, and send wishes of a speedy recovery your way.

Have some chicken soup!

Ayelet

[geneva]

Tearose, I am glad you were able to get in to see your doctor and get meds. I did cringe a little when I saw you were put on levaquin. I was given that and had horrible side effects and I am not the only one with dysautonomia to have serious problems with it. It is one of the more powerful antibiotics. Perhaps you have had several doses and are doing OK...I hope so. I know we are all different with meds but couldn't help feeling a need to voice my concerns (hope they are taken in the right spirit I intended). Rest well and I hope you will be able to get some sleep.

[Guest tearose]

Hi friends, I'm feeling better now that my fever broke and my sinuses opened! What a joy to be able to breath! The doc believes this infection was from the last sinus cauterization I had done. I have a badly deviated septum and on occasion it causes problems but never this serious.

I'm still drinking tea and sipping chicken soup and think I only need one more day of staying under the covers.

Okay, okay, I promise to try and learn from this not over spend my energy points. Thank you for all your good suggestions. It really is so easy to be tempted to go that extra yard..especially since there were times we could! You all said it all!! Sometimes, we want to do what we use to do! We just have to reprogram ourselves to really think hard about the consequences and then hopefully not overdo.

Geneva, yes, I was motivated to get the house all festive cause I have issues about recently uprooting my family because I needed a no-step home. I didn't say that to my family because I know they would say not to fuss. Inside me I just knew everyone would benefit from the memories that would made. I just assumed that my body would cooperate with my heart! I promise to be more careful to ask for help next time I feel weak and need to get a task done!

The levaquin was not a problem for me, not yet anyway. I'm only three doses into a 10 day series. What was your bad reaction?

Oh, we uninvited everyone to our Chanukah open house except my son's select friends and my husband and son did all the work! They fed and entertained 10 teens from 1-9pm. I was in bed and slept through it all. This was a new role for my husband to play and I think many good things came out of this in spite of me!!

When my older son comes home from college later this week we can all sit around quietly and peacefully and we will take in the festive season at a calmer healthier pace!

Thank you for being there for me and especially at this time of year, let us remind each other to take smaller steps!

warm wishes, tearose