Christina is at the tail end of her mild summer cold which every one have had off and on- a croaky throat, a mild sore throat for one or two morning, a cough here and there, sinus headache above the eyebrows galore, not a runny nose really, just a smatter, but a very general malaise and fatigue. I think that's what she got.
I discounted a bladder infection because we've been forcing her liquid (at least 1 glass water with her meds 3xday, and with her meals, 3xday also, and 2 in between, through a syringe if we must) and she's not been on antibiotics lately, so no yeast infection either.
Not a gum infection,we've been putting some hydrogen peroxide (grade A from a health food storeo which I dilute to 2% )on her wet toothbrush at the end after the rinse to prevent any unknown infections there.
No ear picking either.
Besides I don't personally(see "Believe it or Not" posting) have any other symtoms other than the ones cited in the first paragraph for the cold.
She just started going into abscence seizures which became statis when she couldn't shake hem off for the whole afternoon and into the night. Her hands and feet go wet with profuse sweating and then they become icy cold.
When we lay her down we have to gently push her head down to the pillow and turn it toward us, her muscles are so tense. Her arms and legs flail up as she contorts her body forward to the left side(her better side since she has Hemiparesis of the right side) into grand mal seizures about 4 to 6 times a day.
In the past we would just watch helplessly, passing her magnet over her VNS(vegal nerve stimulator implant) in a futile attempt to stop the seizures midstride.
The doctors in the Mamao Hospital in Tahitiwould prescribe more and more Dilantin, Tranxene, or Phenobarb to no avail, when she went in for being in that mess too long, unable to drink or eat, even her meds, because she couldn't swallow.
Our neurologist from America sent an urgent message to try this last thing saying- when no amount of medicine seems to helpat all, it's most likely a Dilantin overdose, so we must stop the Dilantin for 24 to 48 hrs until we see a difference, but meanwhile to let the Phenobarb carry the seizures with Tranxene and Lamictal, and we also had Sabril.
After we got her out of a coma at the hospital from a collapsed lung(That's a whole other important lesson about feeding tube for another day) our neurologist wrote us in an email:
"Now that you've seen what a Dilantin overdose looks like, remember it, burn it into your brain for the future."This was the turning point in our managment of Tina's seizures.
We noticed she displayed these symptoms at the onset of any infection. Somehow, Dilantin (which we've been trying to eliminate but she seems to need some for seizure control on normal days), causes her to go in overdose mode when she's sick.
I'm guessing that the receptors that receive the Dilantin molecules, which also receive the Sabril molecules, and now the Keppra molecules, are busy doing other things therefore pushing all her Dilantin molecules through the blood/brain barrier.
And yet, whatever those receptors are doing when she's sick, it makes it so she doesn't need her Dilantin at those time, only when she's well does her body demand Dilantin, even the smallest amount.
So once we understood that, we could manage Tina's seizures by removing the Dilantin right away. She usually will respond right away, or ,by the next dosage if we did the right thing.
We will see almost no statis, and she'll almost, but not quite, be her old self again.
But we must still address her infection, figure out what it could be, because the sicker she is the harder it is to control her seizures. Meanwhile an extra Tranxene is useful to control the extra little twitches.
An empty water bottle filled halfway with apple cider vinegar and the other half with honey has been a boon to us to fight any upper respiratory infections. If we catch it at the very beginning we seldom need to give her a syringe of it by mouth 3xday for more than a week; if the runny nose doesn't stop with 1 syringe then give her 2 or 3 more syringes until it stops. Flush it down quickly with 2-4 syringes more of water. I have to do that now that she's too old to suck on a bottle of apple cider vinegar and honey tea(Add about 2-3 Tbs of the vinegar/honey syrup to a cup of water or to a bottle- it should be pleasant but still be strong enough to kill any germs in the throat, about the color of apple cider juice). This mixture is very useful against gastritis diarreah.
For UTIs (urinary infections) I was fortunate to find a local homeopathic clinic where I can get drops made especically for all her needs, her gum infection, even for her aversion of water at this time(probably from the bitterness of her meds mixture administered via a syringe also, like her water, when she isn't drinking enough. Yeah, I thought it corky that something would help her accept water better, until I read something in Human Cellular biology but that's another chapter for later. Thet can do eardrops too. It beas trying to find antibiotics online.
How do you know when the infection is over. This is the hardest part of this whole business, because the symptoms are almost the same when she's at the edge of either the underdose area or the overdose area.
This grey area manifests itself with the same symptoms as when we started. She's doing just fine until out of nowhere she gets a grand mal, some twitches, and even statis sets in, and I don't know if it's a relapse or if she's ready for her Dilantin.
This is when you need all your wits about you and you observe for subtler signs. I noticed that when Tina is in the underdose mode, she usually doesn't drool, but swallows excessively even in her sleep, and her muscles are more taut than flacid, her neck especially, and Grand Mal seizures usually the first signs.
If this is what I'm going with, I would add 1/4 (12.5mg) Dilantin first and see how it goes, if I am right she'll be better and snap out of her seizures. If I'm wrong she'll be worse especially 45 min after we give it to her, or if she gets better just before the next dose. If it's good I'll maintain this until she starts having more seizures than i know her body needs more Dilantin. I'll add 1/2(25mg) and so on until she's on her regular dosage.
Only the ones who have gone through this grey area would know how hard it is to discern which way to go. For me I need, in addition to everything I've observed, help from beyond myself, I need the help of the Lord to tell me if what I'm about to do is correct or not. That might seem easier said than done.
If you can imagine just being awakened at 5AM and being asked by whoever you have over the meds(ours is our son Adam who is still home until October before he leaves for the Montreal Mission) and he's asking you what he needs to do for the meds, or you're away to help your daughter and her new baby , and he asks you what to do with her Dilantin- it's nerve racking and you must have complete trust in whatever you worked out with the Lord to be your way of knowing from him, yeah or nay.
Let me tell you about King Hezekiah's system of communication with God in 2 kings 20:1-11. after the prophet Isaiah tells him to set his house in order because he is about to die, he beseeches the Lord to remember how he has done that which is good in his sight, and of his perfect heart, and he wept sore(I've done that many a time). The Lord hears his prayer and tells him through Isaiah
"I have seen thy tears: Behold I will heal thee; on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the Lord. And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria...
And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah, What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up into the house of the Lord the third day?
I love this. The prophet gives him a choice:
"And Isaiah said, This sign shalt thou have of the Lord, that the Loird will do the thing that he hath spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees?
And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees( Rrright, but I think he meant that it would be easier for him to miss this sign since it goes in that direction anyway). nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees.
And isaiah cried unto the Lord: and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz."
2 Kings 20:1-11 KJVI know the Lord will honor whatever method you might choose between He and you to help you know for sure what to do, right down to the number of miligrams you need.
May God blees you.
This is what I had in mind at first.
If it gets too hot I could always dress down to this:
With a little funk:
