a day ago
Medical Mysteries: He beat a fungal infection. So why was he so ill again?
When Peter Redweik's physicians finally realized that his splitting headaches, slurred speech and stumbling gait were caused by cryptococcal meningitis — a severe inflammation of his brain caused by a fungal infection — they prescribed amphotericin B.
The medication causes such awful side effects — kidney damage, anemia, nausea, seizures — that doctors call it 'amphoterrible' and usually reserve it for life-threatening infections. Redweik had picked up a fungal infection, probably during a visit to Vancouver Island in mid-2016, and there was little doubt he now was near death: He was crashing into walls when he tried to walk and vomiting frequently.
