Rest. Don’t work.
Last night, I decided to use TypePad’s delayed posting feature, write my blog entry, set it to publish this morning, then headed to bed. My thinking was that I would get up, not be sucked into computer land, and I’d get to work well ahead of a scheduled 9:30 conference call. No such luck.
My back was bothering me yesterday, and the bottle of Tylenol w/Codeine said "take 1-2 tablets every 6 hours." I took 2, thinking that it would allow me to get a really good night’s sleep. About a 1/2 hour after taking it, my stomach started to hurt. I thought "was I supposed to take that with food?"…and went to check the bottle. Nope, no instructions about taking with food. Thought I’d make some toast anyway. As I was waiting for the toast, my stomach began to hurt so badly that I pretty much fell to the floor. Then the chest pains started. What the heck? After another 1/2 hour, we decided that a trip to the ER was going to be necessary. So, at just before midnight, we loaded the kids into the car & headed on our way. I write that as if it was just this very calm, matter-of-fact outing. It wasn’t. There was crying. There was fear. There was pain that left me white knuckled holding the armrest.
Turns out, I can’t stomach codeine. Literally. And my heart & blood pressure don’t like it much, either. IV fluids & warm blankets were my friends. I had to drink some nasty, lidocaine laden, drano smelling, gross STUFF to numb my mouth, throat & stomach. Thankfully, it also knocked me out.
At one point, I was reminded that I’ve spent my fair share of time in hospitals as I informed the staff nurse, "listen buddy, the only vein you’re gonna find for that IV is in my left wrist…trust me."
So, our very tired crew was sent home in the wee hours of the morning with a very doped up Mommy & a note that said "Don’t take codeine again. Rest. Don’t work." Sounds like good advice to me.
9 Comments
Janeen
Yikes! What an eventful night you had! Glad it was nothing too serious…betta throw out that Tylenol w/ C! Ibuprofen for you!
Love all your LO’s btw!!
Shannon
My mother is allergic to codine and the very same thing happens to her when she takes it. I’m so sorry you had to deal with that. Hopefully this issue with your back will get resolved soon. I hate to read that you are in so much pain. Take care of yourself.
stacy
EEk! Ok. enough of that! Boy, you have had your share! Back pain, bird flu :), & now codeine reaction. Please take care of yourself and get well soon!
hugs!
Tawnya
goodness! does not sound fun! you should have called me I would have come to stay with the kids! are they still on strike?
karen
pretty awful evening. i hope that you all got to sleep in.
Karin
Oh my, how awful! I hope you’ve been resting today. I’m sending lots of postive thoughts and healing energy your way! ((((Hugs))))
Mom
Call before taking ANY other prescriptions! Neither of us can take codeine either! Get better. I LOVE YOU!
Da Queen
Oh man! I bet you were terrified, I bet your kids were terrified! Poor thing 🙁
Kelly Edgerton
Oh my gosh! I had to take a self enforced sabbatical from reading blogs for a week, and I now I come to catch up and I read this? YIKES! I am so sorry that your body reacted to the codeine in this manner. That is very scary. I hope that by now (practically a week later) you are feeling better, and I hope that your back gets better soon. You’ve been fighting that for much too long. {{{HUGS}}}.