[migraine, plague diaries] well this is fun

[kaberett]

[Content note: breathing problems. Not plague!]

I am currently on my second upper respiratory/chest infection in about three months, having otherwise not had any for the better part of two years. I have continued to mostly not leave the house, to mask whenever I do, and I switched to FFP2 masks for indoor medical Stuff at the end of January. (Having not had any other indoor medical stuff since the beginning of December, when I got my booster vaccine.) I got a negative PCR test for the plague last time; this time I'm waiting for a kit to be delivered (it, too, will be plague-negative), and meanwhile last night I ended up needing to prop myself up on pillows and inhale steam before I could manage sleep because breathing hurt.

(Is it more Interoception Bullshit that I can say "ah yes, internal itchiness either side of my sternum, particularly angry about dry air, that's lung inflammation?")

COINCIDENTALLY or-perhaps-not I started candesartan, the current migraine "preventative" (that is doing sod-all) at the end of November, and am currently at half the maximum dose. Per the BNF:

Side-effects

For all ANGIOTENSIN II RECEPTOR ANTAGONISTS

Common or very common

Abdominal pain; asthenia; back pain; cough; diarrhoea; dizziness; headache; hyperkalaemia; hypotension; nausea; postural hypotension (more common in patients with intravascular volume depletion, e.g. those taking high-dose diuretics); renal impairment; vertigo; vomiting

Uncommon

Angioedema; myalgia; skin reactions; thrombocytopenia

Rare or very rare

Arthralgia; hepatic function abnormal

For CANDESARTAN CILEXETIL

Common or very common

Increased risk of infection

Rare or very rare

Agranulocytosis; hepatitis; hyponatraemia; leucopenia; neutropenia

(Emphasis, obviously, mine; a bunch of other sources -- here's one example -- specify "increased susceptibility to upper respiratory tract infection".)

In this context, "common" means "occurs in 1% to 10% of patients" and "very common" means "occurs over 10% of patients".

I have past form with being prone to developing chest infections. As far as I can tell, the source of these past two infections has been "existing while embodied" rather than any exogenous factor. (It occurs to me that my past form, in fact, with "please let me know if anyone in this social gathering has even a mild cold, because my body WILL try to turn it into pneumonia, so I need to not attend if even one person is even a little bit ill" might be related to how well I am coping, or not, with Current Events.)

We are rapidly approaching the point of "unacceptable side effects", here, and would be even if there weren't a pandemic on. :|

Comments

[ewt]

Oh, blergh. :-(

[davidgillon]

*headdesk*

I was at the inhaling stuff to breath/sleep point a fortnight ago and it is not fun!

[fyreharper]

Oh noooo.

On the upside, at least that med isn’t helping so ditching it isn’t even tradeoffs?

[kaberett]

RIGHT. Except insofar as maybe it WOULD help, perhaps, IF I kept upping the dose...

[silveradept]

That's not the kind of desired side effects, especially not in a pandemic. Bleurgh.

[azurelunatic]

Gyahh!

That reminds me of the "why yes, every time I get a cold I get the Lung Woe for 6 weeks, and I get a cold every month or so" phase of my life, which was Deeply Terrible and lasted about 35 years

[lunabee34]

So much hugs.

(your icon is absolutely perfect)