ANYONE ELSE HAVE ASTHMA?

[BigStewMan]

I do and I just want to say IT SUCKS!

Yes, having an episode today.

[oscarsear]

I had bouts of asthma for about 10 years about 10 years ago. I think it all started when I was exposed to sterilization fumes from a poorly vented ethylene oxide sterilizing unit. After that just about anything would trigger an attack. Was hospitalized a few times and then frequency of attacks lessened and have pretty much ended.

Do you have an understanding about what triggers your asthma? Have you been tested for allergies?

[chrisinvermont]

I have asthma as part of a freaky rare disease. It does suck, although I have had mine under control pretty well for the past couple of years. I take advair, singulair and prilosec specifically for the asthma. Also on prednisone and other immune suppressants which probably help control it. I haven't had to use the inhaler in a couple of years.

As for my freaky disease I will make a shameless plug that this week is Vasculitis Awareness week to try and let people know about this set of rare diseases. I went from being perfectly healthy at 38 to living with chronic condition, all in the space of a year. Here is information from the Vasculitis Foundation for the specific form that I have.

http://www.vasculitisfoundation.org/churgstrausssyndrome

Good Luck BigStew, I hope you find the proper set of meds to keep your asthma under control.

Chris

[Coytee]

Chris, hate to read about that condition, yuck.

I suffer from (what I think is allergy induced) asthma from time to time. Doc had me on Advair, twice a day... things were managed so he went to cut me from the middle dose Adviar twice a day to the low dose twice a day. I got to thinking and asked him...'why don't we just let me try it ONCE a day using the middle dose?' and he agreed.

Upon trying once a day at the same dosage, my symptoms are minimal, in fact, I've only taken it sporadically over the last couple months as frankly, I hate taking any kind of drug, including aspirin for a headache!

As I was later talking to the Pharmacy dude who was filling my Advair, he said what I was doing (trying once a day dose) was pretty smart since if it worked, I could make one Advair last twice as long, thereby halving my expense for it...also, if in fact, I got into a jam and needed to bolster my dosages, I already had the stronger dose and could go back to twice a day.

Having issues of not being able to breath, really does suck (can I say suck on this forum?)

All of my issues were brought to light after I had an allergic sting reaction to a wasp. Ended up in the emergency room with about 5 syringes full of "stuff" jammed into an IV in my arm. I had made it with the wife, to the emergency room. I went in to sign in as she parked the car. I was still being "brave" at this point, thinking I was ok and nothing was really wrong... I was talking to the gal at the check in desk, I was itching, hives, short of breath... during this, I got lightheaded and knew I was going to pass out so had the foresight to drop to my knee first. This way, if I did pass out, I'd only fall from my knee and not from a standing position.

I caught my consciousness and didn't pass out, so she sent me to a chair to wait. I had told her that I'd prefer to just go sit there and NOT see the doc, but wanted them to know what happened in case while sitting there, I DID pass out or something happened.

I went to sit, expecting to be there for 2 hours like happens in the emergency room... about 14 seconds later a gal came out, called my name and took me back. Within what seems to be 2 more minutes, I was half naked, IV installed, blood pressure, pulse being taken and they were jabbing syringes into the IV.

During all this excitement, I think I made a comment to the Doc about how fast I got there and there were other people out there before me. He made sort of a comical comment that I deserved to be there more than most of them in the waiting room. That befuddled me but later on, I found out that there are many people who simply go to the emergency room for unrelated reasons, in the hopes of getting some drugs.

Hang in there Stew. People that don't suffer from this don't realize how nice it is, to be able to breath. [:|]

[chrisinvermont]

Coytee,

What you tried to do at the emergency room is what one of my doc's told me to do. I travel for work alot and I also have allergic reactions from time to time. I asked him what to do if I was on the road and had an allergic reaction. He said to take the drugs that I travel with and then grab a book and go sit in the local emergency room but not check in. If after an hour my symptoms improve then head back to the hotel, if however the symptoms get worse then just walk up to the desk, tell them I am having an allergic reaction and they will get me back quickly. Good advice for anyone with allergy problems!

Chris

[BigStewMan]

i've had it for over 20 years. it used to be super bad when i was working in the port of los angeles/long beach. i know that the building i worked in was poisoning me, although they had the air ducts tested. i was transferred to grand haven, michigan for four years, and my asthma improved significantly. transfered again to Long Beach, CA (but worked in a different office), four years later I was sent back to the original office and after nine months of being there the same old problems resurfaced. the building was scheduled to be demolished and we relocated to san pedro, and i started getting better again.

i'm NEVER perfectly fine, always a little short of breath; but, has been under control for years. just now, having a sudden flare up. i also have a hiatal hernia and chronic indigestion. one doctor told me that the two conditions are related in that the stomach acid that is refluxed into my esophagus, i actually breathe microscopic amounts of it, and that sets my asthma off. i think that is what is happening now, as my indigestion has been particularly fierce this past week.

i regularly take singular, aerobid-m, serevent, and albuterol when necessary. like i say, it has been doing a great job for years, just going through a spell now.

the thing that will set me off the quickest, is hot & humid air. i spent my entire coast guard career trying to avoid humid climates. that weather just knocks me off my feet.

Coytee, you are right--people that haven't suffered with this just don't fully understand how miserable it is to struggle to breathe.

i'm also seriously allergic to grass; but, taking claritin helps when i go golfing.

[oscarsear]

What most people don't understand about asthma is that you cannot exhale properly. When you inhale the negative pressure pulls the tight airways open and air can enter. But on exhalation those airways close trapping the air beyond them inside the lungs. Then, you need to take another breath but the old one is still in the lungs. That is called air trapping and your tidal volume moves up in the lung volumes. The work of breathing increases while less and less fresh air is moved in and out of the lungs. It is a real bugger. It doesn't take long at all before you can get into serious trouble with asthma.

[Coytee]

I doubt anyone will be too interested in reading about this, but I'm going to TRY to describe it anyway!

When I get a flair up, I'll start my wheezing.

One thing I've tried to show to the wife, to get her to appreciate my gasps... I'll open my mouth and take a QUICK sharp DEEP breath. You can easily see my chest move and you know I made an honest effort.

Then... you can hear the air rush past the constriction in my lungs as they fill up. It's much like a baloon, perhaps though, in reverse. The air WANTS to escape the balloon but is restricted in how fast it can exit, short of bursting. Here, you can tell I've got a vacume in my lungs and they will fill up with air, as it gets past the constriction in the chest.

Kinda hard to describe in words, easy to grasp if you hear it happen just once.

Not the kind of thing I'd wish on anyone... well, maybe except for someone who has some weird thing for posting about earlobes... [^o)]

[BigStewMan]

horrible feeling trying to get that next breath--my mind tells me that wasn't a full breath; but, my lungs are full. real hard to explain how i feel. i tell people to plug their nose and breathe thru a straw.

this first happened to me when i was at the height of drug use back in 1980. i had been smoking obscene amounts of pot everyday for years. met a stranger in the neighborhood one day, he had some stuff, smoked a lot of it then went to the liquor store on a beer run. as i walked across the parking lot, i suddenly got short of breath. i've NEVER been the same since. 29 years ago and I never got back to normal. for a few days, i stupidly thought that if i just kept getting stoned that i'd forget that i was having problems breathing. that didn't work out so well. many trips to the emergency room over the years and left with a permanent reminder of how stupid i once was.

don't know if i smoked paraquat or not; but, i like to joke around saying that president carter gave me asthma.

[oscarsear]

Asthma and other obstructive lung diseases are easily demonstrated on pulmonary function studies. Even when people breath normal they never exhale all of the air from their lungs. They can forcefully exhale more air and that is called expiratory reserve capacity. Even after that air remains inside the lungs and that is called the functional residual capacity (these 2 capacities added together is called the reserve volume). As long as the conducting airways remain patent it is easy to access and conduct breathing. With air trapping caused by obstructive asthma that residual volume increases and increases. Soon the regular breathing sits at the top end of the inspiratory reserve capacity. People can do this artificially by intentionally not exhaling completely and breathing in on top of the air that remains in their lungs. Just doing that will greatly increase their work of breathing. The real scary part is not being able to clear enough gas from the lungs to make room for more within an acceptable time frame. Adding extra oxygen won't help because if you can't inhale it in it still doesn't get to where it is needed, plus you still need to exhale carbon dioxide.

Similar things happen with end stage emphysema only they are caused by the loss of lung tissue and the resulting decrease in lung elastance. That situation is not reversible and they go through life with a permanently increased reserve volume and breathing high in their lung volumes. As you have read my tobacco rants few people grasp the terror of impaired breathing until they experience it. Then it is sadly too late.

[John Warren]

My findings after living with asthmatics:

1. Move to low humidity area-humidity breeds mold and mold kills asthmatics. This can "cure" some asthmatics.

2. House with forced hot air heating- Sell it, and find a house with forced hot water or steam. If you don't move, clean ductwork yearly using mold killing agents.

3. Do not use window fans in summer. AC only.

4. Wall to wall carpet- tear it up and replace with hard surfaces.

5. Gas burning stove - Get electric. Gas burning stoves exhausting into living space and CO2 is asthmatic trigger. Same for "ventless" fireplace inserts and heating units. Same for propane.

6. Wood stoves- Get rid of it, particualte is trigger.

7. Basements -Damp areas, dehumidify.

8. Cats - Get rid of them, dander is #1 trigger. Even non-asthmatics can have an episode with these pests.

[oscarsear]

The analogy I draw to managing asthma involves a swimming pool. Think of a serious acute asthma attack like falling completely into the pool unexpectedly. Some trigger happens and the next thing you know you have a problem. By the same token the further away from the edge of the pool you can stay the less likely it is that you will fall into it. By this I mean not only treating your asthma when you have an attack but getting your asthma under complete control and treating your lungs the best you can. This means understanding what causes your asthma problems, what treatments you respond to and understanding the subtle signs of things getting worse. For me it was irritants. The fumes in a hair salon. Heavy perfumes. Solvent fumes. When my lungs were twitchy I could not drink alcohol because of the fumes in the beverages. But once I had my lungs in the best shape possible I can deal with exposure to fumes. I avoid them but I don't drop off the edge and into the pool when exposed to them in small amounts. If your workplace is causing you to have asthma problems then going to work keeps your lungs on a trigger bias for asthma attacks. They are poised to slip into a serious event. Get into a different environment for a lengthy period and they will less apt to over react. You will have stopped aggravating them on a daily basis.

[Coytee]

Oscarsear, you have some good examples!!

It's clear to me you know more about this (or perhaps simply have more experience) than meets the eye (or would that be lung?)

[oscarsear]

Thank you Coytee. I should. I worked in pulmonary medicine for quite some time. Lungs and how much people understand them is interesting. Of all the organs they are the only ones in open contact with the outer world. By design they expose more of us to the outside than our outer skin does. Laid out flat a healthy set of lungs covers an entire tennis court. How they are used can be intentionally manipulated unlike most of our other organs that seem to go about their business without any direction. Yet, the lungs are also the most abused and, for as exposed as they are, very poorly understood by most people. Next time you see a skeleton look at the chest cage. The skeletal rib cage is huge and rounded. But look at the chest on living people and it is not like that. It mostly looks oval, side to side, and almost flat in young people. The only reason the chest is flatter in living humans is because of the lungs themselves. They are like rubber held inside the chest cavity by a vacuum in the pleural space. They pull the skeletal ribs inward. Breech the chest wall and the lung collapses. That is how elastic healthy lungs are and the most overt way they express themselves on our outward appearance.... and very few know that. They take breathing for granted. Those lovely, pristine lungs are made just to exchange respiratory gases. Do anything else with them and you stand to end up paying a price. Aside from ages old tobacco, our generation is most guilty with the use of marijuana and other recreational smokable drugs. Put those things into the gut that is made to accept and manage solid material.

[Mighty Favog]

My GF has it but as of the last few years it's been getting less and less severe.

HOWEVER!! As of late she's had a cough for the last month or so that just WILL NOT go away. I'm guessing it's from all the tree mold around here. Got an appointment with the alergist in a week.