7th September 2007
You sound pretty young, Miyu, and I would like to share my experience with you. It sounds like you really are taking your asthma seriously, and that is good. However, you must stop smoking. You also have identified cigarette smoke as a trigger to your asthma attacks, so you really have to educate the smokers in your life about how serious this is for you. And, as I think you already understand, it may mean that you have to eliminate or at least cut way back on how much you see them.
It sounds as if realizing this has brought you a lot of stress and anxiety, which also can trigger your asthma attacks. Learning to manage these feelings is hard, and you will need to learn to cope with this.
I'm in my 40s and grew up in a smoking home. I had chronic ear infections, bronchitis, and allergies until I got married and moved away. Once I got away from cigarette smoke, I noticed some new problems - I got short of breath around cats, and also sometimes when I smelled newly mown grass. (we know now this was asthma) My first full blown asthma attack came when I was cutting the grass, and it had me shut down for about 6 hours. You know, "sipping" little breaths and standing with my arms propped up on a doorframe to get air into (and out of) my lungs. After that I carried a primatene inhaler from the grocery store for the very occasional "tight" feeling I would get.
My oldest son was constantly sick with colds and allergies and wheezed a lot. He wasn't actually diagnosed till he was 6 years old. When he was 9 he had a critical asthma attack that led to 4 days in pediatric ICU and another 3 days on the floor. We nearly lost him that first night. Over the next 5 or 6 years he was in the hospital at least twice a year, spring and fall; we could watch his condition deteriorate during allergy seasons till he needed steroids and IVs. He used daily meds and nebulizer treatments with pretty good results. It got to the point he couldn't go to his grandparents house because of the smoke. After a year or two of that, my dad quit smoking (of course Daddy had emphysema by then...) and my son could go back over there again.
When he got into high school, he did ok until he started hanging around with smokers. His girlfriend's family all smoked, and he was there all the time. It was pretty bad when he started taking his nebulizer over there so he could do a treatment when he got wheezy. We argued and fought about this all the time and I worried constantly, but he went without a hospitalization for over a year so we thought maybe he was outgrowing it.
When he finally had his last attack, he had been at his girlfriend's house for about 6 hours, and he went down unconscious (he had never done that before). The EMTS and the ER worked on him for over an hour but never got him back. He died from his asthma, even with regular meds and treatments, because he wouldn't stay away from things that triggered the attacks. This happened 10 years ago, in 1997, when the standard meds were prednisone and serevent, and albuterol.
My asthma is well controlled with Advair 250/50 2x daily, Singulair every evening at bedtime, and a very very occasional use of the albuterol inhaler. I work out at Curves 3x weekly and walk for exercise. I do have wheezy spells when I'm around smoke (cigarette, wood fires) and when I run sometimes. I also have to avoid breathing really cold air (cover my mouth and nose with a scarf).
I'm not trying to scare you because I know you take the asthma serious already. I just wanted to tell you that it is so important to avoid the things that trigger your attacks. And something one of the EMTs told me a long time ago: they would rather have a cardiac patient than an asthma patient because the asthma patient is more critical - they can have a cardiac arrest OR a respiratory arrest at any moment if they are having serious trouble breathing and if they stop breathing it is truly life-or-death.
And yes, it is depressing to feel so dependent on meds and to have to be so aware of everything you do, so you can avoid an attack. Not that you have depression, but the blues are very normal for people with chronic illness. You are allowed to have bad days, ok?
Keep posting so we know how you are doing. I will be watching for you to post again.
Hugs,
Jeri in Texas
It sounds as if realizing this has brought you a lot of stress and anxiety, which also can trigger your asthma attacks. Learning to manage these feelings is hard, and you will need to learn to cope with this.
I'm in my 40s and grew up in a smoking home. I had chronic ear infections, bronchitis, and allergies until I got married and moved away. Once I got away from cigarette smoke, I noticed some new problems - I got short of breath around cats, and also sometimes when I smelled newly mown grass. (we know now this was asthma) My first full blown asthma attack came when I was cutting the grass, and it had me shut down for about 6 hours. You know, "sipping" little breaths and standing with my arms propped up on a doorframe to get air into (and out of) my lungs. After that I carried a primatene inhaler from the grocery store for the very occasional "tight" feeling I would get.
My oldest son was constantly sick with colds and allergies and wheezed a lot. He wasn't actually diagnosed till he was 6 years old. When he was 9 he had a critical asthma attack that led to 4 days in pediatric ICU and another 3 days on the floor. We nearly lost him that first night. Over the next 5 or 6 years he was in the hospital at least twice a year, spring and fall; we could watch his condition deteriorate during allergy seasons till he needed steroids and IVs. He used daily meds and nebulizer treatments with pretty good results. It got to the point he couldn't go to his grandparents house because of the smoke. After a year or two of that, my dad quit smoking (of course Daddy had emphysema by then...) and my son could go back over there again.
When he got into high school, he did ok until he started hanging around with smokers. His girlfriend's family all smoked, and he was there all the time. It was pretty bad when he started taking his nebulizer over there so he could do a treatment when he got wheezy. We argued and fought about this all the time and I worried constantly, but he went without a hospitalization for over a year so we thought maybe he was outgrowing it.
When he finally had his last attack, he had been at his girlfriend's house for about 6 hours, and he went down unconscious (he had never done that before). The EMTS and the ER worked on him for over an hour but never got him back. He died from his asthma, even with regular meds and treatments, because he wouldn't stay away from things that triggered the attacks. This happened 10 years ago, in 1997, when the standard meds were prednisone and serevent, and albuterol.
My asthma is well controlled with Advair 250/50 2x daily, Singulair every evening at bedtime, and a very very occasional use of the albuterol inhaler. I work out at Curves 3x weekly and walk for exercise. I do have wheezy spells when I'm around smoke (cigarette, wood fires) and when I run sometimes. I also have to avoid breathing really cold air (cover my mouth and nose with a scarf).
I'm not trying to scare you because I know you take the asthma serious already. I just wanted to tell you that it is so important to avoid the things that trigger your attacks. And something one of the EMTs told me a long time ago: they would rather have a cardiac patient than an asthma patient because the asthma patient is more critical - they can have a cardiac arrest OR a respiratory arrest at any moment if they are having serious trouble breathing and if they stop breathing it is truly life-or-death.
And yes, it is depressing to feel so dependent on meds and to have to be so aware of everything you do, so you can avoid an attack. Not that you have depression, but the blues are very normal for people with chronic illness. You are allowed to have bad days, ok?
Keep posting so we know how you are doing. I will be watching for you to post again.
Hugs,
Jeri in Texas