What’s been running through my head lately? Efavirenz. And I’m not exaggerating. This is my third week on Efavirenz, and it’s been trying to drive me crazy.
When the doctor changed my medication from Nevirapine to Efavirenz at the RITM two weeks ago, she had warned me about the side effects. Among these, were dizziness and dreams. I was thinking anything would be better than the fever and rashes I was experiencing with Nevirapine.
So I started on Efavirenz, just once a day, taking the doctor’s advice to take it in the evening, making sure I’d have nothing important to do after taking it. I never experienced any of the dreaming, but man, she wasn’t kidding about the dizziness.
I’ve been trying to come up with some way to accurately describe the feeling, and I’ve actually come up with a number of them.
First thing that came to mind, was that it felt like I was seeing the world through someone else’s prescription lenses. It was like being drunk, but not tipsy. My mind was all a blur.
It wasn’t exactly impairing me. Rather it was even making me move faster. More efficient maybe? I’ve noticed I’ve been able to go through my morning routine faster, making me arrive at work earlier. I even walk faster. I don’t know if it’s giving me more energy or something, but the world seemed to slow down relatively. Crazy, huh?
A friend of mine may have caught a good description, saying it must feel like being on a third straight cup of coffee. I couldn’t really tell, not being a coffee drinker, but maybe, it made some sense.
I also described it as feeling like everything I do, everything I hear, everything I think, everything I see, just echoes in my head twenty times before setting in. It felt chaotic.
So that’s how I’ve been feeling for the past two weeks. Admittedly, I seem to be getting the hang of it. At this point, it’s no longer as bad as the first few days. Things in my head are clearer now, and I feel I’m getting back to my old self again. U and C did say it’d be this way, and that I should be dizziness-free anywhere between a week and a month.
So all in all, I’m pretty happy about the Efavirenz. I haven’t been having to think about it much, and have even had to worry more about my Hepatitis B and Syphilis. Well, not really.
I’ve visited the doctors at Social Hygiene Clinic again to start another round of penicillin shots for my Syphilis. As for the Hepa, the lab tests show I’m an active carrier, and the result of the latest lab test for the Hepa Viral Load hasn’t come out yet. The doctor says it’s nothing to worry about, because one of my HIV medications, Lamivudine, is actually also a medication for Hepatitis B. So we’re actually hitting two birds with one stone here.
The fortunate thing is that I haven’t had any manifestations of either of what a doctor friend of mine regards as my HIV “add-ons”. I’ve always said, having HIV is one thing, but adding Hepatitis B and Syphilis isn’t anything to be proud of. Although, it’s still far from the end of the world.
So for now, they’re just a few things more to deal with, aside from work, family and love. Just another part of the macro scale of life. No biggie.
How about you? What’s been running through your head lately?
Monday, September 22, 2008
In My Head
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Oh Efa, My Efa
Efavirenz. We’d actually met long before it became part of my own regimen.
The first time U and I met, we watched a movie together. The movie time just happened to encompass the time he was supposed to take his medicines. He had accidentally dropped his Efavirenz inside the theater, and he couldn’t figure out where it went. We waited for the end of the movie when all the other people in our row had stood and left. With our cellphones as lights, we started searching under the seats for his tablet. I asked him what it looked like, having no idea. He said it was a small, yellow tablet. I picked up something small and yellow. Good thing I didn’t shout that I’d found it, because I realized all I had in my hand was an unpopped kernel of corn which just may have come from heaven knows whose mouth. Recalling that incident still makes me giggle, with a bit of embarrassment as well.
So how was my first night through Efavirenz? I can’t really say. It’s a pretty cloudy picture. Here’s the deal, I took my first tablet last night at 9:30, along with the Lamivudine+Zidovudine. I was lights out by 10:00 pm. I left a small night light on in the room, just in case I wake up suddenly wondering where I am.
All I can recall is a whole lot of tossing and turning. I even remember telling myself I’d have to kill someone for keeping me up that late. The last time I checked the time it was past 1:00 am. At some point, I was lying in a plate of food, trying to split it into four portions... with my body. And of all things, it was adobo... chicken adobo. I do not have any particular addiction to chicken adobo. I found it a bit weird that I could recall it that vividly.
I’m not sure for which parts of the night I was actually awake or not, but I never ever recalled losing sight of my night light. So it’s either I had carried it over into my dream, or I hadn’t slept a wink. I honestly cannot figure it out. If only based on the headache I have right now and the bags under my eyes, I don’t think I slept a minute. Everything is just so fuzzy.
Hopefully, with the wear of still recovering from the Nevirapine, plus the possibility of two whole days without rest behind me by tonight, I’ll surely be seeing the sandman.
