Saturday, August 22, 2009

Isoniazid, Day Three

I've decided not to worry too much about the food... I will be cautious, especially at the beginning, but this is a fundamental quality of life issue, and I'm a Superman. Right?

I am taking the liver / alcohol aspect seriously. So far, so good. Right now my plan is no more than 5 alcoholic drinks per week and no more than one per day. I'm good with structure like that, even when it's self imposed structure. I'm thinking, as a rule, a drink on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, then Tuesday and Wednesday (traditional date nights). I really enjoy my wind down after D&D drink, so I may swap around, or I may scale down further.

I drank the last good beers from the fridge on Wednesday, and started the medication on Thursday.

Friday, August 21, 2009

Drugs!

A few months ago I had my annual TB skin test from work, and it came up positive. It's not a big deal, but it does mean I have a 1 - 2% chance of contracting 'real' tuberculosis in my life time. If I were to contract the disease, it would be most likely to happen when I was immuno-suppressed for some other reason. If I should (heaven forbid) get cancer, or HIV or be on lots of steroids for some reason, that's when the TB would strike. While I have no reason to worry specifically about those illnesses, life is long, and one never knows. In the back of my head, I always expected cancer to be what gets me, probably because my grandfather died of lung cancer. Of course, he smoked and I don't, so, again, no specific reason to worry.

I decided to start the 9 month antibiotic treatment of Isoniazid, in order to wipe away that chance of getting TB later in life. With this drug comes a few shifts in life style until mid-May, when I conclude the course. First, my doctor suggested I have less than one alcoholic drink per day. This is to protect my liver.

There are also other food and beverages that contain Tyramine that might react badly and cause "very dangerous reactions such as sudden high blood pressure." Soy products are on that list, as are all beers (including non-alcoholic) and wine. Hrmph. My doc didn't seem that worried about the foods and whatnot, but my pharmacist did.

I think I need to do some more research, so I know what's what. I'll report my findings.