AED's and Viruses

[Endless]

I've been down for almost two weeks with a NASTY virus - the doc thinks norovirus. I got severe dehydration and way out of whack electrolyte levels. I won't go into how but use your imagination. After a week of having fluids and potassium mainlined into me, I'm just so done. (but unfortunately the virus isn't.)

I caught it at my mom's senior living community which was pretty much on lockdown for a month to keep it from spreading there. Well, it spread. To me as well as more of them. I did wash my hands a lot. I was very careful. Guess not careful enough.

The lesson in it for people with epilepsy is that they may get much sicker for much longer if they are on medication that has certain side effects that apply to them. (Note, not all side effects happen to all people) Extra virus problems are possible if your meds:

• Act as a diuretic (like Diamox) that could make your dehydration even worse,
• Are irritating to your stomach (like Sodium Valproate) so they make your barfing even worse, or
• Affect your immune system (like Topamax and Lamotragine) so you are more susceptible to illnesses when exposed to them

For me, it was Diamox and Lamotragine plus exposure to a bad virus. A triple whammy.

Not to mention the problems we have keeping our seizure meds down when nauseated. It adds another problem on top of an already miserable situation.

 

[Nakamova]

I would add Zonisamide to the diuretic list. You gotta drink a ton of water when you're healthy on it, and if you're sick... make that two tons.

The Norovirus looooves an enclosed community. At least you didn't catch it on a cruise Endless, but boyoboy it sounds like you've had a nasty time. Is there light at the end of the tunnel now?

 

[ajax]

It can be even harder to maintain electrolytes on medications like Trileptal (oxcarbazepine). I'm pretty sure there are others that can increase electrolyte loss, but Trileptal is definitely one of them.

 

[Cint]

Hi Endless,

I hope you stay on the road to recovery. As Nakamova said, viruses love enclosed communities.

In January my father was in the hospital with a severe case of pneumonia. He also has End Stage Renal Disease, so has to do dialysis 3 days a week. When he was released from the hospital, he went to a rehab home to regain his strength and that is where we nearly lost him. I also caught the virus while he was in the rehab home, and out of a family of 5 kids plus my mother and neices, nephews, I was the only one who caught it. My immune system is compromised, too. I take Topomax and Keppra, plus I have diabetes on top of it all.

 

[Endless]

Hey, Nak. Thanks for asking.

Everybody else may want to skip to the last paragraph, lol....
My potassium is up to the minimum of the normal range now (hooray!), but it seems I'm still in metabolic acidosis. I'm super weak, have trouble thinking, and my bones hurt. I'm going to see my doc in a few hours. Otherwise, I feel soooo much better than I did a few days ago.

Yeah, I definitely deserved a cruise for all that. Though the thought of being trapped on a boat with a thousand other norovirus infected, fluid-losing people sounds rather horrible.

 

[Birdbomb]

To get your gut back on track eat yogurt with probiotics.
My immune system is completely suppressed because of several autoimmune
disorders. Because of my precarious health, almost 2 years ago I was hospitalized because of a cellulitious infection in my armpit and the antibiotics clashed with my medication so I needed to be on constant observation.
The antibiotics did a wonderful job of clearing up the cellulitious but they also killed off my gut bacteria. I ate Activia and in less than 2 weeks, it was business as usual again.



http://1stprobiotics.com/probiotics-in-yogurt.htm