Doxycycline and Cipro - my new best friends ;-)

Well touch wood I seem to be feeling loads better after a week on Ciprofloxacin and Doxy - at this rate I won't be needing IVs, hurrah! My usual oral of choice is Cipro and Rifampicin but no more ;-) From now on it's the cycline all the way.

Staying down south in Norwich with work for two days and ended up at a hotel in the sticks (a recently converted retirement home ;-)) ; but it did turn out to have a big gym with treadmills and I managed to do a 30 minute run with a sprint finish so not all bad really even though it is a pain being away from the family. Presentation tomorrow so hoping my nerves don't get the better of me...

Sticking my neck out

I lied, I couldn't resist the lure of the internet ;-). I've been checking out some of these neck and shoulder exercises on youtube, some of which seem to reference the Alexander technique (based on straightening the head position when sitting/standing to relieve the burden on your neck and shoulders) I've tried out a few exercises and I *think* they've helped. We'll see...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uzd_nFzj0Y&feature=related

Pain in the Neck and Outpatients ;-)

Yesterday I went to the CF outpatients as my lungs seem to have been taking a nose dive; particularly after my recent bank holiday family weekend in Centre Parcs Penrith, which was great but maybe a combination of the damp weather and the overheated bedrooms at night had the effect to dehydrating me/making me produce more and more mucus. Was quite bad when I got back on Easter Monday, I was coughing and coughing and the muck just kept coming up - I also felt wobbly on my legs, maybe I had a virus or maybe just the sheer amount of coughing and volume of mucus was knackering me. Blows were down 2.35 / 3.15 so it was definitely time to try something. Anyway I / we decided that the way forward was to try 2 weeks of oral antibiotics (Doxycycline and Ciprofloxacin) and see how I go - if I don't improve then it will be time to bring out the heavy artillery (or IVs as they are more commonly known)

I have had a sore neck for the last 3 months and it's been making my life a misery. I think it maybe "laptop neck"; neck and shoulder posture related; maybe after too many years of staring down at a laptop while sitting down, it's started to take it's toll on my neck as the pain seems to ease when I'm not working on the computer at home. I told one of my mate's about it this weekend and he recommended this for pain relief. I asked the doctors about this at outpatients and they have referred me to a musculoskeletal physiotherapist in a months time so I will see how that goes first before trying anything exotic like the Alexander technique, etc.

I did ask about my recent problems speaking in the morning - I have been struggling at times to speak properly due to dry, sticky mouth and I was wondering whether I had blocked saliva ducts - but the doctor recommended upping my dose of salt tablets to see whether that improved things.

I was also considering being referred to the psychologist as I have been a bit up and down in my moods of late, (possibly due to losing my dad last year), but I bottled out - I'll ask at the annual review in a month or two.