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I've just spent the last couple of hours reading all the prior posts

and have alternated between not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

My name is Bonnie & I will be 58 next month. I have multiple health

problems: respiratory allergies, asthma, exzema, chronic sinusitis

since I was about7 yrs old, allergic reactions to various

medications all my life, type II diabetes since I was in my

30's,chronic depression, became pacemaker dependent in my late 40's

for no reason the cariologist can explain (meaning no heart disease,

no artery disease, no active infections or viruses detectable.) I've

always been very active, often holding multiple jobs, as has my

husband. This fall, we decided we'd been working too hard too long

& not enjoying it anymore, so we quit all but the full-time work,

deciding we'd rest up & begin to enjoy the fruits of our labors by

traveling some. Long story short, I ended up with an upgraded

pacemaker model because I now have congestive heart failure, again

the reason for the decline is not discernable. I work at a hospital

(social worker), had chest pains one day in January, 06, went to ER

& they admitted me for 6 days. More cardiac workup, but I also

asked them for a pulmonary consultbecause of the shortness of

breath. The fifth day, the pulmonologist and all of his fledgling

doctors (a teaching hospital),announced out of the blue that I have

moderately severe IPF, between 2-5 years to live, they'd need to do

more tests,he put me on O2 24/7 (without any tests), call for an

appt on Monday, we'd start high-dose long-term steriods,and they

left.

As someone said in an earlier post, these are the people we pay for

their time and expertise. I haven't been back to this guy. I

stopped the O2 because I'm not allowed to work on O2 & the doc

wouldn't certify me as temporarily disabled. My primary physician

has arranged an appt with me for a local pulmonologist, as well as

one with an alleged expert in a nearby city next month. I've had

the bronchoscopy, though I don't trust the competency of the doc who

did it. I've decided that I have to be in control of my own

disease, my own life, thus I've put off the lung bx until I can

talk to a physician whom I think I can trust to make decisions on up-

to-date info & in my best interests. I have read everything I can

find on the internet, including scientific papers I don't really

understand and, from what I read, including my own medical records,

I think I have IPF and that it is at least moderately severe at this

point. I was most interested in this group's comments on steriods

and herbals. As a diabetic and a depressive-insomniac, I have

already considered not taking these drugs since I've taken them

before & know what they do to me, even on the short term. I thank

you for the info on herbals; I'll certainly be looking into that.

Like several of the others who've posted, I'm angry at the way I've

been treated by the medical profession and at the extreme change in

plans my spouse & I have had to make because of this disease. Our

daughter is an adult now, our obligations to others are at a minimun

& now it was to be time for us. I'm generally a glass half-full

sort of person, so maybe we will still have time for us after we get

all this diagnosing done. Thanks for letting me vent; most people

don't understand.