AN HIV-positive woman believes if it had not been for the knowledge she got from her nursing studies, she would have succumbed to tuberculosis three years ago.
The 43-year-old woman from Mangweni Trust near Tonga in Mpumalanga, lay on her bed for a month, unable to eat or get up. She was sick with worry. Although she was not coughing, her voice was hoarse and worsening every day.
She was also losing weight and was dehydrated. But, each time she went to the local hospital, the doctors would tell her that she had flu. But she knew it had to be TB because of the symptoms.
"I will never forget that sad time in 2009 ever in my life," said the mother of three children who are HIV-negative.
"I was really sick. I got so thin and could not do anything for myself," she said. "Every time I went to the hospital, doctors would just dismiss my case. They would tell me that I have flu, give me medication and send me home.
"After realising I was not getting any help from the hospital, I went to see a private doctor who did a lung X-ray but found nothing wrong with me."
But the woman remained convinced that it was TB.
"I finished the flu medication but I was getting worse. I could not sit up straight or walk. My daughter, who was 23 at the time, cared for me. It was not easy for me and my family. I went to the hospital every week but it was the same story."
On October 13 2009, she forced herself out of bed and went back to a private doctor.
"I told him not to examine me but to write a letter so I could go to the hospital and have X-rays done and I paid him R270 for that."
She says doctors at public health facilities had always insisted on X-rays of her lungs only - but the private doctor had also asked for an X-ray of her spine - and told her that she had bone TB.
The woman, who studied at a nursing college in Randburg, Johannesburg, was then put on TB treatment immediately.
"I worry about this because it means there are people who leave hospital with the wrong diagnosis and medication and they do not even know it," she said.
"How many lives are lost because doctors do not test them for the other types of TB? People need to be educated. TB and HIV have a strong relationship."
HIV-positive nurse fights wrong diagnosis
AN HIV-positive woman believes if it had not been for the knowledge she got from her nursing studies, she would have succumbed to tuberculosis three years ago.
The 43-year-old woman from Mangweni Trust near Tonga in Mpumalanga, lay on her bed for a month, unable to eat or get up. She was sick with worry. Although she was not coughing, her voice was hoarse and worsening every day.
She was also losing weight and was dehydrated. But, each time she went to the local hospital, the doctors would tell her that she had flu. But she knew it had to be TB because of the symptoms.
"I will never forget that sad time in 2009 ever in my life," said the mother of three children who are HIV-negative.
"I was really sick. I got so thin and could not do anything for myself," she said. "Every time I went to the hospital, doctors would just dismiss my case. They would tell me that I have flu, give me medication and send me home.
"After realising I was not getting any help from the hospital, I went to see a private doctor who did a lung X-ray but found nothing wrong with me."
But the woman remained convinced that it was TB.
"I finished the flu medication but I was getting worse. I could not sit up straight or walk. My daughter, who was 23 at the time, cared for me. It was not easy for me and my family. I went to the hospital every week but it was the same story."
On October 13 2009, she forced herself out of bed and went back to a private doctor.
"I told him not to examine me but to write a letter so I could go to the hospital and have X-rays done and I paid him R270 for that."
She says doctors at public health facilities had always insisted on X-rays of her lungs only - but the private doctor had also asked for an X-ray of her spine - and told her that she had bone TB.
The woman, who studied at a nursing college in Randburg, Johannesburg, was then put on TB treatment immediately.
"I worry about this because it means there are people who leave hospital with the wrong diagnosis and medication and they do not even know it," she said.
"How many lives are lost because doctors do not test them for the other types of TB? People need to be educated. TB and HIV have a strong relationship."
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