Jean Eng Blog

I rarely get sick especially not a full blown cold…at least that’s what I thought I had. A really nasty cold but it wasn’t like any cold I’ve ever had.

If I do get a cold which again is really rare, my usual symptoms include sore throat, fever, body aches, sneezing, stuffy nose, coughing, and my voice sounds rough. Those symptoms are pretty typical of a common cold. This time however was quite different.

I started off with a mild congestion and all the sudden, I lost partial hearing in my left ear. This went on for a couple of days until I started feeling really stuffed up. I didn’t feel physically bad at all, no real fatigue, I was still working out through it. The lost of hearing on one side was really annoying I will have to say. I tried to find a remedy online to unclog my ear but nothing seem to work.

Still no lethargic feeling and no other signs of a “cold” for a couple more days but my ear continues to be hearing impaired and it was starting to get worse. Then came the coughing and blowing my nose, all this thick yellow phlegm came up and my coughing was getting really tight sounding.

I tried over the counter cold medicine and it didn’t seem to work at all. It was hard to figure out what kind of medicine to get because nothing seem to be exactly what my symptoms were. After two over the counter cold medicine and one of which was for sinus congestion, I started to feel worse. I don’t think it was the medicine that made me feel worse, I just think it’s because I wasn’t getting the right kind of medicine for whatever it was that I had.

So I bit the bullet and went to visit my doctor. It’s been a really long time since I’ve seen him, close to 8 years according to their records…I remember that visit, I thought I was dying from this awful stomach pain that lasted for days. I couldn’t keep anything down and I would double over into a fetus position with this excruciating pain. Turns out that the doctor said I may have acid reflux and gave me this new drug, maybe it was new 8 years ago. I can’t remember the name of it but it’s widely advertised these days for acid reflux. That stuff was a miracle and it cured whatever it was that I had.

So fast forward to this illness, I was starting to feel like I had some kind of infection because the usual cold medicines were not clearing it up at all. It still was not like any of my usual cold symptoms I have had in the past, I still had my voice! There was no way out of it, I needed to get some kind of antibiotics to clear it up. So I called and the doctor was there today and I went to see him. He looked over my symptoms and said I had some kind of sinus infection which is the cause for all that yellow thick goop and the partial loss of hearing. Apparently I was all stuffed up in my head, which is what it sort of feels like.

He gave me a few samples of Avelox and a prescription for 3 more pills. I asked him if it was expensive and he said it was. I didn’t expect it to be so much for 3 more pills, thank god for samples! I think I paid almost $48 bucks for 3 pills. I have a total of 6 pills to take and it’s one pill daily. That is some expensive pill at $16 bucks a pop! But if it knocks out this infection totally, it’ll be worth it!

I did search for Avelox online to see what people say about it. I got a big packet of info from the pharmacy with my prescription but it’s always good to hear from others. According to the literature, Avelox (Moxifloxacin) is a prescription antibiotic used to treat common respiratory infections including bacterial sinusitis, bronchitis, and pneumonia in adults. There’s mix reviews on this drug with people saying they had awful side effects. I don’t take things to heart too much when it comes to reviews because everyone’s body is different. I’ve been pretty tolerant of different medicines but then again, I don’t make a habit of taking daily doses of drugs either.

So far with just one dose, I have noticed that my coughing isn’t so phlegmy and tight sounding. My ear is still clogged but I’m expecting that miracle any moment now when it finally unclogs and I can hear again in stereo! It sure sucks not to be able to hear fully. Hearing is such a gift, music is not the same with only one ear. It’s amazing how not hearing impacts your everyday life. I cook and can’t hear the sizzling (burning), tea kettle whistling has to be super boiling before I even notice it. People talking to me and I can’t hear it and have to say “excuse me” and lean my good ear into them. Not hearing sure sucks!

I have 5 more days of this antibiotic so we’ll see how it goes.