Update update.

[rivka]

It's "just" my allergies. The unusually spectacular pollen season we've been having has irritated my bronchioles (I think) and swelled them up, and that's why the cough and the trouble breathing. They did a chest X-ray to make sure I didn't have pneumonia, and I didn't. Then they gave me an albuterol treatment, which left me wobbly-kneed but breathing better, and sent me home with a prescription for something called "tesselon perles" for my cough and instructions to drink plenty of fluids and see my primary care doctor.

The drive to the hospital and walk in from the waiting room left me wheezing and coughing badly enough that I jumped the whole line to get seen, which isn't as impressive as it sounds given that it was a suburban community hospital, but did tend to add to scaredness. I hit a really bad feedback loop, where my coughing and wheezing made me scared and then being scared made it harder to breathe. But I think everything should be okay now.

Comments

[tammylc.livejournal.com]

Glad everything's okay.

*hugs*

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

I'm glad they're finding ways to help. :)

[wiredferret.livejournal.com]

That's some great cough medecine.

[jenett]

Meep. Glad you got seen - and yes, the not being able to breathe is scary. (I manage to amuse people by being very quick to be able to name my greatest fear, which is the not being able to breathe thing.)

Two pieces of advice, worth what you paid for them:

1) My mother finds inhaling steam (from a mug of tea, or in the shower) very helpful for lung stuff. I don't, generally. You might see if it helps any, though.

2) The other is that when I start having lung trouble, my rib cage and upper back often start aching (this is probably not surprising.) I find a hot pack helps a lot, or a hot bath.

[therealjae.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm glad to hear you're not sick again, though man, that's pretty awful for allergies! I'm sorry it's so bad. Get some rest.

-J

[marykaykare.livejournal.com]

Much relief that it isn't something worse. Try to rest and take it easy. I've had chronic bronchitis myself and not being able to breathe is awful.

MKK

[saoba.livejournal.com]

Glad it isn't worse, as being unable to breath is bloody well bad enough.

I fondly recall getting those perles during a bout with pneumonia and thinking (at the time) that they were so good they should come in a sixpack.

In hte health food or teas section of your store, if you can find it, there's a tea by traditional Medicinals called Gypsy Cold Care. We go through it like mad during alergy attacks.

[ailsaek.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear it's something manageable and that you're on the mend. The unable to breathe/fear/even more unable to breathe loop is a nasty one.

*hugs*

[txanne.livejournal.com]

I'm glad they could fix it! Your description sounds pretty much like how I feel during an asthma attack, so you might want to ask your regular doctor if that could be part of the problem. (Except mine is triggered by exercise, not allergies, so I could well be completely wrong.)

[ororo.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear you aren't coughing now. Allergies seem to be getting nastier and nastier over the years. I've had that feeling of not being able to breathe, and it's frightening. *hugs*

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

I dislike albuterol, it gives me the shakes. Unfortunately on the rare occasions my asthma plays up, it's the very best thing.

I'm glad you're going to be OK, and it's something easily treatable. Hugs offered.

[wandra.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to hear the treatment is helping, and that you're feeling a bit better.

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

I am relieved that there is a clear and definite and relatively easily treatable reason for the cough, and that you are treating it and coughing less.

I can sympathize with the hard-to-breathe/fear/harder-to-breathe, as I too had asthma as a child. Given that experience, I can also concur with gwynyth's experience that coughing a lot can cause upper-back, rib, and/or chest pain, and with her experience that a hot soak helps. Given elusis's differing experience that extremes of temperature make things worse, though, I won't actually *recommend* it, if that makes any sense.

I'm glad you're going to feel better soon.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

I sure am glad that I saw this post first. Yikes! What a miserable situation for you. I hope you're feeling mostly OK now.

(Yeah, I just got back from Virginia.)

[ex-helygen254.livejournal.com]

What wcg said about seeing this post first! I'm sorry you've had such a rough weekend too.