Could this be endocarditis?...please help

[emmylala2003]

I had a colonoscopy done last week, my doctor gave me IV antibiotics a few minutes before she started the procedure, not waiting the usual 30minutes. Yesterday I began to not feel well, it started out with a cough, an annoying itchy, scrachy, mucusy cough, the only thing that helped was halls drops. Then today I woke up with really sore throat (it's since become alot better, I think it might have been really dry from sleeping during the night) then I developed a headache, and general body aches and tiredness, I was coughing up this greenish, brownish stuff as well. I sound congested too. I've been taking my temperature since yesterday moring, and despite the fact that my face feels like its on fire, the highest is got was last night 98.9, every other time I've taken it, its been in the 97 neighborhood. Since these symptoms only started yesterday, I plan on staying home tomorrow and getting some rest, and if I don't feel better or get worse, I'll see a doctor on Tuesday. I'm just not sure who to see though, I don't know if this is a bad cold, infection, flu or endocarditis. Can someone help me figure this out?

 

[Nancy]

Well, it sounds suspiciously like what my husband and I have just gotten through, my daughter in Long Island and her family and one of her close friends as well. We also have several members here who have had it or are going through it.

What we found is that is starts out like a little cold, and then BAM, the mucous starts in the head and then develops into bronchitis. My temp was just a little elevated, and so was my husband's.

The mucous is copious and we went through many, many boxes of Kleenex. We both had productive coughs and lots of nasal discharge.

We've both had the flu shot, so I guess this thing is viral in nature.

It's nasty, messy and from what my daughter tells me, the cough is still there at three to four weeks.

It's been two weeks for us and we are just now feeling much better.

All that being said, the fact that this came on after you had a procedure should be run by your doctor just to be safe.

Stay very well hydrated, and stay warm. I certainly hope it not what you are thinking.

 

[Les]

Only a medical doctor can make that diagnosis...not us. If you're that concerned, then make an appointment to see your PCP this week, not next. Certainly, you've picked up something so let the medical professionals evaluate and help you. Endocarditis is what I and many of us on this board contracted originally resulting in valve loss and even with that experience, we cannot and should not make an assessment of your situation. Get to the doc and hope you get to feeling better soon!

 

[tommy]

Sounds like "THE CRUD" that's been going around. Been there, done that! Awful symptoms, but no fever. I was in a fog for about a week. Two weeks later, the fog has cleared and it's partly cloudy with a light haze.

Rest, fluids. Then more rest and more fluids.

To set your mind at ease about endocarditis..............

You probably got antibiotics IV during the colonoscopy. I know that I fretted about that prior to the procedure. I kept asking about a prescription for antibiotics, and kept getting the same answer - not required . Finally the GI doc (or was the anestheseologist?) told me that he takes care of that while I'm "under". Call your GI office to verify that.

Also, I doubt that a colon infection would migrate to the chest, sinuses and develop into endocarditis that quickly. You are probably a victim of bad timing.

Lastly, endocarditis is usually accompanied by fever. Low grade, but persistent.

Having said all that, check in with the doctor. The doc will know if it's something more severe. And maybe you can get something stronger to treat the symptoms.

Get better fast.

 

[Eowyn Rose]

Make an appointment with your doctor. The peace of mind is worth every bit of effort. Even if you have a minor illness the worry will slow down your healing.
Hope you will be better soon.
Take care
Eowyn Rose

 

[McCln]

Emmylala2003

Emmylala2003

You better have made that appointment with the PCP. Or else get your tutu down to the emergency room pronto. You need to take care of the cough and infumation as so as possible. You cannot afford to get seriously ill. Antiobotics are a pain and may take forever to get over infection. You better get to the doctor quickly. This is Momma Caroline speaking. Take care.

 

[Bryan B]

As an unfortunate "expert" with endocarditis, my personal and non-professional opinion is that the chances are that a one week time frame is probably too soon to have vegetation growing on your valve already. However, you might have picked up a bug (either viral or bacterial). I agree that a trip to your PCP is in order if you're not feeling better by the end of the weekend.. If your doc is agreeable, ask him to draw blood cultures looking for possible bacteria in your bloodstream (strep and staph in particular). If the cultures come back positive then the next step would be an echo to check your valves for any vegetation. From the time I came down with a bad case of bronchitis till the time they finally diagnosed me with endocarditis 5 months had passed. I believe that if they would have been more aggresive (given my documented heart condition) they would have caught it 2 months earlier and may have been able to avoid surgery for several more years, although my valve was slowly deteriorating so it was just a matter of time. Hope it just turns out to be the crud going around...but better safe than sorry...get it checked out if you're not feeling better soon!

FYI, here were the symptoms I had as my endocarditis progressed:

Constant low grade fever that usually spiked in the evening
Chills and night sweats that became progressively worse with time
Swollen feet and hands, again progressively worse with time
Fatigue that became worse with time
Muscle aches and joint pain
Towards the end lesions on my arm and hand
Slow weight loss (~20lbs total)
Towards the end I had pain between my shoulder blades and the left side of my heart
Towards the end I looked like death warmed over (and felt that way too)

Sorry to ramble, but for me endocarditis was insidious and I never want to go through it again. The overall mortality rate for endocarditis is ~25%, and having a PICC line in my arm for 7 weeks was no picnic either.

 

[della_anne]

One way to check for endocarditis, though may sound strange is true. Check your fingertips for tiny dots which would be embolisms. When I was a lot younger, I contracted endocarditis and it was scary because the doctors at first thought it was the flu. I had many flu like symptoms, body aches, high tempurature...etc. My temperature never went down so eventualy my doctors did tests and found that it was endocarditis. I was rushed to the hospital and it was when I was in the hospital that they mentioned that you can tell if you have endocarditis if your fingertips have 'dots' on them. I woudl definitely see a doctor to make sure, you can never be too careful.

 

[emmylala2003]

Thanks!

Thanks!

Wow, I just got done reading all of your responses and wanted to thank you all for coming to my aid. I am pleased to report that I am almost back to my normal self, I have some residual coughing, nasal congestion and not to mention plugged up ears, but I'm a whole lot better. Still no fever to speak of and no fatiuge or weakness in site. I think you all might be right about being a victim of bad timing, although a small part of me might still worry about endo. Although, I find it sort of silly to worry to much since everything I've read about the illness says it gets worse over time, not better. Doesn't this make sense? I mean if it were and infection in the heart valve, would it not be progressively worse? and might the fact that I'm feeling better point to something other than endo like bronchitis or URI? Either way, I'm still cautious and if I do get worse again or develop of fever I will see my doctor. Otherwise, I'm going to see her during my next yearly check up in a couple of months or so.

thanks again!
emmy!

P.S. for those of you who have fallen victim to endocarditis, how where you treated? and was it done at home or in the hospital? were you out of work for a long period of time, where you told to stay away from others?

 

[Bryan B]

Emmy,

I was hospitalized for 3 days, during which time they identified the exact strain of bacteria causing my BE (it was a strain of strep) so they could give me the most effective antibiotic to fight the infection. They also surgically implanted a PICC line so that I could receive IV antibiotics long-term from home. After I was discharged from the hospital I had a home health company come over and train me on how to give myself the IV antibiotics (and flush the line), and they also came once a week to change the dressing on the PICC line. I was lucky that they put me on Rocephin (which was a once a day therapy) so I wasn't spending a lot of time giving myself injections. I went back to work one week from the day I was hospitalized. The only thing my company didn't allow me to do was travel during the 7 week antibiotic therapy (I normally traveled 80%). I didn't have to stay away from others, although they did recommend to try and stay away from anyone who may be sick (this happened during flu season).

 

[della_anne]

My experience with endocarditis was a very grave one. Because the doctors did not properly diagnose me, time passed that allowed my condition to worsen. At first , doctors thought that I had the flu, but I was not getting better , but worse. So eventually about within a weeks time, went into the doctor again. This time they did all sorts of tests to see if there was anything going on. Sure enough, there was, I had bacterial endocatditis.

They soon after that admited me to the hospital where they did an echo to see the damage it had done to my heart. My VSD repair was gone, my bicuspid Aortic valve damaged, my mitral valve damaged and 20 % of my heart muscle useless, after surgery they also found that I had an anyerism in my heart. I don't mean to scare you with all these details,but my experience was more than just the effects of the bacteria but also a mishap on the doctors part. With proper identification of infection this wouldn't have been so devastating.

I was put on heavy duty antibiotics, I forgot the name of it, but they were big blue pills. I went in for emergency surgery about a week after admited to the hospital, the VSD was successfully repaired again, I had my damaged aortic valve replaced with a St. Jude valve, mitral valve was repaired and I think they also cleaned the bacteria out of my heart. After surgery my recovery was very difficult. I spent a lot of time in the ICU and at one point was near death. Despite my difficulties, I slowly recovered being on antibiotics, and at one point morphine, steroids and various other meds.

Within a month and a half of hospitialization, I was ready to go home. While at home I continued to recover, I was still very weak and needed to regain my strength. Eventally I was able to go back to school and continue on with my life.

So, the important lesson learned from this experience...make sure you have cautious doctors who will do tests if they suspect that you have an infeciton. If you think you have bacterial endocarditis, DON'T wait to go to the doctor. Its better to be safe than sorry.

 

[nia]

My experience with endocarditis was very similar to della anne. I went to hospitals four times in one week (and for three of them via ambulance) because they kept telling me I had the flu but it wasn?t getting any better. Finally they admitted me because the doctor who happened to be in the ER saw that something was wrong with me (thank GOODNESS she was there). By the time the TEE showed severe vegetation of the mitral valve, I was pretty out of it in the ICU, what with having had a stroke and a brain hemorrhage. I am not trying to scare you either, but left untreated, endocarditis can really become life-threatening.

The recovery was without complication. I was in the CCU for about a week and then was moved to the rehab floor.

Fortunately, after a successful emergency MVR, about a month of antibiotics treatment (vancomycin, aztreonam, and a third one I can?t remember), some physical therapy, and taking a semester off to recuperate, I was back at school. I am extremely lucky that I came out unaffected by either the stroke or the hemorrhage and can function well physically and academically?ok maybe not well academically, but that problem was there long before the endorcaditis?

In any case, now, whenever I feel sick, I go to my PCP to rule out infection. It really is better to be safe then sorry.

 

[francie12]

I have a newbie question about bacterial endocarditis. Is a slight infection, such as an infected cut, any reason for concern, if it is treated promptly? We take all of the precautions for dental work and invasive procedures, just wondering about minor infections. Thanks everyone.