haleygrace's Profile

My Side Effect Posts

Zithromax Z-Pak 29, female - I hardly ever go to the doctor; am on no daily medication. I am a teacher so I frequently pick up little bugs but I usually shake them quickly. However, three weeks ago I started to get a sore throat and developed an ear infection so intense it sent me to the ER in the middle of the night. I was prescribed amoxicillin and my pain subsided, but my ears remained clogged. Ten days later I went to an urgent care doctor who gave me prednisone for my inflamed ears and advised me to take mucinexD. A week later, the overall infection got worse spreading to my sinuses and chest. I went back to the urgent care center and asked to be treated aggressively because I was tired of being sick for so long and my symptoms were getting worse. The nurse practitioner told me I have bronchitis and prescribed a z-pak and I thought, finally! Now I'll get better. I have learned that better is relative. I took my first dose of two pills yesterday and did not eat for the rest of the day. I did force myself to drink water so as not to become dehydrated. I took one bite of pizza and the moment it hit my stomach I knew it was a bad idea. I did not have diarrhea but I think thats only because I had nothing in me. I got chills and my skin felt creepy. I started to think negatively about the person I was hanging out with. I went to bed only to wake up freaked out and anxious many times. My dreams were vivid, frightening, completely unpleasant. About two hours after laying down I got up and had to vomit; out came all the water I made myself drink. Today I woke up and my cold symptoms are mostly gone but about 30 minutes after taking my second dose of the z-pac I felt spaced out, unable to concentrate, negative, my skin super-creepy. I just wanted the day to pass. I watched a movie and some episodes of Cops and felt like my life was approaching a dead end. I actually feared ending up like the prostitutes and street people of the show. My thoughts spiraled, I wanted to break up with my boyfriend, feared he was going to break up with me, contemplated a career change, all the while enduring ringing in my ears and a sense of dread and meaninglessness. And then I looked up side effects of the z-pak and saw that many people have similar emotional reactions to it. I feel better knowing its the drug making me feel this way, but I wish I had known before taking it. I do not think I am going to continue this medicine tomorrow. I can't wait until it is out of my system. I'd rather be sick than feel the way this medicine makes me feel.