I was diagnosed with asthma in high school. Honestly, I didn't take it seriously at all because I was smoking (which I didn't tell my doctor). I had a few asthma attacks, but it went away when I stopped smoking, so I kind of forgot about it.
I've been sick for over two weeks now, and one of my symptoms has been difficulty breathing. I finally saw a doctor the other day who says that I've had asthma this whole time, and just kept it under control. This actually kind of makes sense. When I run (or I should say, jog slowly), I have this thing where I have to go at a pace where I can breathe through my nose. My runner friends have told me this is weird, and my response is that I have to keep my breathing under control. Perhaps this is related to the asthma?
Anyway, the doctor gave me an inhaler, which made an immediate difference. She also gave me one of those peak flow things to measure my breathing. Apparently, "normal" is 450. I was blowing a 310.
The inhaler helped, but things were still bad on Saturday. I felt bad because Amanda and I spent a fabulous day together, but I couldn't stop coughing. Talking made it worse. I didn't even have enough breath to laugh. When I got home, the peak flow reading was 250.
I didn't want to go to the ER. I tried to adopt the "ain't got time to bleed" approach. I thought I was being a big baby about the coughing. But then it got harder and harder to breathe. A few hours later, I text my aunt who is a nurse, and she advised that I see a doctor immediately. I reluctantly headed to an Urgent Care that was open late.
Holy cow! Apparently, if you walk in and say you can't breathe, you get fast service! They quickly gave me a breathing treatment, a shot of prednisone, an antibiotic, and some cough syrup with codeine. It was AMAZING how much of a difference I felt. Apparently I was not being a big baby. I forgot what it feels like to breathe normally!
Today I am better, but still not 100%. My coworker and I were texting about how I ain't got time to bleed, and she said, "I ain't got time for you to not have time to be bleeding and shit! So take care of it already and get better and shit. Jesus Mary and Joseph!" I'm guessing I'm not allowed to call in to work tomorrow. :)
I've been sick for over two weeks now, and one of my symptoms has been difficulty breathing. I finally saw a doctor the other day who says that I've had asthma this whole time, and just kept it under control. This actually kind of makes sense. When I run (or I should say, jog slowly), I have this thing where I have to go at a pace where I can breathe through my nose. My runner friends have told me this is weird, and my response is that I have to keep my breathing under control. Perhaps this is related to the asthma?
Anyway, the doctor gave me an inhaler, which made an immediate difference. She also gave me one of those peak flow things to measure my breathing. Apparently, "normal" is 450. I was blowing a 310.
The inhaler helped, but things were still bad on Saturday. I felt bad because Amanda and I spent a fabulous day together, but I couldn't stop coughing. Talking made it worse. I didn't even have enough breath to laugh. When I got home, the peak flow reading was 250.
I didn't want to go to the ER. I tried to adopt the "ain't got time to bleed" approach. I thought I was being a big baby about the coughing. But then it got harder and harder to breathe. A few hours later, I text my aunt who is a nurse, and she advised that I see a doctor immediately. I reluctantly headed to an Urgent Care that was open late.
Holy cow! Apparently, if you walk in and say you can't breathe, you get fast service! They quickly gave me a breathing treatment, a shot of prednisone, an antibiotic, and some cough syrup with codeine. It was AMAZING how much of a difference I felt. Apparently I was not being a big baby. I forgot what it feels like to breathe normally!
Today I am better, but still not 100%. My coworker and I were texting about how I ain't got time to bleed, and she said, "I ain't got time for you to not have time to be bleeding and shit! So take care of it already and get better and shit. Jesus Mary and Joseph!" I'm guessing I'm not allowed to call in to work tomorrow. :)
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