Medicines

Last Wednesday, I went to the doctor for my asthma. It had gotten pretty bad, and I was barely up to doing anything because I was having such trouble with my lungs. Last fall I had gotten on one preventive inhaler, and it made me worse and made me very lethargic, and my throat got hoarse to the point I could barely talk. Because of all that, I had wanted to avoid getting on any other medicines. I wasn't sure which drug in that inhaler had caused the reaction, so didn't want to risk it by trying something else. When I went last week, he gave me a different inhaler, Singulair, a pill to take every night for my asthma, and antibiotic for bronchitis, as he could hear the wheezing in my lungs.

After a couple of days, I felt much better, and even felt great at dance Saturday. A bit later that night, I felt exhausted, then by Sunday, I felt like I had a horrible sinus infection and ear infection, a gland in my throat was getting swollen, and I was getting a migraine. Then my throat started getting scratchy. With all the medicine I was on, I was the last person in the house that should be that sick. Yesterday morning when I got up, I couldn't talk above a whisper. Up until that point, I couldn't figure out why I was so sick, but once my throat got so bad, I thought it could be the medicine. I the stopped taking the medicine and started researching it. Sinus infections, ear infections, and sore throats are some of the more common severe side effects that inhaler can cause. Those are actually mild compared to some of the worse things that can happen. Also possible effects include delusions and hallucinations. I read about one woman whose son was hurt jumping off their deck after the hallucinations because he started to believe he could fly. They don't tell you anything like that when they give out the medicine! In the papers from the pharmacy, it does mention the infections, but not the hallucinations or delusions. I'm doing a lot better than I was Sunday night, though still not fully recovered. I can see a definite change since getting off the medicine though. I certainly won't be taking that inhaler again. I am still taking the Singulair, and I'm hoping that will be enough to keep the asthma under control. I think people should be made more aware of the dangers of medicines though. I'm just glad I realized when I did that it was the medicine making me so sick. What if I hadn't known and continued taking the medicine? How much worse off would I have gotten? And I wonder just how many people out there are made worse by medicines and don't realize it. I don't think the doctor or pharmacist believed me last fall when I said it was the medicine making me worse, as they wanted to put me on a higher dosage, though they'll probably believe me now. So how common is it for drugs to be the cause of medical problems, yet not even looked at as a possible cause? Medicine can be good at times, and I don't think it should be avoided altogether, but sometimes it can cause a world of problems. I'm just glad I realized that was what made me so sick.

Evacuation

Tomorrow it will be one year since we evacuated for Hurricane Rita. It's strange to think back to this night a year ago, when we were packing up to leave. We live in a mobile home and were right on the projected path for the hurricane to hit us straight on, so we didn't know if we would have a home when we got back. A few weeks before, we were helping with some of the Katrina victims, so we got to see a lot of that firsthand and hear stories about what happened to them. It was mind-boggling to realize we were then evacuees ourselves! Here's another post from before we left, then here you can read the log I kept of our trip. One thing I didn't mention there is that it was 102 degrees outside when we set up camp! I love camping, but that was just too much. The lake was a wonderful relief though.

My asthma has been bad the last few days, and I've had a bad headache tonight. I thought I was having a rough night until I realized that one year ago tonight, we were packing up to leave thinking we weren't going to have a house to come home to. It's really all a matter of perspective.

Random stuff

After this post by Katie, I decided to try again to set up a network where our computers could access files from each other. Mama and I are often having to email files from one to the other, or put files on a cd to take to the other, so if we could access the files through the network, that would simplify matters greatly. I gave it a try a little while ago, when I needed a file off Mama's computer, and it was actually pretty easy, much easier than setting up the network system for the internet! This will be so useful.

I've been having really weird dreams lately, I think caused by the sinus medicine I've been taking. One night, I had a dream where I was riding a motorcycle, right after driving our van at breakneck speed to the grocery store. Then in one dream, we were fixing up some big, fancy house for a party, and there were Phantom of the Opera things all around, like a music box playing Music of the Night and a piano that played Phantom songs. In another dream, we lived in an underground house sort of like a hobbit hole(it was an awesome house, btw), and Mama went to some ladies meeting thing where she met Carmon. Oh, and there was the dream where I went to Virginia and Wyoming, and they were right beside each other. I got to see a lot of beautiful fall colors, as well as some snow, but I'm not really sure how I managed to get from one state to the other so quickly. Then last night, I had a dream that Doug Phillips started a church here that was an offshoot of his in San Antonio, because there were a lot of people here who wanted to go to his church, but couldn't make the drive every week. So he was going to have some people he knew well speaking at this church, and he would come up and visit every so often. It was quite interesting. I think Patsy Cline featured in my dreams somewhere as well, because I woke up with some of her songs stuck in my head.

This is a good post that makes you think about the extreme amounts of money people will spend on weddings, and how many other things one could do with the same amount of money spent on a typical wedding.

I'm still dealing with the bronchitis some, but I think I'm on the mend. The worst part of it right now is that bronchitis irritates asthma, so I'm struggling more with that than I had been. But if I could get over the bronchitis this quickly, that would really be wonderful, considering when I've had it before, it lasted several months.

I thought this quiz was interesting:

You Are Incredibly Logical

Move over Spock - you're the new master of logic You think rationally, clearly, and quickly. A seasoned problem solver, your mind is like a computer!

How Logical Are You?

Various Updates

Here is an article by WorldNetDaily regarding Abraham Cherrix and the judge's ruling, but I can't find anything about the appeal they made today. The state has threatened to put him in juvenile detention with drug dealers if he doesn't comply, or to put him in a foster home. Whatever happens, they're determined to give him the treatment, if they have to take him away and strap him down in order to do so. I find it astounding that they can take someone away and do that because they don't like the medical decision a person made. I fully agree with the decision Abraham and his parents have made, and I think it's tragic that the government is trying to control this aspect of our lives. Please be praying for them as they continue to fight for their rights. I'm about to watch Abraham on Hannity and Colmes.

I had a lot of fun Saturday. I took a class on Sacred Harp singing, which I enjoyed. I took that workshop last year as well. I love singing the harmony, though we had to hit some rather high notes in the section I was in! I also took a workshop on playing the tin whistle, which I'm learning. Then I took a beginner's flatfooting class and learned a few basic steps. Two of the people in that group were cloggers, so they told us about clogging and its history and taught a couple of clogging steps. I think that was the part I enjoyed most. I also played in a few hours of jam sessions. My favorite part then was when most people were eating dinner; we had a smaller group(about ten people) and we played a lot faster. After all that, there was a concert, which I enjoyed a lot. There was a wonderful autoharpist, Jo Ann Smith, who played the autoharp beautifully. You can listen to clips on her site.

As a lot of you probably know, I joined a traditional music group back in the spring. They're breaking for the summer and starting up again in September. Even before the break, I was trying to decide if I wanted to keep playing with the group or not, but I've decided not to go back. The music is nice and I enjoy it sometimes, but that's not the kind of music I want to devote a lot of time to playing. It would take up one night a week to meet with the group, practice during the week, then possibly performances from time to time. I'd rather spend that time on other things, or other kinds of music.

I've also decided I'm not going to be doing much more running. I haven't been running in about two and a half weeks because it's just so hard on my lungs. Even if I'm not feeling bad from the asthma, if my lungs are bothering me in the least, I can't push myself to run because of the asthma. Even if something like dancing or walking doesn't bother me, running is much harder on my lungs and I can't take a lot of it. The times I can run are so sporadic, I'll start getting my muscles and feet used to it, then I won't be able to run for a while, so by the time I can run, I'll have to get used to it all over again. Then after running once, I might not be able to run for a couple more weeks, then I just have to start all over again. So because of my health, I think it's best not to push it.

Also, I think we have a cold going around the family now. Hannah, Rachel, and I all woke up feeling bad today, and it seems to be a cold. At least, I think that's what I have, and they're having similar symptoms.

You can't see any changes yet, but I'm working on changing the layout of our evangelism site now. I'm hoping to get that up within the week. After that, I'll probably work on changing my other site around and fixing it up.

Medical Treatment

I think this is a very sad example of both how our rights are being denied and how our lives are trying to be run too much by others. This 16-year-old boy is having to fight for the right to decide how he should be treated medically. He went through chemotherapy for Hodgkin's Disease, and was effected so adversely from the chemo, he almost died. He feels certain that he would die were he to undergo another chemo treatment. He and his family want to try to treat the disease naturally because of the effects the medical treatments had on his body. However, social services have stepped in, charging the family with medical neglect and trying to get a court order saying Abraham must go through another round of chemo, and the family is facing the possibility of losing custody of him. I'm trying to find a more recent update on the case. It is interesting to note that the family homeschools. Here is the link to a good blog entry about the issue, and this article speaks of the possibility of Abraham being put in jail for refusing the treatment.

Though much milder in comparison, I've gone through a lot of trouble with asthma medicines making me really sick, so lethargic I was doing well to walk through the house, and the doctor wanting me to take a higher dosage. I could tell how my body was reacting well enough that I knew the medicine was making me sicker, and more medicine would only make me worse. The doctor didn't think that was it, but it was later proven that medicine could indeed have those side effects, and up to 80% of asthma deaths are caused by those so-called preventative drugs. Sometimes patients can tell better than doctors how their bodies will respond to something, though doctors can think they know everything and should have the right to decide. We should have the freedom to decide for ourselves. It's also tragic that the parents could be threatened with losing custody for simply trying to do the best thing for their child's health. It's not as if they're against it while the son wants the care. It's astounding to me that the doctors and social workers want to be able to tell this boy what to do when it's his life and his body, and he even says another round of chemo would kill him. What kind of "American freedom" is that?