I Know You Want Me
New member
I'll try to be as descriptive as possible about what I've been experiencing...I'm a male in my early 20s with no pre-existing major medical issues, if that helps.
Back in late March I came down with a cold or flu of some kind; I was coughing constantly, I lost my appetite completely, I had a bad fever and I was coughing up mucus hourly. This continued into April and my doctor gave me a 5-day antibiotic (it began with a Z, I forget the full name though) which didn't do anything. I was taking Mucinex DM every morning for the coughing but that didn't seem to do much either. I later switched to Robitussin which also didn't seem to do anything. After a few weeks of this, in mid-April my doctor then prescribed me Prednisone to take for 10 days, tapering off every other day until I was down to zero. He also gave me Allegra to take daily. This majorly helped my cough and sinus problems, but these problems were then replaced by others, namely nausea and even less of an appetite. The nausea was almost exclusively at night and didn't seem to be brought on by anything particular. I usually just took sleeping pills and Pepto-bismol and by the morning it was gone (but then would return again the next night).
Once I was at the end of my 10 days on the prednisone regiment, my cough/flu symptoms were almost entirely gone but the nausea got significantly worse, again only at night. I would throw up pretty much every night no matter what. After about 5 days of this I went to see my doctor again (who accounted the nausea to a side-effect of the Prednisone) and I was given another medication, Phenergan, to help counter the nausea. This seemed to work but also completely knocked me out. If I took it in the morning or mid-day I would be so tired that I would end up falling asleep before dinner time and staying asleep until the next afternoon. If I took it at night before bed (when the nausea was worst) I would sleep for over 12 hours and still be absolutely exhausted upon waking up. So basically, it's just been trading one problem for another.
Well, thankfully at the very end of April after 5 weeks my cold was finally gone, the nausea was manageable without the Phenergan, and I started to regain my appetite. From the end of March (sometime around the 25th) to the end of April I lost 35 pounds due to how sick I was.
But now I'm starting to have the symptoms come back again. My nose is stuffed up again and when I blow it an enormous amount of snot comes out (sorry, gross I know) but the other flu symptoms (coughing, fever etc) are absent. The nausea and lack of appetite have come back again as well, plus a few added symptoms, like a constantly dry mouth and feeling dehydrated all the time. This in turn leads to a "gagging" sort of sensation, where I'll feel like my gag reflex is somehow triggered and I'll have to go outside, walk around and get some fresh air for it to go away. Also, during my episodes of nausea at night, I'll feel like my heart is racing and I'll have a general feeling of discomfort (not pain really) in my chest. Finally, also during the episodes of nausea at night, I'll sometimes feel a sort of discomfort in my throat like bile or something is rising in there. That's what I'm experiencing now (runny/stuffed up nose, nausea esp at night, dry mouth, dehydrated feeling, gagging sensation, racing heart, discomfort in throat) and I'm not sure what to do about it. I know the nausea isn't a result of the Prednisone at this point since I've been off of that since April 25th (unless it has a very long half-life). I've been getting gallons of Gatorade and keeping those handy to drink all the time but I still have that dehydrated feeling anyway. I still have the Phenergan but I don't really want to take it since I know it'll put me out of action for at least a day if I do. I already know things like antibiotics, mucinex, robitussin etc have no apparent effect on this but I'm not sure what else there is.
What do you think the problem could be here and what can I do to fix it?
Thanks!
P.S.
Something that should probably also be mentioned: Throughout all of this I've been on a daily dose of Wellbutrin. I started the Wellbutrin some time last year, increased to 300mg in February, stayed at that until mid-April and then was increased again to 450mg starting in mid-April and lasting until about a week ago (mid-May) when I went back down to 300mg again because I feel the medication isn't doing what it's supposed to. I'm not sure whether or not this may have had any effect on any of the symptoms I've been experiencing. I believe I was beginning to feel the return of the symptoms a few days *before* tapering down to 300mg but I'm not totally sure.
Back in late March I came down with a cold or flu of some kind; I was coughing constantly, I lost my appetite completely, I had a bad fever and I was coughing up mucus hourly. This continued into April and my doctor gave me a 5-day antibiotic (it began with a Z, I forget the full name though) which didn't do anything. I was taking Mucinex DM every morning for the coughing but that didn't seem to do much either. I later switched to Robitussin which also didn't seem to do anything. After a few weeks of this, in mid-April my doctor then prescribed me Prednisone to take for 10 days, tapering off every other day until I was down to zero. He also gave me Allegra to take daily. This majorly helped my cough and sinus problems, but these problems were then replaced by others, namely nausea and even less of an appetite. The nausea was almost exclusively at night and didn't seem to be brought on by anything particular. I usually just took sleeping pills and Pepto-bismol and by the morning it was gone (but then would return again the next night).
Once I was at the end of my 10 days on the prednisone regiment, my cough/flu symptoms were almost entirely gone but the nausea got significantly worse, again only at night. I would throw up pretty much every night no matter what. After about 5 days of this I went to see my doctor again (who accounted the nausea to a side-effect of the Prednisone) and I was given another medication, Phenergan, to help counter the nausea. This seemed to work but also completely knocked me out. If I took it in the morning or mid-day I would be so tired that I would end up falling asleep before dinner time and staying asleep until the next afternoon. If I took it at night before bed (when the nausea was worst) I would sleep for over 12 hours and still be absolutely exhausted upon waking up. So basically, it's just been trading one problem for another.
Well, thankfully at the very end of April after 5 weeks my cold was finally gone, the nausea was manageable without the Phenergan, and I started to regain my appetite. From the end of March (sometime around the 25th) to the end of April I lost 35 pounds due to how sick I was.
But now I'm starting to have the symptoms come back again. My nose is stuffed up again and when I blow it an enormous amount of snot comes out (sorry, gross I know) but the other flu symptoms (coughing, fever etc) are absent. The nausea and lack of appetite have come back again as well, plus a few added symptoms, like a constantly dry mouth and feeling dehydrated all the time. This in turn leads to a "gagging" sort of sensation, where I'll feel like my gag reflex is somehow triggered and I'll have to go outside, walk around and get some fresh air for it to go away. Also, during my episodes of nausea at night, I'll feel like my heart is racing and I'll have a general feeling of discomfort (not pain really) in my chest. Finally, also during the episodes of nausea at night, I'll sometimes feel a sort of discomfort in my throat like bile or something is rising in there. That's what I'm experiencing now (runny/stuffed up nose, nausea esp at night, dry mouth, dehydrated feeling, gagging sensation, racing heart, discomfort in throat) and I'm not sure what to do about it. I know the nausea isn't a result of the Prednisone at this point since I've been off of that since April 25th (unless it has a very long half-life). I've been getting gallons of Gatorade and keeping those handy to drink all the time but I still have that dehydrated feeling anyway. I still have the Phenergan but I don't really want to take it since I know it'll put me out of action for at least a day if I do. I already know things like antibiotics, mucinex, robitussin etc have no apparent effect on this but I'm not sure what else there is.
What do you think the problem could be here and what can I do to fix it?
Thanks!
P.S.
Something that should probably also be mentioned: Throughout all of this I've been on a daily dose of Wellbutrin. I started the Wellbutrin some time last year, increased to 300mg in February, stayed at that until mid-April and then was increased again to 450mg starting in mid-April and lasting until about a week ago (mid-May) when I went back down to 300mg again because I feel the medication isn't doing what it's supposed to. I'm not sure whether or not this may have had any effect on any of the symptoms I've been experiencing. I believe I was beginning to feel the return of the symptoms a few days *before* tapering down to 300mg but I'm not totally sure.