Bad Neuropathy this morning and a high fever
 

Hi all. First of all, let me preface this by saying Alan never gets sick. He has PN of course but as for viruses or bacterial stuff, maybe one infection in 7 years. We take my home made colloidal silver every day and maybe that's why we never catch anything. Never do flu shots either.

Well!!! this is what happened this morning. He woke up at 5:30 (he never gets up at that hour) and waited till I got up at 7:30 a.m. so we could go a few doors down to Dunkin and have a nice breakfast. HE WAS ABSOLUTELY FINE. We chatted with people, he was fine.

Ten minutes after we get home he says 'I'm cold" THE MAN LIVES WITH A FAN ON HIS FACE 24 HOURS A DAY. I look at him and said "you're cold?" He said "I'm tired". He plops into bed and starts to get the chills and shakes (I haven't seen this behavior in over 20 years (maybe more). I said to myself "Maybe he has a fever?" I touched him, he was HOT. I took his temp and it was 102.6. I said OMG, I gave him an Advil and a shot glass of my colloidal silver. It took him a good hour to get to sleep because whatever was happening in his body was causing his neuropathy to go nuts. His PN pain was through the roof and he was yelling "My feet my feet". I massaged his back as I usually do and that usually sends him into slumberland. Not this time.

The weather outside wasn't helping either. It was very damp. FINALLY, after about 2 hours he slept a bit. I took his temp again approx 3 hours after I initially took it. It was 100.6. He said "I'm hungry" promptly got up and ate a tuna fish sandwich. I just looked at him because I could not believe it. Didn't give him any more advil or anything because he went back to sleep.

Took his temp at 5 p.m and it was 97.6. At 5 pm tonight, he ate a regular dinner, looked at me and said "I'm dying for popcorn" and made himself some popcorn. He is now watching tv. I'm afraid to go take his temp because he'll go "Leave me alone I'm fine". He knows that tonight we have to make sure and take his temp again because I know in some fever cases the fever goes up at night. He has absolutely no other symptoms. no sore throat, no ear ache no coughing to speak of. no nothing. Has a good appetite. It's like he slept off a flu in 3 hours. WHO DOES THIS? The reason I'm writing you is that 34 years ago he was hospitalized for a fever of unknown origin. They put him in isolation for 2 weeks because they gave him every test in the book and could find no reason so they called it fever of unknown origin. Never happened again. So, in all your scientific wisdom, do any of you know what kind of pathogen, whether it be viral or bacterial, and maybe the colloidal silver knocked it out?

Just touched him again and he's still cool. Never in all my born days have I seen a man get sick as if he was hit by a truck (like one does when one gets a flu), but then rebounds and eats lunch and dinner and seems fine.

I just hope it doesn't come back tonight. Of course I'll call Dr. Fred tomorrow if this happens but right now he's right as rain.

Do NOT understand this.

Melody

Wow!! You're a wonderful and concerned wife. My wife would tell me "get over it" lol

I AM a good wife. lol. Been taking care of this man since forever.

Yesterday I spoke to his doctor who explained that Alan does not have the flu, he has a virus that has been going around, to continue to do what I know to do, keep him hydrated and the Prednisone is the best thing for him because of his inflammation. Alan has auto-immune stuff going on in his body so his inflammation markers on usual blood tests indicate that. He also has psoriatic arthritis and other things going on. But this virus came out of no where. I told Dr. Fred. Alan has disabilities but he really never gets sick because I make my own colloidal silver and we don't get SICK, so this is really new to us. He explained that it takes several days for a virus to make anti-bodies (i already knew that). I've studied this man's auto-immune body for YEARS.

But yesterday he sweated so much through his underpants they were absolutely soaked. I said 'OMG", didn't you notice this?" He said 'No, my lower back is killing me" He had all the indications of sciatica (which I know too well).

This happened to me last year and I was incapacited for a while (but I still got stuff done). Alan is not like me. He's a PATIENT if you get my drift.

I looked up inflammation on google and it says: Inflammation is the body's defense system. So I figured 'oh!!! he's got a virus, his body got MORE inflammed than usual, so now his sciatic nerve is inflammed so now he has to do what I did last year (which he will never do). I went to P/T. Learned how to do simple stretches (almost killed me but I did it). Took Advil only when I needed to. And my knees were so bad because I hurt them last year but I did the ultra sound therapy, the hot packs, the exercise (my p/t made a fortune off of me) but it DID help me. As well as the exercises and stretching.

My husband is not up to this. He is just laying in bed moaning. I used BenGay, gave him his prednisone and an advil and I make him drink fluids to rehydrate him. His fever is almost normal. I'm thinking, once the virus goes away, his inflammation might subside a bit and he'll be able to get up and move around.

One HAS to move with sciatica or one will NOT be able to move.

I learned this. It's a ***** but you have to move.

So now he's sleeping again and I have to go make a wash. I'm 67years old and if you think this is easy on me (no one to help) well I can assure you it is NOT. But at least I get to go to Dunkin Donuts (right next to my house) and have a cup of coffee in the morning just to read my newspaper on my Kindle Fire. This is a treat for me. Then I go back upstairs and the day repeats itself.

Alan looked at me last night and moaned "Getting Old Sucks'.

Indeed.

Be well, Melody

Melody,

Just wanted to suggest, in case they didn't, to make sure Alan does not have a bladder infection. The typical symptom, burning during urination, is not always present and therefore, is overlooked. Hopefully they took a urine sample.

UTIs are more common in the elderly and can cause widespread body aches and pains.

Marlene

Just wanted to say...what a great job you are doing!:hug:

Thanks much.

No he pees just fine, no body aches and pains, just back arthritis which is made much better when he lies on a heating pad. And if I give him a massage on his lower lumbar region, he goes right to sleep. Imagine? he has his own professional masseur, lol.

He gets up raring to go and eats me out of house and home. He's also dehydrated due to this virus (which he sweated out of all his clothes yesterday) and so far so good. Drinking lots of fluids.


Thanks for all the kind words.

Melody

Of course ibuprofen (Advil) can make a fever go away and make someone feel completely fine. Sounds like you are taking great care of him. I'll have my wife write you.;)
Ron

Well guess where we are??? Alan was admitted to the hospital after spending two days in ER. he had celluliti in toe, a UTI, and god knows what else. Much neuropathy pain. They gave him morphine. BAD IDEA. he spent much of the day staring at his hands and then he saw the game Bejeweled, he said PRETTY!!# spoke to his doctor and we both agree no more morphine. They used something the first night so we'll go back to this. Oh he had low potassium levels so they gave him burning I V potassium. Horrors!! All day they gave him msgnesium and potassium and folic acid. His body wss completey dehydrated due to, well lets just say he really went to the bathroom. .poor guy is sleeping now. Been a nightmare. Very hard on me.

Prayers for you and your husband

Well guess what Alan has. Psoriatic Arthritis. I mean PSORIATIC ARTHRITIS. It all fits. His finger was red and SWOLLEN. His toe was RED AND SWOLLEN. I googled images of Psoriatic Arthritis and there it was. Even Dr. Fred agrees. Althought there is no test, there is a marker for it. We will be referred to a rheumotologist who will evaluate him and then we will talk about those horrible drugs with those horrible side effects.

They are still not sure if it was cellulitis or if it was Psoriatic Arthritis which contributed to cellulitis. All I know is when I googled Images of PA, there was Alan's finger and toe.

One of the doctor on staff came over and said "oh, I know what this is,it's psoriatic arthritis". Alan has NEVER had this so I never knew.

Oh well. More to learn

Melody
P.S. We just came home

Hi all.

What a nightmare. Alan was discharged from Maimonides after being there for a few days. No more fever. He exploded in the men's room. He was dehydrated, blah blah, so they discharge him. He comes home, the next night he gets up from the bed, falls to the floor and breaks his nose.(Yeah, I know, it's called syncope (or something like that). I call 911, they bring him BACK to same ER and all they do is tell me he has a broken nose(they did a cat scan of his upper region and an x-ray of his ribs). They told me he broke his nose but didn't break a rib). LIE!!!

They discharge him. He comes home and the same day he's discharged, (now it's nighttime) he walks out of the bathroom looks at the refrigerator and goes down to the floor. I go WTF. He goes WTF, he's sitting on the floor and I said "Stay down there". He goes "Give me my milk". I give him the milk and as he's just sitting there, he falls off his seat. I said "that's it". He was not unconsious but we were both confused. I had no phone service to i banged on my landlord's door to call 911 yelling "He's having another seizure (which I was wrong, because as soon as the paramedics came, they hooked him up to machines, etc". And told me He didn't have a seizure.

They tried to make him stand up so they could put the chair underneath him and he could not make it. He's a BIG guy. So the paramadics said "Let's put him down again, he can't stand'. They call another ambulance and more guys and gals showed up, they carried him down on some incline thing and we all went to a different ER. BIG DIFFERENCE. Omg, when we arrived he had 20 people cutting off his clothers and working on him (he was fully awake all the time). He kept saying "OMG, such attention". They asked me all the questions. Does he smoke, what are his meds? I just handed them the discharge papers from the previous hospital. They were glad to get this.

So they had him in the ER and he was examined by every medical team who were amazed at his toe and his finger and his psoriasis all over his body. Toe is almost healed and psoriasis is GONE. They don't know why. I do. He has had body scans and I think it's the radiation but what the heck do I know.

He has A FLUTTER (similar to A FiB). They did a lopressor push and his heart rate came down. It's been good since. They do seem to know what they are doing.

They have ruled out hear, brain and now they think it's the combination of prostate meds that he was on that caused him to faint.

He was originally taking Jalyn and had no problem. His insurance won't pay so he is on a combo of Tamluosin (sorry spelling) and finasteride.

They took him off of this and put him on another one. So far so good.
Today he had a physical therapist walk him around. He will get one hour a day and the physical therapist signed off on rehab after he leaves the hospital. I hope this is so because I can't lift him and take care of him while he is in this condition. I have to take care of myself. This has been so very stressful I can't begin to tell you. I have slept on a chair beside his bed for over 7 days. Forget my back. I came home to sleep last night and I had muscle spasms in my thigh during the night. Good Grief.

Anyway, will go back to hospital tomorrow and see what's up.

Just wanted to update all of you and get your input

Melody

G'day Melody,
Gosh what a time you and Alan are having. :eek:
Just saw your latest post and wanted to tell you I'm thinking of you.
Look after yourself too!

Melody
Have been following your posts - what a terrible time you're having of it. I understand your frustration with the ED dept's - at least Alan has you to fight his corner for him. Hang in there. I had to learn to do it on my own having no family nearby and am still scared that next time I have to go in they'll get it wrong again. Weekends and evenings are the worst where I live because there are no specialists on and the ED staff think they know everything. Will be thinking of you and please take care of yourself.

Hi. just wanted to update you all on where Alan is right now. He is in a short term rehab facility at Lutheran. He started physical therapy and O/T today. They immediately realized he doesn't need O/T and are concentrating on the physical therapy. He still has a foley. He has not been seen by a urologist as of yet. He has a consult coming up. Because he is in a nursing home, it's not like a hospital. The urologist makes his appearance when he makes his appearance. Today for the first time, (and he was not supposed to do this but he did it anyway), he got into his wheelchair, I wheeled him up to the bathroom, he stood up, went into the bathroom and did his thing. He is quite regular in his bowel habits. Thank goodness for that. I told the nurse and she said "OMG, please don't do that, call an aide and she will wheel him". Alan said okay. But the thing that matters is that he GOT UP and went by himself. Hasn't done that in quite a while because he is embarassed to be seen with a foley. We don't know what's going to happen when the urologist comes and sees him. The neurologist told us (back at the hospital) that his prostate is not that enlarged and that Alan might have a neurogenic bladder. Makes sense because he has had neuropathy for 23 years (Idiopathic). I'm just hoping this is not the case.

Oh, when he was doing physical therapy he told me they were following him around taking his blood pressure. He hasn't collapsed in quite a while since the last time (they attribute this to his prostate meds). He only takes proscar now. But he's peeing into a foley so what does this mean?

I'm just curious. When they ultimately take out the foley, how do they know if he has a neurogenic bladder or not?

I wonder how long this short term rehab will take? Perhaps two to three weeks? It's anyone's guess. I've been going back and forth every day but at $22.00 a day for cabs, this is not good. I'm not going tomorrow because he said he will have 4 hours of rehab. In my reading up on neurogenic bladders I read about all the treatments and oddly one of them is B-12. How interesting.

So I'm trying to hold up my end here.

Any input is welcome.

Thanks much

Melody

Can they do bladder training and take out the foley?

A foley can mess up a normal bladder.

Hoping it is not neurogenic bladder.

:grouphug:

I have no idea because he just started physical therapy today. He collapsed over a week ago (can't remember when) and they said it was the tamsulosin. They said it's common when people take this, it drops their blood pressure. So while he was in the ER and was off the tamsulosin, he kept having to pee and when they put the foley in, OMG, he filled two bags with urine.

So he just finished his antibiotics (due to his having cellulitis). That's all gone. Now he's doing P/T and hopefully will be seen by a urologist who will tell me what's what. And yeah, I hope it's not a neurogenic bladder too. That's all he needs. Good Grief.

This has been a nightmare because we have no one. We are all we have.

Well, we have an update. Alan just phoned me. He was seen by the urologist. The urologist said "you need to be on FLOMAX", they are starting him on one pill (whatever that means).

I asked Alan "Didn't you suggest that you might not have to take the other blood pressure meds because this one lowered your blood pressure?" Alan's response "I don't know anything, I wish you were here".

What the hell is wrong with him? He didn't thing to ask this urologist (who we have been waiting to make an appearance and he has him right in front of him and HE DOESN'T ASK THIS IMPORTANT QUESTION???

Of course when he does P/T tomorrow, they will be behind him taking his blood pressure, etc.etc. They are taking the foley out next week. I gather they have to give the Flomax a chance to work.

My husband NEVER had a blood pressure problem. He was put on metoprolol because he has a stent since 2007 or so. His blood pressure is always perfect.

Is there a possibility that he can be taken off metoprolol if he is on Flomax?

I know nothing about these things so that's why I'm asking.

I asked Alan if the doctor thought he might have a neurogenic bladder and Alan said "No, I don't have that".

Well at least we know that!!!

Any comments are welcome, believe me.

Melody

Melody,
Check to make sure that Flomax isn't the same med he was on that caused his problems.

http://www.rxlist.com/flomax-drug.htm


It's really a challenge to keep things straight when you're in these situations.

Flomax IS tamusolin. Same med. But... he was on other meds and severely dehydrated. He is on one pill of flomax now. Nothing i can do til tomorrow when i go to the nursing home

Will update.

Melody