Saturday, January 5, 2008

What the doctor didn't tell me.

For a month now I have been feeling pretty terrible, physically.

I have been fatigued for one thing, so much so that some days I feel like I can barely function. I have also had this lingering cold, which is better but not quite gone. Then the arthritis flareups, probably one reason I am fatigued because the pain wakes me throughout the night. It's not just one thing hurting, it's my hands and wrists, my shoulders, neck, lower back and hips, and my knees and ankles. I have also been experiencing numbness and tingling in my hands.

I was starting to think there was something seriously wrong with me.

Then a thought occurred to me, it hit me when after two weeks from my last shot, I started to feel better, much better. Then I went for my last shot this past Thursday and guess what? I feel terrible again.

So I did a quick search on the side effects of rabies shots.

Check, check, check, check.

Hmmm, no WONDER I have been feeling awful!

One side effect is arthritis type pain. Now I do have arthritis, but never this bad, and apparently the shots compounded the pain.

Which affected my sleep, in a major way.

It can also cause headaches and nausea.

I didn't experience the headaches, but here and there the thought of eating wanted to make me gag, even when I was really hungry. I would start to eat and suddenly I just wouldn't be able to take another bite, leaving nearly whole plates of food unfinished and discarded.

After reading this info, I feel assured that I am not losing my mind or that I haven't developed some awful illness.

And at least it's only temporary, especially since I am done with the series now.

Boy, I am glad about that!

And I would rather have experienced these side effects than the alternative, but I think the hospital should have told me that these side effects were possible.

The doctor never said a word, and there was nothing on the papers they gave me.

I should have realized sooner though, I don't like taking meds unless I absolutely have too since I often experience side effects, my body just does not metabolize things the same way as others.

This has even happened with meds I took in the past that never bothered me, and suddenly I was experiencing sleeplessness or headaches or worse.

So I live a basically no meds life, and if I buy something OTC then I read the label carefully because certain ingredients will really effect me.

If a doctor prescribes something, I ask about possible side effects, but this time I didn't think to do so, probable because it was necessary and I really had no choice.

Any time you put anything in your body there is a risk, even something like a rabies shot.

I am just glad they changed the way they do it, instead of 15 to 30 shots in the stomach, in a matter of a few days, it is now done over a course of a month, 7 to 13 shots depending on the wound, and most of them are in the arm. The first 3 shots were done in one visit, one around the wound site, one in the bottom and one in the arm, after that they were all administered in the arm.

If I felt this bad after getting 7 shots over a months time, it makes me glad I didn't have to have 15 to 30 in a matter of days. I can't imagine how sick I would have been.

So I am thankful that it is over with now, and I am thankful that they changed it.

I am also thankful that soon I should be feeling like my old self again.