Doctor, doctor, gimme the news...

[ellyssian]

And the news is: yet more meds!

In addition to a course of Prednisone to knock off any inflammation due to the recent cold/bronchial mess, I will now be regularly scheduled on:

Caduet 10/10 - (Norvasc/calcium channel & Lipitor/cholesterol)
Accuretic 20/25 - (ACE Inhibitor & diuretic)
Allegra 180mg - anthistimine
Toprol XL 50mg - beta blocker - he avoided this before because beta blockers tend to make breathing more difficult, but BP is not where it should be
Advair 250/50 (corticosteroid & bronchial dialator)
Flonase (nose spray stuff)
Albuterol (bronchial dialator/rescue inhaler)
Prilosec 20mg or Zantac 150mg (acid reflux) - anyone have a preference for one or the other? I'll be picking it up about 3 hours after I post this, so act now! =)

The doc was not happy that neither the breathing nor the blood pressure showed vast improvement, so, drop the Astelin, add the Allegra, Toprol, and Prilosec/Zantac and follow up in four weeks. If things aren't much better, I'll get sent to an allergist.

Comments

[celticess.livejournal.com]

Zantac is ranitidine. I was on it for awhile but it wasn't too effective. I'd have to look up other names for prilosec to know if I've tried it. I used pantaloc which was very effective in a one a day and then after that pariet which also worked fine.

Advair is weird isn't it? My son had the exact same combo in disk and it was weird for him to wrap his mind around how to take it. You see he'd had sabutol and other inhalers using an aerochamber before. Since Advair has no aerosol it can't use it.(also the odd shape wouldn't fit even if it did)

One thing to watch with the allegra(I use non drowsy generic version) is it can be hard on the liver. I had the pharmacist caution me with my higher liver enzymes. So hopefully you can get on a reasonably low dose though I don't know if taking it daily all the time is good based on the reaction of the pharmacist and fact I started to get jaundiced after a few days. But maybe it's just me and others who have different liver test results wouldn't react like that. I have no choice but to take the med though when it's cold and I'm reacting to that otherwise I can't function and my skin itches so much I scratch myself up. :(

[patrixa.livejournal.com]

I tried Zantac a few years ago and didn't finish out the month's prescription as it did nothing. Dad had it and had the same reaction I did. I use tums, do not need it every day and it works in a very short time. Also, i tried allegra and it was no help. Claritin D was okay, but both were too costly. The only antihiatamine that works reliably is the 4mgm generic brand of chlorpheniramine. Very rarely does it not help, like when your cats were townhouse cats and I couldn't stay over a very muggy wet visit. Of course, GW was there which didn't help! hahahha!
Good luck and feel better soon.

[ellyssian.livejournal.com]

Nothing allergy related has ever had the advertised effect. The only thing that made any noticeable difference was a specific retailer's generic sudafed - not sure why, but only the Pathmark stuff ever seemed to help, other generic brands didn't help as much, and Sudafed itself never worked at all. Go figure.

You and your other-planetness - yep, it's an inherited problem! =P

I'll give the Prilosec a shot, because the Zantac didn't work for you, dad, or celticess.

[wisedonkey.livejournal.com]

I would certainly recommend going to an allergist. Keeping allergies in check will certainly make you feel better. After all, it's essentially your immune system fighting a non-infection. I went from a sinus infection every two to ten weeks to one sinus infection every eight to eighteen months. To say, "I feel much better," is an incredible understatement!

It's quite unfortunate that you have such conflicting problems. IIRC, steroids aren't the best thing for NAFLD. I know neither Flonase, Advair nor Albuterol are recommended for patients with high blood pressure.

Make sure the allergist is aware of all your conditions and all the medications you're taking. They're generally very aware of drug interations and odd special needs cases. If your insurance needs a referral for specialists, get it now and be there asap. Don't forget that they're usually asthma specialists as well.

[ellyssian.livejournal.com]

Forgot to mention the Good News portion - the NAFLD isn't on the horizon (although it will still be something to be watched closely, because it could become an issue at any time, especially until I get the weight down to at least the low 200's.)

I'm not convinced an allergist will help all that much, except maybe on the asthma side of things. Since no allergy medicine ever made seems to have shown a decent effect - except for once when I took Allegra to help ease some poison ivy - I'm not sure what will come from it. Hopefully, the solution to all my problems. =)

I do need the referral, though, and he wants to wait a month and see how things work out.

The conflicting symptoms thing is the biggest pain - and the one thing that can help them all (regular exercise) keeps getting caught in between and pummelled by this symptom or that.

[lab-rattus.livejournal.com]

Only experience I have is with Albterol and Advair. Much better result with advair. I very rarely use my rescue inhaler. Wished I had it when I was a kid/teenager.

Mom takes Lipitor and her cholesterol is way down.

One of my friends took Allegra until it gave very bad vertigo.