Re: Hi from Texas - I am new to all this

September 21, 2008

Hi Diane, and yes I did read to the end, Sounds like your body needs to be put in time out LOL, just kidding, with asthma and other health issue you HAVE to keep a sense of humor.

I personally am on Symbicort 16o and Xyzal Qvar 80 and Provair and Xopenex for my nebulizer.

I personally us an asthma/allergist specialist and stay in close contact with my PCP with everything. A PCP can ONLY do so much DON'T USE BLEACH any strong smells can and will set off your asthma, cold air, and hot humid air I have a tough time with. Now that ragweed plus mold and a few other outdoor allergies.

I"ll be back later I need to finish powerwashing the outside of our house, this joker is a long ass rambler when it comes to cleaning the siding! 80 feet long!

Terry I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much. ~Mother Teddy Bear's Early Learning ProgramEstablished August of 1992

From: asthma [mailto:asthma ] On Behalf Of vinagroonSent: Sunday, September 21, 2008 11:51 AMTo: asthma Subject: Hi from Texas - I am new to all this

Hi again,

I just joined this group. I am looking for answers that I don't think I will find easily elsewhere. Here are my questions for those who are not up for reading my novelette below:

1) what kind of doctor do you go to for this? are there asthma specialists?

2) what are some symptoms that you won't read about anywhere? such as:

a. exhaustion

b. mental fogginess; memory problems; trouble concentrating, etc.

c. joint & muscle pain & achiness

I was just diagnosed officially last week, but (after reading up a bit) I suspect I have had Cough Variant Asthma for years. I would always have a long bout of what I thought was bronchitis, following a cold or the flu... this has been the case for many years. It would go on for weeks & weeks & would be worse if it was cold & rainy...

In the last few years I have just had more trouble breathing in general - shortness of breath, having to sigh or yawn to really feel like I was getting enough air... Particularly when I would first lie down at bedtime, I would have to work to get into a position where I could breathe. I also have had a chronic dry cough for the last few years; I even went off my blood pressure med (lisinopril) for a few weeks to see if it was a side effect -- the cough didn't go away. The doctor I was going to at that time didn't care to investigate further. For that & many other reasons, I did switch drs.

My current doctor tried me on Symbicort for the shortness of breath etc. but it didn't have much effect, so she switched me to Singulair, which helped a lot. (this was a few months ago.) Then, a few weeks ago, I started into a downward spiral of health problems... I got a staph (MRSA) infection in my armpit, for which I was taking Bactrim (I will never willingly take Cipro or any fluroquinolone antibiotic again.) Then, less than a week later, an incident occurred which brought on an acute asthma attack.

I was cleaning up a toxic waste situation that occurred in a dead refrigerator (I will spare you the details) & I poured some straight chlorine bleach into the noxious black liquid..... My breathing difficulties started about 15 min. later. The next day by noon I was running a high fever. My doctor was out of town & her back up diagnosed this (over the phone, mind you!) as 'viral bronchitis' & told me to take Mucinex. (gee, thanks!) I tried to call him back & he never returned my phone call.

I could not stop coughing & could not talk (kept running out of air) & meantime (the next day) I got bit on the finger by a little dog & ended up in the emergency room (late that night) getting Vancomycin & Cleomycin. I told them all (in the ER) about my bleach incident and how concerned I was about my breathing. They listened with stethescope & determined that I didn't have pneumonia & basically told me I would live...

The big gun antibiotics of course caused thrush, etc. & later a bladder infection... When I saw my doctor that next Monday, she prescribed me a ProAir inhaler, which helped some... A week later, when the bladder infection developed, her office was closed for moving, so I drank gallons of water & held on for a couple of days until I could see her. Before the bladder infection came on, I had decided on my own to try the Symbicort inhaler & it did help a lot (plus the weather drying up helped too) but when I began having the symptoms of infection, I stopped using the Symbicort (since steroids make it harder for the body to fight infection.)

So. When I went to see her last week for the bladder infection, she finally did say the word "asthma" & put me back on the Symbicort (she gave me a sample that was stronger than the one I had before.) Long story (sorry!!) short, I am still not under control. The weather affects me a lot (high humidity) & I am sure a lot of other things.

I did go to an eye ear nose & throat dr. a couple of years ago, who allergy tested me & the surprising results were that I was only allergic to rye grass (the most) & pet hair (oh well) & I forget the other one, but that was it. The determination was that my chronic sinusitis is more caused by environmental pollution -- I am very sensitive to a lot of chemicals, particularly the volatile ones. So, I am on Astelin for that. I did start myself back on loratidine recently, just to try to get everything under control. I have had bad allergic reactions to airborn (who knows what?) stuff in the past - two years in a row it was hives in Aug.

Anyone who has read all the above is my new best friend!! LOL! Kidding aside, I look forward to getting to know you and am grateful for the network of support!

Dianne Wood

September 21, 2008

Diane we all have our stories and we're hear for each other.

>

> Hi again,

>

> I just joined this group. I am looking for answers that I don't

think I will find easily elsewhere. Here are my questions for those

who are not up for reading my novelette below:

>

> 1) what kind of doctor do you go to for this? are there asthma

specialists?

> 2) what are some symptoms that you won't read about anywhere?

such as:

> a. exhaustion

> b. mental fogginess; memory problems; trouble concentrating,

etc.

> c. joint & muscle pain & achiness

>

> I was just diagnosed officially last week, but (after reading up a

bit) I suspect I have had Cough Variant Asthma for years. I would

always have a long bout of what I thought was bronchitis, following

a cold or the flu... this has been the case for many years. It would

go on for weeks & weeks & would be worse if it was cold & rainy...

>

> In the last few years I have just had more trouble breathing

in general - shortness of breath, having to sigh or yawn to really

feel like I was getting enough air... Particularly when I would first

lie down at bedtime, I would have to work to get into a position where

I could breathe. I also have had a chronic dry cough for the last

few years; I even went off my blood pressure med (lisinopril) for a

few weeks to see if it was a side effect -- the cough didn't go away.

The doctor I was going to at that time didn't care to investigate

further. For that & many other reasons, I did switch drs.

>

> My current doctor tried me on Symbicort for the shortness of breath

etc. but it didn't have much effect, so she switched me to Singulair,

which helped a lot. (this was a few months ago.) Then, a few weeks

ago, I started into a downward spiral of health problems... I got a

staph (MRSA) infection in my armpit, for which I was taking Bactrim (I

will never willingly take Cipro or any fluroquinolone antibiotic

again.) Then, less than a week later, an incident occurred which

brought on an acute asthma attack.

>

> I was cleaning up a toxic waste situation that occurred in a dead

refrigerator (I will spare you the details) & I poured some straight

chlorine bleach into the noxious black liquid..... My breathing

difficulties started about 15 min. later. The next day by noon I was

running a high fever. My doctor was out of town & her back up

diagnosed this (over the phone, mind you!) as 'viral bronchitis' &

told me to take Mucinex. (gee, thanks!) I tried to call him back & he

never returned my phone call.

>

> I could not stop coughing & could not talk (kept running out of air)

& meantime (the next day) I got bit on the finger by a little dog &

ended up in the emergency room (late that night) getting Vancomycin &

Cleomycin. I told them all (in the ER) about my bleach incident and

how concerned I was about my breathing. They listened with

stethescope & determined that I didn't have pneumonia & basically told

me I would live...

>

> The big gun antibiotics of course caused thrush, etc. & later a

bladder infection... When I saw my doctor that next Monday, she

prescribed me a ProAir inhaler, which helped some... A week later,

when the bladder infection developed, her office was closed for

moving, so I drank gallons of water & held on for a couple of days

until I could see her. Before the bladder infection came on, I had

decided on my own to try the Symbicort inhaler & it did help a lot

(plus the weather drying up helped too) but when I began having the

symptoms of infection, I stopped using the Symbicort (since steroids

make it harder for the body to fight infection.)

>

> So. When I went to see her last week for the bladder infection, she

finally did say the word " asthma " & put me back on the Symbicort (she

gave me a sample that was stronger than the one I had before.) Long

story (sorry!!) short, I am still not under control. The weather

affects me a lot (high humidity) & I am sure a lot of other things.

>

> I did go to an eye ear nose & throat dr. a couple of years ago, who

allergy tested me & the surprising results were that I was only

allergic to rye grass (the most) & pet hair (oh well) & I forget the

other one, but that was it. The determination was that my chronic

sinusitis is more caused by environmental pollution -- I am very

sensitive to a lot of chemicals, particularly the volatile ones. So,

I am on Astelin for that. I did start myself back on loratidine

recently, just to try to get everything under control. I have had bad

allergic reactions to airborn (who knows what?) stuff in the past -

two years in a row it was hives in Aug.

>

> Anyone who has read all the above is my new best friend!! LOL!

Kidding aside, I look forward to getting to know you and am grateful

for the network of support!

> Dianne Wood

>

September 21, 2008

Welcome Diane. First thanks to your response on the NAC question, and

since I am a genius I understood all that perfectly ROFL (sorry, I

tend to have a bit of a runaway tounge). I will be reading the link

Alana (seagirl) sent haven't looked at it yet and doing some more

research. Isn't it funny how the answers are sometimes more confusing

than the questions? Just a tip, if you are trying to find something

and just can't get the answer ask Alana. She can find anything

online. She is our local link savior! But she doesn't like for

anyone to know that. LOL

As for your story. Don't worry about diarreah of the word processor

(as quoted from King). We all have it from time to time

around here. Your story cracked me up. I know it's not funny for

you, it is just that we have all been there. There are so many people

who have been so valuable to me this past year on the group. I have

not yet taken time to read the rest of the posts so I may just be

repeating things others have answered for you, but here goes.

Yes you need to ask your doctor for a referral to an asthma/allergy

specialist. As far as your allergy testing went, well my tests said

that I have no allergies, but my IEEG levels (some antibody in your

blood) say that I have a major allergy. Go figure. We know it is not

to grass, pollens, trees, molds, pets, or foods. Your PCP should be

kept in the loop as to the treatment you are getting, but a specialist

will do some specialized breathing tests to determine exactly what

type of asthma you have and how bad it is. Then the specialist will

be able to determine the type of medicines you need and set up an

action plan with you. Make sure when you see the specialist that you

ask about peak flow monitoring and an action plan. He will explain

what those are, and if your asthma is very mild he/she may not think

it's necessary. However you should ask.

Yes, asthma can and will cause all of the symptoms you mentioned

(although I am not sure about general joint & muscle pain - that may

be from some of the meds). If you are struggling to breathe, it takes

a lot of energy. We were just talking about that the other day on the

group. Many of us have noticed that we require more sleep than other

people without asthma. Don't fight it. Just work your schedule

around it. You will feel so much better with just a little extra

sleep. You may also want to talk to your doc about sleep apnea. In

my personal experience, a good many asthmatics also have sleep apnea.

You may need to have a sleep study done. I have it and use a CPAP at

night. Made a world of difference for me. Also, one last little

tidbit..... yes Symbicort is a form of corticosteroid. That is not

the same as prednizone or other steroids such as salumedrol or

depomedrol. All of your asthma controllers (Symbicort, Asthmanex,

Advair, .....) are corticosteroids, and while they do have their own

risks and side effects they are not like the other steroids at all.

It is very very very important to take your controller med as

prescribed every day no exceptions whether you are having symptoms or not.

I will be out of pocket for most of this week, but I am pretty much

available most days. If you need anything at all do not hesitate to

post. This group is great, and I am always available on private email.

Madeline