Steve Reads

Quick synopsis of my bacterial experiences of late:

• Got a tooth removed and braces put on on May 31.

• Was supposed to go to a friend’s wedding in deepest Virginia on June 1. Ended up instead confined to bed for 24 hours after developing an infection during the aforementioned dental love.

• Stayed on penicillin for 10 days, more or less, after June 1.

• Ended the penicillin, developed an ear infection, went on ofloxacin for that. (Next step after penicillin. Normally I think cipro is that second step; for whatever reason, my doctor didn’t choose that.)

Well, wouldn’t you know it: 1% to 3% of ofloxacin patients develop nervousness and/or sleep disorders. Which is precisely what happened to me: I’ve been nervous and sleepless for a few days now. The anxiety has been so bad that it’s prevented me from running: I tried my now-standard three-mile loop, but couldn’t do it: my body felt rubbery, and I was shaking far too much. And also sweating way more than normal. As a generally non-anxious person, this was vexing to me.

So today I switched, on the doctor’s recommendation, to azithromycin. A bit of reading suggests that nervousness and so forth are unlikely. I hope to god so. I also just hope to be off meds Real Soon Now.