rivka

I made it to the end of my street this morning.

Then, as I was struggling to control the coughing and the strangling feeling creeping into my upper chest, I asked myself: Okay, you could sit quietly through this morning's team meeting, rest and not say anything. But how are you going to get through the amount of talking necessarily entailed in three individual client sessions and a group? Can you carry a dozen heavy charts up and down the hall? If walking sixty feet to your car is such a problem, can you really go back and forth all day from your office to the waiting room to your office, back to the storage closet for bus tokens to hand out, back to the admin area to hand in your contact forms, up to medical records to reach and bend and file charts?

Not a chance. No.

I've called the clinic front desk and my morning client. (Fortunately, I didn't have any first-thing-in-the-morning clients because I'm supposed to be at a meeting right now.) Around 11, I'll call my afternoon clients and the group members - I don't know when they all get up, so it's better to wait a bit. And now I'm going to lie down on the couch and rest. If that doesn't help my breathing, I guess I'll call my doctor and see if I can get another nebulizer treatment. Shit, I'm tired of this.

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dlacey.livejournal.com

I'm sorry you're feeling so awful. I've been whining about my allergies the last couple days but I haven't had to deal with anything like this.
I really hope you start feeling well soon.

kyttn.livejournal.com

Don't wait, call your Dr. now. Request a referral to an asthma specialist or pulmonologist. This could simply be a reaction to the pollens that are coming out (grasses just started recently and the counts are abnormally high, trees and molds are also high), or it could be something more serious. There are a number of very treatable problems that can cause your symptoms. You also may want to talk to your Dr. about the use of a home nebulizer until things are under control.

Good luck!

janetmiles.livejournal.com

Ouch. Sympathy, concern, wishes for good luck, and seconding of the suggestion to call your doctor and ask about a referral to a specialist. FWIW, I had asthma as a kid, so I do know to some extent how you feel.

jenett

*many hugs, and sending some of my own lungs-getting-better good fortune your way*

I agree with the thinking about getting a referral to a specialist: lungs are weird things, and specialists can help with stuff most general health folks don't know. (They also have access to testing machinery that most general practice offices may not have handy that can help in diagnosis)

Other stuff that helps: if you don't have an air filter at home, you might want to look at getting one (We got a new one a couple of weeks ago at Target: one suitable for the bedroom was $60 - the bedroom's the most important place to filter both because it's the place you probably spend the most time, and because it's an easy breeding ground for stuff that causes dust allergy problems)

Breathing exercises: pick your favorite, don't push it, but just try to do it. One theory about asthma and other lung issue stuff is that it's not just inflamation and such that causes problems, but that that inflamation prevents you from fully *exhaling*. Thus, when you go to take in the next breath, you can't take in as much new air, and start having problems.

Sometimes focusing on getting all the air possible out before taking a new breath can help a bit. (Obviously, it's hard to do when you're trying to do anything else: this is a 'try for five minutes every half hour or hour to help in between times' sort of tip.)

There are also some yoga exercises that can help, if you're interested: many of the chest opening reclining ones are good for asthma (The one I do that helps involves laying back on a couple of pillows/rolled blankets, letting my head fall back, and my arms out to the side, so that my chest and rib cage opens out and down. I stay like that for 5-10 minutes, and it seems to help, and also to help with the soreness and stiffness I get as a result of trying hard to breathe.)