General Medical issues thread

[Flashback]

Quick DIY rehydration:

1L water
6 level teaspoons table salt
Half to 1 level teaspoon of sugar.
Plus eat bananas to keep up the potassium.

@Flashback when was the last colonoscopy?

They're not quite ripe enough.....


Shops were closed yesterday too, so I'm hoping to swing by a pharmac_ on the drive up to the Intercontinental.

 

[Freq Flier 2013]

Any tips / home remedies for my 1.5 year old who is coughing a lot and having issues sleeping.
Noise is not fully blocked yet, just sore / red throat and phlegm at the back of the throat.
We are using Fes (noise spray), warm water to drink.
Honey? Haven’t given it to her yet.
Coughing syrup is not recommended from what I can tell.
I guess I’m just after something to make it get better faster…

 

[Seat0B]

Any tips / home remedies for my 1.5 year old who is coughing a lot and having issues sleeping.
Noise is not fully blocked yet, just sore / red throat and phlegm at the back of the throat.
We are using Fes (noise spray), warm water to drink.
Honey? Haven’t given it to her yet.
Coughing syrup is not recommended from what I can tell.
I guess I’m just after something to make it get better faster…

A room humidifier might help a bit?

 

[Quickstatus]

coughing a lot and having issues sleeping.
Noise

Any:
Fever?
Lethargic?
Eating?
Wheezing?
Change in voice?
Unable to lie down?

 

[Flashback]

Well, fortunately I made it without incident and even got upgraded to a room with a private outdoor jacuzzi. Hopefully will feel like using it tomorrow! Rehydration sachets picked up on the way along with some paracetamol. Banana will have to wait....

 

[Freq Flier 2013]

Any:
Fever?
Lethargic?
Eating?
Wheezing?
Change in voice?
Unable to lie down?

No fever
Not lethargic
Eating less probably due to sore throat
We are giving her lots of water
No to the other points.
Only when flat does cough more but I guess it’s understandable.

 

[Quickstatus]

cough

Here is a good Aid - includes a good podcast

 

[prozac]

Had my Shingrex booster vaccine today. Should be the last unless they decide it needs a top up at some stage.

 

[MARTINE]

Had my Shingrex booster vaccine today. Should be the last unless they decide it needs a top up at some stage.

Current view is at least ten years immunity

 

[Seat0B]

Oh I found this thread again. It moved!

I had my PET scan yesterday. I’ll have to wait a week to 20 days for the results as QScan persists in the patronising process of making patients wait a week after the report is sent to the doctor. I understand the theory of not giving patients news they can’t handle but I really can’t agree with this approach. Most people getting a PET scan either have cancer or are suspected to have cancer and it totally fails to recognise the level of anxiety associated with waiting for results. Anyhoo….

Had my platelet aggregation tests today. I already have results, which were all normal so the suspected clotting disease from the previous aggregation tests done at the time of leukaemia diagnosis is looking unlikely. The first report did note that the anomalous results were potentially related to the leukaemia rather than Bernard Soulier Syndrome. So I guess that means the blotches might be a leading indicator of relapse. Something has to be causing them - they are certainly not normal. And they are getting worse.

 

[Pushka]

For those whose used Fluorouracil cream, how long did you need to use it before the necessary reaction occurred? While I have some redness and it's a little ugly, it's at 2 1/2 weeks and not what I was thinking after the description from the GP? I guess I'll just keep using it for a bit.

Prostate Cancer. I think every male friend we know has been diagnosed with it. Not in the family yet (husband and brother) but it seems like it's almost a rite of passage these days.

 

[codash1099]

So my plans to resume travel this year have been blown out of the water.

Early February, routine blood tests show severe anaemia so a few days in hospital and an iron infusion. Gastroscopy and colonoscopy to find a cause shows cancer in the stomach. Follow up gastroscopy by an expert in the field showed the cancer can't be removed endoscopically, so looks like surgery will be required. Fortunately, there doesn't appear to have been any spread.

Now waiting to see what the wise men of the profession decree is the best way to go about it. (I have some peculiar anatomy that makes my stomach not easily accessible by laparotomy).

Belated report:

Surgery was deemed to be too risky so started on a course of chemotherapy. After an uncomfortable 9 months, hypothyroidism brought that to a sudden halt, but PET scans and a gastroscopy showed no sign of the cancer. Thank you, medical science. Further PET scans and gastroscopies to come as confirmation, but I'm confident.

So that's two cancers beaten in about 5 years. I'm beginning to think I'm immortal.

 

[MARTINE]

Belated report:

Surgery was deemed to be too risky so started on a course of chemotherapy. After an uncomfortable 9 months, hypothyroidism brought that to a sudden halt, but PET scans and a gastroscopy showed no sign of the cancer. Thank you, medical science. Further PET scans and gastroscopies to come as confirmation, but I'm confident.

So that's two cancers beaten in about 5 years. I'm beginning to think I'm immortal.

Good luck with your recovery @codash1099
You have had a difficult time
I hope there is something nice coming up to celebrate
All the best

 

[Flyfrequently]

For those whose used Fluorouracil cream, how long did you need to use it before the necessary reaction occurred? While I have some redness and it's a little ugly, it's at 2 1/2 weeks and not what I was thinking after the description from the GP? I guess I'll just keep using it for a bit.

Count yourself lucky at this stage @Pushka !
I had to use it for 2 episodes last year.
First on my right cheek, by day 10 looked terrible and so itchy. Had to take a break for a week then continue. Was able to use paw paw ointment on the skin around it which was soothing.
And (bravely) a few weeks after that, my decolletage.
Same response, red raw and so itchy at day 10-12, prescribed Phenergan and had a break for a week, then did 5 days on, 2 days off, for the remaining time.
Hopefully "a little ugly" is as bad as it gets for you.
Hard part for me was staying out of the sun - still paying for the sins of my misspent youth!
Good luck with it.

 

[Major]

For those whose used Fluorouracil cream, how long did you need to use it before the necessary reaction occurred? While I have some redness and it's a little ugly, it's at 2 1/2 weeks and not what I was thinking after the description from the GP? I guess I'll just keep using it for a bit.

I use Fluorourcil 25mg/g mixed with Calcipotriol 25ug/g. Twice a day for 5 days only. The redness only lasted for about a week and it all cleared up after about 2 weeks

 

[Pushka]

Yes, I've heard that mix is good. Maybe it's just not as 'violent' as the GP inferred.

Post automatically merged: Mar 16, 2024

Count yourself lucky at this stage @Pushka !
I had to use it for 2 episodes last year.
First on my right cheek, by day 10 looked terrible and so itchy. Had to take a break for a week then continue. Was able to use paw paw ointment on the skin around it which was soothing.
And (bravely) a few weeks after that, my decolletage.
Same response, red raw and so itchy at day 10-12, prescribed Phenergan and had a break for a week, then did 5 days on, 2 days off, for the remaining time.
Hopefully "a little ugly" is as bad as it gets for you.
Hard part for me was staying out of the sun - still paying for the sins of my misspent youth!
Good luck with it.

I'm on steroi_s for PMR. Maybe that's why?

 

[drron]

Well steroi_s are great anti inflammatory agents.

 

[Flyfrequently]

As (bad) luck would have it, had a BCC removed from my right forearm on Tuesday, currently sitting in a Primary Urgent Care facility waiting be seen.
Wound has become infected.
Happy to wait the 2+ hours to see a dr rather than the 6-10+ hours in ED.
Available health care where we live in our tourist town is woeful at the best of times, let alone on a busy, warm weekend.

 

[prozac]

Count yourself lucky at this stage @Pushka !
I had to use it for 2 episodes last year.
First on my right cheek, by day 10 looked terrible and so itchy. Had to take a break for a week then continue. Was able to use paw paw ointment on the skin around it which was soothing.
And (bravely) a few weeks after that, my decolletage.
Same response, red raw and so itchy at day 10-12, prescribed Phenergan and had a break for a week, then did 5 days on, 2 days off, for the remaining time.
Hopefully "a little ugly" is as bad as it gets for you.
Hard part for me was staying out of the sun - still paying for the sins of my misspent youth!
Good luck with it.

I was about to start Fluorouracil cream last April when I was diagnosed with cancer so had to put it on the back burner as not possible whilst having chemo. Now I am just waiting for Autumn to start proper to commence. My hair has grown back patchy and the wrong colour so will shave off before I begin. My skin specialist advised to use for 4 weeks with a break if needed.

 

[Himeno]

That was a fun day.
Has the 2nd SPC change this morning. First time it was changed by the community nurses. The first one had to be done in the hospital outpatient clinic by the CNS, but the rest can be done by the community nurses.

Went to the local health center for the appointment and they changed it easily enough. They got urine in the tube which told them it was in the right spot, not as much as they would have liked, but enough for them to say it was where it was meant to be and to fill the balloon. They were happy enough to send me home, but concerned that it wasn't pulling urine through as quickly as it should, so said they'd call me to check after 1-2 hours.

It took 3 hours to fill the SPC tube (100 ml), then nothing would flow out of the valve when opened (we changed from a leg bag to a valve to see how it goes. I can change it back to the bag if I need to).

A few phone calls later, by this point it had been almost 5 hours since it was changed and only a few drops had flowed through, not much more after they asked me to pull off the valve and put on a bag. By this point, my bladder was starting to feel full and getting towards what prompted me to go to the hospital when this whole thing started.
So one of the nurses made a home visit on her way home, checked on it and changed the tube again. This new tube appears to be working correctly. It looks like the first one was defective.

Still haven't heard anything about this surgery they are planning. They didn't have any notes about it in my file either. (I sure hope it doesn't require all 8 repeat changes the CNS asked the community nurses to do. With one change every 6 weeks, that takes the booked changes through to Feb 2025, and although I'm fine to travel, I don't really want to go to the US and deal with TSA idiots while the SPC is still required.)