Tuburculosis! HELP.

Hey everyone. Haven't been here for awhile. Mostly everything has been going well after my WLS. I just had my two year anniversary on March 15th and I have kept my weight at 170. I hope everyone has been doing well!

I just got a job at a daycare and as a precursor I had to take a TB test. I did a skin test and I just got the result as a positive skin test. They took a test xray but I won't know until the morning. So I am FREAKING OUT.

Does anyone know anything about TB? I don't have any symptoms at all. My breathing is fine and I am not overtired. I am not coughing up blood. If I do have TB I think it is most certainly dormant. So tomorrow I have to go to the health department and bring my xrays and figure out if I need to start treatment. 

Will this be okay taking medicines after my surgery? I might call my surgeon tomorrow. 

I feel so lost. I didn't really get to speak to a doctor too much and I won't know anything until tomorrow.

 

Did they do a two step ppd? How soon was it read? How big is the site?

A positive skin test means you have been exposed to TB, not that you have it. After coming home from adopting my daughter in Kazakhstan, my daughter and I BOTH tested positive. We both got chest x-rays and did not have TB, My daughter's pediatrician put her on INH for 6 months to prevent the disease. My PCP said for adults, the side-effects are not worth the risk. He said if i ever get a hacking cough that does not go away, ask for a chest x-ray. He said i could develop the disease in the future, especially if I am ever under a lot of stress, like there are some TB cells floating in my body. It's been 9 years since we both tested positive. We have both remained healthy.

I just wanted to wish you well!!!

I got the test tuesday morning and I just got the results a couple of hours ago. I am so terrified that I won;t be able to start my new job on Monday! The site was red and 20 mm one way and 30 mm the other. 

 

That is good to hear that it could mean I was just exposed to it!

Will keep you in my prayers!

If you had vaccination.. that test may come as positive.

That is true. My daughter did get the BCG vaccine, but I don't think many get it here in the US. I never had it so I must have been exposed.

Katie, I'm glad you're doing well otherwise, but I echo what Laura & Hala said - it may just be exposure history, not active disease. In that case, you likely won't have to undergo any medication regimen and just have to do chest Xrays in the future to prove you don't have active/contagious TB. My mom, who's a nurse, always tests positive on PPDs because of exposure, so to continue her licensure she has to get annual chest Xrays. Upside of that is if she ever got lung cancer, she's already getting screened and they'd catch it early! 

I haven't read others comments so it may have been said already.  My sister and step-father both had a positive reaction to the skin TB test, neither have it but are carriers of the virus.  Try not to stress about it, it doesn't mean much at this point and if you need to be treated then you can begin the process then.