I started with tuberculosis symptoms 12 months before I was diagnosed. Night sweats and a cough were the first signs, then chest pain, fevers, sputum, weakness and weight loss. I had to go to my doctors on five occasions to be told that I had a chest infection, asthma and pleurisy. Eventually, a chest X-ray and blood were taken to discover it was tuberculosis (T.B.). By that time I was really ill and weak. I recall this as a nightmare. I then was taken to two drugs after a couple of months and my symptoms came back. I had to be isolated for nearly two months and given second-line drugs such as streptomycin injections. I had a six-drug therapy which made me feel sick all of the time. It was not nice. I panic every time I have an infection or a cough. I worry that it might be back to haunt me.

I had pain in the right side just under my arm pit and down to my rib cage. I only had pain when I coughed, hiccupped or stretched out my right arm. My doctor initially thought it a strained muscle but after 3 days of treatment she sent me for X-Ray which found a small spot on the upper part of my right lung and some fluid at the base. She diagnosed TB and after giving me some injections, put me on a course of tablets twice a day. She told me that the condition was not serious but would take up to 6 months to remove the symptoms.

During my second semester at the graduate school where I was taking my MBA, I started waking up in the middle of the night soaked in sweat. A week after I started to have a fever every afternoon and felt some pain in my back. Shortly after a few days my cough started, so I went to the doctor and he told me it was just a mild case of respiratory infection and he just gave me antibiotics. After a week with no visible improvements, I decided to go to a pulmonologist and he finds out from my chest x-ray that my right lungs is positive with fluid, so I had to undergo thoracentesis. Just after 2 days, the pleural fluid test result came out that I was positive with TB. It was so hard for me to accept that I had to stop studying for more than four months just to be sure that I won't be able to infect my friends and classmates. I hope it won't come back ever again.

My lymph nodes in the neck (to the right) started swelling up. Usually one node would swell up to quite a large size and the surrounding nodes to a lesser degree. The lymph node would return to normal size in around two to three months. Sometimes there would be no swelling for a few months and then another node would swell up again. Initially, doctors thought of it as a minor infection but later asked me to get the skin test done. The test confirmed it as tuberculosis. I am currently undergoing treatment.

I was seeking a visa for one of the Gulf State countries and following procedure I had a skin test which proved positive (25mm). After consultation and x-rays the tuberculosis was tracked down to my right kidney. It could not be certified as latent and I therefore have undergone Quadra therapy with little adverse effects.

I was coughing for weeks, waking up in the morning on numerous occasions saturated in sweat but feeling fine. Eventually, after about eight weeks, I had a loss of appetite and weight loss. I was getting sharp pains in my back at night. I went to the same doctor about four times complaining of the cough that wouldn't go away. I was given antibiotics each time and sent away. I didn't mention the night sweats or weight loss to the doctor at the time as didn't think they were related. Eventually, I felt out of breath and dizzy. After a few days off work just feeling sick and weak, I took myself to a hospital and asked them to do some tests. They took an X-ray and found my left lung full of fluid. I had a lung tap that same day to remove the fluid. I immediately felt better after the tap. I was diagnosed with TB and then put on a course of drugs for six months. I'm now fully recovered. My TB was a rare case, as I'm young and healthy, but I do live in Hong Kong where TB is common. At the time of contracting it, I was run down and going through some emotional issues, which I guess affected my immune system.