Asthma

[Element of Air]

Some of you might know and some of you might have never guessed it but Chris O'Riley (My significant other) has horrible chronic asthma.

Well for the past week or more he has not been able to breathe. He has not been to work since last Friday and will not be going to work tomorrow either, due to this issue. He can hardly talk without developing a fit of whooping cough. He cant even walk from the bed room to the kitchen without sounding like death is in his lungs with every breath. I am starting to get really worried about him. We have already gone to the doctor and received a few more medications for him but it does not seem to work.

They have him on abuterol, flonase, singulair, steroids, asthmacort, and another that starts with a "P". He is also sitting with a nebulizer at least once a day to be able to get his lungs to open. his chest feels like there is a 50 pound weight on them at all times.

We don't know what to do. I am quite frightened for him because there is nothing I can do and in the 11 years that we have been friends/together I have never seen him this bad.

If someone has anything they think might help or if they could send a little thought out or wave a wand, It would be greatly appreciated. I am thinking he might be fired over this as well due to him missing days all the time for no health insurance through work and with out that he can not get better. (we go to a community clinic that take 2 hours to be seen per visit) It is a horrible Catch 22.

We will be out at TRF this weekend but he will not be able to walk parade and WILL be taking it easy. Please come find us and give him a big hug, not too tight though, you might kill him. LOL

[Lady Mikayla of Phoenicia]

Element, I am so sorry Dear your Luv suffers so, thanks for helping put my woes in perspective.  If I can offer, I would suggest a chiropractor.  I am a cash patient too however the chiropractic adjustments and accupuncture do help me with many afflictions and mine offers a discount which they legally can since they have limited Admin costs without having to file insurance claims.  Blessings to you & yours.  Lady M

[Element of Air]

We have a very dear friend of ours that is a massues and he is wonderful. He was going to work on Chris today but we had errands to run. (it is great to have a massues friend that specialized in energy alignment for 26 years, make personal house calls for friends for free).

However we have had him go to a chiropractor and acupuncturist before but have not in a few years. We will definitely have to look into it.

I am willing to try whatever we can to help him. Thank you for your kind words.

[Lady_Lily]

My whole family suffers from varying degrees of asthma related problems. Now that it's fall...it's a different kind of allergy season, which may be causing a problem. The best thing that could be done when my youngest brother (who has it the worse) was sick was keep him indoors (in the a/c or with an air purifier) in an area free of irritants like dust, pollens, etc., etc.

[lordwriothsley]

Element I am so sorry to hear of this.My mom and sister have been suffering from asthma all their lives so I know what it feels like to worry for someone you love that is suffering.Hang in there sweetie and I will say a prayer for you and Chris for strength and healing.

[Fairyfly]

My allergies sets off asthma attacks. Like Lady Lily said, this fall seems to be worse for allergies and it might seriously be making your guy worse. I've been on all of the medications he's on, and the only way they started doing anything for me was when my dr. prescribed Loratadine, which is a generic of Claritin-D. You can get the prescription filled at wal-marts for about $4 a month.

I go to the non-insured clinics as well, so I feel your pain there too.  But it's definitely worth looking into.

Also, you might want to try steam treatments. Have him lean over a bowl or pot with warm steam rising. I know there are essential oils you can put in the water to help open his airways, and they won't have an adverse affect with his meds... but my books are packed right now. Look online for sights that tell about natural healing and you should find mentions of the oils I mean.

You and Chris are in my thoughts hun! *HUGS* to both of you!

[Lady L]

I have had asthma my whole life, worse when I was younger. My sons have it, but not as bad as I did. One thing that helped me was to stand, not sit, and lean forward to make your chest expand as much as possible.
My son says albuterol and  singulair help him, but they didn't seem to work for me. I use Primatene, which clears my lungs in seconds. It is an otc med, I usually get mine at walmart or the grocery store.

Some asthma is triggered by allergens, sometimes it is caused by exercise, cold air or food related. If you can find the cause, then eliminate it, that helps tremendously. Most common triggers are dust, pollen, cats and mold.
Yahoo health and the mayo clinic have had some good articles about asthma. Steam might help, but I find that high humidity makes me feel worse, like the air is too thick. I find drier air is easier to breathe.
Hope you find a solution soon.

[Synnovea]

I have had asthma for 36 years.  Asthma sucks!      There, now that I have that out of my system...

If you are just going to a regular doctor I highly recommend getting into an asthma or pulmonary specialist.  They can then get him on a regimen to not only get it under control right now but then maintain him on controller meds.  If he is not on prednisone currently...he needs to be!  When I am that bad, prednisone is the only thing that kicks it into submission whereby my regular regimen then works again.

Also, the medication in the nebulizer is probably an albuterol solution so if he is doing both nebulizers and the albuterol inhaler, he is probably doubling up on medication.  He can get "rebound" attacks which occur from getting too much of the medication.  I learned this the hard way.  Obviously I am not a doctor and do whatever treatment your doctor told you, however, this rebound issue has caused me many a problem in the past until I learned otherwise.

Good luck and big hugs to you both.  I hope he gets better very soon.

[Element of Air]

Yeah, the Prednisone is the medication that started with a "P" that I could not recall the name of initially. He is aware of doubling up on the medication and does everything he can to avoid it. I never realized there were so many out there who also had it as bad as he did... I know how it is, and I am so sorry that you all must go through everything that he does.

I thank you all for your advice and you encouragement. It truly does mean a lot to both him and me.

I will have to look into the pulmonary specialist for him. He did just get a job offer for 17 an hour and full benefits, so this might just work.

[Elennare]

I will pray for him to get better!

As someone with asthma, I second the steam treatment as something to try.  It usually seems to help me clear the phlem from my lungs.  Sorry, that was really gross, but it's true.

Might also want to try avoiding dairy.  I gave that a try starting about a year ago and it has helped my asthma tremendously.  Might not work for him, but it might be worth a shot.

[RenRobin]

I too am an asthma suffering person.  The Singular and Albuterol seem to really control mine, but when it doesn't my doc prescribes Qvar an inhaled steriod. 

If you guys are camping out this weekend, it might be a good idea for  him to wear a dust mask or Bandana....not real attractive or period, but will keep the pollens and irritants out of his lungs.  My mom bless her heart has to wear one everytime she steps outside whe the pollens are high.

I will keep you to in my prayers.  Let me know if there is anything I can do Cassidy.

[Element of Air]

Ooooo I like the bandana Idea! Definately doing that... if he will let me put one on him.

We do some of the steam some times and it does get all the crap out of his lungs as well but it is a very painful situation for him...

And we are cutting dairy out of the diet as well as wheat because it does the same as dairy.

Thank you so much everyone for the advice!

[Fairyfly]

The talk about the dairy stuff reminded me. If cutting dairy out seems to help, you might want to cut back on the amount of sugar intake as well. Dairy and sugar both increase the amount of mucus produced. If he drinks tea, which is a really good idea that helps me, put honey in it instead of sugar, or have him drink it straight if he can. Some of the mint teas and lemon teas help a lot!

[Lady L]

I see dust masks have been suggested. I was going to mention that also.
I was cleaning up everything from faire, which was REALLY dusty, so I put on a dust mask. It helped a lot. I even saw someone at MNRF this year wearing one.

[CatAshtrophy]

I'm sorry he is doing so poorly. I hope he gets better really soon.

[RenRobin]

How did he fair at the faire?

[Element of Air]

he was actually getting better. he told me that being out helped but he did try to go to work today with the cough and he handed them the sick not from the doctor and coughed, so they sent him home again. So it looks like I am bringing in the money for the moment.

We did not use a dust mask or anything to block his face from dirt but he said he seemed fine. So I have no idea.

Everyone was really worried about him out there though.

[Thomas Eagle]

I hope Chris fells better and I will send positive thoughts out for him.

[Lady Amy of York]

I have chronic asthma.  Let me say that this fall has been a terrible  year  for asthma  sufferers according   to  the newsletters i get  on asthma.

I use an asthma inhalor  twice a day  as a daily preventative.I am on Advair.  Then when i do get an attack  i have another inhalor  with " Albuterol "  in  it.

Does Chris have a spacer on his  inhalor ?   It is along tube that attaches to your inhalor  and helps to get the medicine into your lungs   better.

Also is the inhalor Chris uses in  powder form, or is it  a mist or spray ?   I found that i had  ahrad time getting the podwer form  into my lungs, so my doctor switched me to the  spray. he  says it works  much better, and  it really  does.

I  also have a  nebulizer  for   real bad attacks.   

I also  when  i am dusting around  the house or going outside in the yard  to do yard work, wear a  allergy/ dust mask  on  my face.

I  would  suggest  having  Chris  see a pulmonary  doctor.  I go to one  every 4-5 months, and he has really done  wonders  for my asthma.

Also  has Chris  ever been tested   for  sleep  apnea  ?  sometimes  people  who suffer from  terrible  asthma  really have  sleep apnea.    The test for it is  safe and harmless.  I have had it done.      They put some monitors on you, and  they watch you while  you sleep  for  3 hours.

But deffinitely get him to see a pulmonary doctor, cause i  know  firsthand, how awful  asthma  can feel and be.

Good luck to you both

[Lady Neysa]

For my asthma I use Flovent for prevention and albuterol for attacks.  I've tried Advair, but couldn't stand the feeling of inhaling powder.  Flovent has some of the same ingredients as Advair. 
I must say, I really am not a fan of the "new" environmentally friendly inhalers.  With the old ones I only needed to use 1 or 2 puffs, but now I have to use 3 or 4 to get any relief.  I don't like having to use so much but don't have much choice. 

If he hasn't already another good idea would be to get allergy tests to pinpoint what he's allergic to.  I don't know how they do it now, but they used to prick the underside of your forearm with a bunch of different allergens to see what you reacted to.