Cold Medicine & Vent

[kipland]

Most of the cold medicines that I've looked at say to check with a doctor if you have a thyroid disorder.  Do any of you know anything that's safe to take for cold symptoms?  And do you know if the warning is because of being hyper - or is it for all thyroid disorders?  I know the antihistamine part can speed up your heart rate.  Other than that, I know nothing.  What I do know, is this is a nasty cold and I want to curl up and sleep!  And it's my first day back to work.  :-(  

Okay....one more thing because I can't help but whine.  My mom called last night because she couldn't breathe.  She has this cold too.  Well, my dad ended up taking HER to the hospital and they admitted her because she now has pneumonia!!  Do you think the madness can stop here??  I'm really, REALLY trying to keep a positive attitude but it's really hard these days.  Then on top of all that, Aunt Flo came early today.  @##$%!!!!!

[kipland]

Yes, there is c r a p flying through the air!!  I ended up with a bronchitis diagnosis.  She gave me a breathing treatment at the office and a prescription for an antibiotic and inhaler.  She wants a chest x-ray as well, so I get to do that today.  She also wants me off work (again) until Monday because of just having surgery and RAI.  So much for going back to work on Wednesday!  I made it half a day!

I asked her about cold meds and thyroid disorders and she said most cold meds have that warning and it's due to the interaction between the two meds.  I didn't notice any heart palps or anything after the breathing treatment, so that's good by the sounds of it!

Rayne ~ I'm glad your mom is doing well too!!  Hopefully now that she's home, she can sleep better.  

Terri ~ I hadn't heard about the "Neti pot", but have always gargled with salt water when things like these hit.  I've even "snorted" it, which isn't fun - but it works.  Thanks!  Got to love Oprah!

Lori

[terri thyroid]

hey kip-

just thought of another great discovery I made this summer for nasal problems - watching Oprah and she did the bit about using a "Neti pot" - looks like a teapot - you put a saline solution in and pour through one nostril it exits the other and it is great for sinuses and especially allergy sufferers helps my bad migraines too - I bought a kit @ the drug store 14.95 and it comes with little packs of saline so you don't even have to measure out water and table salt - its premeasured - anyway great thing - and my 9 year old does it for his allergies and it works great!! I've learned a lot watching Oprah!

[rayneweather]

Count me into the sick club, too.  It started with allergies & sinus congestion late last week and has now progressed to wheezing & hacking (I have cough-variant asthma that only kicks in when I exert myself too much in cold weather or when I'm sick).  So I'm off to the doctor's tomorrow morning.  Re: cold medicines - I haven't taken any in many years.  Whenever I took any I would get loopy & tired or I'm super hyper - even Dayquil.  I know they've taken the pseudoephedrine out of a lot of stuff but I'm still leery of trying anything.  I'm jittery from my albuterol inhaler but I'm taking it every hour so it's time to break out the nebulizer for super jitteriness.  The worst was the 1 time I ended up in the ER with an asthma attack (after climbing a big pile of snow in the middle of the night) and they gave me atrovent.  I thought my heart was going to come beating out of my chest - you could see it pounding through my gown.  Hopefully I won't have to go on that again.  

Something is definitely going around.  One of my coworkers who is getting married on Saturday just went to the doctor 2 days ago and came home with 3 prescriptions including steroids.  Hopefully she'll be pretty much back to normal by this weekend.

Hopefully we'll all be feeling better soon.  Glad to hear both your mom and your niece are doing well.  My mom came home the other day on oxygen as well.  She's pretty grouchy from not eating or sleeping well for days.  She's recovering but very slowly.  But at her age it's to be expected.

Rayne

[kipland]

I was able to get into the doctor today, so we'll see what she has to say.  Hopefully I'll be on the mend soon.  Also, my mom was sent home from the hospital today.  She's bringing oxygen home with her, though - which is something new for her.  Talked to my niece's husband this morning, and she continues to improve as well.
So the dark cloud is moving somewhat.  Slowly, but surely.  Thanks to you all for listening to my whining!!

Lori

[terri thyroid]

glad to help - just be careful stay a good inch below - eyes water like crazy but if sure opens up the sinuses - you're making me laugh like crazy about your son - I craved fruit and hi c gummi fruits - with both my boys and they love them - love the hair deal - how cute - kids are really fun!!

[kipland]

Thanks for the tip!  I do have Vicks here at home, and may have to try it out.  My poor nose is going to be raw before this is over.  I'm already starting to look like Rudolph!  Oh, and I love hot peppers and hot pepper sauce.  I craved it when I was pg for my 15 year old and it never went away (although I don't necessarily CRAVE it anymore).  My brother used to say that he was going to be born with a head full of red hair!  Well, he was born with a head full of black hair and never lost it!  He had a haircut at 6 weeks old because it was growing so far over his little ears!!

[terri thyroid]

my best to you & mom too-
I can't take cold medicine but have relied on good old Vick plastered under my nose and a tip for migraine/sinus sufferers - Vicks under eyes - very little and very careful not to get in eyes as it burns but helps clear up sinuses and helps with head pain with stuffed nose - yeah its drastic but old family remedy - eat lots of hot peppers too - very good for you and clears sinuses - good luck

[kipland]

Thanks guys.  I came home and slept for a bit, and am feeling a bit better.  I'll be taking Nyquil tonight, although the warning isn't on that one.  My BP has continued to stay pretty low even after surgery.  It normally runs about 100/68 or thereabouts.  Guess I won't worry so much about it.  And Betsy, yes ~ it's hit my chest as well, so I'm sure it's the same thing you have.  Yuck!  My mom is up in your neighborhood for the night!  That's where my dad took her.  She wants to come home so bad, but is being pretty good.  I want to go see her, but don't dare step foot in the hospital with my nasties.

Thanks again for listening to me vent.  I'm sure everything will turn around eventually.  It just seems like there's a big dark cloud over our family right now, and I want it to go away.  I need to get out that list that I've talked about and write some more blessings, because we sure have some of those as well.  You guys are on the top of that list, I'll tell ya!!  ;-)

Lori

[DLA]

My poor snotty friend.  The thyroid warning is b/c of blood pressure, been there, done that.  But after a really bad case of the flu one time and consulting a pharmacist about this, he said you have to weigh against each other, how high your bp is b/c of the fact that you feel so bad and how high the meds would push it.  For me it just about evened out.

Really sorry to hear about your poor mom.  Sure the stress of your niece's illness has weakened her immune system, so will be harder for her to fight things off and harder to recover.  You know I will be praying for you both.  

Take care and God be with you all.
Dac

[DarlaLOU]

HUGS to you girl.... things WILL perk up, they will.  I promise! In the mean time, lots of luvs and prayers to you.

OK as stated above, I get jittery when I take most cold meds when I am on my thyroid meds. Either that or they ZONK!! me out dead asleep.... all of them excpet the Claritin D (I buy store brand OTC) and that works wonders. It works mostly for sinus/allergy type symptoms but DID use it when I had a bad cough too and it helped a lot. Dr said because it stopped the drainage down my throat which caused irritation and cough.

HUGS
Darla

[zaksmom]

Dang it... we must have the exact strain of cold bug runnin' around -- totally in my chest now (sinuses a little too).  I have never really considered thyroid disorders vs. cold medicine before, but now that you mention it, I wonder if that is why I have such a low tolerance of them.  I usually have to take a kids dose (usually they say for ages like 6-10) -- I have tried taking the regular adult dose with this cold and I ended up feeling really really weird even the next day afterwards.  very interesting.. I've had that problem my whole life, have always had to do a kids dose of whatever I was taking, really wonder if it is connected to thyroid...

I had the fever **** yesterday too, unfortunately still had to function.  Had the in-laws over for dinner, but they left right afterwards - I was in bed by 8pm, so worn out.  I'm feeling a little bit better today, not so much sneezing, but still the horrible deep chest cough.  I sure hope you're doing better after getting some sleep -- eat some chicken soup maybe..  I haven't found anything that seems to help other than sleep!  so, that is my only suggestion!  feel better soon!

betsy

[ChitChatNine]

You can call the pharmacy .. they run a 'check' program for interactions .. I, too, wondered why they say that .. only thing I can think of is that it raises BP and we hyper ones are hyper enough ROTFLOL!

C~

[kipland]

I talked to my mom, and she really wants to come home now (of course), but they are going to keep her another night.  She has COPD and is on a nebulizer 3x/day, so breathing problems are nothing new to her.  When she gets colds like this and it goes to her chest, she's sunk.  I just hope mine stays a cold, you know?  It's traveled to my chest as well, but I don't have the problems that she has with breathing.  Thank goodness my nerve problem from the surgery is correcting itself!!  I was really scared about getting something like this when I was having trouble breathing to begin with.  It's much better now.

I may try to get in to the doc today just to be on top of it.  But I'm SO sick of seeing doctors at this point, I don't want to.  I ended up leaving work because I'm running a fever.  :-(  So I'm home now and going to try to get some sleep.

Thanks for the insite on the meds, Cheryl.  I really appreciate it!  I think I'll chance it and take some dayquil and snooze.......

Lori

[ChitChatNine]

I hope your mom is stabilizing .. HOW SCARY!

You know I know the drill on good 'ol Aunt Flo UGH!!!!!

I have found that otc cold meds make me JITTERY while on the Synthroid BUT I also have found that the longer I'm on the synthroid the less apparent any of these symptoms get but asthma meds make me mean-spirted and ready to jump down anybody's throat and endo said albuterol + synthroid can interact like that .. nice, huh?  I was also on Flovent at the time (inhaled steroid) so who knows what I was like LOL ?!

Ask you doc on the otc cold meds but I think more protecting themselves ???

C~