Re: Hello!

September 9, 1998

Hi Ken,

I hope you had a nice holiday weekend.

I feel for your situation. I think you might want to get another doctor.

Usually

time make the relationship with a doctor strong but there are cases that the

doctor

just cant relate with the patient and the doctor ends up withdrawaling

(spell,sorry). Could it be that your doctor does not know enough about the

chronic

condition? Are you currently seeing a pain specialist? I have had good luck

with

mine. But he wants to keep me happy or he will have an angry red head screaming

at

him....not a pretty sight! LOL.

Have you tried other medications? I have tried trilisate (could not tell you

what is

in it) and it helps for one ache or another. I have been on Naproxin and it is

the

same thing...helps with some but nothing helps for all of the pain. but I take

a

handful of pills all day long. I am amazed at the amount of pills I take. I am

too

young for this.

I don't know if any of this helps.

Aricka

Turbin wrote:

>

> Hi everyone,

>

> There evidently are no posts for a few days. I checked the server to

see

> if everything is OK, and it is alive & well. Just wanted to reassure

> everyone that we still have the list.

>

> There is one little issue that I could bring up, which is happening to

me

> right now. Suddenly it has become difficult to get responsive care with my

> primary doctor. Saw him a few weeks ago to consult him about anything that

> might be done to relieve some progressive back inflammatory pain & general

> distress, so I might be more active. At the time, asked for a small

> increase of klonopin, a control drug. I asked about referral to an

> orthopedist, & we discussed some options. But he didn't do anything for me.

>

> While I have a problem with anti-inflammatories, have been taking a

low

> dose of indocin & it has helped. But frequently I have not remembered to

> take it due to feeling rotten & not thinking. Well, I took it consistently

> for about a month & it helped. Put in several calls to the doc to discuss a

> low dosage addition that might make me feel better during the day. No

> response. Faxed him today. Again no response.

>

> I got quite annoyed today & took an extra dose today which helped a

lot.

> No negative effects either. So I am now caught in difficult situation.

> Seems that if I was on this dose for the past 5 years, I could have been a

> lot more functional.

>

> The health care is medicare/HMO, and there are no other HMO options

here

> that treat medicare/disabled. And the HMO gives me coverage on meds that

> would cost lots otherwise. Money is tight, & I could go out-of plan with a

> small deductible & 80% fee coverage.

>

> But I want to make the system work. I guess I should make an

appointment

> with the doctor & discuss this face to face.

>

> This is the kind of thing that happens in most health care that gets

me

> quite angry.

>

> Ken

>

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

>

September 9, 1998

Hi everyone,

There evidently are no posts for a few days. I checked the server to see

if everything is OK, and it is alive & well. Just wanted to reassure

everyone that we still have the list.

There is one little issue that I could bring up, which is happening to me

right now. Suddenly it has become difficult to get responsive care with my

primary doctor. Saw him a few weeks ago to consult him about anything that

might be done to relieve some progressive back inflammatory pain & general

distress, so I might be more active. At the time, asked for a small

increase of klonopin, a control drug. I asked about referral to an

orthopedist, & we discussed some options. But he didn't do anything for me.

While I have a problem with anti-inflammatories, have been taking a low

dose of indocin & it has helped. But frequently I have not remembered to

take it due to feeling rotten & not thinking. Well, I took it consistently

for about a month & it helped. Put in several calls to the doc to discuss a

low dosage addition that might make me feel better during the day. No

response. Faxed him today. Again no response.

I got quite annoyed today & took an extra dose today which helped a lot.

No negative effects either. So I am now caught in difficult situation.

Seems that if I was on this dose for the past 5 years, I could have been a

lot more functional.

The health care is medicare/HMO, and there are no other HMO options here

that treat medicare/disabled. And the HMO gives me coverage on meds that

would cost lots otherwise. Money is tight, & I could go out-of plan with a

small deductible & 80% fee coverage.

But I want to make the system work. I guess I should make an appointment

with the doctor & discuss this face to face.

This is the kind of thing that happens in most health care that gets me

quite angry.

Ken

September 10, 1998

High Arica,

Thanks for the suggestions. I have been seeing this doc for 5 years, and

he runs hot & cold. Before I moved here, I had seen excellent docs, been

worked up by several people specialized in chronic pain, and had relatively

stable treatment plan. My present doc initially accepted that, but admits

he is no pain specialist. Over the long haul, he has done better for me

than most others. I think he is going through a mid-life identity

adjustment. He had been planning to specialize, but evidently that's

changed, & he is more or less " resigned " to the high caseload & cut & dry

HMO practices to make his day go smoother.

There is also another issue (or more). In HMOs, there are politics. If I

change docs, it could be read (and most often is) that I am a

" troublemaker. " While this is true, I don't like it to be public, because

then I can't play dumb & manipulate doctors for what I need. If I get that

tag, I would be lucky to get sugar pills.

Had this problem with their mental health service, where I had good docs

who retired, one who left the HMO in disagreement with some of there

policies, etc. And this is a *good* HMO. Ended up with a psychiatrist who

got mad at the former's medication plan & lack of documentation, and acted

like it was all my fault. Immediately changed, but the new doc has treated

me with some suspicion, will not write control scrips for me, but has

become more reasonable & helpful over time. It is a constant process of

dealing with prima donnas. Since my care has been largely satisfactory, I

am inclined to as gently as possible, confront these docs & try to get

rational explanations. Compounding the problem is that I often know what

needs to be done & have to sell it to them. Costwise, I am pretty locked

in because I'm a medicare pt., and this HMO provides all my meds, which is

above medicare allowances.

Some of the solutions have come from friends, who are professionals &

experienced with chronic problems, but these friends often face the same

treatment obstacles that I, & all of us do.

I made an appointment with the primary care physician, where I am going to

offer him an alternative that could work for me, and actually might lower

my medication. If he can't see this as realistic & in good faith, I will

just have to go " out of plan " (which will cost more but be 80% covered, and

see a doc who is a more rational & friendly. So it stacks up as a waiting

game. The HMO has started a " pain program " , but I am wary of this because

many such programs start by just taking you off as much meds as possible

without regard for consequences.

We just come back to that old basic issue, that pain treatment has not yet

become a wide enough & sufficiently accepted professional area, and that

the nature of practice in the US & other places, sets the doc up where

he/she is responsible for treating too many diverse things and without

professional supervision for most of them. Add to that health care is

becoming more & more " micro-managed " (doctors being regulated rather than

enabled), and what it comes down to is the patient has to operate on as

strong a personal relationship as possible, & work with that unless the

care is obviously totally rotten, or they have access to less limited docs

who treat the more affluent.

If I really get boxed into a corner, then I will have to rattle trees

with formal complaints, and possibly ultimately going to external

regulators, the press, etc. I have some foundation for doing this as

chairperson of local ACPA chapter, but this type of stuff is waging

crusades that I am just tired of, and can usually just end up as bad news.

So I made appointments to gently confront the docs. This usually worked

when I was advocating for others. The object is just to get the doc to take

one's situation seriously enough, and work with all the issues rather than

a quick, simplistic take limited by the pressures on them , etc.

Meanwhile, I will try & see a " friendly " physician out of plan, & see what

he thinks.

Ken

At 09:11 PM 9/9/98 +0000, you wrote:

>

>Hi Ken,

>I hope you had a nice holiday weekend.

>I feel for your situation. I think you might want to get another doctor.

>Usually

>time make the relationship with a doctor strong but there are cases that the

>doctor

>just cant relate with the patient and the doctor ends up withdrawaling

>(spell,sorry). Could it be that your doctor does not know enough about the

>chronic

>condition? Are you currently seeing a pain specialist? I have had good

>luck with

>mine. But he wants to keep me happy or he will have an angry red head

>screaming at

>him....not a pretty sight! LOL.

>Have you tried other medications? I have tried trilisate (could not tell

>you what is

>in it) and it helps for one ache or another. I have been on Naproxin and it

>is the

>same thing...helps with some but nothing helps for all of the pain. but I

>take a

>handful of pills all day long. I am amazed at the amount of pills I take. I

>am too

>young for this.

>I don't know if any of this helps.

>Aricka

>

> Turbin wrote:

>

>>

>> Hi everyone,

>>

>> There evidently are no posts for a few days. I checked the server

>to see

>> if everything is OK, and it is alive & well. Just wanted to reassure

>> everyone that we still have the list.

>>

>> There is one little issue that I could bring up, which is

>happening to me

>> right now. Suddenly it has become difficult to get responsive care with my

>> primary doctor. Saw him a few weeks ago to consult him about anything that

>> might be done to relieve some progressive back inflammatory pain & general

>> distress, so I might be more active. At the time, asked for a small

>> increase of klonopin, a control drug. I asked about referral to an

>> orthopedist, & we discussed some options. But he didn't do anything for me.

>>

>> While I have a problem with anti-inflammatories, have been taking

>a low

>> dose of indocin & it has helped. But frequently I have not remembered to

>> take it due to feeling rotten & not thinking. Well, I took it consistently

>> for about a month & it helped. Put in several calls to the doc to discuss a

>> low dosage addition that might make me feel better during the day. No

>> response. Faxed him today. Again no response.

>>

>> I got quite annoyed today & took an extra dose today which helped

>a lot.

>> No negative effects either. So I am now caught in difficult situation.

>> Seems that if I was on this dose for the past 5 years, I could have been a

>> lot more functional.

>>

>> The health care is medicare/HMO, and there are no other HMO

>options here

>> that treat medicare/disabled. And the HMO gives me coverage on meds that

>> would cost lots otherwise. Money is tight, & I could go out-of plan with a

>> small deductible & 80% fee coverage.

>>

>> But I want to make the system work. I guess I should make an

>appointment

>> with the doctor & discuss this face to face.

>>

>> This is the kind of thing that happens in most health care that

>gets me

>> quite angry.

>>

>> Ken

>>

>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

>>

September 10, 1998

Hi Ken;

sorry to hear you're having a hard time. I am too which has kept me from

writing. I just don't feel like it. I'm sure you know the feeling.

I couldn't help but think about your comment re: indocin. I've never taken it

but it brings to mind part of what I'm going through now which seems to be a

reaction to Elavil after taking it for so long. The point being that your body

now is not the same body you lived with 5 years ago. It could very well be that

at that point in time, the stuff wouldn't have worked for you. Something to

think about.

For some reason, my body has done a complete turn around and the stuff I took

for years is acting totally contrary to what it was 3 to 4 weeks ago. I've been

put on Ultrador ( like Nsaid ). Here I was down to 100mg of Elavil, 3 Tylenol

3's and a few Tylenol 1's a day. I'd managed to adjust my diet so that I didn't

need to take the Prevacid so often. Now, the Ultrador gives me such gut

problems, I have to take the Prevacid all the time.

I talk to people and all of a sudden I take huge breaths and double right over

because it feels like someone has inserted their fingers under my rib cage and

is lifting the ribs up. All caused by my back going into spasms. Hurts like hell

and leaves you feeling bruised for days. I'd beefed up my intake of Tylenol 3's

until I realized it didn't do anything to help so I cut down to minimal amounts.

No point in wasting it. I was even thinking of asking for a script for Percocet

to tie me over just for a few days but I chickened out. I'm just petrified of

the withdrawal effects if I ever get back on it.

Anyway, think about the body 5 years ago thing. I've also had similar thoughts

about certain meds when they seem to be having a good effect but when you look

at it side by side with your body deteriorating and changing over the same

period of time, it gives it a different spin...

Mike

> While I have a problem with anti-inflammatories, have been taking a low

> dose of indocin & it has helped. But frequently I have not remembered to

> take it due to feeling rotten & not thinking. Well, I took it consistently

> for about a month & it helped. Put in several calls to the doc to discuss a

> low dosage addition that might make me feel better during the day. No

> response. Faxed him today. Again no response.

>

> I got quite annoyed today & took an extra dose today which helped a lot.

> No negative effects either. So I am now caught in difficult situation.

> Seems that if I was on this dose for the past 5 years, I could have been a

> lot more functional.

>

September 11, 1998

Ken,

I was going to reply to this a while ago but things have been nuts... I

hate HMO's too. You have to follow all these stupid rules. And if you

don't cross one " t " , forget it. It is impossible to get them to see you

for pain. That's the one good thing about asthma, they see you. usually

what i do is wait till I'm in on my asthma and then go- oh BTW...

I threw a fit this week with my HMO too. They more than doubled the

co-pay on my inhalers and they increased my ER visits from $40.00 to $40

plus 10%. I made it very clear that was unfair and very costly. That

little visist in July was unavoidable, I had attempted to go to urgent

care but they had already closed. I was not going to wait till the next

day to be seen.

Let's face it our health care sucks.

~››~››~››~››~››~››~››~››~›

Success is not measured by how well we deal with plan " A " but by how

well we deal with plan " B " .

‹‹§‹‹§‹‹§‹‹§‹‹§‹‹§‹‹§‹‹§

September 11, 1998

Hi ,

HMO or not, they are supposed to live up to some reasonable medical

standards. The crap about forcing you to have to use an ER with jacked up fees

is wrong. They are causing you unnecessary pain & suffering, and should be

repeatedly pushed hard to work out some kind of preparation to decrease your

need to have to use the ER. Asthma is damn scary when it is severe, and

chronic. You are also being needlessly put through a lot of emotional turmoil.

There must be some way of giving you oxygen & meds that would reduce

having to go to the ER. And the stupidest thing about this is that the actual

ER costs are much higher for them than anything they could work out for

self-treatment.

I think maybe it's a situation where one must act stupid & ask the

same

question over & over about why they can't prevent your having to go to the ER.

Sometimes the only recourse is to cost them the same amount of lost time &

aggravation they're causing you. The louder you yell, the harder it is for

them

to play deaf. And the very worst embarrassment for these people is

screaming at

them in a full waiting area.! It may not be workable, but it is fun to think

about.

And it does work very well. I learned to do things like that simply as

strategy.

Ken

At 08:07 PM 9/11/98 -0600, you wrote:

>From: Andy24747@... (A. )

>

>Ken,

>I was going to reply to this a while ago but things have been nuts... I

>hate HMO's too. You have to follow all these stupid rules. And if you

>don't cross one " t " , forget it. It is impossible to get them to see you

>for pain. That's the one good thing about asthma, they see you. usually

>what i do is wait till I'm in on my asthma and then go- oh BTW...

>I threw a fit this week with my HMO too. They more than doubled the

>co-pay on my inhalers and they increased my ER visits from $40.00 to $40

>plus 10%. I made it very clear that was unfair and very costly. That

>little visist in July was unavoidable, I had attempted to go to urgent

>care but they had already closed. I was not going to wait till the next

>day to be seen.

>Let's face it our health care sucks.

>

>~››~››~››~››~››~››~››~››~›

>Success is not measured by how well we deal with plan " A " but by how

>well we deal with plan " B " .

>‹‹§‹‹§‹‹§‹‹§‹‹§‹‹§‹‹§‹‹§

>

>------------------------------------------------------------------------

>

May 24, 2001

Hi Kyra

That sounds like a very, very scary experience! My worst attacks are of

the coughing kind - I cough and cough and can't get any breath in because

I'm coughing. Never had one like yours, thank goodness. Do you use any

kind of inhaler? Once I started using a " preventer " inhaler my attacks

almost completely vanished.

Your experience of being afraid to go to sleep remind me of my diabetes

reactions, when my blood sugar goes so low I go into convulsions while I'm

sleeping. Then I wake up in the middle of the bedroom floor and go, " How

did I get here? "

Iris

Iris Gray and Puff and Calli

" In the beginning the universe was created. This has made a lot of people

very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move. "

-- 1952-2001

Email: wy236@... Web Page: http://victoria.tc.ca/~wy236/

May 24, 2001

Hi Kyra

That sounds like a very, very scary experience! My worst attacks are of

the coughing kind - I cough and cough and can't get any breath in because

I'm coughing. Never had one like yours, thank goodness. Do you use any

kind of inhaler? Once I started using a " preventer " inhaler my attacks

almost completely vanished.

Your experience of being afraid to go to sleep remind me of my diabetes

reactions, when my blood sugar goes so low I go into convulsions while I'm

sleeping. Then I wake up in the middle of the bedroom floor and go, " How

did I get here? "

Iris

Iris Gray and Puff and Calli

" In the beginning the universe was created. This has made a lot of people

very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move. "

-- 1952-2001

Email: wy236@... Web Page: http://victoria.tc.ca/~wy236/

May 24, 2001

Hello Kyra,

I've only had asthma for the past 2 years. I've had lots of allergy problems ever since I was a teenager (I'm 54 now). I'm learning more and more on how to cope with this problem.

I'm sorry you had such a scary experience. It sounded very serious and you are lucky you were with someone who could help you.

I often get a racing heart and palpitations, but I've been told that is common when you take ventolin, which I do occasionally. It also can cause nervousness too, which multiplies when you feel like you can't breathe.

I never really understood how terrible it was for people with asthma until I had it. I guess mine is mostly hereditary, as my grandmother, mother, aunt, auncle all have or had asthma.

It's nice to have a support group with people who understaqnd exactly how scary this is.

Anyway, nice to cyber meet you!

Dot

BC Canada

-- Hello!

Hello! I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Kyra. I am 46 years old, single and I suffer from bronchial asthma and allergies.I was diagnosed with bronchial asthma when I was in my late 20's, and have suffered with very bad allergies since I was around 11 years old. I started taking allergy meds back then, and am currently on zyrtec, claritin and bromfed, depending on how bad I'm suffering at the time. This year the allergy season has been so bad (I live on the east coast) that nothing has been working. For my asthma I currently take proventil pills, and have been having a LOT of problems with my asthma this spring as well.I've been looking for some sort of support group mainly because of the problems I'm experiencing with my asthma lately. I've always had "mild" asthma, only needing to take my meds occasionally. This past spring I have been on meds almost continuously, and it doesn't seem to be helping. I'm experiencing tightness in my chest, finding it hard to breathe and have been told that I have alot of breathing-related problems while I'm sleeping. (I'll tell you about that at a later time, if you want to hear about it.) Along with my asthma and my allergies I've recently been experiencing heart palpitations and a pounding and racing heart, and most of it has been rather frightening, to say the least. The episodes seem to be tied into my asthma, allergy problems, plus I'm perimenopausal.As a way of background, I would like to share with you an asthmatic incident that was probably the most frightening thing that has happen to me so far in my life. I'm sure my story is not unique, but I'm grateful to be sitting here and able to talk about it. Since this experience I no longer "fool" myself that I have mild asthma as I was told. Here's my experience.To this day I don't know what triggered the event but a few years ago I had a *very, very* bad asthma attack one night during the night. I woke up unable to breathe, started coughing, couldn't stop and then started coughing uncontrollably, gasping, coughing, wheezing, gasping. You get the picture. I was desperately struggling to inhale a full breath and stop coughing when I realized I was doing nothing but inhaling. As I took in more breaths I wasn't exhaling at all - all I was doing was sucking in air - and not very large quantities of it. Then it happened - what all of us with asthma fear --- I stopped breathing. I couldn't inhale because my chest was fully expanded and I was completely unable to exhale. It was like my chest paralyzed. My heart was already beating pretty fast and hard, but then my heart went into overdrive. It was beating so out of control I thought it was going to explode.Then my body started spasming. I fell down and my back arched up, my neck became extended, my mouth opened really wide (involuntarily from what I recall) while I was frantic to breathe and nothing happened. ... nothing ... total cessation of breathing of any kind. I could NOT exhale and I was trying to do anything coz I thought my lungs were going to explode. It was truly the most frightening experience I've ever had.I consider myself very, very lucky that I was with someone that night who knew what to do and he didn't panic. He knew how to resuscitate me and thankfully knew CPR (although my heart never stopped). I didn't lose consciousness, which was weird, and it all happened so fast. I remember being in a dream-like state of sorts, and I was aware that he was breathing for me and exerting force on my chest. (I never asked but I think he was doing CPR to get my heart beating normally as well as forcing the air out of my lungs.) It was almost surreal and when I think about it, it still does not seem real to me. He got me breathing again and continued breathing for me for some time (or at least it seemed that way). My heart started to slow down and soon I started slowly breathing on my own, sometimes evenly, sometimes gasping. I was pretty sick for a while afterwards but I survived the experience and am truly thankful to God and to my friend. It was a godsend that he had stayed the night with me. He saved my life and to this day we remain friends.I also have to say that I was afraid to go to sleep for a very long time after that. I kept thinking I was going to wake up having another attack and it was going to happen again and the thought of experiencing something like that again was (is) absolutely terrifying. Plus I kept freaking that I might be alone when it happened again and that scared me out of my wits. Even writing and remembering the experience like I just did sends shivers up my spine. To this day, if I wake up having problems breathing I start to panic. But thankfully I have never had another asthmatic attack that bad again (knock wood).Well - that's my introduction. I'll try not to be a lurker like I tend to be, and I hope to get to know each one of you. Thanks for listening. It was therapeutic.Kyra

May 24, 2001

Hello Kyra,

I've only had asthma for the past 2 years. I've had lots of allergy problems ever since I was a teenager (I'm 54 now). I'm learning more and more on how to cope with this problem.

I'm sorry you had such a scary experience. It sounded very serious and you are lucky you were with someone who could help you.

I often get a racing heart and palpitations, but I've been told that is common when you take ventolin, which I do occasionally. It also can cause nervousness too, which multiplies when you feel like you can't breathe.

I never really understood how terrible it was for people with asthma until I had it. I guess mine is mostly hereditary, as my grandmother, mother, aunt, auncle all have or had asthma.

It's nice to have a support group with people who understaqnd exactly how scary this is.

Anyway, nice to cyber meet you!

Dot

BC Canada

-- Hello!

Hello! I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Kyra. I am 46 years old, single and I suffer from bronchial asthma and allergies.I was diagnosed with bronchial asthma when I was in my late 20's, and have suffered with very bad allergies since I was around 11 years old. I started taking allergy meds back then, and am currently on zyrtec, claritin and bromfed, depending on how bad I'm suffering at the time. This year the allergy season has been so bad (I live on the east coast) that nothing has been working. For my asthma I currently take proventil pills, and have been having a LOT of problems with my asthma this spring as well.I've been looking for some sort of support group mainly because of the problems I'm experiencing with my asthma lately. I've always had "mild" asthma, only needing to take my meds occasionally. This past spring I have been on meds almost continuously, and it doesn't seem to be helping. I'm experiencing tightness in my chest, finding it hard to breathe and have been told that I have alot of breathing-related problems while I'm sleeping. (I'll tell you about that at a later time, if you want to hear about it.) Along with my asthma and my allergies I've recently been experiencing heart palpitations and a pounding and racing heart, and most of it has been rather frightening, to say the least. The episodes seem to be tied into my asthma, allergy problems, plus I'm perimenopausal.As a way of background, I would like to share with you an asthmatic incident that was probably the most frightening thing that has happen to me so far in my life. I'm sure my story is not unique, but I'm grateful to be sitting here and able to talk about it. Since this experience I no longer "fool" myself that I have mild asthma as I was told. Here's my experience.To this day I don't know what triggered the event but a few years ago I had a *very, very* bad asthma attack one night during the night. I woke up unable to breathe, started coughing, couldn't stop and then started coughing uncontrollably, gasping, coughing, wheezing, gasping. You get the picture. I was desperately struggling to inhale a full breath and stop coughing when I realized I was doing nothing but inhaling. As I took in more breaths I wasn't exhaling at all - all I was doing was sucking in air - and not very large quantities of it. Then it happened - what all of us with asthma fear --- I stopped breathing. I couldn't inhale because my chest was fully expanded and I was completely unable to exhale. It was like my chest paralyzed. My heart was already beating pretty fast and hard, but then my heart went into overdrive. It was beating so out of control I thought it was going to explode.Then my body started spasming. I fell down and my back arched up, my neck became extended, my mouth opened really wide (involuntarily from what I recall) while I was frantic to breathe and nothing happened. ... nothing ... total cessation of breathing of any kind. I could NOT exhale and I was trying to do anything coz I thought my lungs were going to explode. It was truly the most frightening experience I've ever had.I consider myself very, very lucky that I was with someone that night who knew what to do and he didn't panic. He knew how to resuscitate me and thankfully knew CPR (although my heart never stopped). I didn't lose consciousness, which was weird, and it all happened so fast. I remember being in a dream-like state of sorts, and I was aware that he was breathing for me and exerting force on my chest. (I never asked but I think he was doing CPR to get my heart beating normally as well as forcing the air out of my lungs.) It was almost surreal and when I think about it, it still does not seem real to me. He got me breathing again and continued breathing for me for some time (or at least it seemed that way). My heart started to slow down and soon I started slowly breathing on my own, sometimes evenly, sometimes gasping. I was pretty sick for a while afterwards but I survived the experience and am truly thankful to God and to my friend. It was a godsend that he had stayed the night with me. He saved my life and to this day we remain friends.I also have to say that I was afraid to go to sleep for a very long time after that. I kept thinking I was going to wake up having another attack and it was going to happen again and the thought of experiencing something like that again was (is) absolutely terrifying. Plus I kept freaking that I might be alone when it happened again and that scared me out of my wits. Even writing and remembering the experience like I just did sends shivers up my spine. To this day, if I wake up having problems breathing I start to panic. But thankfully I have never had another asthmatic attack that bad again (knock wood).Well - that's my introduction. I'll try not to be a lurker like I tend to be, and I hope to get to know each one of you. Thanks for listening. It was therapeutic.Kyra

May 24, 2001

Up until that point, and since then, most of my bad attacks were(are)

the coughing kind, like you describe. I really don't know what

happened that night, but it way too scary and I do panic when I start

to cough and can't stop, especially when it starts to turn into

a " hooping " sound kind of cough. *shiver*

I have used an inhaler in the past, but it wasn't really effective,

so I stopped. Considering the way I'm having problems breathing on

my next visit to the doctor I'm going to ask for an inhaler again.

This past weekend I went to our local amusement park and went on the

rollercoaster, like I normally do. Only this year when I got off the

rider I could hardly breathe, had *terrible* chest pains and it hurt

when I was able to take a breath. The air was really heavy and full

of pollen in the park. I took two of my pills (proventil) within a

few hours of being there and if I had had an inhaler I think I

would've been able to breathe a lot easier.

That must be frightening when you have convulsions and wake up in the

middle of the floor ... I can't imagine.

Kyra

May 24, 2001