Re: Re: Information

[Guest guest]

,

I have only gone to pulmonary rehabilitation only periodically for about a year and a half since I have to drive about 15 miles and it costs $30 which is not that much but I also have other health problems that require medication including a heart condition, osteoporosis and arthritis and am dealing with anxiety that goes along with my heart condition and lack of support from my family for this disease. They do not want to hear about it, so I do not talk to them about it. This is why I consider you all to be my support family.

I have been using the vest for a little over a year now. I just called my respiratory therapist representative from Hill-Rom (formerly Advanced Respiratory) today to tell her that last night I found another use for the vest. The prednisone that I am taking for my acute asthma problem now causes me to be nervous, and I have trouble relaxing before I go to bed. Last night before I went to bed I put on the vest, turned down the pressure and frequency and just rested on the propped up pillows on my bed. The gentle shaking relaxed me. It reminded me of the days when they had the beds in the motels where you put in 25 cents and would lie down and let the bed shake you gently for relaxation.

I have a problem with the weather down here in Texas when one day it is 71 degrees with southerly warm moist air and the next day it is 31 degrees and a cold northerly wind. It is a very windy cold day here today . We do not have storm windows here to protect from the winds. I am originally from the upper Midwest where we had storm windows and basements so the houses were warmer and built better to protect from the outside winds and temperature changes. I have always been a skinny person and do not have much insulation to help control my body temperatures. That is why my doctor tells me that I do not adjust very well to the temperature changes.

I have never coughed up blood. I usually never cough much except now that I am having this problem with my asthma. I have to use the vest with my breathing treatment and wait 30 minutes do postural drainage and then try to cough up mucus. If the weather is warm and humid, I get more up since the humidity acts like a humidifier for me.

I need to use my sinus irrigator now as I just noticed some yellow drainage from my sinuses. I have a machine, the Hydro-Pulse Irrigator System from Dr. Grossan in California, that really helps clean out the sinuses. I try to do this twice daily. Several years ago I was using the Sinu-Neb machine with Bethamethasone and Tobramycin from a company in California for the pseudomonas in my sinuses. It was very expensive and time consuming. This past year my ENT is having me use a compounded spray of Tobramycin and Clindamycin which is less expensive and less time consuming after I irrigate my sinuses and they finish draining.

I hope this all makes sense. The prednisone is making me so shaky. The longer I take this medicine, the worse I feel. It lowers one's immune system especially when one cannot get enough rest.

Thanks again for listening.

Norma