lol I don't know why I thought that title would be funny. lol Who cares? These last few weeks have been very hard. 3 weeks now I have been dealing with what I'm calling Super Asthma.
For the first 2 weeks I felt like my throat was swelling. So I was thinking I was eating something that I was either newly allergic to or had some exposure to peanuts. Turns out it was all my asthma. Constriction of the airway and swelling of the airway feel the same. I've also been on a controller for 3 weeks now. Here's to hoping it starts working. So last week I went in to the doctor for test results. She thinks I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome since my symptoms seem to fall within that category. And I'm not testing positive for the other things that are similar (like Lupus, Sjogrens, Thyroid, RA, etc.) She said CFS is similar to Fibromyalgia. And some think that CFS and Fibro are actually the same thing, but just with different main symptoms. Anyway, I'm going to be seeing a Rheumatologist just to be sure and confirm diagnosis or figure it out further. (It's also similar to Epstein Barr, which is what the other doctor in Victorville thought I had. But like myself, my new doctor in Whittier wasn't convinced it was that either.)
At that same appointment she also put me on Prednisone, to get rid of any residual allergic reaction that was going on. But that opened another can of worms. I ended up reacting very strongly to that. It's a common side effect but it was very strong for me. It made me jittery. Like you are sitting still but your insides are shaking. It reminded me of when I was on Terbutaline when I was pregnant with Skyler. But not as severe. The jitteriness also increased my heartrate and made my breathing increase as well. This then started making me feel like I was having an asthma attack. ALL DAY. Even using the inhailer wasn't making it go away. So, she took me off that medicine.
I ended up going to urgent care last week for a breathing treatment the very day I had stopped taking the Prednisone because I just couldn't catch my breath and nothing was helping. It was just getting worse. So, one breathing treatment and a chest x-ray later and I went back up to my doctor for my appt there too. Eventually the breathing treatment kicked in so that was nice. My x-ray showed something in my brochials they said and they said that's common to see if someone has asthma or bronchitis. So, we came up with a plan of action.
I now have a nebulizer at home for whenever my asthma is really bad. Unfortunately the nebulizer meds also make me jittery. But it doesn't last as long as the Prednisone. I'm now on a steroid controller as well as the Singulair I had started 3 weeks ago now. On top of that I'm taking Benadryl at night to help with any residual histamines as well as Claritin during the day. Both of those I can stop at any time when my asthma is more under control.
So, it's a new week and today I'm finally feeling a little better. I still am having the asthma feeling every time I breathe, but it's not as bad as it was. It seems to be getting better. This last week has been hard. Whenever I would talk it would just make the asthma worse. I have hardly gone out of my house so that I could try to stay away from whatever allergens were causing this flair up.
Thankfully last week my parent's were picking up the kids for me from school. But this week I have been. Still every day after picking them up (walking from my car to the front of school and waiting for them and then back to the car down the street) I'm having to use my inhailer. It's like just being outside is causing problems. 2 days ago my throat was feeling so tight so I took my inhailer. It wasn't feeling all that much better so I took a Benadryl too just in case it was throat swelling. Thankfully either of the 2 worked and I started having less of a swelling throat feeling after. Yesterday, thankfully, just taking the inhailer after getting home was enough. I really hope today will be all that much better. And eventually that I can get back to being outside, exercising, doing all kinds of normal every day things.
In the meantime, I patiently wait for all of the meds to kick in. Oh, and I also have a Pulmonary Lung Function test scheduled as well. Oh the joys.
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15 years ago
