Things That Do Not Mix

At the top of my list right now are:

Pregnancy and Head Colds

Yesterday morning I woke up with a sore throat and plugged up head. It was also the first meeting for a women's Bible study that I'm going to this fall, so I mustered up the gumph, took a hot shower, found some clothes to wear and went. I took along my waterbottle and chugged it like a starving baby.

By the time I got home I was feeling even more gross. I looked and looked and looked for "the list" of ok meds to take while you're pregnant that the Dr. gave me at our first prenatal visit, but for the life of me I could not find it. I still don't have a clue where it is. Or that whole packet that they gave us. We took it on vacation so I could read the info, and I haven't seen it since.

So I called the Dr.'s office. But they closed at noon and this was 1:30. Lovely. The answering machine said "If you're experiencing a medical emergency, dial ........" Well, I'm not having an emergency, guess that's not me.

I decided to head to CVS and pick the brain of whoever was standing behind the pharmacy counter. I did that, and she was about as much help as ... I don't know what. Not much. My question to her was "I have a head cold and lots of sinus pressure. I usually take Advil Cold & Sinus. I see you have Tylenol Cold and then Tylenol Sinus, can I take one of those and if so, which one would work better for my situation?" Her recommendation was "don't take more than 1 kind of medicine because you don't want to mix kinds". Um, duh!!

I called my sister who is an RN and she cautioned me to not take anything that I haven't cleared with MY Dr's office, and strongly urged me to go ahead and call the "emergency" number. I did and the on call doc called me back while I was buying a roast at Food Lion. I guess me being miserable didn't help me get my questions clear or something. I tried to ask what would be best for my HEAD COLD with SINUS PAIN. She said "You can take Tylenol, Sudafed or Chlor-trimeton". "Is that limited to PLAIN Tylenol, or can I take Tylenol Cold or Sinus??" "Take 2 regular Tylenol every 4-6 hours as needed." Pretty much the end of the conversation. So I loaded up on regular Tylenol and Puffs Plus Lotion tissues and headed home.

Long story short, the Tylenol did diddly-squat. It took the edge off, but just barely and I was still miserable. Thankfully I have a friend - who is not sick and is able to think clearly - who gave me a thorough, but brief description of what each of those 3 meds would do for me. Turns out, Sudafed looked like a much more likely option for easing my balloon-feeling head pain. But it was 10:30 last night when I found this out. Guess what?

I put on my cute, sick-puppy-dog-face and asked Daniel if he would please go get me some Sudafed. And then crawled in bed. He returned a bit later a knight in shining armour, Sudafed in hand. I popped one of those babies, rolled over, blew my nose a couple times, and tried to go to sleep (after I said "thank you"). About an hour later I had to get up, and was actually feeling BETTER! After another hour (of actually sleeping!!!) I had to get up again - drinking water, water and more water will do that - and felt kinda, sorta normal!! I slept pretty much straight through the rest of the night until about 6 this morning (earlier than I usually get up) when I woke up with a dry mouth and throat.

Knowing that I couldn't really get started on drinking water for the day until I put some substantial food in my stomach, I got up at 6:30 (still earlier than usual...) and ate a few pancakes. I just took another Sudafed, and I'm looking forwards to it kicking in and getting me feeling better again.

I had no idea that being sick while pregnant would be such a pain. I knew the drug options were pretty limited, but I didn't realize how miserable it would feel to be sick and it look like I would just have to "ride it out". It maybe wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have 101 things going on this weekend that I can't really get out of. If I could, I'd crawl in bed, surround myself with Puffs Plus tissues, have Daniel waiting on me with water and chicken broth, take Sudafed every 4 hours, and wait it out. I might even request a curly-straw.