Oh, Zizzle, I'm so sorry that your husband and daughter got sick during the time of the funeral. As if there wasn't enough for you all to cope with! I hope they get well soon.
Love,
Martha
My nightmare MONTH!!
Moderators: Rosie, Stanz, Jean, CAMary, moremuscle, JFR, Dee, xet, Peggy, Matthew, Gabes-Apg, grannyh, Gloria, Mars, starfire, Polly, Joefnh
Paging Polly...Should I treat myself for mycoplasma?
Update: I took my husband to the doctor this morning after high fevers and headache all weekend. He's had 4 days of Levaquin and the fever FINALLY stopped this morning. If fact, his temps were 97.4 this morning with no ibuprofen on board, although they are up to 100.4 now. Turns out the headache is probably a side-effect of the Levaquin 
. He got prescriptions for inhaled steroids, with the doc saying he's no longer fighting the infection, he's fighting the resultant inflammation becuase of his asthma. He'll be out of work a couple more days, and it's making him nervous, after being gone all last week. My daughter is 100% fine. She was never all that sick - just the day we started the Zithromax and the day after. She slept the entire 6 hour drive home from NY in the middle of the day! But you would never guess she had pneumonia now. I guess I caught it early. I have no remorse over starting the antibiotics early with her. My son suffered 7 long days needlessly as we waited for a "virus" to "run it's course."
I'm hoping Polly might weigh in on this:
Now I'm wondering about myself. I've been taking at least 16,000 IU of D and 1000 MG of Ester-C a day since this started. I'm thinking I should add zinc too, as it seems to help with pneumonia prevention. When the others got sick last week, my lungs burned, my trachea felt raw and sore, and I felt a lump in my trachea when I swallowed for 2 days. I've had a palpable lymph node on the right side of my neck for a couple of weeks. My sleep was altered several days where I wasn't tired at all when I should have been. Now I feel normal, just a very slight sore throat. I'm sure the above symptoms would not move a doctor towards treatment (I asked my husband's ER doc and regular doc today), since they believe mycoplasmal pneumonia/walking pneumonia can heal on its own. But I've read several horror stories of young adults with untreated mycoplasma pneumonia who went on to develop chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, reactive airway diseases, etc. I've read that many people with asthma have lungs that are colonized with M. Pneumonia, but not infected. After they've been infected for a while, it takes 3-6 months of antibiotic therapy with Biaxin to attempt to treat the mycoplasma colonization. I can't afford to develop asthma or other autoimmune-like syndromes on top of all this. Would I be crazy to seek out a 5-day course of Zithromax prophylactically?? How can I know my body has beat and cleared the infection as opposed to allowing it to colonize me?
. He got prescriptions for inhaled steroids, with the doc saying he's no longer fighting the infection, he's fighting the resultant inflammation becuase of his asthma. He'll be out of work a couple more days, and it's making him nervous, after being gone all last week. My daughter is 100% fine. She was never all that sick - just the day we started the Zithromax and the day after. She slept the entire 6 hour drive home from NY in the middle of the day! But you would never guess she had pneumonia now. I guess I caught it early. I have no remorse over starting the antibiotics early with her. My son suffered 7 long days needlessly as we waited for a "virus" to "run it's course." I'm hoping Polly might weigh in on this:
Now I'm wondering about myself. I've been taking at least 16,000 IU of D and 1000 MG of Ester-C a day since this started. I'm thinking I should add zinc too, as it seems to help with pneumonia prevention. When the others got sick last week, my lungs burned, my trachea felt raw and sore, and I felt a lump in my trachea when I swallowed for 2 days. I've had a palpable lymph node on the right side of my neck for a couple of weeks. My sleep was altered several days where I wasn't tired at all when I should have been. Now I feel normal, just a very slight sore throat. I'm sure the above symptoms would not move a doctor towards treatment (I asked my husband's ER doc and regular doc today), since they believe mycoplasmal pneumonia/walking pneumonia can heal on its own. But I've read several horror stories of young adults with untreated mycoplasma pneumonia who went on to develop chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, reactive airway diseases, etc. I've read that many people with asthma have lungs that are colonized with M. Pneumonia, but not infected. After they've been infected for a while, it takes 3-6 months of antibiotic therapy with Biaxin to attempt to treat the mycoplasma colonization. I can't afford to develop asthma or other autoimmune-like syndromes on top of all this. Would I be crazy to seek out a 5-day course of Zithromax prophylactically?? How can I know my body has beat and cleared the infection as opposed to allowing it to colonize me?
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22726289Extrapulmonary manifestations include cutaneous, gastrointestinal, renal, hematologic, neurologic, cardiac, osteoarticular, ocular, and nonspecific complications, such as ear symptoms and acute rhabdomyolysis (5). Cutaneous manifestations are common, occurring in 10% to 25% of cases, most commonly as exanthematous eruptions, erythematous maculopapular rash, or vesicular rash (6). Other dermatologic disorders associated with M. pneumoniae infection are erythema nodosum (4,7-9), urticaria (7,10), Stevens-Johnson syndrome (11-15), mucositis (15), pityriasis rosea (16), bullous erythema multiforme (17,18), toxic epidermal necrolysis (19), Kawasaki disease (20), subcorneal pustular dermatosis (21), thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (22), Henoch-Schönlein purpura (23), urticarial vasculitis (24), Raynaud's phenomenon (25), and Leukocytoclastic Vasculitis (26-28).
Some of the non-respiratory neurological conditions caused by M. pneumonia include:
meningoencephalitis, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (more common complications), Rare: acute transverse myelitis and isolated abducens nerve palsy, and possibly ocular myasthenia gravis.
My lower spine has been aching since this all happened, but I figured it was the extra-soft bed in the in-laws' guest room coupled with the 6-hour drive home. What if it's something more sinister? I'm becoming a hypochondriac over this!!
Clin Microbiol Rev. 2004 Oct;17(4):697-728, table of contents.
Mycoplasma pneumoniae and its role as a human pathogen.
Waites KB, Talkington DF.
SourceDepartment of Pathology, WP 230, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 619 19th St. South, Birmingham, AL 35249, USA. waites@path.uab.edu.
Abstract
Mycoplasma pneumoniae is a unique bacterium that does not always receive the attention it merits considering the number of illnesses it causes and the degree of morbidity associated with it in both children and adults. Serious infections requiring hospitalization, while rare, occur in both adults and children and may involve multiple organ systems. The severity of disease appears to be related to the degree to which the host immune response reacts to the infection. Extrapulmonary complications involving all of the major organ systems can occur in association with M. pneumoniae infection as a result of direct invasion and/or autoimmune response. The extrapulmonary manifestations are sometimes of greater severity and clinical importance than the primary respiratory infection. Evidence for this organism's contributory role in chronic lung conditions such as asthma is accumulating. Effective management of M. pneumoniae infections can usually be achieved with macrolides, tetracyclines, or fluoroquinolones. As more is learned about the pathogenesis and immune response elicited by M. pneumoniae, improvement in methods for diagnosis and prevention of disease due to this organism may occur.
OMG, psychosis and acute hepatitis too!? I'm shutting off my computer now!!! 
Mil Med. 2009 Sep;174(9):1001-4.
Psychosis following mycoplasma pneumonia.
Banerjee B, Petersen K.
SourceNaval Health Clinic Corpus Christi, 10651 E. Street, Corpus Christi, TX 78419, USA.
Abstract
Extrapulmonary manifestations of Mycoplasma pneumoniae are well described, including a subset of central nervous system (CNS)-associated syndromes. In pediatric populations, frequencies of CNS sequelae occur in 0.1% to 7% of patients. Neurologic illness associated with M. pneumoniae, such as meningitis, encephalitis, polyradiculitis, Guillain-Barre, and stroke have been reported; however, the incidence of M. pneumoniae-associated organic brain syndrome is rare. We present the case of a 20-year-old midshipman with acute psychosis following resolution of M. pneumoniae pneumonia and review 6 other adult cases found in the literature. M. pneumoniae remains one of the most common causes of respiratory illnesses in the military recruit setting and therefore should always be suspected as an organic cause of mental status changes in young persons such as recruits, cadets, and midshipmen particularly with antecedent respiratory illnesses.
J Chin Med Assoc. 2009 Apr;72(4):204-6.
Mycoplasma pneumonia-associated acute hepatitis in an adult patient without lung infection.
Lee SW, Yang SS, Chang CS, Yeh HJ, Chow WK.
SourceDivision of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, R.O.C. ericest@vghtc.gov.tw
Abstract
Mycoplasma pneumonia is a major cause of respiratory infections in school-aged children. Most M. pneumonia infections in adults involve the respiratory tract. Extrapulmonary manifestations of M. pneumonia infection may be found in the skin, cardiovascular, neurologic and hematologic systems. Concomitant liver disease is rare in adults. Here, we report an unusual case of a patient who presented with fever and abdominal pain, but without pulmonary manifestations. The laboratory work-up demonstrated a hepatocellular pattern of acute hepatitis caused by M. pneumonia infection. Symptoms subsided and laboratory parameters improved with antibiotics treatment. Thus, this case can help raise clinicians' awareness of the possibility of M. pneumonia infection, with or without lung involvement, as a part of the evaluation of undetermined hepatitis.
We went to the pediatrician today for a lung re-check of both kids. They are fine. The doc admitted to missing the diagnosis the first time my son was seen. Mycoplasma doesn't cause junky build-up in the lungs and typical pneumonia sounds, it just paralyzes the cilia, so it's hard to diagnose by stethoscope. 3 days later, when my son had a deep single-lobe pneumonia, he didn't suspect mycoplasma either, hence the initial Augmentin prescription. I mentioned the ER doc was suprised to see so much pneumonia on x-ray of my husband, because he only heard mild wheezing with his stethoscope. 
I told him I was freaking out about all the extra-pulmonary possibilities. He said they are rare, but he has seen them, especially related to the liver.
I'm going to call my integrative medicine doc and ask his opinion on whether a prophylactic antibiotic would be prudent. I still have weird sensations in my lungs - a rawness and some burning. Maybe a chest xray would show pneumonia??
I asked if pneumonia was going around. He said no, whooping cough is.
I told him I was freaking out about all the extra-pulmonary possibilities. He said they are rare, but he has seen them, especially related to the liver.
I'm going to call my integrative medicine doc and ask his opinion on whether a prophylactic antibiotic would be prudent. I still have weird sensations in my lungs - a rawness and some burning. Maybe a chest xray would show pneumonia??
I asked if pneumonia was going around. He said no, whooping cough is.
I'm not sure if I already posted this but my 6 year granddaughter was notified last week that a girl in her girl scout camp had been diagnosed with whooping cough and her "group" (not my granddaughter's) was being treated preventitively. There was only one day left and my daughter has a four month preemie at home so decided to pull her out of camp. Interestingly, the sick girl had had her immunizations. I'm still trying to sort out what this might mean as our local newspaper had an article on another girl who had gotten whooping cough and was also up to date with her immunizations. Your thoughts?
I've read that the current form of whooping cough may not be covered by the vaccine because either it mutated or it's parapertussis. But authorities are not talking about those possibilities bc they want everyone to get up to date on their vaccinations. It's a great way to silence the anti-vaccination movement that's grown significantly in the last few years.
-
Gabes-Apg
- Emperor Penguin
- Posts: 8332
- Joined: Mon Dec 21, 2009 3:12 pm
- Location: Hunter Valley NSW Australia
Zizzle
o-m-goodness - i hope things improve, and wellness can return to the household
End of the month next week - lets hope August is much better.....
i was vaccinated, and i had whooping cough when i was age 7/8 (it lasted many months...)
like any vaccine or medication, they are not guaranteed to work on all people all the time, and in recent years with so many of the virus's ?mutating scientists struggle to keep up with all the different variants
o-m-goodness - i hope things improve, and wellness can return to the household
End of the month next week - lets hope August is much better.....
i was vaccinated, and i had whooping cough when i was age 7/8 (it lasted many months...)
like any vaccine or medication, they are not guaranteed to work on all people all the time, and in recent years with so many of the virus's ?mutating scientists struggle to keep up with all the different variants
Gabes Ryan
"Anything that contradicts experience and logic should be abandoned"
Dalai Lama
"Anything that contradicts experience and logic should be abandoned"
Dalai Lama
Yikes, I was reading about a whistleblower issue with a new diabetes drug and the resulting class-action lawsuit, and lo and behold, there is a class-action suit against Zithromax!! I think I just answered my own question...don't try to prevent a potential infection by taking a drug that could risk my life uneccessarily.
http://www.topclassactions.com/lawsuit- ... estigation
I'll stick to my D, C and zinc supplements unless my alternative doctor suggests otherwise.
http://www.topclassactions.com/lawsuit- ... estigation
I'll stick to my D, C and zinc supplements unless my alternative doctor suggests otherwise.
