[Simcha]

ASTHMA of the moderate to severe persistent variety has been threatening a hostile takeover lately. I have extensive allergies and the other typical triggers of asthma like stress and cold air. I'm only in my twenties and otherwise physically healthy. This is still quite a shock for me... I used to be very physically fit but with the asthma and allergies that are difficult to tame, I hardly do much. When I was first diagnosed in late May 2008, I missed so many classes that I had to drop out of school. When you can't breathe, nothing else really matters, but the professors didn't care. Of course this is very upsetting to me, but I'm at a loss.

I've been having a hard time eating and sleeping the last few days due to severe mucus production that is only now starting to calm down a little bit. BUT.... it's 1242 AM, I've been up for two days, and lacking in sleep for four days. I've barely ate much because I have difficulty with the food going down the right tube due to the mucus production---it tends to try to aspirate my lungs instead.

I have bronchoconstriction and inflammation of course (as all asthmatics do), but my primary exacerbation symptom is mucus production.
I have been under a great deal of stress lately that I have not been effectively managing. Just when I thought I had the stress in my control, the asthma jumped in and started making every moment a struggle for air.
The problem is that the doctors haven't been very helpful.
I don't know the triggers sometimes... very disturbing when anything can trigger it.

I'm just complaining... I'm not much of a complainer usually, but this is really affecting the quality of my life. No one seems to understand. My asthma is complicated and severe, but everyone just thinks it's nothing because they hear the word "asthma" everyday. There are different kinds of asthma, and any way you look at it, none of them are fun.

I'm not letting the asthma (or allergies) beat me though; I simply feel overwhelmed. Does anyone else here have the same problems I mentioned?

[Simcha]

Am I really the only one with asthma here?

Eck.

[Perna]

Nope, I know just what you're going through! If I were you, I'd go to the doctor, get a week's worth of prednisone to "reset" everything or at least give you a bit of a rest?

I use Alavert (it's non drowsy, 24-hour) for my various sensitivities and it seems to help some with the mucus which I have most trouble with at night. Since I've been eating well (fruits/veggies, lower calories and not as much "junk", etc.), getting a lot of magnesium, CoQ10, and have lost 40 pounds the asthma hasn't bothered me as much as in the past. But I didn't get it until my mid-50's, probably as a result of the overuse of antibiotics I had to have (or die :-) when my appendix burst. Wiping out my good, intestinal flora and flauna let bad stuff/inflammation in and my genetic propensities and age meant they stayed.

It can really be frustrating though, can't it? You feel like you might never feel better/be able to do anything! I've only ever been to the emergency room for it twice though, and the first time was my initial attack that got me diagnosed so I've been pretty lucky I think. My husband smokes and I have 2 cats and cold and mold/mildew don't appear to like me either, etc. But I'm doing okay/holding my own at the moment, sorry about you :-(

[Simcha]

Originally Posted by Perna

Nope, I know just what you're going through! If I were you, I'd go to the doctor, get a week's worth of prednisone to "reset" everything or at least give you a bit of a rest?

I use Alavert (it's non drowsy, 24-hour) for my various sensitivities and it seems to help some with the mucus which I have most trouble with at night. Since I've been eating well (fruits/veggies, lower calories and not as much "junk", etc.), getting a lot of magnesium, CoQ10, and have lost 40 pounds the asthma hasn't bothered me as much as in the past. But I didn't get it until my mid-50's, probably as a result of the overuse of antibiotics I had to have (or die :-) when my appendix burst. Wiping out my good, intestinal flora and flauna let bad stuff/inflammation in and my genetic propensities and age meant they stayed.

It can really be frustrating though, can't it? You feel like you might never feel better/be able to do anything! I've only ever been to the emergency room for it twice though, and the first time was my initial attack that got me diagnosed so I've been pretty lucky I think. My husband smokes and I have 2 cats and cold and mold/mildew don't appear to like me either, etc. But I'm doing okay/holding my own at the moment, sorry about you :-(

I had Prednisone tabs prescribed a few months ago, as I was having bad asthma exacerbations shortly after being "officially" diagnosed. My doctors decided that three ER visits in a two week window was a bad thing, so they kept upping my dose of Prednisone... Unfortunately, I ended up having paranoia, delusions, and something akin to mania that people with Bipolar Disorder get, in addition to 8 sleepless nights (no sleep at all!). I was on a really high dose though, 50-60mg for over a week. I do not have Bipolar Disorder either, but I'm sure that having ADHD with a touch of Generalized Anxiety and Panic Disorder really didn't help matters any!! I don't have much memory of that episode, but I did call my T during one of my paranoid delusional moments, and he made sure I saw him right away.

I've got some 10mg tabs left at home that I can probably safely take, but going to the doctor is my last resort. I didn't have a good time with doctors before my "episode" anyway, which later became part of my Prednisone induced delusion (I thought the doctors were all trying to actively kill me--literally).

I think you are absolutely right about the nutritional and overall health aspect of treating allergies and asthma. When I am not stressed out, I don't get the same level of asthma/allergy problems. It makes sense that people should take care of their emotional well being too, considering it is well known medical knowledge that stress is a precursor to asthma (and allergy) exacerbations.

I think I need to get some allergy medicine OTC at Walmart or something--I ran out. The prescription allergy meds I've tried haven't worked well. Loratadine (Claritan) 24 hr tabs worked the best so far. I haven't tried Alavert, but that's something to try. How much does that usually run? Does it cause drowsiness?

Make your husband smoke outside of the house! How can you stand to be around that anyway? Ironically, cats and dogs are the only things I am not really allergic to. That's good, because my two cats are really great stress relievers!

[Sannah]

Simcha, are dust mites one of your allergies? If so are you doing dust mite control?

[pegasus]

(((((((( Simcha ))))))))

I struggle with asthma also. I have a blue inhaler (reliever) and a brown inhaler (preventer.) Simcha, you didn't say what inhalers you have but the brown inhaler will help stop the build up of mucus in the first place. It's a very low dose of steroid that goes straight in the lungs.

Unfortunately I have to have a weeks dose of predisone (steroids) when I get a cold as it goes straight to my chest, get a chest infection and that rubs the asthma up the wrong way. I have to sleep sitting up when this happens. It's pretty awful not being able to breathe.

Asthma is life-threatening, please go back to your Doc.

[Lee ann]

Oh gosh, I completely understand. NOBODY feels what it feels like unless they've actually experienced it! They might understand but when you can only breath a tiny bit, you feel your chest build pressure and you don't know if you can make it to the hospital in time and you might die on the way, I think there is reason to feel the way you do! I'm going to say it is probably THE most traumatic thing I've had to go through. It's like being choked. If somebody is being choked by somebody its considered life threatening to your psyche (I can't spell!). They say seek therapy, deal with the fact you faced death. But if you have asthma, nobody ever says anything like "maybe you should talk about it, or get therapy". I have been through a ton of crap that they consider traumatic and I won't talk about but the one thing I actually believe was really traumatic was my asthma attacks! I started taking pills at two, shots at three and spent four out of seven days at the hospital during most weeks from age two to six. Of course, we had a nebulizer but between the shots, pills, and treatments, they couldn't get it under control. I almost got taken away from my parents because they thought they were doing something to cause me to turn blue. I was high as a kite half the time I was on the medicine. My family will come out and say they wanted nothing to do with me when I was on asthma medicine because I was too hyper. What a thing to say. But believe me, I understand, the only thing I can say to reassure you is try to stay out of the cold, wrap a something around your mouth, if your a emotional asthma patients try to remain calm, if you get it with excerise (well, I don't know what to say about that. No matter what I did in basketball or softball pratice, I always had to suffer and it seems society considers asmtha inhaler breaks like cop outs.) But I didn't let it stop me then or now, It really does decrease your quality of life. Mostly it scares the crap out of me. I think maybe I will ask my therpaist about what I should think when I think I'm going to die you know like people have panic attacks, maybe therpaists know something we don't about having events like this. Do you see a therapist? Maybe you could do the same. And then we could exchange post? I know it seems I'm just talking about myself but I'm trying to explain how I know how you feel. Just know, you are not alone. And I will do a prayer for you.

[redredblueblue22]

Iv had asthma sence i was born

[Yoda]

Big time asthma sufferer here. This year has been particularly bad for me. I have made multiple trips to docs and the ED.

You mentioned trouble with mucus. I take 600 mg of guafenesin in am and 1200 mg pm.

Another thing that works for me is albuterol nebulizers. They seem to reach further into my airways than just the rescue inhalers. I am going to ask my doc next month to add atrovent to my home nebulizer because it works well for me in the ED.

There are quite a few drug options. Do you have an allergist? If you have not had allergy testing recently you might want to do so to see if you can find what is triggering your asthma since you mention it is worse than normal.

I am bipolar too but have not had any problems with the steroids. I always keep some around for when the asthma is particularly bad.

Asthma sux. Good luck.

[Amanda_1981]

I have asthma as well. I take flovent (orange inhaler) to help clear the inflamation and help prevent my asthma from getting bad. I also take ventilin (blue inhaler) as needed when I wheeze or can't stop coughing. I find the flovent has helped a lot so that I don't have to take my blue inhaler as often as I used to. I hope you feel better soon! *hugs*!