I’m sick so I’m up in the middle of the night. I’m not going to work today. If you followed me on Twitter, you’d have known that. 
I think it’s a cold, and ever since I was diagnosed with asthma 6 years ago colds just haven’t been the same. I don’t get sick very often, (like once every two years!) but when I do I never quite know how to manage the illness since my asthma gets so much worse. I take a prescription medication that controls my asthma very nicely, and I only need to take it once daily, although the prescription suggests twice daily (my asthma specialist told me it is okay to only take once daily). I guess I need to take the second dose during this time. Also I have to increase my rescue inhaler usage quite a bit, sometimes as often as every two hours. An article I read earlier (coughing so hard I can’t sleep, and of course since I’m sitting up I’m just fine, no coughing at all) said if you’re in the “red” zone you can take as many as four to six puffs at once from your “quick relief” inhaler (typically Albuterol, although I think they’ve now outlawed this particular medication starting in 2009). This tells me it is okay to use my rescue inhaler a bit more liberally and indeed when I was first diagnosed and experiencing my first “asthma attack” (looking back I doubt it was necessary to go to the emergency room that time and I have yet been back for asthma, eight hours waiting and wheezing and hacking, yeesh!) I was told I could use it as often as every two hours.
Okay, enough of that!! I just heard from a fellow Twitterer I Pick Up Pennies, that she is giving away a $25 gift certificate to Amazon.com. It’s not too hard to enter, here are the rules from her site:
… I’m doing a giveaway for a $25 Amazon gift card. Most of you should know the drill by now. You can receive an entry:
1. If you are a subscriber. (Anyone who’s let me know they subscribed in the last is already entered.)
2. If you mention this on your blog.
3. If you refer anyone to this blog. (They need to let me know in a message.)
4. If you post this on any social bookmarking site.
5. Leave a comment on any post — but please something more than “Great post” or “I agree.”
6. And, now, if you tweet it. (Let me know if you do.)
Contest ends 1/17 at 11:59 p.m. PST. I will draw a winner using Random.org.
Yours Truly,
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I, too, was diagnosed with asthma as an adult although. looking back, it is obvious that I have had it for years. Maybe since I was a kid, since I remember being utterly breathless and sick around relatives who smoked. (However, we were raised to be respectful around adults, so I would never have dreamed of wheezing, “I’m sorry, but I can’t breathe — could you please put that cigarette out?”)
Listen to your body and it will tell you what to do — even if that’s sitting up most of the night so you can breathe, and not going to work the next day. Personally, I’d rather sit up in my home than in the emergency room…
Do you have any warning about imminent attacks? One of my most noticeable ones is sudden, extreme fatigue — when I suddenly feel that I am so tired I can’t lift my arms, I know I’m in trouble. Some days, drastic signals are the only way my body can actually get my mind’s attention — I talk a good game about “listening to your body,” but am often to busy or distracted to do so. Gotta work on that.
Very small world. I too was diagnosed with asthma as an adult although I had horrible asthma attacks as a child whenever I slept over at anyone’s house or when I ran in PE. But it was never diagnosed then. (The kids houses where I slept over all had cats and I finally figured out I was allergic *on my own* when I was 14 and babysitting for someone with 2 kids and 5 cats although it wasn’t manifesting as asthma then but as hives, itching and runny eyes!)
It “came back” in my mid 30′s with a vengeance and I used to wake up at 3:30 or 4 am most nights and have to use my Ventolin. I started taking a particular nutritional supplement and it improved after about 4 months. After several years I no longer have to take the supplement and only have a few episodes per year when I do major cleaning, am outside in very cold weather, am in a humid environment, etc. I keep a Ventolin inhaler to use at these times only.
However, it has left me susceptible to pneumonia, which I’ve had twice in the last 10 or 15 years (once even after having the pneumococcal vaccine). Be very careful when you have a cold that it doesn’t become either bronchitis or pneumonia. If you feel pain in your chest when breathing go to the doctor immediately please!
And definitely take it easy as much as possible. I found Donna’s clue about being too tired to lift her arms fascinating. I feel like that sometimes but have never connected it to asthma. Isn’t it crazy how we tend *not* to listen to our bodies and just soldier on?
The one place where I would diverge from what Donna says is about going to the ER. I’ve stayed home a couple of times and once stayed at a relative’s overnight in Oregon when I absolutely, positively should have been nebulized and I realize now I was risking my life! Don’t you do that!
@Donna – I recall a teacher pointing out to me that I had allergies when I was in the 8th grade. I thought it was yet another cold. I don’t think I had asthma. Thankfully my parents didn’t smoke. Grandpa stopped due to emphysema and my aunt smoked but we weren’t around her much. I overdid it today, I’m pretty worn out, and determined to take it much easier tomorrow and Sunday so I can get back to work on Monday! Thanks for visiting and commenting!
@Shevy – I was able to use my oldest son’s nebulizer with Albuterol. My rib cage was sore and feeling bruised which made me so scared my lungs were aching so I ended up calling my doctor on Tuesday morning. What is the supplement you mention, I would like to know more about it. Thank you so much for visiting and commenting!! I appreciate your concern, your advice was helpful, so thank you very much!